This is me  |
 MSc MSE: AY21/22 Sem 1
 Once again I'm back with another set of module reviews. This was suppose to come out earlier or at least before the previous one, but due to some super unforeseen laptop crashing, I'm only writing this so late into the holidays. Not sure if I mentioned this already in my previous posts, but MSc coursework programs for part time students are normally 2.5 years long (aka 5 semesters) but in view of my impending unemployment, I've decided to try to finish my Masters within 2 years. That entails me doing 3 mods each for the remaining 2 semesters and after this semester, I can safely say that it was a very bad idea. Not only has the workload increased exponentially, it's also a lot of stress working on multiple projects, trying to not fail my quizzes and managing work-life balance. So if you are intending to pull of such a stunt, my advice is make sure you have enough vacation leave so that you can have at least 2 weeks to chiong your studies. *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. MLE5104 Physical Properties of Materials Lecturer: Prof Daniel Chua More or less a fundamental module for MSc MSE students. Weekly evening lecture (6 - 9pm) though he normally ends lectures at around 7.30pm. Mark allocation - 15% Tutorials (total of 4 tutorials) + 15% Midterms (Week 7) + 70% Finals I would say that Prof Chua is one of my few favorite profs in my entire uni education. Not only is he very willing to clarify his content, he also took the time off to give consults to students which I can say without which I would be failing this mod. Coming into a class with 'zero' undergrad MSE knowledge, this is not exactly a hard class to follow since it's built upon concepts covered in MLE5001, however, there is still a slight disadvantage compared to the others who have covered content such as capacitors and dielectrics in the past. Structure of class was very independent in a sense where you have all the freedom to watch the content lectures he would upload weekly and there would be weekly 'Q&A' lectures where he would pick up concepts to go through or any questions that were posed. Overall I think this module is pretty manageable with the help of Prof Chua. Also, do take the time to revise past year questions since there aren't a lot of brand new things that can be tested for this module since it is application heavy. Understand your concepts, get the basics right and you'll likely be able to score well. Expected Grade: B- Actual Grade: B+ (well this is better than expected and the consult really helped a lot) MLE5216 Introduction to Microscopy for Materials Research Lecturer: Prof Michel Bosman This is a brand new module starting this module and is available as an elective. Not too sure if it will be available for MSc MSE students in the future as the content covered is overlapping about ~70% with MLE5002. Hence, it might be possible that the department might make it such that future students may only be able to take either modules. Weekly morning lecture (9am - 12pm) were held in-person and via ZOOM made it super hard to concentrate. Mark allocation - 30% Quizzes (Week 7 & 12) + 70% Finals As previously mentioned, Prof Michel is super knowledgeable in his field and lessons were really catered to the basics. However, since there is a bunch of us who took the previous similar mod, he did make some changes to the lesson structure and content coverage to include some new technology and applications. Content was rather manageable but tests really required you to know your stuff and concepts well. Since it was literally an 'open-universe' paper, we were allowed to grab any resources that we could get our hands on for the test. However as per normal, no communication is allowed. Taking both modules taught by Prof Michel, I can say that I really enjoy his style of teaching and the content he arranges for his modules. They are very tailored to applications in the real world and can be useful especially if you are planning to go into the lines of material characterization or microscopy. Expected Grade: B+ Actual Grade: A- (Wellllll, I guess it ended up being the same as the last time) CN5251 Membrane Science & Technology Lecturer: Prof Zhang Sui Tutor: Feng Fan This is a general elective module for MSc MSE students. Weekly evening lectures (6 - 9pm) with graded attendance. Mark allocation - 10% Attendance + 30% Term Paper + 60% Finals Initially I found this module easy to grasp and by initially, I mean the first lecture. As the weeks went by, I found myself getting lost in the content. It is a very chemical engineering based module so having the basic knowledge from that field is definitely useful. This used to be Prof Chung's module, however he recently retired, so the past year papers were not exactly useful, since prof Zhang has a rather different focus for her lectures. The term paper took me a long while to generate since I wasn't very familiar with this field but if you are used to writing papers, I'm sure this wouldn't be too hard. I would definitely discourage students who want to take an easy module to take this since it also requires a lot of memorization and understanding of concepts. Tutorials were interesting since it was also the tutor's first time taking a class. Questions that were reviewed were similar to the stuff that came out in the finals so I found it useful to attend the classes and pay attention. Finals was terrible for myself. It was a closed-book in person paper which meant a lot of memorization and really you just had to cramp a lot of knowledge in before the paper. Overall, if you are looking to take this module, I only encourage you to take this if you have the interest. Else, you'd be suffering imo. Expected Grade: D (After the finals, I was super discouraged and honestly don't expect myself to pass this mod) Actual Grade: B+ (O M G! I passed this Well overall, this was a rather eventful semester with increased number of modules and a lot more workload on my end. I think despite the drop in CAP, it was still ok for me and finally after so long I am writing this post. Hopefully, it wills till be of use to anyone who needs it. Labels: 2021, 2022, Material Sciences & Engineering, Module Review, MSE, NUS, Reflections, School Life, Uni Life |
