Getting started: how a degree works
Credit points, majors and minors, breadth, subject rules, grades and WAM.
Overview · Getting started · Enrolling · During semester · International · Help
First semester
Most people take 4 subjects. An easy way to pick them:
- Pick the major you’re most likely to do, and take its level-1 subjects first. The Plan page shows which ones.
- Fill the rest with subjects you’re curious about, or with breadth.
- Enrol in my.unimelb, then choose your class times in MyTimetable.
- Don’t like a subject? You can still drop it for free before the census date. International students, check with Stop 1 first.
Breadth means subjects from outside your degree’s own area, such as commerce or arts for a science student. Each subject’s Handbook page lists the degrees that may take it as breadth. All six degrees here need at least 50 points of breadth (4 subjects). Level-1 breadth counts up to 25 points in Science and up to 37.5 points in Arts, Biomedicine, Commerce and Design; Commerce also counts no more than 62.5 points of breadth in all.
Wondering which subjects students find easier or harder? See the easy and hard subject lists, each with its reasons. Easy subjects · Hard subjects
Credit points
Every subject is worth some credit points. Most undergrad subjects are 12.5. A 3-year bachelor needs 300 points, so 24 subjects. Course and major rules are written in points too, like “at least 50 points at level 3”.
Majors, double majors and minors
- Every bachelor’s degree needs at least one major: the main subject area you finish in third year.
- Double major: Arts, Commerce and Design let you add a second major. In Design it’s only possible for some majors.
- Minor: a smaller extra area. Arts lets you add one minor, and Arts minors are only open to Bachelor of Arts students.
- In Arts, one subject counts toward only one major or minor, even if it’s on both lists.
Some majors and minors can’t be taken together because they’re too close (the Handbook calls this “Diversity of study”), for example Chinese Studies with Chinese Societies. You also can’t take a minor with the same name as your major.
Concurrent diplomas: the Diploma in Languages, Computing or Mathematical Sciences is 100 extra points taken next to your bachelor, usually one more year. Up to 50 points can count for both, so some students finish sooner. Some majors can’t take Computing or Mathematical Sciences. Indigenous students can also choose the Bachelor of Science (Extended): a foundation year, then the usual Science majors, 350 points over three and a half years.
Stuck between two directions? Make a Plan A and a Plan B on the Plan page. Each plan keeps its own major, strengths, interests and goal, while your record of finished subjects is shared.
Limits that catch people out
- Arts and Biomedicine: no more than 125 points (10 subjects) from any one discipline, so you can’t load up on one area.
- Design: some majors list subjects you can’t count as breadth. They’re on the major’s Handbook page.
- Design also has informal specialisations: a short 25-point set of level-3 subjects, optional, on top of the optional formal specialisation.
Subject rules
- Prerequisites
- Subjects you need to pass before you can start this one.
- Corequisites
- Subjects you have to take in the same semester as this one.
- Non-allowed subjects
- Subjects that cover too much of the same stuff. You can’t get credit for both.
Missing a prerequisite but already know the material? You can ask the subject coordinator for a waiver.
Grades
You get a mark out of 100 and a grade for each subject. 50 is a pass.
| Grade | Mark | Name |
|---|---|---|
| H1 | 80–100 | First Class Honours |
| H2A | 75–79 | Second Class Honours, Division A |
| H2B | 70–74 | Second Class Honours, Division B |
| H3 | 65–69 | Third Class Honours |
| P | 50–64 | Pass |
| N | 0–49 | Fail |
WAM
WAM (Weighted Average Mark) is your average mark, weighted by points. A 25-point subject counts twice as much as a 12.5-point one. It’s used for overloading, honours, scholarships and a lot of master’s applications.
WAM = sum of (mark × points) ÷ total points
Say you have three 12.5-point subjects with 80, 70 and 60. Your WAM is 70.
- Counted: every subject with a mark out of 100, fails included.
- Not counted: pass/fail-only subjects, subjects you withdrew from, and credit from another uni.
Rules here are from the University of Melbourne student website and can change. Check there or ask Stop 1 before you decide anything.