This is me  |
 MSc MSE: AY20/21 Sem 1 Module Review
 And so I decided that further studies is the way to go in this horrible pandemic-struck economy. After getting my Bachelor's in June, I somehow got convinced to go for a part-time Master's degree in Material Sciences & Engineering. The people around probably know that I wasn't really considering this degree and was leaning a lot of into Forensics, Food Sciences and Public Health. But somehow or another, I decided that the 4 years of torture in Engineering was not enough and decided to get back into the game. Maybe there was this part in me that thought that since I had an Engineering degree, it wouldn't be too hard for me to handle it at a Master's level, especially since I took 5k mods at an undergraduate level. Oh boy, I was so very wrong. Stepping into the module with zero prior knowledge was a terrible mistake. I found myself struggling to catch up with work and eventually there was a point in time where I just gave up on trying to understand and every lecture was just going through the motion and attempting to digest what had been taught. So now that I've decided not to drop out after my results were released, here's the review for this semester (because I could find almost no information on these post-grad modules and felt that people coming in should be more informed on what they are getting themselves into. *Disclaimer: Due to the COVID-19 situation that happened during this semester, the grading for modules were modified to meet the Work-from-home requirements and it might not be continued in the future. MLE5001 Basics of Structures & Properties of Materials Lecturer: Dr. Chamila N Liyanage This is a core module for MSc MSE students. Lectures were held once a week on Wednesday, 6-9pm and we have a total of 4 graded tutorials throughout the semester which were held on Saturdays, 10-12pm. Lessons were meant to be in person, but due to the pandemic, we had online classes, which in my opinion, made my life so much easier considering the fact that I could re-watch my lectures and try to understand more before the tutorial lessons. Grading was done based on the following: 70% Finals (2 hour paper held in person) 20% Assignment (equivalent to our 4 tutorials that we had to submit) 10% Term Paper (a 5-page essay focusing on suggested topics which were meant to be on materials with a crystalline structure) Lectures were pretty long considering that prof used up the full 3 hours to teach and at times, even extended her lessons beyond the 3 hours due to the immense volume of questions flooding in. The good thing about having online classes is that we were able to ask our questions and clarify doubts almost immediately. I felt that it was pretty useful since I had a lot to clear while she taught and leaving the questions in the chat function was very helpful to ensure that I didn't forget anything I wanted to ask or miss out on information while trying to comprehend any new concepts. Lectures were mainly one-way and prof would upload the slides slightly before class so that we could look at them slightly before classes start. Tutorial sessions were mainly 2 hour long sessions where prof went through questions. She would go through the main concept for each question and solved them for us during the session and after that we had to complete the questions for submission. Most were pretty doable and with the guidance in tutorial sessions it was pretty manageable. Each assignment had a 5% weightage, so this 20% is more or less easy to secure. Normally we had about 1-2 weeks to complete the questions for submission. For our term paper, we were given the freedom to write on any topic as long as it is on a crystalline material and given that this module was on structure and properties, it's a smart move to focus on the structure and properties of a selected material/group of materials. The main purpose of this term paper was to show understanding of the things that were taught in class and made sure that we were able to apply the basic concepts that were taught. This was the first time when I had trouble generating my 5-page essay and it was pretty frightening. Managed to squeeze something out 1 day before submission and I think it is pretty decent work considering that I didn't really understand much in class. Finals was the worse part of this module for me. As a graduate module, I did not expect such heavy weightage to be placed on a final paper. Also, the paper was 2 hours long with 4 questions (of course with multiple parts). I remember not understanding majority of the questions and of the 4 questions, I was only confident of completing 1 of them. Did not attempt many of the parts as well and most that I attempted were done pretty badly. After finals, prof released the explanations for the question and I found most of my answers were pretty off from the model answer (but then again, these answers were subjective especially with the different directions). To be honest, after the final paper, I was super demoralized and was ready to drop out since it's not very smart to retake this module just to get a Master's, but by grace, I passed and did way better than expected. For people who are intending on taking this module, I think it's best that you revise on your vectors and basic concepts so that you wouldn't have to waste so much time and effort throughout the semester and also during reading week, trying to catch up with syllabus. Also, if you don't have prior MSE experience, I think it's good to look at the notes for 1K mods instead since the same concepts are arranged in a way that is easier to comprehend in my opinion. Most importantly, ask questions and clarify doubts. Never have I felt the need to ask so many questions in my 10+ years of formal education. Being able to ask questions during lectures and also having the consultation session during reading week really helped me a lot so I will say don't be afraid to ask. I'm pretty sure there were people who were too afraid and left class with multiple misconceptions. Expected Grade: C+ (or F after finals) Actual Grade: B+ (miracle) ME6505 Engineering Materials in Medicine Lecturer: Prof Seeram Ramakrishna This is a general elective for MSc MSE students. Lectures were meant to be held on every Tuesday 6-9pm, but due to the COVID situation, prof decided to have asynchronous lessons instead where he would upload the reading materials and slides ahead of time so that we can go through them together with his recorded lectures. Most of the lectures were on the different categories of biomaterials used and their properties. There were a few 'live' zoom lessons where we were given the opportunity to clarify doubts we had on the lectures and also the term paper. Grading was done based on the following: 60% Term Paper 40% CA Quiz Term paper was on a biomaterial that was assigned to us. Each student got a different material and we were supposed to produce a paper on the properties, (commercial) uses and sterilization techniques for the material. I was 'lucky' enough to be assigned Polyacetylene which once again was a problem for me to generate. Since the paper's focus was meant to be on the uses of the material, it was really hard to find specific uses for this material due to its unique properties. After multiple discussions with prof, we agreed that my term paper could be expanded to be on conductive polymers as well. Spent at least 2 months struggling with the information overload for this part of the module and eventually got my term paper out. Wouldn't say that it was a good paper but I think it at least covered the things that was expected. For anyone considering this module, I would say spend more time researching for the paper and not put this off to the last minute since it's impossible to complete if I didn't have so much time. For our CA quiz, it based on the first lecture which was presented by our guest lecturer on the sterilization and anti-microbial techniques. It was a very relatable topic considering the situation now and prof felt that way too, so he made us study this in depth. It was an open-book examination which meant that we could refer to the slides and reading materials given to us, however, we were not allowed to google for answers. Almost all of the questions could be answered just by looking through the reading materials so it was a very manageable paper to complete. The fact that it was carried out online made it even easier to complete. This CA quiz was meant to be another term paper that we were expected to write on anti-microbial techniques, however, due to the large class size, it was switched to a CA instead. Overall, I think this is a good module for those who are interested in commercial applications of biomaterials and as someone who completed 2 modules in biomaterials in undergrad, it was a rather simple module for me (the content covered was almost the same as what was covered in the past), but the term paper really got me good. Expected Grade: B+ (didn't really expect much since my term paper was bad quality) Actual Grade: A (another miracle) Overall, Sem 1 of post-grad life went by quickly. Wouldn't say it was a smooth journey since I was already contemplating dropping out. But since I survived this semester, I'm ready to continue the struggle for another 4 semesters just to get another piece of paper. For anyone who is interested in knowing more feel free to drop your requests in the comments and look out for more posts coming up soon. Happy 2021! Sam Comment Box is loading comments...
Labels: 2020, 2021, Material Sciences & Engineering, Module Review, MSE, NUS, Reflections, School Life, Uni Life |
