Module Review: MA1512 (AY17/18 Semester 2)

MA1512 Differential Equations for Engineering is a 2 MC module that took place from Week 8 - 13. Lectures were from weeks 8 - 12 and tutorials were from weeks 9 - 13. This module had a couple of problems, in my opinion, but overall was still manageable. This module took place right after MA1513 and the lectures and tutorials were at the exact same time slot as MA1513. This module is a new module which is supposed to replace MA1506 (or part of it, and the other part covered by MA1513). It covers different concepts of DEs and includes Laplace transforms as well.

Assessment

4% Class Participation (only required to attend one tutorial session)

16% Online Quiz (only one quiz with 4 questions)

80% Finals (Closed Book, with 2 page cheat sheet)

Lecturer: A/Prof Leung Pui Fai, Fred

Tutor: Marciuk, Adriana Ewa

Lectures

Lectures were 1 hour long, like MA1513, which took place once a week. There were five of them in total. The main difference from MA1513 was that there was no lecture quiz at the end of the lecture. Furthermore, since there was only 1 hour, the lecturer tend to explain only one portion of the topic and expect us to understand the rest through watching the online webcasts. Thus, I gave up attending lectures after going for the first one. I then decided to just watch the online videos and attend tutorial (which was a good choice imo). Furthermore, there wasn't even like a "module overview" kind of thing on the first lecture and the lecturer just went straight into the topic. I mean it's not exactly a bad thing but I really like lecturers that give a broad overview of the entire module.

The lecture notes were totally just copied off from MA1506. There were some notes where the lecturers were too lazy to change the title and it was still called MA1506. Furthermore, the notes were pretty messy as well. I guess it was because MA1513 gave really really really precise, clear and detailed notes which resulted in the MA1512 notes looking really bad.

Tutorial

Tutorials were held once a week and were 2 hours long. The tutor would usually give a brief summary of the topic, followed by going through the tutorial questions that were prepared for that week and then giving us time to do the in-class assignment. The tutor was the same as for MA1513. She follows closely to the answer sheet which isn't too bad imo. 

The problem with this module is that we only need to attend ONE tutorial out of the 5 tutorials to get the 4% of the grades. I mean it is a good thing if you think about it but there was a lack of commitment to this module because of this. 

The other 16% was for ONE online quiz which took place around week 9/10. There were 4 questions to tackle and we only need to fill in the final answer. No working was required and we could freely discuss with our friends before submitting the quiz. Thus, it wasn't much of an issue. 


Final Exam

The finals for this module took place on the last Sunday of the finals week which was kinda annoying. The paper was also 1.5 hours long but only consisted of 5 questions in total (as compared to 6 for MA1511 and MA1513). Time management was still really important but it wasn't as stressful as compared to the other two papers. 

You can view my 2 page cheat sheet here.

Expected Grade: A

Final Grade: A+

Final Comments

I guessed the lecturer (from the online webcast) was good in explaining the concepts to us. The content was really messy but if you prepare your own notes well, this module shouldn't really be much of a problem.

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: MA1513 (AY17/18 Semester 2)

MA1513 Linear Algebra with Differential Equations is a 2 MC module that took place from Week 1 - 8. Lectures were from weeks 1 - 7 and tutorials were from weeks 2 - 6. I would say this module had the best lecturer and tutor, out of the modules that I took this semester.  

Assessment
15% In-Class Assignment 
10% Lecture Quiz
5% IVLE Quiz
70% Finals (Closed Book, with 2 page cheat sheet)

Lecturer: A/Prof Victor Tan
Tutor: Marciuk, Adriana Ewa

Lectures
Lectures were 1 hour long which took place once a week. There were seven of them in total. However, there are web lectures in IVLE to listen to before attending the lecture. Each week, there were about 4-5 videos (of about 10 minutes long each) to watch. So, there are technically two types of lecture slides: one for the online videos and one for the physical lecture. During the physical lecture, since it is only 1 hour long, the lecturer would usually just summarise the key points of the topic. I find the summary slides to be super useful because I can just copy his summary into my cheat sheet for the final exam. The lecturer was also able to explain all the concepts clearly and I really liked how his slides were very organised (as compared to the other modules I took in the semester). I mean there were pretty new concepts for JC students like us to learn such as eigenvectors and linear independence. But I was able to understand them pretty quickly due to his clear explanations.

At the end of every lecture, we are required to answer 2 lecture quiz questions where the marks are only awarded for participation. This meant that so long as you submitted your answer, you'll get the mark regardless of whether it is right or wrong.

Tutorial
Tutorials were held once a week and were 2 hours long. The tutor would usually give a brief summary of the topic, followed by going through the tutorial questions that were prepared for that week and then giving us time to do the in-class assignment. My tutor was pretty okay, I guess. I mean she can explain things well but I wouldn't say she's really good. But I ain't complaining (cos she's much better than the other tutors for the other modules I took in the semester). For the in-class assignment, just like MA1511, we could discuss with our friends and we could refer to our notes too. It serves as a good revision of the concepts learnt in lecture in the previous week. We would submit the assignments, our tutor would mark it and return it back to us the following week. 

For the IVLE quiz, there were 5 quizzes in total. We given one week to do it and each quiz has about 5-6 MCQ questions. We were also given multiple attempts for each quiz so it ain't really a problem.  

Final Exam
The finals for this module took place on a Sunday on week 8 (just like MA1511 last semester). The paper was 1.5 hours long and consisted of 6 questions in total. This meant that we only had 15 minutes for each question. Bear in mind that each question has 2 parts as well, meaning that there are actually 12 questions in total. Thus, time management was really important. I somehow managed to finish the paper right on time and yeah, I would say it wasn't a very terrible paper. There were tricky components but it wasn't like an impossible paper like MA1511.

You can view my 2 page cheat sheet here.

Expected Grade: A
Final Grade: A+

Final Comments
I feel like I could do very well for this module because the lecturer was really good in explaining all the foreign concepts to us. I would say the concepts were not easy to grasp but once I could understand the reasoning behind certain things in the module, the questions were not that tough anymore (as compared to MA1511).

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: CN1102 (AY17/18 Semester 2)

CN1102 Chemical Engineering Principles and Practice II provides experiential exposure to chemical engineering concepts for Year 1 Chem Eng students. It is pretty similar to CN1101 but this module focuses more on bio-reaction kinetics, bioreactor design and purification techniques. It is a compulsory core module for all JC/IB students. 

Assessment

10% Chalk and talk

20% Lab Attendance

30% Lab Report

20% Lecture Quizzes

20% Final Design Project 

(NO FINALS)

Lecturer: Various ChBE professors, different prof for every lecture
Lab tutor: Prof Li Zhi
CELC/Tutorial tutor: Ms Lee Kit Mun

Comments
The module was a new module introduced this academic year to "ease" our entrance into NUS Chemical Engineering. Yet again, it wasn't planned very well like CN1101. I guess my batch can be considered to be like "guinea pigs" and I hope the system would improve for future batches.

The module consists of a 2 hour lecture, 4 hours laboratory and occasional 2 hours tutorial. Just like in CN1101, the lectures and lab were conducted by the ChBE professors while the tutorial was conducted by the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) tutors. 

Lecture
The structure of every lecture is as such. One of the profs would start off explaining the things that we did in the lab session in the previous week (like a debrief session). He would explain the good things we do in the lab and the bad things we should avoid. This is pretty good as such lab work actually do prepare us for many more sessions to come in Year 2-4. 

After that, we would have a lecture quiz (the 20% section above). The quiz consists of 5 MCQ questions and the questions are based on the topics touched on in lab in the previous week. Here's the problem. The quiz are to be answered using clickers. Although the professors kept emphasizing "no talking", we are in a LT and it was really easy to just whisper to each other to confirm the answer. Well, this isn't exactly a bad thing but it would just mean that there can be some people who didn't bother reading the notes at all, sit beside someone smart, and ace this section all the way. Furthermore, there were some people who had problems with their clickers and couldn't submit their answers on time. However, upon appealing, they couldn't get their marks back either (which was really unfair in my opinion).

After the lecture quiz, one of the profs would then brief us on the lab session taking place the week after. 

Lectures, to be honest, was a mess where all of us seem to be talking a lot more than usual and the lecturers had to quieten us down like in JC. The noise level wasn't exactly that low in other modules but it was exceptionally loud for this mod. I think it is because there isn't any finals for this module and after the lecture quiz, we can basically not worry about that particular topic anymore. 

Lab Sessions
Lab sessions weren't as bad as CN1101. This is because we get to experiment on cells and stuff, which is way better than playing with water. During the lab sessions, we work as a group. We have to produce a 2 page lab report for every lab session which would account for 30% of our grade. Thankfully, my group members were really cooperative. The lab report deadlines were initially set to be the day after our lab session but from Week 3 onwards, we were required to submit the lab report before the session ends. I wouldn't this is a very bad decision because we do not need to worry about the report anymore once the session ends. 

With regards to the lab sessions itself, I learnt how to use simple apparatuses. I know this sounds stupid but during my JC days, the equipment my JC used in laboratories were pretty old, so I was pretty new to seeing these more "high tech" apparatuses. Some things we did were measuring rate of cell growth, sterilization techniques and studying the effects of different bio reactors. I would be lying if I said I didn't learn anything at all throughout the eleven lab sessions we had. 

Prof Li Zhi was pretty okay. He was able to answer our queries about certain concepts well but since he wasn't directly involved in the planning stage of this module, there were some things that he was unsure of and had to consult the other professors. (I would say that he wasn't unsure because he lacked the expertise but because he just didn't know the exact details of the experiments that we would be doing.)

However, there's this issue which was also prevalent in CN1101. The professors do not seem to be prepared for our lab sessions as we actually overheard one prof briefing another about the lab experiment minutes before our lab session started. Sometimes, there were not enough materials to use in the lab. I guess it is because it is still a new module and everyone is unsure about how all the experiments would play out. 

Another major issue is that this is a experiential/foundational module. This meant that we learnt some of the very important formulas in Chem Eng without knowing exactly how it came about or how it was derived. Thus, we were just touching on the surface of the topics. Many of us felt like our foundations were very weak and sometimes, we did the experiment without knowing the exact principle behind it. 

Chalk and Talk 
Like in CN1101, we had a Chalk and Talk session at the end of every lab. The difference now is that we were informed about the questions during lecture so we had like a week to prepare for our presentation. This was obviously much better than CN1101 as the question was given to us like on the spot and we had to think of an answer within that few seconds. Furthermore, for this module, we only needed to present to our group mates and our prof which was definitely less stressful. 

The topics can be rather abstract/complex but with 1 week given to do our own research, it ain't really a big problem.

Tutorial
Tutorials were conducted by CELC. My tutor for this module was Ms Lee Kit Mun. She is a very good tutor who gave us timely feedback on our reports and Chalk and Talk. We only had 3 tutorial sessions which were on Week 1, 9 and 12. The first week was a recap on the Chalk and Talk. For week 9's session, we were told how to create a good scientific poster for our final project. On week 12, we had a peer discussion and review on our draft posters. Overall, the tutorial sessions were pretty okay, and turned out to be the least problematic for the entire module. 

Final Project
For the final design project, we were required to design a bioreactor and use a fruit of our choice to convert sugar (inside the fruit) into alcohol. No additional sugar/alcohol are allowed to be added in and grapes were forbidden to be chosen as one of the fruits. We added the fruits in week 8 and measured the yield and purity on week 12. We were then required to design a poster to explain our entire experimental process. By the way, the poster required was A1 in size. We were required to print it out and we had this 'exhibition' on week 13 where 2 members from each group had to present on the project and answer questions given by the profs. 

Expected Grade: A

Final Grade: B+

Final Comments
I guess the main reason why I didn't do as well for this module is because of our final project results. As compared to other groups, our alcohol percentage wasn't that high. On top of that, I didn't do exceptionally well for the lecture quiz portion as well. I felt like this module has a lot of room for improvement and I hope future batches would like this module more.


Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

End of Sem 2

Hi All,

It's been a long while since I've updated this blog. Semester 2 and year 1 have officially ended 2 weeks ago and I would be posting my module reviews soon (once results are released). 

Currently, summer break has started. I'm mainly just enjoying life for now. No internships or part time work. Just watching shows and playing games. I would be pretty busy in June and then, it'll be a good break in July. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: CN1101 (AY17/18 Semester 1)

CN1101 Chemical Engineering Principles and Practice I is a new module and I was part of the first cohort in AY17/18 to do this module. I would say it is a really good initiative for the chemical engineering department to change the syllabus and I'll explain more about the module below.

Assessment10% Studio Attendance and Participation
10% Chalk and Talk
10% Studio Case Studies
25% Compilation and Presentation of Student Portfolio
45% Tests (3 Continual Assessments, Open Book)
(NO FINAL EXAM)

Lecturer: different lecturer every lecture.
Tutor: Dr Saif Khan

Comments

It was a very new kind of module for me. It was very different from the usual lecture and tutorial style of modules and there are pros and cons in this. The Chem Eng Department created a new textbook for this module which was a good initiative in my opinion, although there is room for improvement. The module covered foundational Chem Eng concepts like mass/energy balances and fluid mechanics. 

We had to do a pre-studio and post-studio quiz (consisting of 8-10 mcq questions) every week on IVLE. They were no graded and were there just to see whether we understood the topic better after the end of the studio session. 

Lecture

Lecture was held once a week on Mondays from 1400 - 1600. The lecture will usually start off with a review of the experiment done last week, followed by explanations for the studio quizzes and then an introduction to the topic to be taught during studio. Lectures were done well, I guess, just that the lecture slides are only uploaded after the lecture and not before (which doesn't really make sense to me). The lectures were not webcast-ed so I attended all 11 lectures. 

Lab/Studio

The studio sessions (actually just labaratory sessions, studio is just a fancy name) were 4 hours long and mine was on Tuesday, from 0900 - 1300. Our studio sessions usually start off with doing the experiment itself and then, analyzing the data collected using different softwares. We were pre-allocated into groups of five for the studio.

My tutor doesn't exactly tell you what the expected result for the experiments would be and it was up to us to find out. This was not a problem with the simple concepts in the beginning of the module but as the concepts got more complex, we were pretty lost towards the end since we weren't sure of what to expect (but I guess this is part of the learning experience). However, I really Prof Saif's way of explaining the concepts to us at the end of studio sessions as he is really clear and succinct. 

We had to write a 2 page lab report for each experiment and this report has to submitted at the end of the week. 

At the end of every studio, we would have a chalk and talk session. Each cluster (about 25 people) will gather together and then, someone from each group will come up to the front to do a 5 minute presentation on a question asked by our prof. So, this is pretty spontaneous and the questions asked are related to the previous week's topic. We had to present twice throughout the whole semester, one being graded and one being a test run. I was pretty nervous about this initially but as the weeks went by, I got closer to everyone in the cluster and it wasn't really that awkward talking to people that you already know and are close to. Prof Saif was very helpful too and gave constant prompts during our chalk and talk so that we can do well. 

Tutorial

The tutorial was actually conducted by the Centre for English Language Communication (CELC) and was on weeks 1, 6 and 7. The week 1 tutorial focused on the chalk and talk while weeks 6 and 7 focused more on our lab reports. My tutor for this tutorial was Dr Misty So-Sum Wai-Cook and she gave very good feedback with regards to our chalk and talk and lab reports. She was very clear in her explanations too.

The problem here is that the main review on our lab reports and how to write good lab reports was done on Week 6 while we have already written 5 lab reports in weeks 1 - 5 (and all reports are graded under the portfolio portion). So, yeah. That was kinda weird. 

Furthermore, we do not have ACTUAL tutorials that sum up what we have learnt in lecture and studio and there are no tutorial questions to practice etc. So, we sometimes think we know what we are supposed to know until we take the continual assessments and realize that there are a couple of things that we do not know.  

Tests

There were 3 continual assessments held on Saturdays of weeks 4, 8 and 11. Each assessment consisted of 15 MCQ questions and were all open book examinations. The first 2 assessments were 1 hour 15 minutes long while the last one was 1 hour 30 minutes long. The test questions were way more complex than what we learnt in studio but since it is MCQ, you know, you can always just choose the most suitable option even when you cannot obtain that final answer. 

Expected Grade: A

Actual Grade: A+

Overall, it was a good experience although I felt the way this module is being taught could be improved a little.

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: MA1511 (AY17/18 Semester 1)

MA1511 Engineering Calculus is a new module for engineering and it is meant to replace MA1505 for chemical engineering. It is a 2 modular credit (MC) module and only half a semester long. The final examination occurs at the same time as the mid term tests of my other modules.

Assessment

10% Class Participation

30% Class Assignments (Open Book)

60% Final Examination (6 structured questions, each with 2 parts, Closed Book with a 2 Page Cheat Sheet)

Lecturer: Dr Ng Wee Seng

Tutor: Mr Andreas Dwi Maryanto Gunawan

Comments

This is a core module for Chem Eng so we had to take it. It was a very rushed module in my opinion since it was only half a semester long and all the contents were squeezed into that amount of time. The topics were mainly about partial derivatives, multiple integrals and vector fields.

Lecture

Lecture was once a week on Fridays from 1600 - 1700 and was on only from week 1 to week 5 since there were only 5 topics in the module. The lecturer uploads videos about one topic before lecture (like about 1-2 weeks before the lecture). Technically, we can just watch these videos and not attend lecture at all since lecture is just a repeat of these videos. Furthermore, the lectures are webcast-ed! Thus, I only attended the first 2 lectures. However, I really like the lecturer's explanations in his videos as he can explain really complex math concepts and make it simpler for us to understand.

Tutorial

Tutorial started on week 2 and ended on week 6, with a total of 5 tutorials. Tutorials were 2 hours long. Since there were 5 topics, each tutorial covered one topic. My tutor would usually give a short summary about the topic and then go through some of the selected tutorial questions. The tutorial questions can be pretty tough but my tutor was able to explain the solutions to the questions well. 

There is a class assignment at the end of every tutorial but this class assignment is open book and discussion is allowed. The tutor just repeating that our answers cannot look exactly the same. Well, I would say these class assignments were a boost for me since it took up 30% of the overall grade. Each class assignment consisted of 2 questions and they were not very tough to complete.

As for class participation, it is mainly accounted via attendance since there wasn't really much discussion throughout the tutorial (except during the class assignment).

Final Exam

The final exam was one of the toughest math examinations I ever had. I never came out of the exam hall after a math paper feeling so lost and disappointed. As mentioned above, there were 6 structured questions in the paper and we were only given 1 hour 30 minutes! I could only complete half the paper (with final answers) while brief workings were presented for the rest of the questions. Well, the lecturer already did warn us in the first place that we will not be able to complete the paper.

You can refer to my 2 page cheat sheet here.

Expected Grade: A

Actual Grade: A+

I would say it was mainly due to my class assignments that I was able to get a really good result for this module. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: ACC1701X (AY 17/18 Semester 1)

ACC1701X Accounting for Decision Makers (Under School of Business, obviously) teaches basic and foundational accounting standards. I took this module as an unrestricted elective (since it ends with an X) since I have thoughts of minoring in management. 

Assessment

10% Class Participation

10% Class Presentation

30% Mid Term Test (30 MCQs, Closed Book)

50% Final Examination (35 MCQs and one structured question, Closed Book)

Lecturer: Ms Tan Sok Jee, Elaine (First half of semester)

Ms Tan Wee Szu (Second half of semester)

Tutor: Mr Philip Toh

Comments

First and foremost, I took this module because a lot (AND I MEAN A LOT) of my chem eng batch mates took this module too. It was a good module, a little content heavy, but overall not too tough. 

I would recommend getting the textbook: 'Financial Accounting: Information for Decisions 3rd Ed.' since the tutorial questions are all taken from the textbook. It'll be good to read the textbook first before attending lectures as it'll be less confusing that way (For me, it was the first time dealing with accounting, so I felt the need to refer to the textbook). 

Lecture

The lectures are held every Wednesday from 12 pm - 2 pm. There are 2 other lecture slots too. There are 12 lectures in total. The lectures are not webcasted, and since accounting is a new thing to me, I attended all 12 lectures. The lecture notes were pretty useful as they summarize the key points well. However, the lectures are pretty content heavy and can get quite boring sometimes. Towards the end of the semester (especially when going through income and equity and cash flow), the lectures were actually 1 hour 45 minutes long (the standard is about 1 hour 20 minutes, with a break in between of course). The lecturers explained all the points pretty well but both lecturers can be a little boring due to their rather monotonous voices. This was the only lecture in this semester that I had tendencies of falling asleep. Comparing the 2 lecturers, I would say the second lecturer is better in explaining the concepts as I was able to understand her explanations more easily. 

Tutorial

The tutorial is only 1 hour long, and is held once a week (all the way till week 13). We were pre-assigned into groups of 4 and we even have assigned places to sit in the tutorial room (just like secondary school, lol). For every tutorial, the tutor will first give a brief summary regarding the topic, then one group will present their tutorial solutions (which is done on Excel or PowerPoint) and then, the tutor will present his own solutions. The group that will be presenting for each tutorial is already decided on the first tutorial. We got to present for 2 tutorials since there are only like 5-6 groups in total. My group did all the tutorial solutions on Excel since excel has the ability to calculate all the values needed for us and it's easier to present financial statements on Excel. 

Mid Term Test

The mid term test was held on week 8. It was one hour long, consisted of 30 MCQs and was a closed book examination. One hour was sufficient to complete the questions. The questions are a little tricky and we had to read very closely. Other than that, it was pretty manageable. 

Final Exam

The final exam consisted of 35 MCQs and 1 structured question. I spend about 1 hour on the MCQs and another hour on the structured question since the whole paper was 2 hours long. The MCQs were again pretty tricky and close reading was required. The structured question wasn't a huge problem either. 

The module has quite a number of formulas that we are required to remember as well since a cheat sheet is not allowed during the exam. But, for the final exam, they only tested like about 3-4 formulas, so it isn't really a huge problem.

Expected Grade: A-

Actual Grade: A

I guess this module wasn't too tough for me as it had a lot of math involved in it (and as an engineer, I'm totally fine with having math in such a module).

All in all, I would recommend this module for anyone wanting to take it as an unrestricted elective as it is not a tough module. But if you hate math (for art students), then maybe this module shouldn't be considered. 

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: GES1028 (AY 17/18 Semester 1)

GES1028 Singapore society (under Department of Sociology) is about applying concepts of sociology on the context of the issues faced in Singapore.

Assessment

20% Class Participation

20% Class Presentation

20% Critical Review (An Essay Review on one of the readings assigned)

40% Final Examination (2 Essays, Closed Book)

Lecturer: DR Adelyn Lim Li-Ping

Tutor: Mr Muhammad Kamal Jauhari Bin Zai 

Comments

First and foremost, I didn't exactly know the true reason why I chose to take this module because I'm terribly horrible at writing essays. Plus, I'm an engineering student here, so taking this arts module wasn't exactly an easy thing for me. However, I definitely did not regret taking it because it provided me with another perspective about Singapore as well as the 'hidden' issues/problems many locals face. 

Please also do take note that this module may be handled by different teaching teams every semester and these lecturers and tutors may not be handling this module during your semester. 

The good thing for this module is that there are no textbooks required (YAY).

Lecture

Lecture was on every Thursday for 2 hours long (10 am - 12 pm). There wasn't any webcast for this module and since I'm afraid of losing out, I attended all the 11 lectures. The module consists of 10 main topics (e.g. of topics are like education, race, religion in Singapore), with 1 lecture talking about 1 topic, and one round up lecture at the end. The lecture usually starts with a brief history about the topic in the world before bringing in into the Singaporean context. The lecturer is very clear in her explanations but she does speak pretty quickly. So, I would advise taking an audio recording for the lecture so that you can refer to it again to make sure you do not miss anything out. 

Readings

There is one assigned reading for every topic, so there are 10 in total. Some are really long while some are pretty short. I'll advise at least reading half or at least get the gist of the readings before attending lectures so that you would not be too lost. I have to say that some readings (only 1 or 2) are a bit too complex for me to understand (sad engineering student here) and I had to google some terms now and then. But I guess maybe it is because some of the readings are pretty relatable to me and thus, I don't actually hate spending some time to read these readings. 

Tutorial

Tutorial is 2 hours long, but only once every 2 weeks and there's only a total of 5 tutorials for the module. For the first tutorial, we were told to form our own groups of 5-6 members, instead of the usual pre-assigned groupings in most modules. It's a good thing for those who have friends in the same tutorial slot but for me, I'm alone in this so it didn't really matter for me. There were 4 groups in total for each tutorial and each group has to present on an assigned topic. A sentence will also be given to us and we would have to break down the sentence and apply it to Singapore's context. For the first tutorial, we just formed our own groups so there wasn't any presentations. But for all the subsequent tutorials, it all started with a group presentation first before the tutor then talks about the main points regarding the topic itself. Every tutorial covers 2 topics previously covered in lectures. 

My tutor was a very light-hearted guy, yet he was also able to bring his points up succinctly. He'll crack jokes once in a while and it was thus quite fun to attend his tutorials. And for those who hate class participation and talking in class, this module is actually good for you because the class participation grading is not based on how much you talk in class. Instead, at the end of every tutorial, we have to provide a one sentence response for 2 questions and this will contribute to the 20% class participation.

As for the critical review, we have to write a 'review' on one of the assigned readings. The review is on the same topic as the group presentation and for mine, our group did on gender and sexuality in Singapore. The critical review is a bit like the Application Question in the GP paper where we would bring up arguments made by the author, evaluate these arguments and decide whether to agree or disagree with them. This provided a new experience for me since I haven't exactly written a paper all by myself before but looking back, I wouldn't say it was as bad as I expected. 

As for the group presentation, I AM VERY GLAD THAT I HAD GOOD TEAMMATES. To me, the trick to doing well in group presentations is having good teammates (like I'm serious here, I felt the main reason I did well in project work in JC was due to me having nice teammates). As mentioned earlier, we had to break down a sentence in relation to gender and sexuality in Singapore and then talk about the issues facing Singapore. Just take note that if this module is still taught by the same teaching team, then it is VERY important to have a stand with regards to the topic at like the second of third slide of your presentation. Other than that, the presentation actually went pretty smoothly and yeah, that's about it. 

Final Exam

The final examination consists of Section A and Section B and we had to write one essay for each section. Sadly, it was a closed book examination. The paper was 2 hours long, so it is best to spend only an hour for each essay. Section A was a compulsory essay question which requires an assessment of a newspaper article and applying the concepts we learnt in lectures for the articles. This was definitely tough for me and I spent about 1 hour and 10 minutes for this question (thus leaving me with only about 50 minutes for Section B). It took me quite a while to sort out what I want to write in the essay. Thus, if the same exam format is kept, it'll be good to read newspaper articles (regarding Singapore, obviously) throughout the semester and think about how to apply the different concepts learnt to the articles. Next, section B was a 3 questions choose 1 kind of thing. It wasn't too bad for me since the questions were on the readings I spent more time on. I chose the first question on governance and it wasn't all too bad. If I'm not wrong, the examination paper might be accessible through the exam library online. 

Expected Grade: C

Actual Grade: A-

I totally didn't expect myself to do this well for this module. I guess it was mainly because I got an A for my group presentation and A- for my critical review, which both brought the overall grade up to A-. SO, CHOOSE GOOD TEAMMATES TO WORK WITH.

All in all, it was a 'quite okay' kind of module but I don't think I would want to recommend this module to anyone who hates writing essays. I had a very negative perception towards this module in the beginning but I DEFINITELY do not have this feeling anymore after attending all the lectures and tutorials. I will never regret taking this module since I did way better than expected.

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

Module Review: GET1032 (AY 17/18 Semester 1)

GET1032 Building Relationships - Theories and Practice  (Under the Department of Social Work) mainly talks about building effective interpersonal relationships, effective communication with different groups of people and emotional intelligence.

Assessment

30% Class Participation and Debate

30% Term Test (50 MCQs, Closed Book)

40% Final Examination (50 MCQs and 2 structured questions, Open Book)

Lecturer: Dr Vasoo

Tutor: Dr Vasoo

Comments

The main reason why I decided to take this module was because of the MCQ style examinations and I only needed 1 bid point to get this module. But I have to say I did benefit from this module as it taught me a lot of life skills with regards to communication and emotional intelligence.

I would recommend getting a textbook for this module. I got the Interpersonal Communication Book,14th Ed. by Joseph A. DeVito. A lot of the key terms taught were taken from this textbook and the final examination is open book, meaning that you can bring this textbook into the examination hall.

Lecture

The lecture is held very Wednesday from 4pm - 6pm. The lecture is webcasted and thus, I stopped attending lecture after the second lecture. The lecturer also mainly just read off from the slide, so I don't think there's a need to attend the lectures. Each lecture will talk about a topic with regards to communication. 

The lecturer does provide additional reading materials too and it'll be good to read them as well. (I wouldn't say it's a must to read these readings, but it will really help)

Tutorial

The tutorial takes place once every 2 weeks and there are only 5 tutorials in the semester. At the beginning of each tutorial, there will be a debate session with 2-3 students on each side of the debate. I was part of the first group to do the debate so I didn't have to worry about the debate anymore for the subsequent tutorials. The groups are pre-assigned by the tutor. The debate topics were obviously related to communication and my topic was: 'Interpersonal communication is a natural human ability' and I was on the side agreeing with the statement (although I strongly disagree with this statement). Not to worry, the debate is pretty relaxing, in the sense that we do not have to stand up to talk. We can just sit at the front of the class and present our arguments. And the funny thing is that we didn't even rebut each other's points. For the subsequent tutorials, most groups didn't rebut the other side's points either. We're only allowed to speak for 2-2.5 minutes too, so it really isn't that worrying for those who have stage fright and hate presentations.

Our tutor, Dr Vasoo, is also a very nice tutor and does make the tutorials more enjoyable. After the debates, we will just form into random groups of 5-6 people and we will discuss about a certain topic with regards to communication. Sometimes, there are some roleplay involved and sometimes, we get to share our problems we face in life too. It's more of like a 'leadership kind of course' where you sit in a circle with a group of students and discuss about your strengths and weaknesses etc. I don't mind such a thing since we do not have to prepare for tutorials (other than the debate), as compared to my engine and math modules. 

Term Test

The term test is held at the end of the semester, on week 13, and there are no mid term tests for this module. It consists of 50 MCQs and it was a closed book examination. We were only given 1 hour for the paper and I was pretty worried because I might not be able to finish the questions. However, the worrying was pointless since the 50 questions could be completed within 30 minutes. The paper isn't too tough either if you've read the textbook and readings provided.

Final Exam

The final exam was open book and it consisted of 50 MCQs and 2 structured questions. Some of the MCQ questions were exactly the same or slightly paraphrased from the term test. (But they don't release the answers for the term test, so it doesn't really help anyway. You either get both correct, both wrong or one correct and one wrong) The structured questions involve a case study of an issue (e.g. interpersonal conflict or loss of a loved one) and we're supposed to provide solutions to the problems. We can refer to our notes for this, so it wasn't a really a huge problem to answer these 2 questions. 

Expected Grade: B+

Actual Grade: B

The bell curve was pretty steep for this module and I barely got a B. I would recommend this module for anyone who is pretty good in communication terms and jargons. But the module is still relaxing, not that tough and doesn't really require a lot of bid points to get, so it's still worth a try for the rest.

Stay tuned for more updates.

- Alan

SCHOOL OFFICIALLY STARTS TOMORROW

Hi all,

It's been a while since my last post BUT SCHOOL IS STARTING TOMORROW. It's been about 3 years since I attended legitimate lessons and I am really really REALLY anxious, excited, worried (forever), glad and sad.

I'm really worried about the mods I'm taking especially the General Education Modules (GEM) since I'm not good at expressing myself and I HATE CLASS PARTICIPATION (typical engine student worries).

But anyways, I'm also worried about being an outcast in school OMG. I mean I have friends taking the same course as me but our pre-allocated time slots are all different. :( This means I'll have to make new friends and I'm not really good with that since I'm quiet, reserved and don't form a good first impression. There's group work/projects too BUT WHAT IF I DON'T GET ALONG WITH THE OTHER GROUP MEMBERS? Omg I have so many worries right now. I think that I'll just most probably go with the flow for now....

Stay tuned for further updates.

- Alan