Module Review: CN3101 (AY19/20 Semester 1)

CN3101 Chemical Engineering Process Lab I is a 4 MC labaratory module which covers content taught in the 2k modules (aka CN2101, CN2121, CN2122, CN2125 and CN2116). There were 8 lab sessions in total and there are no finals for this module. The module thus will end around week 11 once you've submitted your final lab report. 

Assessment

5% Peer Review (Done online on week 13)
10% Lab Safety Quiz (Short answer questions, closed book, 1 hour)
25% Viva (4 sessions of viva, able to bring lab manual)
60% Lab Reports (8 10-Page Lab reports)

Tutors: 
Various teaching assistants in Chem Eng

Textbooks/Readings
The same textbooks covered in the 2k modules (can refer to my review for these modules)

"Lectures"
So, there are obviously no lectures for this module. It's basically 8 5-hour lab sessions in the semester which is from week 3 - 10. BUT, there is a 1 hour introductory lecture mainly on safety in week 2. Basically, it serves as a briefing for the safety quiz as well. 

Safety Quiz
The safety quiz is a 1 hour quiz which takes place on the Saturday morning of Week 2. Basically, we were given a safety manual which is about 6 pages long to read. Then, we'll be tested on everything that's in these 6 pages. The quiz is closed book so what I did was just to memorise all 6 pages of information. 

The Profs did give a sample quiz on Luminus but the sample quiz the Profs gave was rather misleading. The sample quiz was entirely MCQ but the actual quiz wasn't hahaha. We were required to answer "fill in the blanks" questions as well as short answer questions. Soooo, read the 6 page manual inside out (note the spelling of certain terms as well). 10% ain't a small amount; I did really well for this quiz and it did push up my grade. 

Lab Sessions

As for the lab sessions, we usually go in and sign in our attendance first. Then, we would submit last week's hardcopy lab report. Then, we would find our groupmates and go to our allocated place to do the experiment of the week. Every group will have a different experiment to do and we will just rotate around throughout the entire semester. 

For the actual lab work, it wasn't very bad overall as now we're more familiar with Chem Eng concepts. We now know what we're doing, unlike CN1101 and CN1102. For every lab session, there will be a teaching assistant to guide you on how the experiment flows. That teaching assistant will also be marking your lab report. Other than that, throughout the experiment, if you have any issues, you can always approach them and they'll help you. For every experiment, we have to do up a risk assessment form as well which has to be attached to the back of our lab report submission, along with our set of data results recorded during the experiment. For me, I just prefer this module way more than CN1101 and CN1102 as I can finally see the concepts I learnt in the 2k modules being applied to the experiments itself. 

For the 8 experiments, 3 covered CN2122 content, 1 was on CN2125 content, 2 were on CN2116 content and another 2 were on CN2121 & CN2101 content. Some experiments are very fast and can be done within 2 - 3 hours and we can just leave after that. Some are longer and require the full 5 hours. But most of them are rather manageable and so long as you follow the instructions well, all's good.

Lab Report
For this semester, the Profs decided to make the lab report content shorter, which can be good or bad. We only need a title page, summary, results and discussions, conclusions, references and appendices. All other stuff like Intro and theoretical background can be omitted. (So in a way, I'm 3 years in Chem Eng in NUS and I haven't written a full length lab report yet. I mean other than that 1 time for CM1502 but that's for chemistry, not Chem Eng per se.) 

Anyways, all of us find it very hard to squeeze all our content into 10 pages since there are quite a number of things to discuss. Basically, the discussion portion is for you to show off the knowledge you've acquired from the 2k modules haha. Just remember to reference the appropriate textbooks as wells. Senior lab reports are also good for reference when writing lab reports. Each lab report was due one week after the lab itself. We were required to submit both the hardcopy and softcopy of the report.

Lab Viva
The viva took place 4 times throughout the 8 lab sessions. It will be in relation to the particular experiment you are doing for that day. We were allowed to bring along the lab manual and some of your notes (if you have) for the viva. Basically, it'll just be one group with the Prof. We weren't informed in advance when our viva will be. We'll only know on that day itself. 

The questions usually start off with what the general purpose of the experiment is about. Thereafter, the Profs may ask about certain equations used in the experiment or certain chemistry behind the reactions. For the first half of the semester, my group was tested by Prof Cindy. She graded us individually and asked us questions one by one. So, all of us had to speak up in order to get our own individual viva grades. Her questions were not too bad since they were all closely linked to the concepts we have learnt before. She does like to ask about industrial applications on a certain equipment (e.g. fluidized bed) so you can read up a bit on that before attending the lab session. Other than that, she's pretty okay.

For the second half of the semester, we were tested by Prof Hong Liang. His questions were tougher. Like it's good to prepare in advance if you know you'll be tested by him. He likes to ask us chemistry related questions like why the reaction is irreversible etc when it actually isn't the emphasis of the experiment. So, do keep a lookout and of course, just try your best to answer. Prof Hong Liang doesn't grade us individually; he grades us as a group overall. 

Expected Grade: A-

Final Grade: A

Final Comments
I still feel the safety quiz helped me push my grade up to an A. Because we were actually given back our lab reports and most of mine were B+/A-. I felt we did pretty okay only for viva so the only reason I felt I did better was because of the safety quiz hahaha (so study for that!). I won't talk much about peer review because it's pretty straight forward and it's the same as other modules as well. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: CN4122 (AY19/20 Semester 1)

CN4122 Process Synthesis and Simulation is a 3 MC module which deals with chemical process simulation using Aspen Hysys for the first portion and costing analysis for the second portion. This is not an easy module and requires all the chemical engineering knowledge that you've learnt over the past 5 - 6 semesters in NUS. This module serves as a "prelude" to your design project so it is an extremely crucial module. The thing that I don't really understand is why this module is only 3 MCs as the amount of effort and time I spent on this module is equivalent to any 4 MC module. 

Assessment

17% Tutorial participation (which is just attendance), viva, tutorial completion
8% Hysys assignment (individual)
15% Mechanical design and costing project (group)
60% Finals (Closed book, 25 MCQs, 45 minutes)

Lecturer: 
Prof IA Karimi (Weeks 1 - 8)
Prof Suraj Vasudevan (Weeks 9 - 13)

Tutor: 
Mr Vo Chi Hung

Textbooks/Readings
1. Chemical Engineering Design, by R Sinnott and G Towler, 5th Edition, Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2013.
2. Analysis, Synthesis, and Design of Chemical Processes, by R Turton, RC Bailie, WB Whiting, JA Shaeiwitz, D Bhattacharya, 4th Edition, Prentice Hall, 2012.
3. Product & Process Design Principles: Synthesis, Design, and Evaluation, by WD Seider, JD Seader, DR Lewin, S Widadgo, 3rd Edition, John Wiley, 2010.

I would say the textbooks are more important for the second portion of the module when it comes to mechanical design and costing. Having an online pdf version of these textbooks is sufficient. The lecture notes for the first part is sufficient for process simulation on Hysys.

Lectures
There is only a 2 hour lecture weekly for this module since this module is only 3 MCs. Prof Karimi taught the first part of the module on how to use Hysys to simulate our chemical processes. There are 5 lecture notes given by Prof Karami and this is his lecture schedule:

Week 1 - Lecture Slides 1 (Module introduction)
Week 2 - Lecture Slides 1 (Analysis of a process) and 2 (Start the very basics of using Hysys - adding components and FPs, Exercise D1)
Week 3 - Lecture Slides 2 (Exercise D1 - D4)
Week 4 - Lecture Slides 3 (Reactions, Exercise D5)
Week 5 - Lecture Slides 3 (Reactions, Exercise D5)
Week 6 - Lecture Slides 4 (Tee, Spreadsheet, Absorber)
Week 7 - Lecture Slides 4 (Distillation, Component Splitter)
Week 8 - Lecture Slides 5 (Recycle, Pump Performance, Exercise D6)

Prof Karimi teaches very well in my opinion. He gives a step by step guide on how to use Hysys, especially for beginners like us. Also, he does have this online questionaire thing where he asks us questions during lectures and we have to answer them by replying to him online. These questions are usually Chem Eng related questions and not about Hysys (like reason for changes in pressure, temperature etc). Usually, he'll expect some form of response before moving on with the lectures. But all responses are anonymous so just feel free to type any answer you want (especially when you're unsure) and you don't have to be embarrassed about it. 

All lectures are webcasted but this may not apply for those taking this module in Sem 2. I feel there isn't exactly a need to attend physical lectures as well since webcast is pretty sufficient. Just that, you have to listen to webcast in school since Hysys can only be used in school. It's best to use Hysys and see how it works while listening to lectures at the same time so that you won't be so lost. 

Prof Karimi's lecture notes can be rather messy at first but if you listen to him well during lectures and follow him closely, then it shouldn't be a big issue. The content does get tougher as the weeks go by. 

For the second part of the module, there are 5 lecture notes given by Prof Suraj and this is his lecture schedule:
Week 9 - Mechanical Design Part 1
Week 10 - Mechanical Design Part 2
Week 11 - Capital Cost Estimation
Week 12 - Manufacturing Cost Estimation and Economic Analysis
Week 13 - Profitability Analysis

The second part of the module is rather straight forward as it's mainly about mechanical design of vessels and economic analysis of plants. It's mostly about following guidelines and the profitability portion is very similar to the content covered in FIN2704 finance (I mean if you've taken that module too then this part of 4122 should not be a big issue for you). 

Just like how he does things in CN3132, there is a video lecture every week for Prof Suraj's portion that he wants us to watch before attending the physical lectures. So, his video lectures cover the first half of the content and the physical lectures cover the other half. 

Tutorial

Tutorials took place once a week, and they were 2 hours long. They are conducted in computer labs andddd it is the most independent kind of tutorial you can get in Chem Eng. There is a tutor in the tutorial which would take our attendance and basically just go around the class to answer any questions we have about Hysys. Then, you'll just be answering the tutorial questions independently or with your friends of course. Yeapp, so there's no tutor or Prof who would explain to you how to approach any of the tutorial questions; it's really just hands on by yourself.

There are 19 tutorial questions given for the entire semester (actual number of questions may differ for your sem). It's given in 2 batches; 11 in the first batch and 8 in the second batch. The last 5 questions are "optional" but strongly encouraged to do (I'll elaborate more about this later). Each question requires the use of Hysys and comes hand in hand with the lecture notes and lecture schedule. Like the lectures cover reactions, then separation units. So, the tutorial questions will cover reactions first then separation units later. 

The tutorials start on week 5 and end on week 12. Week 13 will be the viva sessions. Thus, there are about 8 sessions in total to complete 19 questions, thus around 2 - 3 questions can be done per lesson/week. For the tutorial questions, just try them and if you have any issues, you can always just raise your hand and ask the tutor any questions you have. The tutor I have is very helpful and will answer any doubt you have (he is that good at Hysys). And it is "compulsory" to attend tutorials since there is attendance too. 

Viva
The viva is basically on the tutorial questions you have attempted. It'll be conducted by your tutor, not the Profs. Around 2 questions will be chosen by your tutor and he will ask you questions related to the question itself. So, this is where the optional questions come into play. Basically, the optional questions you've completed will give you bonus marks so I really encourage you to complete as many questions as you can (although the last few questions are obviously tougher but at least try).

The questions my tutor asked me were not easy in my opinion. My tutor likes to ask questions very specifically on Hysys, like how the equipment works in the system and whether it is physically realizable. Some other tutors ask more concept questions instead. So, it really depends on which tutor you get. For me, I felt I didn't do too well for my viva but managed to get bonus marks as I completed all my tutorial questions. 

Hysys Assignment
The Hysys assignment was another eye-opener. It was released in week 7 and the deadline was in week 10. Basically, we had to simulate a separation process involving absorption and distillation and we have to reach a certain purity and recovery target. It is not easy to converge a distillation column so quite a lot of time was spent on this assignment (and it's only 8% of the grade omg). Try to think out of the box for this assignment as well. As you read through the instructions and restrictions given, you'll realize that there are certain things you can do like for example, having 2 distillation columns instead of 1. Plus you can discuss the assignment with your friends too; just don't submit the same thing. We also needed to do a cost analysis as well we had to design it such that the total cost is minimised (which makes the whole assignment super tough). My total cost in the end was around $600+ but the lowest cost given by my tutor was around $200+ so yeap, I was pretty far off. My advice is to just try and submit whatever you have at the end. At least hit the purity and recovery target first even if your costs is very high.

Mechanical Design Project
This is a group project for the second half of the module. Hysys is not the emphasis here and most of the work is done on word. We had to do up a 10 page report which involves the mechanical design + costing (capital and manufacturing costs) of a vessel. Each group will get a different vessel and different feed flow rate. It's basically just applying the formulas from the lecture notes and textbooks, and choosing appropriate materials for the vessel (which again is referencing the textbooks). We had to do an engineering drawing of the vessel as well which my group used AutoCAD software to complete. The main issue with this project is the tight timeline we have. We were given the project outline in week 10 and the deadline was in reading week. We had to rush through the report since we had to revise for other modules as well (for finals). 

Final Exam
Well, finals. 45 minutes, 25 MCQ questions, closed book and there is NEGATIVE MARKING. The toughest part of the module in my opinion since it takes up 60% of the module. That's right, 45 minutes determines 60% of your grade, as compared to the hours and days spent on the project, assignment and tutorial questions. Well, of course the tutorial questions do help you understand Hysys better and will definitely help in preparation for finals. 

Each correct answer gives you 3 marks and one wrong answer will minus 1 mark away from you. 20 questions were on the first half of the module and 5 questions were on the second half of the module. The first 20 questions really test you on your understanding of how Hysys works. Questions like why an equipment in Hysys is of a certain colour or why the whole module has not converged will be asked. Usually, there will also be 2 options that seem possible so do read your questions really really carefully. To be honest, if you find 2 options equally possible, then just skip the question first and maybe don't even attempt the question in the end. No tedious calculations are tested (there's still some calculations involved) but concepts from previous modules like CN3132, CN2122, CN2125 and CN2116 will be tested as well so you do need to have a good grasp of your Chem Eng concepts. 

The last 5 questions on the second half of the module were definitely easier but do still read the questions very carefully as they can be rather tricky. Both Profs will usually mention what kind of things they will test during the lectures so do listen to them real carefully. Especially Prof Suraj. When he's going through lecture content, he'll mention "this this this... will be tested." ... "this this this... definitely will not test." So, just listen carefully and all will be fine. Although Prof Suraj mentioned that no calculations will be involved for his portion, there are in fact small calculations for his portion so don't believe him entirely as well.

For finals preparation, in my opinion, just look through all your lecture notes and tutorial questions again. Understand how Hysys works (like what will cause inconsistency errors etc) and you should be able to answer most of the questions. For me, since this is a closed book paper, I actually memorised the content, especially for the second half of the module content. It did help me so I'm just leaving this advice out there haha. Do look through the finals MCQ bank provided by the seniors as well as it'll help you get used to the way Prof Karimi likes to set his questions.

Expected Grade: B+

Final Grade: A

Final Comments
I didn't expect to do this well for this module. I think the bonus marks I got from completing all the tutorial questions did help me. And I did a rather rigorous revision for finals as well where I memorised most of the content so I think that helped me a lot as well. It's completely alright to feel totally lost in the beginning of this module as well but eventually you'll do pretty fine. 

I'm not going to upload my own notes since it's a big mess and other senior notes floating around the net are really good too in my opinion.

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: CN3121 (AY19/20 Semester 1)

CN3121 Process Dynamics and Control is a 4 MC module which deals with control systems that are required for chemical processes like heat exchangers, reactors, separation processes and storage systems etc. I would say this module is not an easy module to understand in the first few weeks of lectures. The first half of the module is on process dynamics (unsteady state processes) and it isn't easy to link the chapters together and everything just seems so confusing. You can only sort of see the big picture of the entire module at like the second half of the semester when process control is covered. As the second lecturer explains the use of control systems, you'll then only begin to understand the purpose of learning the content covered in the first half of the module. Soooo, it is perfectly fine to be lost in the first half of the module hahaha. 

We are also required to use MATLAB and Simulink to simulate control processes for the projects.

Assessment

20% Project 1 (First half of module)
20% Project 2 (Second half of module)
60% Finals (Open book, 6 structured questions, 2 hours)

Lecturer: 
Prof Wang Xiaonan (Weeks 1 - 7)
Prof Chiu Min Sen (Weeks 8 - 13)

Tutor: 
Prof Wang Xiaonan (Weeks 2 - 8)
Prof Chiu Min Sen (Weeks 9 - 13)

Textbooks/Readings
D.E. Seborg, T.E. Edgar and D.A. Mellichamp and F.J. Doyle III, “Process Dynamics and Control”, Wiley, 2011(Either 2nd, 3rd or 4th edition) (Prof Wang would most probably upload the 4th edition on Luminus)

I would say the textbook is pretty important. You do not have to read every single detail of it. Just that certain examples are helpful in reinforcing the concepts learnt during lectures (because the lecture notes in the first half of the module do actually lack examples). There areee also some concepts that were not really covered in detail during lectures and are also somewhat included in the finals, so it is pretty crucial to have a look at the textbook. 

Lectures
As per usual Chem Eng modules, this module had a 2 hour lecture and a 1 hour lecture weekly. For the first few times, I would say it isn't really very crucial to attend physical lectures and webcast is pretty sufficient for this module hahaha.

Prof Wang taught the first part of the module which covers process dynamics in general. The focus is on unsteady state processes and studying open loop systems (an open look system means the absence of a control system). The concepts covered are mainly developing dynamic models, Laplace transform, transfer functions for open loop systems and a brief introduction to process control. 

Prof Wang's notes tend to be rather brief and do lack information here and there. Thus, I do recommend reading the textbook for certain portions which are not fully explained in the lecture notes. There are also a lack of examples for her lecture notes. As explained earlier, with how this module is formatted, I found it really hard to understand what she was teaching and I feel that she can't convey her points out easily too haha. (The strange thing was that Prof Chiu had a summary of her part in the first 20 - 30 minutes of his lecture in week 8 and I actually learnt more from that summary than Prof Wang's lectures. Yeapp, so as you can see, I definitely learnt more from Prof Chiu hahaha.) 

In my opinion, Prof Chiu has a much stronger foundation and I was able to better understand the logic behind how control system works after his lectures. It's just that he tends to speak a bit slower. Other than that, he's a pretty good lecturer. However, for our batch, we had the 2 hour lecture on a Monday and most of the public holidays for our semester was on a Monday. As such, Prof Chiu had to rush through the last few chapters (feedforward and cascade control) as there wasn't enough time left. (But he didn't test us on the last few chapters for our finals, so all's good. But it may differ for your batch.)

Tutorial

Tutorials took place once a week, and they were 1 hour long. For Prof Wang's tutorials in weeks 2 - 8, they are webcasted. (That's right, they are webcasted.) So, I didn't attend the tutorials for this module in the first half of this module. Her webcasted tutorials are pretty sufficient and if you have any queries, you can just email her or ask her after lectures. 

For the second half of the module, Prof Chiu's tutorials were not webcasted at first. It was only in week 10 or 11 did he started to webcast his tutorials. Anyways, his voice in the webcast is pretty soft and he does add in additional pointers or additional questions for us to practice only in the physical tutorials. This extra stuff are not in the webcasts. Thus, I really recommend to attend his tutorials. 

Project 1
Now for the project. We had to use empirical methods to propose suitable transfer function models for our system and then compare it with the actual simulated data in MATLAB. But wow, project 1 is a mess, I have to say hahaha. It's mainly because for my batch, we did not learn how to use MATLAB in year 1 and only learnt it in CN3421 (which was taken in the same semester as this module), so we were pretty lost in the beginning. The funny thing is that Prof Zhou Kang, who was our Prof for CN3421, actually did a video on how to use ode45 for us to watch so that we can understand how to use this function for our project in CN3121. It was rather confusing too as we were unsure what the questions in the project were asking for. Senior reports can be referred to as reference but since the questions were obviously slightly different, we have to figure certain parts out ourselves. 

Project 2
As for Project 2, it is much better as Prof Chiu actually explained clearly during lecture what he expected from us for the project. Project 2 mainly covers the comparison between 2 types of control systems. We are also more used to using MATLAB and Simulink at that point of time already so Project 2 was much more manageable and shouldn't really be a big issue for you. He does include additional content in the project but all this content are covered in the textbook, so reading the textbook is pretty sufficient. 

Final Exam
The final exam was kindaaa weird haha. Like the questions look very simple but there's that small twist to it. We had to read the questions real carefully and really understand what the Profs were asking for. I would say it is a rather tricky paper but the math isn't too complicated. 

The finals consisted of six structured questions; three from the first part of the module and another three from the second part. Some questions were more of "essay" type of questions where we were supposed to explain certain concepts rather than show off our math. So, yeap, you have to know the concepts of this module pretty well. Other than that, if you've done sufficient revision, the finals is pretty manageable (unlike the other 3k modules in Chem Eng). AND Prof Chiu does give hints about what he's gonna test for finals during lectures and he does stick to his word (well, at least for my batch haha). 

Expected Grade: B+

Final Grade: A

Final Comments
I would say that the finals helped me, I guessed. We knew our project grades and for me, my group didn't do as well, as compared to the rest of our course mates. So, I guessed I was able to explain certain concepts pretty well for the finals. You can view the finals I took here. I'm not going to upload my own notes for this module as they are a mess and you can probably find other senior notes for this module lying around the internet too haha. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: CN3132 (AY19/20 Semester 1)

CN3132 Separation Processes is a 4 MC module which teaches separation units used in chemical plants. This is the most content heavy 3k module in Chem Eng in my opinion as every chapter (new separation unit) has a rather new concept and new approach to analyse the specific unit. AND it requires knowledge from CN2101, CN2121, CN2122, CN2125 and CN2116 (but mostly from CN2125 and CN2121). SO yeap, it is a rather intense module and the most interesting part is that the Profs do not release any tutorial solutions; all your solutions will be based on your contributions during tutorial. 

Assessment

20% Quiz 1 (Open Book, 1 hour, 20 Multiple response questions, on first half of module)
20% Quiz 2 (Open Book, 1 hour, 20 Multiple response questions, on second half of module)
3% Heat Transfer Online Quiz (Done on luminus, 7 MCQ questions, 10 - 15 minutes, it is like a revision of CN2125)

57% Finals (Open Book, 2.5 hours, 4 structured questions)
OR 10% Viva, 47% Finals (Viva is based on the challenge problems (explained later))

Lecturer: 
Prof Farooq Shamsuzzaman (Weeks 1 - 7)
Prof Suraj Vasudevan (Weeks 8 - 13)

Tutor: 
Prof Farooq Shamsuzzaman & Prof Suraj Vasudevan (Weeks 2 - 13)

Textbooks/Readings
1. Philip C. Wankat, Separation Process Engineering 3rd edition
2. Robert E. Treybal, Mass Transfer Operations 3rd edition

The first textbook is the one that the Profs refer to for the majority of the module and I would say it is pretty good to read the textbook to supplement what the Profs are teaching. The second textbook is more applicable for humidification and cooling towers which were only covered in weeks 12 - 13. So, the second textbook is clearly not as significant.   

Lectures
Well, for my batch, for the first time, the two Profs decided to change things a little bit here and there. There's only one 2 hour lecture weekly for this module. And our tutorials are 2 hours long now every week (instead of the usual 1 hour tutorials). So, all the content that has to be covered in that week has to be covered in one 2 hour lecture. Since there obviously isn't enough time to cover everything in 2 hours, the Profs prepared online videos for us to watch before every lecture. For Prof Farooq's portion, he actually covers all the content of the lecture in the video. And then he repeats it again plus add additional information during physical lectures. For Prof Suraj's portion, he only covers like the first half of the lecture notes in the video. Thereafter, he'll cover the rest of the content in the physical lectures. Physical lectures are webcasted but I feel is pretty good to attend the lectures since you're bound to have quite a number of questions after every lecture and you can just ask the Profs straight away. Well, the Profs tried to make the lectures more interactive as well but I think it didn't really work too well because when they asked questions during lectures, nobody answers and like, probably only 1 or 2 guys at the front of the LT will answer (for every single lecture hahaha). 

The separation units covered include flash distillation, distillation columns, absorbers/strippers, immiscible/miscible extraction, humidification and cooling towers. The content covered is definitely not easy to understand but in my opinion, I feel the Profs teach pretty well so it wasn't as bad. But still, I needed to re-read the lecture notes a couple of times before I could process all the information. 

However, one main problem with the lecture notes is that there tend to be quite a number of errors here and there (equations, sentences, concepts etc) and the Profs had to re-upload a revised lecture notes almost every week. 

AND one more thing. Basically, this module has a lot of content. So, there are certain things/concepts which the Profs find are rather straight forward. Then, all they did was upload a video lecture on that content and they never go through these content again in physical lectures or in tutorials. Yeap, and they're actually important content and will be tested in finals. Sooo, there's really quite a lot to take in for this module. 

Tutorial

Tutorials took place once a week, and they were 2 hours long this time. What's different from usual Chem Eng tutorials is that this was a very interactive tutorial. We sat in like groups of 5 - 6 and were given time to discuss the tutorial questions. Then, one person had to go up to present the answer to one question. There were like 2 - 3 questions for each tutorial so yeap, as per usual, we (as per engineers) will hesitate to go up and present and then the Profs had to some kind of RNG method and stuff like that to get people to go up to present. In my opinion, I just feel that if they want us to contribute in class, then they should allocate class participation marks for the tutorials. 

Also, every last question of the module is a challenge problem. They're basically tougher questions and some are even past year finals questions (and they ain't easy). They encourage us to discuss this question the most during the tutorial. Like about 30 - 40 minutes is allocated to discussing this question alone (sometimes nobody presents this question too cos there isn't enough time). AND there are no tutorial solutions for this module! So, congratulations you're on your own! (My version of tutorial solutions is found below.)

Viva
For the challenge problems, it'll be the basis for the viva (this is an individual thing, and it's optional). Basically, we have to submit a "portfolio" at like the last day of week 13 which contains all your worked solutions for past 12 tutorial challenge problems (there is no challenge problem for the last lecture). These worked solutions can be hand written. The viva will be held during reading week. It'll basically be 50% portfolio and 50% on viva presentation. 

Well, for viva, the Profs will just ask you questions on one of the challenge problems. Basically, they'll usually re-create another scenario and you have to answer the questions they pose. The viva is entirely optional and it's a new thing the Profs are trying to test out for this module. I tried out the viva because I heard from seniors that the finals for this module tend to be really tough. However, we can choose to opt out of this viva after finals if we feel we did better for finals. And for me, I opted out of the viva. So, in a way, I wasted my time preparing my portfolio for the viva hahaha. But I'll just treat it as a learning process nonetheless. The viva questions were not easy to be honest and I have to guess my way through, so even though I was unsure about how I tackled some of the finals questions, I was still more confident of my finals than the viva. Thus, opting out of viva was a wise choice for me. It really depends for you because if you're someone who does well with answering questions on the spot, then it'll be good to try out the viva. If not, in my opinion, don't waste your time trying to do the portfolio and the viva. Just focus on finals. 

Quiz 1 & 2
Quiz 1 was an eye-opener I guess? Both quizzes had the same format; 20 "MCQ" questions. Quiz 1 was on the first 6 chapters and was on week 7. Quiz 2 was on the last 6 chapters and was on week 13. Some questions were MCQ and some were multi response questions, meaning you had to choose a few options for that question. Some questions require you to show working, meaning the working is also awarded marks (so if you tick the correct answer but didn't show working, then you only get a portion of the marks). Also, sometimes there is an option to choose all of the above or a choice of a few options (but you have to write this option out because the option will put "a combination of options ___ and ___"). So, these quizzes are superr tricky imo. You have to read every statement in the question very closely too. There are simpler questions in the quiz but there are also the super tricky ones. Doing past year quizzes do help actually so I really recommend taking a look at them. Do revise the lecture notes and redo the tutorial problems in order to get a better understanding of the concepts taught AND take note of certain info the Profs share as well during tutorial (as they may help you for your quizzes and finals).

3% Online Quiz
The online quiz was done on like the first 15 minutes of lecture in week 10. It serves as a revision for CN2125 mass transfer content which would be needed for rate based separation design. This is basically a giveaway quiz since it's MCQ and everything is just based on simple concepts from CN2125. No calculations involved lol. The Profs do give a set of lecture notes and a video lecture for this revision topic so, you don't really need to worry too much about it. Of course, as per usual, just remember to read the questions carefully and you'll do fine. 

Final Exam
Finals was intense. You look at the cover page and it says 4 questions. You'll think to yourself "it ain't that bad" BUT it's really bad hahaha. There are many parts to each question and some parts take pretty long to understand and complete. Time management is really important. Since the paper is 2.5 hours, I advised myself to spend around 35 minutes on each question, so even when 35 minutes is up and I have not completed the question, I moved on to the next question. Then, come back to those undone questions again if I have time. I'm giving this advice cos it worked for me (as seen in my final grade). I did manage to complete the majority of the paper albeit being unsure of most of my answers. So, I feel that you should try to attempt every single question because the Profs do give method marks. Spending time to complete the initial working of a question (which is sometimes roughly the same outline as tutorial questions) will likely give you more marks than trying to figure out the final answer of a question. 

Doing past year papers do help as well as you'll get used to the way the Profs set questions for this module. Certain concepts are definitely tough and are hard to test as well within a 2.5 hour setting. So, take note of the way the Profs ask questions in the past year finals. 

Expected Grade: B+

Final Grade: A+

Final Comments
I have attached my rough workings for the tutorial questions, past year quizzes and finals attempted solutions and all other notes for this module here. Do take note that the workings for the tutorials and challenge problems are done by me, meaning that they're clearly not 100% correct. So, just look at them as a point of reference and do not copy wholesale hahaha. 

I feel that this module requires quite a lot of time to understand the concepts taught. Do re-read the lecture notes a couple of times, redo all the tutorial problems and look through all past year papers. Do read all questions carefully (at least twice) for quizzes and finals as they can be rather tricky. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: CN3421 (AY19/20 Semester 1)

CN3421 Process Modeling and Numerical Simulation is a 4 MC module which requires the use of MATLAB to tackle numerical methods and statistical analysis. Basically, there is content to be covered and then, we have to learn how to apply it and use it on MATLAB. For my batch, the sad part was that we didn't cover MATLAB in year 1 so Prof Zhou Kang had to have a crash course on how to use MATLAB first in the first 2 weeks. The final exam for this module is also done on a school computer and your grades is entirely based on the MATLAB files you submitted in the exam (no pen and paper hahaha). 

Assessment

22.5% 3 homework assignments on numerical methods (First half of module, 7.5% each)
7.5% Homework assignment on statistics (Second half of module)
70% Finals (Open book, 4 structured questions, 2 hours, 42.5% numerical methods, 27.5% statistics)
(Basically, the numerical methods portion take up a bigger portion of the grades (65%) as compared to the statistics portion (35%); mainly because the there is much more content for the former)

Lecturer: 
Prof Zhou Kang (Weeks 1 - 9)
Prof Yap Swee Kun (Weeks 9 - 13)

Tutor: 
Prof Zhou Kang (Weeks 2 - 9)
Prof Yap Swee Kun (Weeks 10 - 13)

Textbooks/Readings
- First Part of the Module on Numerical Methods:
Basic concepts of linear algebra: Strang, Gilbert, Introduction to linear algebra, 2016, Fifth edition. (Or the reference textbook used in MA1513) 

Numerical methods: Ajay K. Ray and Santosh K. Gupta, Mathematical Methods in Chemical & Environmental Engineering, Second edition.

- Second Part of the Module on Statistics:
William Navidi, Statistics for Engineers and Scientists, Third Edition. 

I would say there isn't a need to read the textbooks for this module. Like the lecture notes are pretty sufficient and the Profs reply their email promptly too (so if you have other queries, feel free to email them.) There are other guides like mathworks (it's a website) on MATLAB which is super helpful as well. If you are unsure of certain codes and what not for MATLAB, mathworks is a go-to place for such issues. 

Lectures
As per usual Chem Eng modules, this module had a 2 hour lecture and a 1 hour lecture weekly. I wouldn't say lecture is a must go since they are webcasted. But I attended most physical lectures as I just found it useful to clear my doubts by just asking the Profs straight away after lecture. PLUS Prof Zhou Kang is super nice haha (that is, if he's still teaching this mod for your sem). Like before every lecture, he'll walk around the whole LT to ask us how we are doing (since this is our first time using MATLAB too). I guess he's also kinda worried that we aren't able to catch up hahaha but thankfully he teaches well so it wasn't that bad. 

We had like basic MATLAB introduction in the beginning of the module, so we had to bring our laptops to lectures and we basically followed what Prof Zhou Kang was instructing us to do. I would say he provided a really good introduction to MATLAB which in a way built up a pretty decent foundation for us.  

Eventually, as more content needed to be covered, Prof will just copy his MATLAB codes into the lecture slides and ask us to look into them by ourselves after lecture since there wasn't enough time in lectures. Some of the content have to be cut out as well for our batch since he spent the first 2 weeks covering MATLAB basics (I'm not sure about future batches but if you guys start covering MATLAB in year 1 again, then I don't think this module will be a big issue for you. It is for my batch because it is our first time (or sort of first time) having to deal with coding with MATLAB). 

The content covered in numerical methods involve linear equations, non-linear equations, differentiation and integration and ordinary differential equations (Basically how to solve these things numerically). The content isn't really very easy but with sufficient practice of the lecture examples and tutorial questions, you'll soon get used to certain concepts and it won't be that bad anymore. 

Now, for Prof Yap's portion, it was on statistics. The first 2 - 3 chapters are actually somewhat covered in A level statistics already (like hypothesis testing, normal distribution, t-test, z-test etc). Just that the last 2 chapters were an add on which covered 2 sample hypothesis testing and ANOVA test. I would say this portion was way more manageable and easier to understand, as compared to numerical methods. Prof Yap did a pretty decent job too to explain the concepts to us, so I feel the statistics portion isn't really a big worry for this module. She actually went through the content pretty quickly and we ended our lectures on week 12.

Tutorial

Tutorials took place once a week, and they were 1 hour long (as per usual). The tutorials were in the computer lab rooms. So, we get to use the computers to do our MATLAB codes. For Prof Zhou Kang's tutorials in weeks 2 - 9, they're webcasted. (That's right, they are webcasted.) So, his tutorials were like a Q&A session instead or like a place to practice your MATLAB coding. Soooo, I didn't attend the tutorials in the first half of this module. His webcasted tutorials are also pretty sufficient; he will write the MATLAB codes for each question from scratch. So, I followed closely to his guided videos and I felt it was really helpful. Anyway, if you have any queries, you can just email him and he does reply rather quickly too. 

For the second half of the module, Prof Yap doesn't webcast her tutorials. And attending her tutorials are pretty good in my opinion. She does gives tips (for MATLAB and for statistics related content) for finals so I feel you should go for her tutorials. For both Profs, each tutorial had about 2 - 3 questions and it does take a while to do each question (I mean you can just refer to the solutions once they are released but I do feel it's good to try them out first on MATLAB).

Homework Assignments
Now the homework assignments. There were 3 of them under numerical methods and 1 under statistics. Each homework had 2 - 3 questions and some were also past year finals questions. So, it serves as a good practice as well. These assignments were graded based on effort basis. Meaning so long as you submit the files with sufficient attempt in answering each question, even if you didn't obtain the correct final answer, you'll still obtain full marks.    

Each homework is usually released on a certain week an then due 2 weeks later. It's a homework so you can freely discuss it with your friends. So long as you guys don't submit the exact same codes, then obviously it shouldn't be much of a problem. The table below shows the list of homework and the content tested in the homework. I would say the homework isn't really that easy, it takes like about half a day to like agar agar do the work, and then maybe another 2-3 hours discussing with your friends.

Homework	Content covered	Due Date
1	Linear Equations	Week 6
2	Nonlinear equations, differentiation and integration	Week 8
3	Ordinary differential equations and linear equations	Week 10
4	All of statistics	Week 13

For the homework, it's all softcopy submissions. We had to place all our m files into a folder, zip it up and upload into a luminus submission folder. 

Final Exam
The final exam was not easy in my opinion. We had to do our paper on MATLAB on a school computer. We then had to place all the submission files into one folder, zip it up and upload it onto luminus. We are given a folder in luminus to upload all our files that we wanna use for the final exam inside that folder. Then, we are only allowed to access luminus, MATLAB and our hardcopy notes for the finals itself. (No thumbdrives, no internet.) Staring at the computer screen for 2 hours was real painful for my eyes tbh. 

We had 4 questions, two from numerical methods and two from statistics. The statistics portion on regression testing and hypothesis testing were pretty manageable; the real tough part is the numerical methods portion. The first question was on numerical differentiation and the second on ordinary differential questions. The questions are directly linked to chemical engineering case studies and require a little thinking out of the box haha. The paper was 2 hours long, so I would say 1 hour 15 mins can be spent on numerical methods and another 45 minutes would be spent on statistics. I advise reading the questions real carefully. 

The computer keyboard also requires some getting used to to be honest, so during your free time in the semester, you can actually go to the computer labs at E1 and E2 (when there are no classes) and get used to typing on the keyboards there haha. But this is entirely optional and not doing it won't exactly slow you down or anything. 

Since we are allowed to upload files into luminus, I've prepared a "homemade" list of codes for both numerical methods and statistics. They can be accessed here. There is a word document in each folder which will explain what each m file is used for. (Disclaimer: this list is prepared by me. So, use them with precaution because they might not be entirely correct, especially if I said so in the word document). Hope it'll be helpful for you. 

Expected Grade: A-

Final Grade: A+

Final Comments
I would say that you have to get used to using MATLAB in order to do well for this module. I constantly practiced coding by redoing tutorial and assignment questions so that I get used to the way coding is done on MATLAB and of course, to reinforce my concepts as well. Also, for different topics, there are certain things/codes that will definitely be used so by practicing more often, you'll get used to what information is needed to be included for similar kind of questions and your finals should then be easier to approach. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan