As of 2024, the assignment structure of this unit is quite bizarre. 85% of your grade comes from exams (40% from midsem, 45% from final exam), so studying for the exams are very important. Contrary to some of the reviews from previous years, I found that the difficulty for the mid-sem and final exam were quite similar, and both were very straight forward. None of the lecture content is particularly difficult, however overall there is a lot to remember. The unit coordinator Tim is a nice guy, but communication in this unit wasn't great. Some of the discussion board posts were ignored and the unit coordinator didn't respond to my emails at times. There was also a 3 week period this year where lecturers fell ill and no lectures were uploaded to LMS. The 4 ePracs in this unit were fairly easy. There was also a final press report assignment that was quite odd and resembled an assignment out of middle school, but its pretty easy to do well on. There were also like only 2 labs in this unit, and they were both quite easy and none of the results in the labs mattered. The unit coordinator has said something about a possible restructure for the assignments, so maybe in future years the assignment weightings will be a bit more balanced

Great introduction to microbiology. First half of the semester was an introduction to various bacteria, viruses, protists, etc. and their morphology and classifications. Second half of the semester focused more on bacterial genetics, cultivation and growth, metabolism, and ecology. The lectures were very interesting and slides were pretty easy to follow. ePracs were a bit old school but were fairly easy marks. The project seemed pretty pointless, we had to write a press report on a new/upcoming technique in microbiology. It felt more like a year 9 English assignment.

content is interesting and relatively straight forward. my only problems with this unit were the poor communication from the unit coordinator. there are a series of online ePracs to complete which are relatively straight forward, however you never know how many questions/time there will be for each which can make it a bit rushed (eg 22 questions in 20 minutes). the final exam was much harder than the midsem exam with lots of obscure questions

Content was really heavy, but fun to learn. I would say this is an easy unit because all quizzes and exams were all online MCQs. The mid sem was a lot easier than the final exam although they were both weighted the same.

This unit has changed from previous years due to a new coordinator and it's definitely an improvement. The first half of the unit is very interesting with a broad overview of different microorganisms. The second half is biochemistry and genetics which most of it you will have already learnt from SCIE1106 or other biomedical units. The final exam only covers content after the mid-semester exam and both exams are majority MCQ. My only issue with the unit was a lack of any practice material and only 2 short labs (which are fun). I'd say this unit is moderate in workload compared to other biochem units and I'd recommend it if you're taking another biomed major.

Favourite science unit of my degree so far. Interesting content, but very heavy and will need a lot of work to do well in. Midsem was good, but end of sem was a few steps up in difficulty.

Content was interesting. Quite abit of work. Learnt alot and had fun. Semester, part two, they taught alot of info that wasnt examined. Even told us stuff we needed to know apparently and then didnt give us that in the exam. It wasted time and effort. Made my grade and other suffer as a result. I felt this was unethical and unfair. It didnt need to be that difficult. Large portion of semester 2 was on biochem reactions and genetics. Other than my second half of the semester experience i enjoyed the unit and would recommend it.

Fantastic introduction to microbiology. Lecturers explained the topics very clearly and the labs were fun and informative. Mid year examination is actually helpful because it forces you to learn half the topics before the end of year examinations. Most of the examinations were multiple choice which made things easier but end of semester included short answer as well.