Now that I've finally completed Year 1 Sem 1, I'm proud to say
that I've partially survived university life. And with all modules done, we
always wanna have a review about them. I have to say that these reviews are
pretty useful for Freshies, especially for those who want to know more before
making a decision on the course they want so here goes, my modular review for
Y1Sem1. *Well this post was supposed to be up when my results came back
but I was too busy yesterday to write so here we go, one day late but still
better than nothing.*
Modules Taken:
ES1531 Critical Thinking And
Writing
Tutor: Ms. Priscillia Pui
Assignment 1 was a solo paper. Rushed it like mad cuz it's due before
reading week and we were just getting a hang of uni life. But
in hindsight, it was a pretty simple task. Assignment 2 is like an extension of
assignment 1, just that it required more work, much much more work. I was
really lucky to have my teammates, Yeon and Sherms, especially since it was also the period when I
was super busy with EnginClub stuff. We had to spend a lot of time researching
on a topic to write our position paper on and also to do thorough research on
the measures which are already put in place for the problem we were attempting
to solve. Have to say that despite all the late night vetting and researching,
it was all worth it. At the end of the assignment we had to do a presentation
and it went great. Got a decent grade for both assignment 1 and 2 so I guess
that pulled up my score for the mod a lot.
Have to say that this was my favorite mod for
this Sem (minus all the late nights rushing the assignment papers and crazy
deadlines). If I had to use one sentence to describe this mod, I'd say that
this is one mod meant for 'artsy' people. The only reason why I loved this mod
is cuz it reminded me of Lit & SS in secondary school and I guess, I
just love writing this kinda stuff. Ms. Pui is like one of the best tutors
you can get. She explains all the requirements really well and for our in-class
assignments, she provided us with valuable feedback. Grades are based on
the 3 assignments and finals. (30% Assignment 1 + 30% Assignment 2 +
10% Assignment 3 aka class part + 30% finals)Finals was pretty
tough for me. The article was confusing and I was lucky I could finish the
paper. Most people couldn't and it's recommended to complete the paper instead
of focusing on making certain paragraphs better. Overall, this was a
really fun mod and my class was great.
*Tip: Keep reading on the topic and keep all relevant articles for
your biblio. You can never have too many references in the reference list
(P.S. Half my position paper was the reference list)
Grade: A- (surprisingly)
PC1221 Fundamentals of Physics I
Lecturer: ASSOC PROF Tay Seng Chuan Tutor: Lim Yen Kheng
PC1221 was on the bridging mods I had to do in Engineering because I didn't
do A level physics and I think that between the 2 bridging mods, I
enjoyed this one more. Tutorials are once every 2 weeks and the workload
for this mod is really not that heavy. The tutor was pretty good in his
explanations as well so turning up for tutorials really helps in the
understanding of the concepts taught during lecture. However, tutorials are not
counted in the finals grade so many people actually choose to skip tutorials.
Labs was also really fun, the experiments were
actually pretty simple. The only thing is that it's pretty tedious because you
have to write out your lab report and it's pain. Overall, PC1221 is a
scorable mod, so I'm pretty regretful that I didn't put in as much effort a the
start for the 2 CAs which I barely passed.
Lectures are not webcasted so don't even think of skipping lectures. But I
don't understand why you would skip Prof Tay's lectures cuz they are always so
fun and interactive. H makes physics literally come alive with all the props
(including the plastic eggs he launched at all of us). The only downside to
lectures is that most of the time Prof Tay will have additional lectures in the
nights to go through past year papers and additional content. So for those who
want to listen to the solutions, be prepared for the late nights in school cuz
of this mod.
*Tip: It's true, understanding is VERY IMPORTANT! Make the effort to go for
lectures and absorb as much as possible
Grade: B+ (VERY VERY SURPRISED)
PC1222 FUNDAMENTALS OF PHYSICS II
Lecturer: DR Ching Chee Leong
Tutor: Angeline Shu
This is the other bridging mod and in my opinion,
this is the harder mod. Lucky for us, this mod is graded mainly on the
additional assignments we had to do during the sem. This includes
Mastering Physics (aka the annoying online quiz) and tutorial classes were like
free marks cuz every tutorial is 1% of the final grade.
Labs were hard to do, but the lab reports were shorter and less tedious. And
despite all the angst, Angeline is a really good tutor. We always say that
attending her tutorials is equivalent to listening to lectures because she
provides us with a really useful summary of what was taught in
lectures. Downside, she only goes through selected questions
in tutorial and the solutions she provides are just prompts with the
final answer. I had to spend a lot of time trying to figure how she got to the
final answer. Also, the past year papers don't have answers so don't
bother trying to ask the tutors or Dr Ching for them. They'll
probably angst you and you'll be super pissed. Another thing to note,
lectures are normally not webcasted but for our batch, we're lucky
enough that we all complained that we're missing the first 15 minutes of
lectures all the time due to previous classes so for the second half of the
semester Dr Ching actually helped us get webcast. Saves me a lot of
time trying to not fall asleep during lectures haha.
*Tip: Put in effort for the CAs and do
MasteringPhysics. Oh, and attend tutorials. Don't think that finals can save you
because FINALS KILLS!
Grade: B+ (yay?)
CS1010E PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY
Lecturer: DR Chia Wai Kit, Henry Tutor: Alyosius Seah
Programming is something that you get or don't get, that's what I always say.
For those who still have some time before coming to Uni, I would advise that
you read up on C programming before you come in. Lucky for me I could
understand the basics of programming and the starting part was alright. For our
batch, practicals had very heavy weighting and they really pulled my grades
down (not forgetting my morale too) but oh wells. Lectures
are webcasted, so I practically never attended lectures. (which I don't
advise, please go for lectures). Honestly speaking, I didn't put in much effort
for this mod excEpt the labs because I normally just skip lectures and don't
listen during tutorials. Paid for it with my grades. Sighs Overall,
I'll say that it's a doable mod, just that you have top put in the effort to
study.
*Tip: Try to study beforehand and google
Grade: (sadly) B-
MA1505 MATHEMATICS I
Lecturer: Assoc Prof Chew Tuan Seng Tutor: Teng Dan
MA1505 was my most hated subject. 20% midterms + 80% finals. Shows how
risky the mod is.
MATH! My enemy! Lectures? Never turned up after the 2nd week. And soon
I realised I was had a lot of backlog to clear.
Fortunately, it's very possible to clear 13 weeks of math in 1 reading week.
Just brace yourself for late nights and hangovers from chionging math
papers. For midterms, it's MCQ so you can slack and still do pretty well,
but for finals, you really have to study and do past year papers. If you're
like me and realise that you haven't done any tutorial
since recess week, then don't bother doing tutorials,
just chiong past year papers. PYP really do miracles. Spent all my
time doing papers all the way from 2006 till last year's paper and
this got me my pass. Have to say that it's very possible to get an A for
this mod if you put in the effort and everyone complains that they can't finish
the paper. I guess nobody finished the paper, the key is don't leave
any blanks, if you don't get the question, just scribble some workings and
formulas and move on!
*Tip: If you have no time, just chiong PYP and
watch webcast at 2x speed.
Grade: B (YES I PASSED)
Overall, my CAP is 3.8 without SU and I'm ok with it considering my other
commitments and lack of time to study. Now that Sem 1 is over and looking back,
I think I could've done better if I went for lectures, especially when
the 2 mods that I got B and B- for is due to the fact that I skipped lectures
and tutorials. Next sem will be more busy for EnginClub and also
there is a more pressing need to mug and do well. Have to get the CAP up!
#NewSemNewSam P.S. If you are wondering, after SU my CAP is 4.17 which I
think is pretty decent, but it's not going to get me my scholarship so MUGGGGGG.
Well that's all for this post. Now to get a bad
headache from deciding what to take next Sem.
One fine day, some 10 years ago, this crazy girl started this random blog to follow the current trend.
10 years later, blogging is no longer the in thing, but she continues to write her random thoughts and experiences with the world.
Sharing her happiness, adventures and reflections.
This blog followed me through my 10 years of education, from secondary school, all the way through university.
There were times when there were no updates, but still it survived.
Despite all these changes in my life, this blog helped me consolidate my thoughts and wishes throughout the years.
Looking back, it has turned into a time capsule .
I hope this a place where others can find some help and answers to their own life questions and as I step into the working world, this blog will continue to live on and include more interesting views on adulthood!
In my free time I like to ...
Make music | Take photos | Play DOTA
Do connect with me on my social media as we look forward to more decades to come!
Now that I've finally completed Year 1 Sem 1, I'm proud to say
that I've partially survived university life. And with all modules done, we
always wanna have a review about them. I have to say that these reviews are
pretty useful for Freshies, especially for those who want to know more before
making a decision on the course they want so here goes, my modular review for
Y1Sem1. *Well this post was supposed to be up when my results came back
but I was too busy yesterday to write so here we go, one day late but still
better than nothing.*
Modules Taken:
ES1531 Critical Thinking And
Writing
Tutor: Ms. Priscillia Pui
Assignment 1 was a solo paper. Rushed it like mad cuz it's due before
reading week and we were just getting a hang of uni life. But
in hindsight, it was a pretty simple task. Assignment 2 is like an extension of
assignment 1, just that it required more work, much much more work. I was
really lucky to have my teammates, Yeon and Sherms, especially since it was also the period when I
was super busy with EnginClub stuff. We had to spend a lot of time researching
on a topic to write our position paper on and also to do thorough research on
the measures which are already put in place for the problem we were attempting
to solve. Have to say that despite all the late night vetting and researching,
it was all worth it. At the end of the assignment we had to do a presentation
and it went great. Got a decent grade for both assignment 1 and 2 so I guess
that pulled up my score for the mod a lot.
Have to say that this was my favorite mod for
this Sem (minus all the late nights rushing the assignment papers and crazy
deadlines). If I had to use one sentence to describe this mod, I'd say that
this is one mod meant for 'artsy' people. The only reason why I loved this mod
is cuz it reminded me of Lit & SS in secondary school and I guess, I
just love writing this kinda stuff. Ms. Pui is like one of the best tutors
you can get. She explains all the requirements really well and for our in-class
assignments, she provided us with valuable feedback. Grades are based on
the 3 assignments and finals. (30% Assignment 1 + 30% Assignment 2 +
10% Assignment 3 aka class part + 30% finals)Finals was pretty
tough for me. The article was confusing and I was lucky I could finish the
paper. Most people couldn't and it's recommended to complete the paper instead
of focusing on making certain paragraphs better. Overall, this was a
really fun mod and my class was great.
*Tip: Keep reading on the topic and keep all relevant articles for
your biblio. You can never have too many references in the reference list
(P.S. Half my position paper was the reference list)
Grade: A- (surprisingly)
PC1221 Fundamentals of Physics I
Lecturer: ASSOC PROF Tay Seng Chuan Tutor: Lim Yen Kheng
PC1221 was on the bridging mods I had to do in Engineering because I didn't
do A level physics and I think that between the 2 bridging mods, I
enjoyed this one more. Tutorials are once every 2 weeks and the workload
for this mod is really not that heavy. The tutor was pretty good in his
explanations as well so turning up for tutorials really helps in the
understanding of the concepts taught during lecture. However, tutorials are not
counted in the finals grade so many people actually choose to skip tutorials.
Labs was also really fun, the experiments were
actually pretty simple. The only thing is that it's pretty tedious because you
have to write out your lab report and it's pain. Overall, PC1221 is a
scorable mod, so I'm pretty regretful that I didn't put in as much effort a the
start for the 2 CAs which I barely passed.
Lectures are not webcasted so don't even think of skipping lectures. But I
don't understand why you would skip Prof Tay's lectures cuz they are always so
fun and interactive. H makes physics literally come alive with all the props
(including the plastic eggs he launched at all of us). The only downside to
lectures is that most of the time Prof Tay will have additional lectures in the
nights to go through past year papers and additional content. So for those who
want to listen to the solutions, be prepared for the late nights in school cuz
of this mod.
*Tip: It's true, understanding is VERY IMPORTANT! Make the effort to go for
lectures and absorb as much as possible
Grade: B+ (VERY VERY SURPRISED)
PC1222 FUNDAMENTALS OF PHYSICS II
Lecturer: DR Ching Chee Leong
Tutor: Angeline Shu
This is the other bridging mod and in my opinion,
this is the harder mod. Lucky for us, this mod is graded mainly on the
additional assignments we had to do during the sem. This includes
Mastering Physics (aka the annoying online quiz) and tutorial classes were like
free marks cuz every tutorial is 1% of the final grade.
Labs were hard to do, but the lab reports were shorter and less tedious. And
despite all the angst, Angeline is a really good tutor. We always say that
attending her tutorials is equivalent to listening to lectures because she
provides us with a really useful summary of what was taught in
lectures. Downside, she only goes through selected questions
in tutorial and the solutions she provides are just prompts with the
final answer. I had to spend a lot of time trying to figure how she got to the
final answer. Also, the past year papers don't have answers so don't
bother trying to ask the tutors or Dr Ching for them. They'll
probably angst you and you'll be super pissed. Another thing to note,
lectures are normally not webcasted but for our batch, we're lucky
enough that we all complained that we're missing the first 15 minutes of
lectures all the time due to previous classes so for the second half of the
semester Dr Ching actually helped us get webcast. Saves me a lot of
time trying to not fall asleep during lectures haha.
*Tip: Put in effort for the CAs and do
MasteringPhysics. Oh, and attend tutorials. Don't think that finals can save you
because FINALS KILLS!
Grade: B+ (yay?)
CS1010E PROGRAMMING METHODOLOGY
Lecturer: DR Chia Wai Kit, Henry Tutor: Alyosius Seah
Programming is something that you get or don't get, that's what I always say.
For those who still have some time before coming to Uni, I would advise that
you read up on C programming before you come in. Lucky for me I could
understand the basics of programming and the starting part was alright. For our
batch, practicals had very heavy weighting and they really pulled my grades
down (not forgetting my morale too) but oh wells. Lectures
are webcasted, so I practically never attended lectures. (which I don't
advise, please go for lectures). Honestly speaking, I didn't put in much effort
for this mod excEpt the labs because I normally just skip lectures and don't
listen during tutorials. Paid for it with my grades. Sighs Overall,
I'll say that it's a doable mod, just that you have top put in the effort to
study.
*Tip: Try to study beforehand and google
Grade: (sadly) B-
MA1505 MATHEMATICS I
Lecturer: Assoc Prof Chew Tuan Seng Tutor: Teng Dan
MA1505 was my most hated subject. 20% midterms + 80% finals. Shows how
risky the mod is.
MATH! My enemy! Lectures? Never turned up after the 2nd week. And soon
I realised I was had a lot of backlog to clear.
Fortunately, it's very possible to clear 13 weeks of math in 1 reading week.
Just brace yourself for late nights and hangovers from chionging math
papers. For midterms, it's MCQ so you can slack and still do pretty well,
but for finals, you really have to study and do past year papers. If you're
like me and realise that you haven't done any tutorial
since recess week, then don't bother doing tutorials,
just chiong past year papers. PYP really do miracles. Spent all my
time doing papers all the way from 2006 till last year's paper and
this got me my pass. Have to say that it's very possible to get an A for
this mod if you put in the effort and everyone complains that they can't finish
the paper. I guess nobody finished the paper, the key is don't leave
any blanks, if you don't get the question, just scribble some workings and
formulas and move on!
*Tip: If you have no time, just chiong PYP and
watch webcast at 2x speed.
Grade: B (YES I PASSED)
Overall, my CAP is 3.8 without SU and I'm ok with it considering my other
commitments and lack of time to study. Now that Sem 1 is over and looking back,
I think I could've done better if I went for lectures, especially when
the 2 mods that I got B and B- for is due to the fact that I skipped lectures
and tutorials. Next sem will be more busy for EnginClub and also
there is a more pressing need to mug and do well. Have to get the CAP up!
#NewSemNewSam P.S. If you are wondering, after SU my CAP is 4.17 which I
think is pretty decent, but it's not going to get me my scholarship so MUGGGGGG.
Well that's all for this post. Now to get a bad
headache from deciding what to take next Sem.
Year 1 Sem 1 Module Review
