Information for Current Undergraduate Students

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Majors, specialisations and what will appear on my degree testamur?

There are two majors offered to Bachelor of Science students by the School of Biological Sciences: Biology or Plant Science.

A major in Biology is defined as the completion of 24 credit points in Senior (third year) units of study offered by the School of Biological Sciences. These include units with the prefixes BIOL, PLNT and some MBLG.

To achieve a Pass degree in Biological Science a student must complete 144 credit points, including 84 Intermediate or Senior credit points. Of these, at least 24 credit points of Senior units must be in Biological Sciences. All units of study in Biological Sciences are 6 credit points. Completion of 48 credit points of Senior units is referred to as a double major.

A major in Plant Science requires the completion of 24 credit points in senior (third year) units of study with the prefix PLNT.

Within a Biology major you may choose to specialise in Botany, Zoology, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Marine Biology or Ecology. Guidelines to choosing units of study for these specialisations are given in the links above. Your testamur will not specify the specialistion but state Bachelor of Science in Biology.

Students enrolled in specific degrees, such as B. Sc. (Marine Science), B. Sc. (Molecular Biology), and B. Sc. (Environmental Science), are required to follow specific programs and should consult the specific link for their degree.

Units of study in the School of Biological Sciences

Click on to go to the Faculty of Science Handbook entry for any unit of study (which includes unit of study description, prerequisites, assessment outline and staff information).

Click on the icon, where present, to go to the Faculty of Science Handbook entry for the Advanced version of the unit of study.

Click on any unit of study name with a hyperlink to go to further information about the unit of study.

You can download specific Biological Sciences handbooks for Intermediate and Senior units of study by clicking on the links below.    

Booklet outlining Intermediate (second year) units of study (pdf)    

Booklet outlining Senior (third year) units of study (pdf)

First Year

Junior (first year) units provide students with an opportunity to:

• develop an overview of biological concepts

• begin to develop an understanding of the characteristics of scholarship and research.

	Semester 1			Semester 2
1st year	BIOL 1001 Concepts in Biology		-	BIOL1002 Living Systems
	Biol 1911 Concepts in Biology (Advanced)			MBLG1001 Molecular Biology and Genetics (Intro)
	BIOL1003 Human Biology
	EDUH 1016 Human Biosciences

Second year

Intermediate Units offered by the School provide students with opportunities to:

• integrate knowledge from junior to intermediate level

• begin to develop a specialist understanding in an area of biology.

• engage in the experimental process to develop authentic skills intrinsic to the scientific enquiry process.

• develop an understanding of the characteristics of scholarship and research.

2nd year	Semester 1			Semester 2
	BIOL 2011 Invertebrate Zoology			BIOL 2012 Vertebrates & their Origins
	PLNT 2001 Plant Biochemistry & Molecular Biology			PLNT 2003 Plant Form & Function
	PLNT 2002 Australian Flora: Ecology & Conservation			MBLG 2072 Molecular Biology &Genetics B
	BIOL 2016 Cell Biology			BIOL 2017 Entomology		-
	ENVI 2111 Conservation Biology
	MBLG 2071 Molecular Biology & Genetics A

Third Year

Senior Units offered by the School provide students with opportunities to:

• integrate knowledge gained over the degree program

• develop a specialist understanding of an area of biology.

• carry out small research projects (as appropriate) and thereby develop authentic skills intrinsic to the scientific enquiry processes.

• understand the characteristics of scholarship and research.

3rd year	Pre- Semester 1			Pre- Semester 2
	BIOL3017 Fungi in the Environment			BIOL3008 - Marine Field Ecology
	BIOL3010 Tropical Wildlife Biology & Management			BIOL3009 - Terrestrial Field Ecology
	Semester 1			Semester 2
	BIOL3006 Ecological methods			BIOL3007 - Ecology
	BIOL3011 Ecophysiology			PLNT3001 Plant Cell & Environment
	BIOL3012 Animal Physiology			PLNT3002 Plant Growth & Development
	BIOL3013 Marine Biology			BIOL3025 Evolutionary Genetics & Animal Behaviour
	PLNT30O3 Systematics & Evolution of Plants			BIOL3026 Developmental Genetics
	BIOL3018 Applications of Recombinant DNA Technology
	BIOL3027 Bioinformatics & Genomics