I think I have to give this subject a 5/5 honestly - it’s not perfect but it is about as good as a subject gets in my experience and I don’t really have any complaints. I strongly recommend it for anyone interested in the issues surrounding genetic testing and ethical principles that pertain to genetic information. Although 90% of people in this subject when I did it were science/biomed - you really don’t need a deep understanding of any biological mechanisms and what not and honestly with all the ethical discussions and writing it felt akin to an arts subject, with less of an essay focus. Additionally, this subject has somewhat of a reputation as a WAM booster (the average mark is usually around 85) and it does live up to it in my experience - as the workload is low and the assessments are not difficult, so with effort you can defo get 90+ Each lecture in this subject is essentially done by a different lecturer every time and as a result the quality of each lecture varies and as you get deeper in the semester you will see that some of the content overlaps. The lectures themselves are pretty chill conceptually but are sometimes boring and confusing on what you should know/take away. POPH20001 broadly covers genetics as a whole and mainly ethical issues and principles around genetic stuff. This subject talks a lot about genetic counselling and that is the main context for the ‘ethical issues’. The modules were: nature vs nurture (all the biology stuff), ethical issues of genetic testing, genetics and identity( AI/LGBTQIA+/Indigenous genomics), genetics and the law and then genetics in art and media. The only hard lecture conceptually was the bioinformatics one although it was not thoroughly assessed. In terms of what the tutorials cover they mainly consist of open ended discussion questions that cover hypothetical scenarios relating to certain lectures from the previous weeks. I recommend going to the tutorials since answers aren’t posted and if you’re up for it you should contribute since the tutorials are more interesting for everyone that way. This subject is one of those types where you can receive marks as long as your responses are valid/if you can back them up - hence, it is beneficial to hear various perspectives/questions from other students since the exam questions are somewhat open ended. Importantly, the tutorial questions make it much more clear which topics from the lectures are most important so you know what to focus on (for example I didn’t think health economics was super important initially, but the tutorial covered parts of it so I made sure to know that lecture in depth). This subject has three assessment types - three quizzes that make up 25% of the subject grade, as well as a 15% group assignment and 60% exam. The quizzes are due throughout the semester and you can totally get 100% on all of them if you pay attention in the lectures and tbh you could probably do well on them just with general knowledge/intuition. The group assignment involves a group of four from your tutorial group and is not taxing. You are given a list of options of various TV shows/books/movies e.g. black mirror, never let me go, CODA - you have to watch/read them and answer questions about them in a written document and also in the form of a group presentation. For your group presentation your main priority should be trying to be as creative as possible - marks are most commonly lost for creativity rather than content. Even though I thought my presentation was creative, it turns out it was not as creative as I thought and this is where my group lost most marks (I later found out from an older thread online that my idea had been done before so that may have played a role - but really, focus on being creative in your presentation !!). Overall it is pretty fun and meant to be more lax and enjoyable - in the words of my tutor Michael (who was great btw and I’m pretty sure all the tutors in this subject are lovely) - “it is not an assignment that is meant to keep you up at night”. In terms of the exam it written with 20 MCQ (30 marks), 1 integrated question (30 marks but multiple components e.g. a 3 marker followed by a 2 marker then a 4 marker then a 6 marker etc.) and 9 SAQs (12 marks each) - of which you only have to answer 5 of your choosing. If you go to the tutorials and focus on ethical principles and hypothetical scenarios the subject discussed you’ll be able to do the integrated question and you get an idea of what to expect as you go along. The SAQs give some flexibility in answering and revising what parts of the subject you found most interesting e.g. epigenetics, LGBTQ/Indigenous genomic healthcare, interpreting genetic art and more. The exam marking is pretty generous and as I mentioned before, as long as your answer is reasonable and logically justified/explained you can get high marks for certain questions - even if it isn’t explicitly mentioned. For example in answering what factors could improve the cost effectiveness of a health intervention to treat/screen for a disease I mentioned how improving treatments or inventing a magical cure would help to lower those costs, which was valid despite not being a main point that was overtly stated. During the exam I found myself writing almost non-stop from the start to the end of the exam and only finished with about 20 seconds left, which is probably the most time pressure I’ve been under in my degree so far. I walked out of that exam feeling iffy on 2-3 SAQs because they were a bit different to what I was hoping for/expected but the marking is quite lenient/generous as I calculated that I only lost 1 or 2 marks on the exam overall. Because of that I think that this subject is somewhat low ROI with a high floor (what I mean is that studying extensively for the exam doesn’t yield a ton of value because of the marking and open-ended nature of the questions yet you can still get a high mark as evidenced by the average of 85 or so), which makes it appealing for anyone doing tough discipline subjects or anyone looking for a WAM booster. Overall I am really glad I did this subject and I really recommend it because the discussions were really interesting, assessments fun/achievable with a low workload.

Score: H1. Really easy subject with 3 online quizzes. I believe everyone was basically getting full marks for these quizzes. Then there was this group work to develop a creative project based on the lecture materials. However, I have to warn the you have to select your group wisely (and there's no peer review in this subject) as I remember having to work most of the stuff with another member so it's a bit unfair in that aspect. The final exam itself is worth 60%, but tbh I think it's mostly logical and not rote memorisation. My only tip would be fully understanding the 4 core ethical principles (beneficence, autonomy, justice, and non-maleficence) as there would be a lot of question on the exam based on these principles. Overall, wonderful subject with amazing coordinator! I highly recommend this breadth subject for people who like genetics.

Grade: 90 (H1) Very fun subject and everything first year bio should have been. Assignments are super fair and easy to score well in if you put in the work. Content is quite chill and the exam was also fair. Definitely a fun WAM booster.

An excellent and interesting subject which delves into the broader ethical, societal and legal aspects of genetics. Not only is the content covered in this subject useful for those pursuing a career related to health or genetics, but it was also relatively easy to score well in, provided that you take good lecture notes and attend the tutorials. The tutorials were quite useful as we go over exam-style questions related to a particular scenario, and there is also a formative assessment for which we can get personalised feedback from our tutor. The multiple-choice quizzes were straightforward and the group assignment wasn't too bad either, especially if you have a good group and are creative with your presentation. The exam had three sections; multiple choice, short answer questions and long answer questions. For the long answer section, there were 9 questions to choose from, but we were only required to answer 5 of them, so we could choose the questions we felt most confident in answering. Although the exam involved a lot of writing, if you put in the effort to learn the content throughout the semester, then you can do well.

Definitely not a WAM booster as people make it to be. The quizzes were pretty difficult to do well, and make up quite a significant part of your final grade (25%). How well you do the group assignment heavily depends on your group members and if they are willing to put in effort into it; often people come in to this subject as a WAM booster, hence neglect the work that needs to be done to do well. Although the content at times were interesting, it is not an easy subject to score well in and for some people (like me), you will need to put lots of effort into this subject. I haven’t done the exam yet, but from the assessments so far, it is definitely not a WAM booster for me and I must now work hard to not flunk the exam to do a decent job in this subject. Regardless, I think you can still be able to do well in this subject, but don’t expect to not put effort into the subject and get a good mark because of it; you will need to work quite a bit and choose your group members wisely.

3.5/5. This subject is pretty good. Although I dislike genetics, I found this subject manageable. The subject starts off with information about genes and inheritance, and quickly ramps up to genetic diseases. We also learnt about twins and twin studies, epigenetics (a hard lecture!), genetic tests, ethics, population genetic testing/screening, point of care genetic tests, genetics laws and art/disabilities. There's also a module about Bioinformatics which is stupidly hard and also assessed thoroughly so make sure you understand that!!! The quizzes are not too bad, but sometimes badly worded- advice: don't overthink it and go with the most obvious answers. The group project was very easy- you pick a novel/TV show/movie and do a presentation on it. My group got a 95 (be creative with your presentation!!!). The exam was very time rushed (2 hours for 120 marks!), but the marking was easy so its easy to score well.

I really loved this subject! Every week the lectures had a different theme and you got to learn about all kinds of different things related to genetics, from genetic testing to public health economics to legal applications and ethical dilemmas. The content was relatively easy and the tutorials were engaging, plus the group project was very easy to do well in and very fun. I would recommend that if you do this subject you have at least year 12 level biology knowledge, although they do provide students who have not done much science before with enough resources as to not be disadvantaged.

A really interesting subjects that focuses on genetics and the relationship it has to other fields such as law, ethics and society. If you are at all interested in going into genetic counseling, this subject gives you a good perspective on the profession. The lecture content isn’t too heavy, except for maybe the first 2-3 weeks which focuses on the science of genetics (i.e learning about genes, DNA, mitosis, meiosis and epigenetics), but they can be understood once you work your way through them. If you’ve done genetics in first year/second year it won’t be a problem. The assessments are good too, you can definitely score well in the quizzes and for the final exam, they give you a practice exam and other practice resources. The tutorial discussions were really interesting as well. Highly recommend this subject!

Peter is a kind and friendly tutor. Subject is also decently interesting.

Really good subject! Highly recommended to anyone who has a content dense core subject! I watched lectures before each quiz and for the exam (did a day of preparation) and ended up with a really good mark!