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)
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
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.
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.
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.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment