so theres a first, second and third year engineering student in UWA here... anybody's a 4th year ? (i.e. my senior?)
I too can assist in questions about UWA and B.Engineering ... particularly about residential colleges as I stay in one..

third ..... mate eng

i kinda miss the days when chilliz was called "student cafe" and most stuff was only AUD3.50

I am not sure what uni you are from, but as I am aware, most universities in australia grade their subjects in terms of High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass and Fail, not the whatever first class etc.

Honours refers to the honours degree undertaken by a student in an australian uni after completing satisfactory progress in his or her basic degree, e.g. a Bachelor of Science Degree ...
Honours degrees are not compulsory in Australia and if you choose not to commence a Honours degree, (or are unable to, as the requirements are generally quite high) you end up with a normal degree, appending the "Honours" suffix would then be fraud. I am not sure about this but I think non-honours degrees are suffixed with (Pass), e.g. Bachelor of Science (Pass)

Several degrees are known as integrated honours degrees, such as most engineering degrees and medical degrees. This is when you have no choice on whether you wish to complete a Honours degree but effectively is forced into it, regardless of grade. Of course, if you still perform badly, you will not get to suffix "Honours" to your degree.

In general, if one finishes a degree with first class honours, one is entitled to continue onto a doctorate, bypassing the masters degree. Second and third classes are generally not allowed to, unless under appeal. If one does not possess a honours degree, a doctorate can still be obtained but after a masters degree is obtained.

Unlike our Malaysian unis, honours is not rewarded on the basis of pure results, but also on a honours project, which is generally a short thesis on a chosen subject the honours student has chosen.

The information above is what i know, and may contain some inaccuracies, comments are welcomed and corrections are even more welcomed although prefably with some sources on which we can all look on.

Edit : I was browing through the University of Melbourne's website after writing the above post and realised that unimelb actually uses the first class honours etc system to grade its students... although it is quite an odd concept to me still..

Also to tam ironcup since your post came while I was typing the above post, I have to comment that some universities don't run all their units or subjects in both semesters. In my personal experience, as I am from UWA, students who initiate engineering studies in sem 2 tend to have a harder time as they don't have sem 1's basic units to build on... as if thats not bad enough, they still have to do the basic units when sem 1 comes around the next year, thus in my opinion, I wouldnt really recommended anyone commencing UWA engineering in sem 2 as its really messed up.... no idea about the other unis tho..

This post has been edited by soontheam: Feb 3 2008, 01:58 AM

The connotation that they would be ... but generally thats not the case unless the university runs all the basic units again in sem 2, which is quite unusual as theres only a handful of new students .. so what they generally do is let you study other level 1 units which do not require prior in depth study...
but the problem arises in that the lecturers teaching the sem 2 level 1 units generally will skip any mention of anything touched in sem 1 as they feel that everyone should still remember what they have learnt and repeating some parts or showing trivial working or theories will be rather boring to those who do remember...
Take UWA for example, the BEngineering first year is common to all students, and I will explore a mechanical engineering student's enrollment for first time in sem 1 and sem 2.

in Sem 1, there is the unit, GENG1001, which is Engineering Mechanics, which teaches basic statics and dynamics. In semester 2, those with civil engineering aspirations will move onto CIVL1110, Engineering Structures which builds on the statics of GENG1001. Those with mechanical engineering aspirations will take MECH1401 Engineering Dynamics, which is an extension and builds on GENG1001's dynamics...

So a sem 2 student coming in will not be able to study GENG1001 as it is offered in sem 1 only, but has to take CIVL1110 or MECH1401, which are extensions... while the stuff taught in GENG1001 is rather easy, the problem is that the lecturers will skip anything that was taught in GENG1001 to save time ( theres always not enough time) and also due to their expectations that u SHOULD noe it, they arent going to sacrifice a class of 350 people who did GENG1001 with repeats to satisfy the 15 or so newcomers ...

well, if ur really hardworking starting in july isn't that big of a problem, just make a few friends that started in sem 1 and quiz them on whatever u dun really understand, if all else fails, theres always the tutors and lecturer
if ur doing commerce stream, the basic units are generally taught all year round as the demand is high (ang mohs have a tendency to overparty in their first semester and failing)
any idea what ur going to do and where u wish to study ?

let me point u in the correct direction
http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergradu.../2008/3710.html
the one ur looking at is offered by the australian defence academy... unless ur an australian citizen, u cannot join the australian armed forces

seriously kuowei.... selling a car in 1.5 weeks would definitely be a feat to be seen

just in addition to the guide kuo wei posted up earlier, Malaysian Driving Licences are no longer eligible for direct conversion, most states if not all require that you take a theory and practical exam to get the conversion done.

By convention, tourists are allowed usage of their own countries' licences for up to 3 months, but since we are students, we are considered temporary residents and are allowed up to 12 months ( can't remember where the link was, but this fact was told to me by kuo wei), thus the only reason you might want to convert is to simplify car purchasing procedures or to use it as identification (i.e. you wanna enter a pub but you look below 18 or the casino). Remember that identification doesn't mean your MyKad or Malaysian Driving Licence... overseas, those are just pieces of useless card, (again, note the previous sentence for driving licence) . Only passports are accepted as valid forms of ID if you do not possess an Australian Driving Licence. Although after a night of pub-crawling you might wake up to the fact that you lost your passport at a bar somwhere.. something you do not want to happen. If that happens, best case scenario is that you get issued a new one by the Malaysian consulate, worst case is that you get deported back home.

Do note that licences are issued by the state or territory and not the commonwealth as a whole ... quite unlike Malaysia.

not recognised for licence conversion but recognised for temporary usage

because simply that's MH123 you're on...

He finished his bachelor's in UWA already .... now he's moving to Syd for post grad

go for the bankwest telenet saver ... interest rate is 7.5% for the first year and 7.0% thereafter

A malaysian bank draft from me generally takes only maximum 5 days to clear ... I dunno what bank you're from tho .. I used AMBank and UOB both b4 to do drafts.. both pay their drafts to ANZ bank which then pays to my bank, Bankwest. In fact, I believe TT took me longer, but the only reason I use it is because TT's are the only choice when I am back in Malaysia

I think foreign cash accounts are already in that currency anyway, and it depends on whether the bank and the account allows a draft to be bought from the funds available... I would recommend you to close the foreign cash account down and move the cash to an australian account outright due to the interest rate being at least 1.5% higher than what a foreign account can offer.

Anyway, I am already back in Perth and the weather is fantastic... dunno how long this will last though

one hour lecture ... not going to watch it ... anyway is there a person like handling the camera or whatsoever ? or is it just fixed there... cause UWA uses an automated system that catches everything with the exception of the whiteboard/blackboards..

40 cents ? thats expensive ... I pay only 26 cents per packet when I buy a box from the oriental shop in the city, but then again this is perth..

a moderate level of english is the absolute requirement, this is due to the fact all your assignments are to be done in english and all presentations in english. If for example, you handed in an assignment with "is that we need to know ..... izit ease ti pass", you would probably get a pretty low mark

unless you're not intent on applying for PR, u cant run from it long

This post has been edited by soontheam: Apr 17 2008, 04:10 PM

other than stationery, u should look into one jacket at least to tide you over until you can get a proper jumper or jacket.
Do not attempt to bring in food if you do not know what you are not allowed to bring in.
If can, get your textbooks locally in Malaysia as the cost is way way lower than here. By way lower, it can be 3-5 times cheaper. (Ex. Compare textbook of MYR80 versus AUD130 here)
Don't bother attempting to save money by bringing your own printer. The costs of printers here are very low, can get an All-In-One for less than AUD100 and you would probably save at most MYR30 or so if you bring one in. The ink and/or toner on the hand you should bring in due to the cost differences.

Commonwealth streamline is available to students , regardless internatiional orcitizen or not

You can probably get it from a electronics store near you. I got mine with a surge protector built in for about MYR9 or so ...

haha.. there's not really much to lose in the first week. unless u're up for some bodeking
wat airline are u using?