7 Easy Units At Monash University

It’s safe to say that most of us enter our university years with dreams of becoming the next academic hotshot. However, by the time our second semester rolls around, the inspirational ‘Success all depends on the second letter’ quote we had bluetacked to our bedroom walls becomes the muttered ‘Ps get degrees’ in times of stress. To give your WAM a much-needed boost so you can cruise through 2017, it’s not a bad idea to use your electives on these easy units at Monash University!

Please note that the information provided is based on the unit in 2016 and may not be entirely correct for 2017.

1. ATS1297 – Academic writing

If you consult Monash Stalkerspace about easy units, this is the first you’ll be told about. Students are taught how research for, properly reference, write and proofread academic essays, and even how the academic essay “differs from other types of non-fiction writing, such as the opinion piece.”(I kid you not, that is an actual quote from the unit summary.)

Your entire mark is determined by in-semester assessments, which means there’s no exam. Furthermore, in 2016 much of your final grade was made up of practice essays, online quizzes and participation (in other words, simply rocking up to class).

2. ATS1298 – Professional writing

While most uni students are content to communicate through emojis and deep sighs, ATS1298 looks long term and develops your communication skills for the workplace, both written and verbal.

No exams, no problems. The 2016 course included assessed activities such as creating survey questions and completing a multi-choice quiz.

3. ATS1281 – Understanding crime: An Introduction

ATS1281 is easy mostly because it’s fun to study. It’s one of the most popular and easy units at Monash University. Each week focuses on a different theory about why people commit crime, with examples and criticisms included. It’s interesting to link each theory to real criminals or characters to understand their actions, and this makes the content easier to remember.

Some of the assessment is made up of online quizzes to develop your academic skills, and there’s an exam worth 40%. In my experience, for the exam you only need to revise five weeks of work instead of ten, making it less time consuming.

4. ATS1261 – Understanding human behaviour

Graded entirely on in-semester assessments, that’s not the only benefit of taking this unit. There’s something cool about gaining insight about human behaviour, as though you could start profiling everybody you meet after this one unit. I’m sure that learning about “social perceptions, attitudes and research report writing” will do you well in your FBI career.

Assignments consist of multi-choice and short answer tests, and a research report.

5. ATS1835 – Time, self and mind

The best part about philosophy units is that you can speak your mind about life’s deeper questions and never technically be incorrect. ATS1835 discusses matters of metaphysics, including artificial intelligence (Westworld, anybody?) and time travel. Each topic is introduced through reading science fiction, and for some, this makes the set readings a breeze.

Alas, there is an exam. However, the bulk of the unit (60%) is marked through in-semester assessments.

6. ATS1371 – Life, death and morality

Like the previous unit this is an introduction to philosophy, but through the topic of death. It’s one of the most thought-provoking and easy units at Monash University. If you can survive the existential crisis, the unit could be pretty interesting and wing-able. (Particularly if you’re fond of emo quotes that, back in year eight, you thought were cool.)

The assessments include short written assessments based “loosely” on the readings that add up to 30% of your final mark. There are also optional (yes, optional) quizzes each week that refer to the readings that could score you an extra 5% on your end of semester result.

7. ATS1701 – Terrorism and political violence: An Introduction

Despite the intimidating name and heavy content matter, the unit isn’t particularly challenging. The in-semester assessment is worth 55%, and you get the choice between a major essay and a scenario-based assignment, with rolling due dates.

While there is a closed book exam, the questions are released beforehand, making it a glorified assignment.