Module Review: CN5111 (AY19/20 Semester 2)

CN5111 Optimisation of Chemical Processes is a 4 MC Technical Elective (TE) non-pathway module which teaches optimisation programmes that are useful for Chemical Engineering (or engineering in general). The module makes use of EXCEL, MATLAB and GAMS as programming softwares to solve optimization problems.

This is a level-5000 module, so there will be both undergraduates and master students taking this module. Sooo, it'll be competitive!

(For this module, there is not much difference between a General Semester and this semester. Thus, I've decided to just write one general review for this module.)

Assessment

15% Quiz 1 (Open book, 30 mins, week 7 lecture)

15% Quiz 2 (Open book, 30 mins, week 12 lecture)

30% Individual Project

40% Group Project (Report + Presentation)

Lecturers: 
Prof Cindy Lee Lai Yeng (Weeks 1 - 6, 13)
Prof Wang Xiaonan (Weeks 7 - 13)

Textbooks/Readings
Edgar, Thomas - Optimisation of Chemical Processes, 2001

Reklaitis - Engineering Optimisation, 2006

There are two main textbooks for this module. Both are good references and online pdfs of these textbooks are available. I referred to the textbooks more during the first half of the semester. For the second half, I generally just referred to the lecture notes and online information about optimisation methods and the usage of GAMS.


Lectures
Well, this is a TE module and a night module. Lectures took place every Tuesday from 6 - 9 pm. For most sessions, the sessions will end around 8.30-ish. For this semester, the first half of the lectures were conducted face-to-face. Thereafter, subsequent lectures were all recorded webcasts (meaning, there are no zoom sessions and you can listen to the lectures anytime). There are recorded webcasts for all lectures (including the lectures in the first half of the module), so I would say it is not a must to attend the lectures physically. 

Hmmm, I would say that both lecturers are okay. Often, they are just reading off the slides. The content wise is really useful as the things taught are not applicable just for Chemical Engineering, but for many other processes in the world. The things covered included single/multi variable optimisation, mixed integer programming, multi-objective optimisation, stochastic programming and global optimisation. The main thing I don't like about this module is that many of these topics are just touch-and-go. We were taught the main gist of each type of programming but were not given in-depth knowledge/examples about them. Furthermore, many of the examples given in this module were also not related to Chemical Engineering but more on supply chain or problems in other aspects of the world. So, I feel that what I got away from this module is mainly the brief information about different types of programming and optimisation solvers but to be honest, I am not sure how to apply these concepts to Chemical Engineering per se (Previously, I think this module was taught by another Prof and I think it was more fruitful back then.)

As for practice problems for "tutorial", there were only 2 practice problems that were given in the first half of the semester by Prof Cindy. Those practice problems were useful in helping me understand the concepts better. Prof Cindy also went through these problems during the lecture. However, there were no practice problems for the second half of the semester where the concepts are naturally tougher and it's hard to see their application without enough examples given.

Quiz 1 & 2
The quizzes were conducted in Luminus due to the virus situation. I guess the quizzes will be conducted face-to-face in a normal semester. Similar to most online quizzes, the quizzes are forward moving, i.e. you can't go back to the previous question once you've clicked next, and the questions are randomised. Both quizzes were 30 mins long and had 15 MCQs/Fill-in-the-blanks questions. The first quiz was held in week 7 (during the lecture slot) and covered topics from weeks 1 - 5. The first quiz was set by Prof Cindy and it was really, really easy. As a result, the bell curve was real steep for this quiz as most of us got 14 or 15 marks. 

The second quiz was held in week 12 (during the lecture slot) and covered topics from weeks 7 - 11. This quiz was much tougher and trickier and require careful reading of the questions. Just remember that time management is rather important and it's best to only spend 2 minutes on each question.


Individual Project
The individual project is rather freestyle imo (and so is the group project). We were required to write a paper on: either reproducing the results of 1 scientific optimisation paper or raising 1 optimisation question by yourself and solving it. The optimisation problem had to be related to the concepts learnt in class. BUT since this project is sort of like a mid-term paper, we could only write on concepts learnt in the first half of the semester (which is actually easier haha). For me, referencing a scientific paper is relatively easier and that's why I chose to do the former. Quite a bit of reading is required for this because you have to choose a scientific paper that you could understand and solve at the same time. For me, I chose something that's on mixed integer programming (MIP). I spent quite a bit of time figuring out the code for the optimisation problem. We are allowed to use any software to solve the problem, i.e. EXCEL, MATLAB, GAMS or even python. I used GAMS because it is useful in tackling complex MIP problems. Prof Wang did spend one online lecture to explain the syntax of GAMS, so that lesson did help quite a bit. Once the code is completed, the report writing portion is pretty manageable. I took about 2 weeks-ish to complete this project and I would say is do-able once you can figure out the code.

Group Project
Now, for the group project. Well, for me, the group project was kind of a disaster. The group project was released on week 9 and was due on exam week 1 (we had an extension in deadline due to the whole circuit breaker issue). We were supposed to find optimisation-related issues that are related to Singapore working towards becoming a smart city. So, it could be issues like environmental (waste reduction, clean energy usage etc), social (decreasing income gap etc), or it could even be issues like reducing traffic congestion. We were pretty much left on our own too for this project imo. I guess it's because this is a level-5000 module. My group wasn't sure what we were gonna do, so we went with something relatively simple and thus, I didn't do very well in this project. 

On a side note, for this project, there is a mini presentation too that will be held on week 13. So, the 40% grade is split into 8% for the presentation and 32% for the report itself. For the presentation, the Profs just wanted to know the general idea behind the project itself. It is okay if your group hasn't come out with a solution yet for the problem. My group didn't do too bad for the presentation so thankfully (or not), we were only hit badly for the 32% report. Regardless, my advice would be to read up quite a bit on issues/scientific papers in relations to smart city (probably about other cities) and then see if you can apply it to Singapore's context. Do start the project early as it takes sometime to get the idea ready, plus the group would need to work out the coding too. I am not sure whether the same project topic will be used for future semesters but I feel that working on environmental issues is the slightly easier way in tackling this project.

Expected Grade: B+

Final Grade: B+

Final Comments
To be honest, I was expecting to perform worse than this as we did badly for the group project. Nevertheless, I think that it was my individual project that pulled me up to a B+. There are already notes in other senior blogs (which are better than mine although their notes are from a different Prof), so I would not be sharing mine.

I feel that you should only choose this TE if you already have a rather strong background in programming or are willing to spend quite a lot of time in the semester to self-study the concepts as well as coding. In my opinion, other than learning about GAMS, if you want to learn about concepts like stochastic programming, multi-objective optimisation, global optimisation etc, I feel that there are external courses (or possibly other modules in NUS (not too sure)) that cover these concepts better than this module. This is because we were only given a brief introduction to these concepts without actual practice in coding.

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: CN5173 (AY19/20 Semester 2)

CN5173 Downstream Processing of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Products is a 4 MC Technical Elective (TE) non-pathway module which teaches downstream separation units used in biopharmaceutical plants. The emphasis of this module is a lot on the biopharmaceutical industry or biologics but the key concepts in utilising the separation equipment is linked to Chemical Engineering concepts. That is why this is still a Chemical Engineering module and not a Biomed one.

This module kind of provided a new perspective for me, in the sense that this is another career prospect that I can look into. The module itself is rather content heavy and it requires knowledge from CN2121, CN2122, CN2125 and CN3132. Also, it is actually a Part 2 module in bioprocessing. Part 1 is actually CN5172 Biochemical Engineering where the focus is on upstream bioprocessing (mainly on reactions). I didn't know about this 2-parter thing and took CN5173 first. Nevertheless, the content of the 2 modules are not entirely linked (like CN5172 is not a pre-requisite to take CN5173) and it is totally fine to take CN5173 first before CN5172. 

(On a side note, Prof Loh usually teaches only one of the 2 modules every semester. So, if CN5172 is available in a particular semester, CN5173 is likely only available in the next or following semester.)

Also, this is a post-graduate module as well since it is a level-5000 module. So, there will be a combination of undergraduates and master students taking this module (which means it'll get competitive!). Since I'm an undergraduate, the module review here will be in the perspective of an undergraduate.

(I will be providing my review for both this semester (circuit breaker/online lessons) and a General Semester. If next semester is still fully online, my review for this semester is likely to be helpful. If all things are back to normal, then I guess the review portions on General Semester is pretty sufficient.)

Assessment (For this semester)

30% Quiz 1 & Quiz 2 (Open Book, 45 mins each, 2 - 4 structured questions)
(I'm not sure whether Quiz 1 and 2 is split exactly in half, i.e. 15% each. Because for my semester, Quiz 1 was 40 marks and Quiz 2 was 60 marks. So, it seems like Quiz 1 is 12% and Quiz 2 is 18%. Regardless, the 2 quizzes add up to 30%.)
20% Individual Paper  
50% Finals (Open Book, 2 hours, 44 questions consisting of MCQ and fill in the blanks questions)

Assessment (For a General Semester (without circuit breaker))

30% Quiz 1 & Quiz 2 (Closed Book, 45 mins each, 2 - 4 structured questions)
20% Individual Paper 
50% Finals (Closed Book, 2 hours, 4 - 5 structured questions)

Lecturer: 
Prof Loh Kai Chee

Textbooks/Readings
Belter, Cussler & Hu: Bioseparations - Downstream Processing for Biotechnology, 1988

This is the main textbook that Prof Loh uses. The lecture schedule for the module follows the textbook content and his lecture notes are mostly based on this textbook. There is no online pdf version of this, so you can either view the book from CLB or buy a copy online. I found the textbook to be helpful and supplements the things learnt in class (especially because most of Prof Loh's slides are usually very brief and when I was unable to catch what he's explaining in class verbally, the textbook comes in handy). I think that if it's really inconvenient to get the textbook, the handwritten summarised notes I've provided below may serve as some form of alternative although it's not entirely perfect.

ALSO, Prof Loh likes to use some of the content in this textbook:
Harrison et. al.: Bioseparations Science and Engineering, 2015
to set some questions for quizzes and finals. So, do take a look at this textbook briefly. Not all of the chapters of this textbook are relevant anyways, so reading through this textbook briefly should be sufficient (I mean even if you don't look at this textbook, I wouldn't say that you're losing out in a big way, just a little. I still feel the first textbook is more crucial).

Lectures
Well, this is a TE module. So, the module only has a weekly 3 hour session and has no "tutorial" session per se. It is a night module which takes place every Wednesday from 6 - 9 pm. For most sessions, the sessions will end around 8.30-ish and there was only one time when he was really rushing through the content that it went over till 9.15-ish. 

There are 11 chapters in total and Prof Loh utilises a RIPP layout to breakdown the major process steps in downstream processing:

Chapter 1: Introduction (Yes, this gets tested too in Finals)

Removal of Insolubles (R):

Chapter 2: Filtration
Chapter 3: Centrifugation

Chapter 4: Cell Disruption

Isolation (I):
Chapter 5: Extraction

Chapter 6: Adsorption

Purification (P):
Chapter 7: Chromatography

Chapter 8: Precipitation
Chapter 9: Membrane Filtration
Chapter 10: Electrically Driven Purification

Polishing (P):
Chapter 11: Crystallisation

On a General Semester, these 11 chapters will be spread over 10 lectures. As such, lessons for this module will only take place from Week 1 to Week 10/11. 

For this semester, there were some disruptions here and there so, the lessons were split into 11 lectures and ended on Week 12. So, the good thing about this module is that the lectures end early and there will be like around 2 - 3 weeks to prep for finals. We had physical lectures for like the first 2 or 3 weeks and then, we shifted to zoom for the rest of the lessons (due to the virus situation). Prof Loh did not provide any recorded webcasts, so you have to be present in zoom at the lecture timeslot to listen to his lectures.

For each chapter, Prof Loh would usually go through the lecture slides first. As mentioned before, his lecture slides are rather brief and he likes to explain additional content that is not on the slides (BUT WILL BE TESTED FOR QUIZZES AND FINALS). So, do take them down. I advise bringing foolscap or a notebook for his lectures. Then, after going through the lecture content, Prof Loh will solve 1-2 problems related to the lecture content. So, in this sense, we do not actually have to do tutorials in advance; we'll just attempt the question together with Prof Loh (So, in this aspect, I didn't have to spend a lot of time doing tutorial questions for this module. More time was spent on understanding the concepts taught.) 

Besides the need to write down quite a bit of content during lectures, I would say Prof Loh is a really good lecturer. He explains the concepts clearly and in a manner that can be understood by us students. He likes to use analogies to compare the downstream processes to something we see everyday in our lives. That way, we could understand the concept more easily. Furthermore, he would answer every query that we have (no matter how stupid our queries sound) and he is generally a very helpful and supportive lecturer. 

As for setting questions for quizzes and finals, Prof Loh doesn't go easy on us. HE SETS TOUGH QUESTIONS. The problem statements he provides during lectures (and he solves with us) seem manageable and he would always say that the problem statements will have the same difficulty level as the finals/quizzes. THAT IS A LIE. Be prepared. The quizzes and finals will be tougher than the problem statements (Some of the problems were indeed past year paper questions but he did shortened some of these questions to remove the "proofing" parts of the question (explained later)). Plus, the problem statements he provided will usually only cover one aspect of the chapter but there are other aspects of the chapter that can be tested as well! That's why I've provided additional questions as well as past year paper questions in the link below to practice.

For the content wise, the module content is TOUGH because you know, it is a level-5000 module. PLUS, the content doesn't cover the usual Chemical Engineering stuff and more of the biopharmaceutical side which can be pretty new to me. The similarity I feel for this module (and with the other Chemical Engineering modules) is that we care more about the equipment used and less on the actual products being produced, i.e. we do not need to know everything and anything about cells, proteins, antibiotics etc. We just need to know the basic chemical structure of these products and that should be sufficient.

Quiz 1 & 2
Alright, let's talk about the quizzes in general first. Quiz 1 takes place in Week 6 lecture and covers Chapters 2- 4 for the General Semester and Chapters 2 - 3 for this semester. Quiz 2 takes place in the last lecture (Week 11/12) and covers Chapters 5 - 6 for the General Semester and Chapters 4 - 6 for this semester. Each quiz is about 45 minutes long and has 2 - 4 structured questions. As mentioned before, the questions can be tricky and you have to be prepared. Prof Loh likes to test proofing questions as well (since this is a TE mod after all), so do know how to proof all the formulas in the lecture notes. As for the time wise, I feel it should be sufficient so long as proper revision is done. 

For the General Semester, the quizzes are likely to be closed book, so Prof Loh will likely test stuff that can actually be found in lecture notes like explaining how a certain equipment works, or what the different types of processes involved etc. Sooooo, I would say that there is some form of memorisation required (for finals too since it's closed book too). So, it'll be a sort of throwback to studying for A-levels hahaha. But, don't worry, you do not have to memorize any complex formulas because Prof Loh will provide such formulas in the questions itself (you can see so in the past year papers).

For this semester, well it's pretty interesting. Due to lessons going online, we had to do the quizzes at home. So, it had to be open book. Prof Loh conducted the quizzes via Zoom. So, we had to leave our mics on to make sure we don't speak to anyone during the quiz. We had to write our answers on foolscap, scan it (or take pictures of our answers), put them into a pdf and submit them on Luminus. It's definitely a new and interesting way of taking quizzes hahaha. BUT since it's open book, Prof Loh tests more on questions that require more math and computation plus the usual proofing questions. (The best part was that Prof Loh had no issues with us using the internet during the quizzes (and finals) because the answers can't even be found online (which is true hahaha). That's how tough these tests can be.) For me, I felt reading through the Belter, Cussler & Hu textbook examples were pretty helpful for the quizzes.

Individual Paper
The individual paper was the same for both semesters. We had to write a 4-page paper on a downstream purification process of a biologics drug. It's pretty much a freestyle paper and you can literally write anything about any downstream processes of a drug. Well, of course, the content you write has to be linked to what was covered in class. But how you want to structure your paper is really entirely up to you. There are sample term papers in the link below for you to reference. For me, I wrote about Cephalosporins and only covered three downstream processes (since there was only 4 pages to write). Andd I did fairly okay, so I would say you shouldn't be too worried about this paper and this paper actually is an opportunity to score well and pull your grades up for this module haha.

Final Exam
For the General Semester, the finals is a 2 hour closed book paper consisting of 4 - 5 structured questions. Each question is pretty long and DO NOT underestimate the finals haha. Similar to the quizzes, Prof Loh will ask proofing questions, and questions on explanations of certain processes (since it's closed book). Thus, again, some form of memorisation is actually required. The good thing about this finals is that whatever that was tested for the quizzes will not be tested again. Thus, the finals covered Chapters 1, 7 - 11. For every finals (if you see the past year paper), the first question will usually ask about the RIPP scheme (basically chapter 1 content), so do remember to revise Chapter 1 too! Doing past year papers do help as well as you'll get used to the way in which Prof Loh sets questions for this module.

For this semester, well it became a 2 hour open book exam on Luminus since the exam had to be done at home. It's 44 questions consisting of a mixture of MCQ and fill in the blanks questions. Each MCQ is 2 marks and each fill in the blanks questions is 2 - 4 marks. The questions are all forward moving, i.e. you can't go back to the previous question once you click next. Also, the questions are randomized to ensure that you can't discuss with your friends. (Well, this is the style of home online exams.)

You might think that having MCQ is easier but the finals now cover all 11 chapters hahaha. And, the MCQ are real tricky. For every question that involved concepts, there always seems to be two options that are correct (which sucks). So, you have to read the question real carefully. The only good thing about having finals in this format is that there is no memorizing required and no proofing required. The tough part is that there were a few questions (thankfully not many) Prof Loh asked that were not exactly covered in lecture notes but are in the two textbooks mentioned above. Sooo, having these 2 textbooks with you during the finals may be good (I mean if this format for finals is still applicable for the next semester). Other than that, as for time wise, I feel 2 hours is definitely sufficient to complete this paper.

Expected Grade: B+

Final Grade: A

Final Comments
I feel that I managed to do well for this module because I did pretty well for the two quizzes and the individual paper. You can find my notes for this module here. As for the workings for additional questions and past year papers, they are actually from a senior who uploaded his/her notes in his/her blog. However, his/her notes are handwritten and I helped to convert the workings into softcopy pdf versions so that it's easier to "Ctrl + F" while revising. As for the handwritten summarised notes, they are done by me and they may not be 100% correct. But, still a good point of reference for revision! 

I feel that you should only choose this TE if you are really interested to work in the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry in future. This module is really helpful if you want to head to those sectors. However, if your interest is elsewhere (i.e. in petrochemical or microelectronics etc), then maybe you should not consider this TE at all (because it is not an easy module and there is no point in giving yourself unnecessary suffering).

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 the additional questions and past year papers I have provided. Do read all questions carefully for quizzes and finals as they can be rather tricky. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: GE2204 (AY19/20 Semester 2)

GE2204 Cities in Transition is a 4 MC Urban Geography Module that covers issues faced by different cities with focus on comparisons between Asian and Western cities. As already mentioned, I am in Chemical Engineering and thus, I took this module as an elective/UEM. Reason being I overshot my 60 MCs cap of level-1000 modules and thus, I needed a level-2000 module to cover the overshoot. Also, this module had no pre-requisites (which means I can use my SUs) and the module fitted in nicely with my timetable too, soooo I decided to take this module. There are other level-2000 modules in FASS that could also be considered if anyone faces the same situation as me but this review will only be for GE2204. I would provide my perspective as someone who last touched Geography in Secondary School and as someone taking this module as an elective.

(I will be providing my review for both this semester (circuit breaker/online lessons) and a General Semester. If next semester is still fully online, my review for this semester is likely to be helpful. If all things are back to normal, then I guess the review portions on General Semester is pretty sufficient.)

Assessment (For this semester)

10% Class Participation
15% Mid-Term Essay Assignment (1 essay question, deadline within 3 weeks)
25% Group Project
50% Final Assignment (Open Book, 24 hours, 3 essay questions)

Assessment (For a General Semester (without circuit breaker))

10% Class Participation
15% Mid-Term Test (Week 7 lecture slot, combination of MCQ and structured questions)
25% Group Project
50% Finals (Closed Book, 2 hours, 3 essay questions (usually 1 compulsory question, and another 4 questions given, in which 2 questions are to be done))

Lecturer: 
Prof Pow Choon Piew

Tutor:
Prof Pow Choon Piew

Textbooks/Readings
Pacione, M. (2009) Urban Geography: A Global Perspective, 3rd edition, London & New York: Routledge.

This is the main textbook that is usually referred to for the module. BUT there is a whole list of readings that Prof Pow gives every week with online access (this textbook has an online pdf too). So, just stick to the readings Prof Pow recommends every week. For me, personally, I did not finish reading all the readings as there were quite a lot and as an Engineering student, these readings can bore me after a while haha (but I have to admit there are some that are quite interesting to read since it provided a different perspective on cities and the environment in which we live in.) 

In my opinion, if the readings are summarised by Prof Pow in the lecture slides, it is not a must to read them. If they are not summarised, do at least look through them briefly and at least just read through the headings if you really find readings boring.  

Lectures
This module had a 2 hour lecture weekly. There are 4 main sections in the module content. On a General Semester, lectures for the first two sections will take place from weeks 1 - 6. There will then be a mid-term test on week 7 which covers the topics taught in weeks 1 - 6. The test will consist of MCQ and structured questions. Then, lectures for the last two sections will take place from weeks 8 - 12, and a revision lecture will be held on week 13. 

For this semester, the first 4 weeks of lectures were face-to-face lectures. Then, for the rest of the lectures, they were webcasted or recorded on luminus since we could not have lessons with more than 25 students in one setting. The first two sections of the module content was covered in weeks 1 - 5. Prof Pow combined the lectures for weeks 5 - 6 into one lecture. There was no lecture on week 6. [Then, for week 7, we had a small zoom session on how to use Examplify as Prof Pow initially had thoughts of having the final exam on Examplify. (But, that idea was eventually not done.)] Thereafter, the next two sections of the module was covered on weeks 8 - 11. Prof Pow again combined the lectures for weeks 11 - 12 into one lecture. He then provided a zoom revision session on week 13.

Okay, now to the lectures itself. In my opinion, Prof Pow is a really good and nice lecturer. I really like listening to his lectures and it feels as though I'm listening to a TED Talk when attending one of his lectures. He explains things pretty well and I could understand new terminologies pretty quickly from his lectures. He does add on to points in the lecture slides which are real useful for exams, so do take them down. He also replies emails promptly too if u have any queries about the lecture content and what not. The only issue I can think of is that his slides can be a little messy haha. Like the pictures and words can be all over the slides. Other than that, I really like attending his lectures.

Tutorial

Well, for this semester, we only had 2 face-to-face tutorial sessions (usual 2 hour tutorials) and the attendance for these 2 sessions gave us the 10% tutorial participation. Prof Pow gave tutorial worksheets for the other tutorials as well but they were only briefly discussed during the online lectures.

For the General Semester, there would be 5 fortnightly tutorial sessions which are 2 hours long. For each tutorial, Prof Pow will usually have a tutorial worksheet with a few issues or questions that are open to discussion. During the actual tutorial, he would usually start with some form of lecture summary before looking at the tutorial worksheet. As for the discussions, it's pretty open and anyone can just speak up (I'm not too sure whether class participation for a general semester is just merely attendance or requires at least some form of speaking as well. I mean Prof Pow doesn't really take down names of those who have shared during class, so I think so long as you're present in class, all's good). He may also plan some form of debate for 1 of the tutorial sessions which is kind of an impromptu thing. So, don't worry too much, it ain't like a serious sort of debate but just a platform for us to discuss some of the issues raised in lectures.

Mid-Term Test/Mid-Term Essay

For the General Semester, a mid-term test will be held in week 7. I can't give too much details about it because I really don't know what is tested here (check other reviews online). For this semester, the mid-term test was converted into a mid-term essay. It was an essay question which consisted of 2 parts. There was a 1,500 word limit. The question was released on week 6 and was due on week 9. It was pretty tough for me, I guess, as an Engineering student as I haven't written an argumentative essay for a while. Thankfully, since this was human/urban Geography, there are some links to Economics that I've learnt in JC which I could apply to this essay (and to finals as well). I wrote this essay like a GP essay hahaha which in the end, I still took quite a bit of time to finish it. Thankfully, my effort paid off since I got an A- for this assignment.
 
Group Project
I believe that this section will be generally applicable for both kinds of semesters. To start off, we formed groups of 4 to 5 in the first tutorial session. I took this module alone, so I just formed a group with whoever was sitting near me during tutorial. For the group project, I think the topic changes for every semester but the topic for this semester was on urban livability. We were supposed to investigate a neighbourhood in Singapore which has gone through a significant change or some form of rejuvenation recently. Then, we had to write a 4,500 word report (luckily no presentation required for this!). My group chose to focus on Paya Lebar and we had to head down to that area a couple of times to study the area. Thankfully, this all happened before circuit breaker started so we still managed to get the data we needed and completed our report. We couldn't conduct interviews obviously (given the virus situation), so our report content was entirely on based on our observations of the area. To be honest, as someone with no or little Geography background, I wasn't really sure how to approach this project at all. Thankfully, my group members were really helpful and guided me through the process. They are really good in writing as well so the report was ultimately manageable for us.

Final Exam/Final Assignment
For the General Semester, the finals is a 2 hour closed book paper consisting of 5 essay questions. The first question is compulsory. Then, you get to choose to attempt 2 questions out of the other 4 questions. Thus, only 3 questions had to be completed (which is pretty rushing for a 2 hour paper). You only have roughly 40 minutes to complete each question. And since it's closed book, I guess some form of memorisation is required too. As for the topics tested, all topics from weeks 1 - 13 will be covered in the finals but more emphasis will be on the later half of the module. You can refer to some of the past year papers in the NUS exam database online. 

For this semester, well it became a 24 hour assignment. The paper was released at 9 am and the deadline was 9 am on the next day. The assignment isn't meant to be completed in 24 hours. Prof Pow set it to be 24 hours because there are exchange students who went back to their home country but were still taking the module in NUS. Thus, you know, timezone differences etc; Prof Pow decided to make it into a 24 hour assignment. We were given 3 compulsory essay questions and we have to write our essays in a single word document to be submitted. The topics tested were content from weeks 1 - 10 which covered the first 3 main sections of the module. The last section of the module was not tested for the final assignment. 

Well, that day was a torture for me doing the final assignment hahahah. I haven't written essays in a while and having to write 3 essays in a day was bad for me haha. The only good thing was that Prof Pow doesn't require formal citations for this assignment and in-text citations were enough. I literally spent the entire day to finish the assignment hahaha.

Expected Grade: B+

Final Grade: A

Final Comments
Well, I really didn't expect an A for this module. I took this module with an expectation of SU-ing it. But turns out I don't have to! I think it was partly because of me luckily ending up with good teammates for the group project. AND I guessed the GP/Econs writing skills I learnt in JC really helped here too. 

You can check out my self-compiled notes here. My notes only cover content from Weeks 1 - 10 since the last section wasn't tested for finals in this semester. In my opinion, if you really hate writing essays, then this module is not meant for you. But is worth a try as a UEM if you are just planning to SU it as the workload is not too heavy.

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Disclaimer for Module Reviews in AY19/20 Semester 2

Hi all, I would like to provide some form of context for the upcoming module reviews for the modules taken in AY19/20 Semester 2. This is because these modules were taken in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak. Half of the semester was conducted in school and the other half was conducted online due to Circuit Breaker measures (and lessons with more than 25 students were already shifted online before Circuit Breaker kicked in). 

Thus, I'll try to separate my review where I'll explain aspects of the module that will be applicable for a General Semester (without lessons going online etc) and then I'll also talk about what's different in this semester because of everything moving online. I feel that the latter might be helpful in certain aspects as I'm not sure whether all exams will be conducted face to face in AY20/21 Semester 1 too and some of the advice given can actually be applicable for the upcoming semester. So, I'm thinking why not just share a bit of my experience in taking exams online.

So, yeap! Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan