BESS Thread

Right_Side

Babybing wrote:

This is one course i am looking very forward to. It was a natural choice for me as I am very interested in financial markets and this is the area id like to work in after my degree. I wouldnt say it is the easiest course in the world as things like derivatives and technical analysis tend to be quite complex but if the area interests you at all im sure it will be a very rewarding and useful course. It also seems like a very practical course whcih i also like.

Same for myself. Probably the course I have most expectations for.

Running Bing

Wow didnt know there were so many bess people on boards. I thought the girls would be far to busy applying fake tan and the lads would be far to busy playing rugby:D

Time Magazine

pollytcd wrote:

hi everyone,

hope everyone gets on good in their exams. I am a JF bess student and am nervous about mine. Was wondering has anyone any tips, not necessarily hints. Just wondering what are the main focuses. i am a studier but tend to cover too much, but not fully.

good luck.

pol,

Hi Polly,

JF BESS exams are easier than you think.

For Sociology pick some topics that you've covered and know well. The course this year is different to last year's but I picked McDonaldisation, the Celtic Tiger, education and something else. No problem to you.

Same for politics. The paper will probably be as you expected. Power will probably come up, post-9/11, nature of states... all that stuff. Basically she's not going to try and punish you. To be nice, I'm going to attach an essay I got a First in for you. It's on Power. Obviously don't copy it, just take from it and know that's what's expected.

Stats: know your normal distribution/z-tables and you're away.

Maths: know how to do the intermediately difficult questions in Jacques in the topics. This will get you by fine.

Business, just know the readings. Nothing more, nothing less. You'll be fine if you do. If you did an essay in Hillary Term a question like that may come up.

I can't remember JF economics.

Hope this is of some help.

pollytcd

Thanks Angry B,

Nietzschean

Babybing wrote:

Wow didnt know there were so many bess people on boards.

Yeah keep crawling out of the woodwork of late, good to see though, the board was a bit dominated by ham end people.

Nietzschean

Nietzschean wrote:

Yeah keep crawling out of the woodwork of late, good to see though, the board was a bit dominated by ham end people.

Free the Museum Million!

europerson

Right_Side wrote:

Probably the course I have most expectations for.

Is it the course you expect to enjoy most or the course you expect to do very well from?

gilroyb

europerson wrote:

It appeals a lot to people who don't enjoy economic theory.

As well as to a lot of people who do.

europerson wrote:

We were told that Dr. Newman and Prof. O'Hagan would continue to share it. I think it works well that way.

I agree that that is the best way, but from year to year these things can change, sometimes certain lectures lessen their load for a year or two due to other committments. O'Hagan was gone due to being appointed Bursar. One thing I've learned from my four years is not to choose subjects just to get the best lecturer, because when you start up in October very often there is a different lecturer taking the course.


Regarding the use of maths for future courses/careers, it is extremely useful (and by maths I mainly mean econometrics not just quants). There are other important areas of economics that don't rely on maths (even though it would be very useful). Even competition policy, such as is dealt with in the 4th year course Industrial Organisation, can be approached without use of too many difficult statistical approaches.

Just as a point of information, the Econometrics course is crafted to help you (at least) not fail. The christmas exam is hell on earth, but not worth much, the optional essay is worth 5% just for passing it, the project gets a good deal of I's, II.i's, and II.ii's, and the end of year exam is grand. You'll learn a lot that comes in handy not just for every other economics course, but also for every politics subject (if you're doing Econ&Pol joint honours of course).

Black_Couch

Thanks for the essay on Power AB.
I uploaded my take home exam. I got a first in it aswel so it should be of some use.



I've done no readings for politics apart from the essay and have gone to about half of the lectures. How much do u suggest I need to read?
Also for sociology, I haven't done any readings apart from the ones for my essays.

Right_Side

europerson wrote:

Is it the course you expect to enjoy most or the course you expect to do very well from?

Well, both hopefully.

I see it as having relevance towards my future career.

Ideo

hope ye have done your homework! in fourth year bbs, and possibly ba, you can pick the 3rd year applied finance course. with fourth years work levels you could easily get a 1st or high 2.1 in this. brian lucey teaches it and he's great, accesbile enough. done it this year, 3rd year, and if i had of knowing how good/easy enough it was i would have doing it next year, 4th year!

Right_Side

scooby_doo_no1 wrote:

hope ye have done your homework! in fourth year bbs, and possibly ba, you can pick the 3rd year applied finance course. with fourth years work levels you could easily get a 1st or high 2.1 in this. brian lucey teaches it and he's great, accesbile enough. done it this year, 3rd year, and if i had of knowing how good/easy enough it was i would have doing it next year, 4th year!

Mmm... interesting point. However, if I don't do it next year than I wont have a second business subject because I refuse to do any of the other bull. I like the uniqueness of the Business and Economics degree.

Could you give a breakdown on the assessment for Applied Finance?

Also, what other courses did you do?

Ideo

yeah theres a MT MCQ(10%), HT MCQ(10%) TT Book review (10%) and a group project company report (20%) and the summer exam, no choice, is worth 50%! whats the other business subject your doing? if i had a second chance id drop the finance this year, 3rd, and take the two finance courses in 4th yr

Ideo

oh sorry, im doin accounts, finance, industrial economics, IST and marketing, ask away if your going to do any of them

Bartronilic

Any help for Political science end of year exam, the notes are confusing. So many terms that can't be found in the notes and can be found in the questions.

Right_Side

scooby_doo_no1 wrote:

yeah theres a MT MCQ(10%), HT MCQ(10%) TT Book review (10%) and a group project company report (20%) and the summer exam, no choice, is worth 50%! whats the other business subject your doing? if i had a second chance id drop the finance this year, 3rd, and take the two finance courses in 4th yr

Whats the book review and group report like?

I'm going to do Accounting. Whats that like?

Is there not two other finance courses on top of Applied Finance on offer in 4th year?

If I could, I would do AF in 4th year after your advice but I don't want to do Marketing, OB&C or HR so if I want to do joint honours I have to do it next year.

gilroyb

Bartronilic wrote:

Any help for Political science end of year exam, the notes are confusing. So many terms that can't be found in the notes and can be found in the questions.

My 1st year exam was back in the days of Ron Hill, so any general exam suggestions I could offer would be outdated, but if there are any particular terms/issues you'd like to ask about, feel free to ask here or PM me. I'm in 4th year at the moment, so that goes for anyone else in 2nd or 3rd year. I wish I had some suggestions for 4th year, but ah well.

Running Bing

Whats the app. finance course like scooby doo? Is it very maths based or is it more theory? Was this course formally known as corporate financial management? also if theres anyone out there who has done mathematical economics or investment analysis Id be really interested to hear from you.

Also it doesnt appear your able to do app fininace in fourth year if your going for the single honors economics. Is this correct?

europerson

Babybing wrote:

Also it doesnt appear your able to do app fininace in fourth year if your going for the single honors economics. Is this correct?

You can do it, provided your other three courses don't consist of any Business courses.

Bartronilic

Thanks for everyone's help! I've decided to do the 5 subjects I'd need for single hons business, single hons economics or joint honour bus + economics. The spare subject I think will be Law cos I want to find things about Irish law!.

The way I'm gonna do my degree in 3rd/4th year is gonna be as non mathsy as possible eg. HR management and oganisation in business and the same for economics.

Thank you for helping! And good luck to everyone!

Running Bing

Bartronilic wrote:

Thanks for everyone's help! I've decided to do the 5 subjects I'd need for single hons business, single hons economics or joint honour bus + economics.

Wise choice. Even if you end up hating one of the subjects(as I did with business) you still wont regret it. Good luck.

Black_Couch

Yeah I'm doing the same myself. Thanks again.

Ideo

Right_Side wrote:

Whats the book review and group report like?

I'm going to do Accounting. Whats that like?

Is there not two other finance courses on top of Applied Finance on offer in 4th year?

If I could, I would do AF in 4th year after your advice but I don't want to do Marketing, OB&C or HR so if I want to do joint honours I have to do it next year.

the book review consists of a 3000 word review on two books from a selected reading list. there all finance based novels, see when genuis failed: the rise and fall of long term capital management; american sucker; the pied pipers of wall street. there all available in the library so should be accesible enough. its not that bad at all, the avg was 69.9 so im not complaining!

the company report is a 3 person group project. its not that bad either, well i didnt find that so. its based on the financial position of a company, so its just ratios and a bit of analysis. we were given a good sample report sp its was a good guideline. both assignments were due on the same day this year which was a bit of a bitch, the company report was like 32 pages long but thats because there are lots of tables and stuff! think next year he will give on each term, so it should be more manageable.

patsy mccabes accounts is a bit hit and miss. if u like accounting you shouldnt have too many problems. i like, sitting close to a 2.1 avg so thats not too bad! his final exam should be nice enough, check the past papers to see what i mean. similar questions from year to year

in 4th year theres 3 financy courses: AP(the 3rd year one), financial markets and the corporate sector(business) and economics of securities markets(econ). dont know much about them other than the financial markets course doesn't exactly follow on from the applied finance course, or so i hear!

jesus, this post is going on too long!

Bartronilic

Any more exam help? Did 6 topics in Pol Sci and made notes out of them. In Te second part of sociology was EASY but ethel's part is quite hard. Gonna do 6 topics from hers and use gddens/tovey and share.

Economics gonna read the book, see how many exam qs i can answer then do the Course Compass Online Tests for hours straight.

Maths/Stats is piss.

Business is piss.

Note: i think they're piss but others migtn't so if people want advice on them i will gladly give it!

Black_Couch

how are u studying the maths/stats?

The course compass is a bit of a waste of time I think. They take so long and some of the questions are irrelevant. Also when asked to draw a graph, you can draw it correct and still get it wrong. I think economics will be fine with some study.

I've heard to focus on organisations in sociology. Have to resubmit this essay for a massive maximum of 3% fantastic.

Awayindahils

Bartronilic wrote:

Any more exam help? Did 6 topics in Pol Sci and made notes out of them. In Te second part of sociology was EASY but ethel's part is quite hard. Gonna do 6 topics from hers and use gddens/tovey and share.

Economics gonna read the book, see how many exam qs i can answer then do the Course Compass Online Tests for hours straight.

Maths/Stats is piss.

Business is piss.

Note: i think they're piss but others migtn't so if people want advice on them i will gladly give it!

shush you're starting to scare me.

and maths and stats do the ch. summarys for stats and just do the extra questions from his website for maths

Running Bing

Do you still use begg for macroeconomics? Im racking my brain trying to think of advice to give for jf bess but I really cant remember a bloody thing. I remeber the maths was harder then I expected(given the easiness of the christmas test) and everything else was easier then expected(bus was about as expected. Its pretty predictable, know the readings you cant go wrong). I really think my excessive consumption alchohol on the day/night/following day/following night I finished the exams has wiped all recollection of the previous week from my mind.

Running Bing

Anyone any info on monetary and welfare economics in js. Id appreciate it.

europerson

Babybing wrote:

Do you still use begg for macroeconomics?

I think they use the same text for Micro and Macro now: Parkin and Powell or something like that...?

gilroyb

I really liked Mankiw, excellently structured I thought. Never used Begg, it was on the reading list, but I never used it.

As has been mentioned on the ARAM thread, Ruane will be leaving Trinity, so don't choose subjects based on her being the lecturer. This year that advice applies more than usual. There are a good deal of changes in staff on the way, and almost all economics courses are liable to be shaken up somewhat. Make sure to select the course that seems most interesting to you, not the one that has the most appealing lecurer/assignment structure, because these things a liable to change.