Not sure why this unit has so many good reviews. Maybe they were much better in person, but as someone who completed this unit online, I found it very difficult to stay on top of the workload. There are these "research activities" and you need to complete at least three of them during the semester, and there are worksheets that follow with them. However, some questions and the tutor's guidance for marking were extremely vague so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the extent and level of detail I have to elaborate my answers to. You also have a semester long research proposal to complete, where you sign up for a research question and you are allocated to corresponding supervisors. I personally found supervisors very unhelpful - I've only sent them two emails throughout the semester, but even with these they were very reluctant to answer my inquiries and expected me to "research" your own answer, despite the content being far beyond the scope of the unit (e.g. statistical tests used for research). This made completion of research proposal really difficult and contrasted with my other units this sem where I had tutors that were very willing to assist students. Overall it wasn't too much of a great experience for me, I wish I could've chosen another unit over this one.

Anonymous, Semester 2, 2021

THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING SUBJECT I HAVE EVER DONE AT UNI...EVER...!!!!!! But here is the deal, the unit is quota restricted so only about the first 150 students who enroll in the unit gets to do the unit. So if you wanna do this, enroll ASAP. The subject material is very interesting and the lectures are also good. There is a lot to learn so you need to keep on track from day one. The best part of this unit is the weekly research activities (WRAs) and the semester-long research projects (SLRP). There are WRAs happening each week and you need to enroll yourself into one. The list goes up on moodle every Friday and the WRA allocations open up at 5 PM on Friday. There are 8 weeks of WRAs and you only need to do 3. If you do more than 3, only the best 3 gets counted. The issue here is getting into a WRA. There are about 20-25 vacancies (or even less) available on each weeks WRAs. So students normally have the allocation pages open before 5 and are constantly refreshing the page so they get into something. This means positions fill up within minutes. However, you only need to do 3 out of the 8. The other issue with the WRAs is that they are not held in a set time each week. Basically, they give us a list of projects available with the time and date and how many people can get in, and we have to decide whether we can attend it at that time. So you need to have a lot of free time across the week to fit WRAs in. But you only have to do that 3 times. You can do more if you can. In a WRA you get to go into the labs where real science research is being done or witness real fetal surgeries done on sheep. Then you need to complete a report which then gets marked. WRAs are so interesting and these are some of the best experiences I've had at uni. The SLRP is harder and needs you to do a lot of work and is worth 20% of the final grade. There is one compulsory prac where you get to cut open a sheep uterus and a fetal sheep. You also get the chance to visit the NICU at the Monash children's hospital and see real babies with illnesses we were taught about (if you manage to sign up in time - only a few places available) The unit offers you so many hands-on experiences, It costs the same as any other unit so it's a very good deal for out money. I would very highly recommend this. But if you wanna score well in this, you will need to put in a lot of work. But I loved this unit so much and I'm sure you would too.

Anonymous, Semester 2, 2017

BME3082 has the most fascinating and hands-on laboratory experiences you'll ever encounter within the medicine/science faculties. As the laboratories are predominantly held in Hudson Institute of Medical Research (a world class research facility), you are able to witness experiments/surgeries completed by practising doctors on animal models (including ewes and their fetuses, rats, etc). Furthermore, if you wish to pursue a career as a biomedical researcher (or continue with an Honours year), this unit will provide you with a glimpse of the laboratory equipment and machinery you will utilise on a daily basis. There are only two lectures per week (back to back), and laboratories do not run each week. Additionally, the wide variety of laboratory sessions available is completely up to the student to choose. The main assignment (a semester long research project) can be paired with many of the available weekly laboratory sessions to enhance the topic understanding.

Anonymous, Semester 2, 2015