NUS AY17/18 Semester 2
whatsup. i got my results today (4 June) in the morning when i woke up cos it was texted to my phone. i woke up, saw the notifications, saw cfg, and closed the notifications. HAHAHAH
anyway, this semester has been a really insane one for me. overloading, participating in so many performances, preparing for rag, dealing with my own issues and issues with others, there's really been so much on me this semester and i guess in a way that's good too cos i learnt to trust in God a lot and prayed lots too hahah (:
here we go.
Year of Study: 1
MCs: 30
Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Modules Taken:
anyway, this semester has been a really insane one for me. overloading, participating in so many performances, preparing for rag, dealing with my own issues and issues with others, there's really been so much on me this semester and i guess in a way that's good too cos i learnt to trust in God a lot and prayed lots too hahah (:
here we go.
Year of Study: 1
MCs: 30
Faculty: Arts and Social Sciences
Modules Taken:
- CFG1010 Roots & Wings - Personal and Interpersonal Effectiveness 1.0
- ES1601 Professional and Academic Communication
- GER1000 Quantitative Reasoning
- GES1010 Nation-Building in Singapore
- GEQ1917 Understanding and Critiquing Sustainability
- LAF2201 French 2
- LAK3203 Korean for Academic Purposes
- NM2104 Qualitative Communication Research Methods
- NM2220 Introduction to Media Writing
- WR1401 Workplace Readiness
omg what did i do with myself i'm gonna die writing this bless (':
CFG1010: Roots & Wings - Personal and Interpersonal Effectiveness 1.0
grade-free; I PASSED
Tutor: i forgot tbh otl
let me just say first that this is not a compulsory module. but for certain majors' internship programmes, you need to have taken cfg1010 to be able to go on internship. i'm not too sure about nm but i heard from my senior that need so i just decided to take it anyway. i wanted to drop it at first really, but then i decided against it and was just like aiya i heard it really doesn't take much and since it's a pass/fail mod i really don't have to put that much effort into it.
and yeah, it really isn't all that too difficult. given all the criticism it has gotten for being a "waste of time", i think it isn't all that bad?? i mean i agree i don't really think it's that worth my time but the materials provided and the life skills that they teach us? i think it's pretty damn good in the end hahaha. like i think it's really quite beneficial and they put lots of thought into it ah.
so even though i thought it was a bit of a waste of time and an additional burden, i still walked away with new and beneficial life skills (:
Exam Format: there's no exam to this. but how it goes is just that you have to attend an opening and closing workshop. then in between you have to submit 4 worksheets (that aren't too difficult probs 30 mins max per worksheet???) and also complete a mid-term test. you can either complete the mid-term test or register for a mid-semester workshop. oh, there's also a final term test i think (kam told me today but i somehow don't really have that much memory doing it but ya i think i did it la hr hahaha). if there's any advice i can give, it would be to note down submission/test deadlines bc i missed my mid-term test (': i totally forgot about the deadline and by the time i realised i was one week too late HAHAHHA so yeah just make sure you have all your deadlines down and just do all that you need can already bah!
Recommend? honestly, if you have nothing better to do and cfg is not one of your requirements for internship, i would say still take it. but if you want MCs for other mods that are more important or of higher priority then just drop it LOL they will always allow you to drop. in fact, there's a google form or something (i dont think it's google but it's a form la hor HAHA) for you to fill up to request to drop. you can always request for it again later.
ES1601: Professional and Academic Communication
Grade: B+
Tutor: Ms Mahaletchumi Sivalingam
well, you've already heard my complaints about ES1601 in my previous post for sem 1 so i ain't gonna continue it here.
i'm probably just gonna talk about what i did this sem. honestly, this sem is nothing much? idk like... um. the tutorials were pretty straightforwards and simple and depending on your teacher you may or may not be able to get away with doing work. if anything, the biggest thing is just the personal branding video that we have to film some time in the middle of the sem or something and really 简单就是美 for this. you don't need simi close-cropped la, or specific music to set a certain mood or special angles or what - this ain't a film production class. simple simple, edit with windows movie maker can already.
the other thing is at the end of the sem, there will be a presentation for geq and you're also graded on your presentation skills over here. so please please please practice your presentation cos i didn't and screwed up quite badly in it HAHAHHA
also tbh i was playing a LOT of memrise during ES that's why i don't have that much to say (':
Ms Maha... idk what to say about her tbh, i think because i didn't have much interest in this class to begin with i didn't really care a lot? when it came to the content and stuff. i'm sorry for being such a bad student hahahahha. but anyway, what i heard from my friends is that people try to avoid her class. because she's extremely strict in marking so maybe you would've gotten say 85 in an assignment if it were graded by other teachers but under her, you could get like a 60???? ohkay that's a bit of an exaggeration but yknow what i mean la hor. and idk i didn't see other people's feedbacks but for my pbv she was quite harsh (but i don't blame her i did put that much effort into my pbv la hor hahahaha i nearly submitted it late (': )
Exam Format: as mentioned
Recommend? do you want to stay in rv or not. HAHA
GER1000: Quantitative Reasoning
Grade: B
Tutor: Mr Kevin Lam
well,,, this is a module that everyone has to take. in case anyone doesn't know, nus has this general education modules (gem) thing were every student has to take one module from each of the five general education pillars (h, q, r, t, s) but i can't remember exactly what they are. so basically there's only one r gem and that's ger.
this is similar to a stats mod just that instead of always just calculating answers, you also have to comment about how some research methods are carried out etc. basically like stuff about research and things like that ah. it's honestly not that great of a mod but well, if it's compulsory i can't say anything about it hahaha.
lectures are webcast (which i then watch at 1.5x speed HAHA) and if you're someone who doesn't like to watch webcasts, the script is also given so you can just refer to that if you want hahaha. the things we learn are pretty ohkay, like i wouldn't say it''s so amazingly interesting but ohkay la it's something that i've never heard of before. the most memorable thing for me was learning about the six degrees of separation cos i think that's a really cool and true concept.
there'll be group work in this. your group will have to assess some research that has been carried out and talk about what they did well or what they didn't do well, then talk about their results and all that. i'm very thankful that in my group there was someone studying stats so he helped us lots with all the stats terms and shit (': i feel like my group kind of did the bare minimum but oh wells, all is well hahha didn't really expect to do well anyway bc hello i cannot math for nuts (':
our tutor was really nice! he's those kind of nice tutors that is so nice that you will feel bad if you don't do things properly (which our whole class didn't lmao). he's really very patient and i feel like the way he explains things makes it v easy to understand? hahah or maybe i've just never heard anyone explain it to me before and i happen to understand when he explained it.
Exam Format: Mid-term and Finals, both MCQ. There will be weekly quizzes on ivle so please remember to do them (it's like 6 questions and you can usually share answers with friends HAHAHHA). there's also a group project then that's all.
Recommend? you have no choice
GES1010: Nation-Building in Singapore
Grade: B
Professor: Dr Seng Guo Quan
Tutor: Ms Nur Syafiqah Bte. Ahmad Jaafaar
i'll be super super super honest here. i hated this module.
i literally took this module to just clear the s pillar and tbh i regret taking this module. bc it's a history-based module and i've not touched history since sec 2 so i was really struggling a lot. i guess this is what i get for not doing proper research and proper planning of my modules. bc this was a module that i requested to take after i was being approved for overload so i kind of just randomly picked whichever one and was like MEH. i thought ges should be anything also can one but NOPE. there's this ges mod that's geog-based and i honestly wish i took that instead but oh well, what's done is done so no point also lah (':
this mod really (ohkay i wrote this like probably three months back at this point when i decide to revisit it and actually finish what i started HAHA also i'm doing this is class #badstudent ANYWAY i dont rmb my train of thought so lemme just write from what i think now HAHA)
so for this mod idk i felt like... it was really difficult to understand and pay attention? from my point of view la bc i'm not interested in history and there's really so much to talk about and learn about and stuff like that that i really cannot do. i barely paid attention in any of my lectures - i just recorded them and listened to some of it when i was doing some last minute studying to make sure i don't actually fail (cos i was planning to s/u already anyway so as long as it's not a u it's fine). the tutorials were... quite difficult la tbh cos it was a damn small grp and the tutor expected everyone to do the readings (i mean quite normal la hor HAHA) and the readings were boring and confusing as heck so it was really tiring to do it all.
i mean sometimes it was fun but mostly i was there panicking in my seat thinking how i should answer the teacher to make it sound like i know my shit HAHAHHA the assignments were difficult too i think. like until today i still don't understand the what the first assignment i did was talking about. i kind of just bullshitted everything to just get a decent score and leAVE lol so i'm sorry don't really have an objective view over this cos i rly didn't enjoy this mod at all.
Exam Format: Assignments, and Finals (i think. HELP HAHAH I FORGOT) no group work thankfully. finals is just essays really. like just i think there's an SBQ one then there's an essay one so kind of like sec sch history from what i rmb? i just know i didn't finish my last essay because i spent way too long stoning at nothing bc i just really really didn't wanna do this exam HAHA. compared my answers (like just a brief qn) w my history friend and our answers were worlds apart. his has such deep level of thinking and i just sound like an idiot HAHAHA
Recommend? if you ask me, really no. i just don't think it's worth it bc esp if u think abt it this mod is also some 2k mod for some south east asian studies or something so you're doing the work of 2k for the credit of 1k. so just think about that. and there's really a lot to discuss about Singapore la like there're actually a lot of things hidden from us normal Singaporeans so unless you're really super interested in learning about the entire history of Singapore that isn't being censored like what we learnt in our SS textbooks, i think this mod is gonna be quite tough. i think most people take it just bc they wanna clear and this is 1010 so it's probs one of the first mods anyone sees HAHA
GEQ1917: Understanding and Critiquing Sustainability
Grade: B+
Tutor: Mr Sivasothi N.
wELL y'all've already heard about this mod last sem and i really don't have much to say about it la tbh. i would say that for this sem it's really unguided so everything you just have to do within your group and gaodim everything yourself. and just meetup w ur tutor/aa whenever you need to/whenever they ask u to HAHA
for my grp we really didn't give two shits about what we were doing and just did the bare minimum and yknow as long as we don't fail cos we kind of gave up on life already by then. we did about world water day in singapore and like there was gonna be a water rationing excercise held in rv so we based a lot of our stuff on that. and like we just did the damn primary school method of making posters then bullshitting results LOL as in like the results were real but we bullshitted our analysis quite a bit la HAHA
the presentation was quite ohkay tho i think. just that my grp never had full strength and never practiced together. HAHAHHAH but everything ended well la thankfully hahah
Exam Format: presentation. that's it i think? apart from like maybe all those status checks it's really just otot la
Recommend? no choice bro. good luck. hopefully u get a team that thinks the same as you ya (:
LAF2201 French 2
Grade: B+
Tutor: Mr Yannick Appriou
tbh i don't really know what to say about this module? hahah like it's just French lor. leaning French lor. there isn't much to talk about it...?
i think my teacher was super nice tho!!! like he's really sarcastic so he jokes around in class a lot but at the same time he doesn't take people's shit la. so if u do something stupid and things like that he will get annoyed. i mean there were a few people in my class that were slightly loud and annoying so like um i think it was a bit irritating bc of that but i feel like i was able to learn well! like idk how it happened but in general i was just able to get and understand what was going on in class ah so i guess that's a good thing? haha
made a friend in class also so that's really great!!! we had like this special spot for us that sometimes people took and we would like bitch about them for taking our seats HAHAHHA
oh dear i feel like i'm not giving a good review of this mod but then again it's just language so it's not like ppl don't know what they're signing up for right? (':
Exam Format: same as French 1. so like there's the normal tests like writing, grammar, listening, reading. for oral we had to like act out a skit la which i think if i had put more effort into it i would've done better but yeah maybe i was just getting jaded bc the sem was ending but yeah heads up that you'll have to have a tiny skit!
Recommend? well, if you took French 1 and liked it? or if you placement in. tbh i don't know to how recommend language mods cos it's really subjective ah hahah
LAK3203 Korean for Academic Purposes
Grade: B
Tutor: Ms Cho Jin Hee
so this is a funny story hahhaha i meant to take korean 4 instead of KAP but then people are so scary w their bid points )): in jan when bidding started, people were bidding for korean 4 like damn crazy. in round 3 the winning bid was 1599???!?!?!!?!!!! i year 1 so i only had like 1275 wtf i all in also cannot get it (': then in 3b it was freaking 2000 so idek man lyfe (': i emailed the Korean coordinator if i could audit it (bc Korean 4 is only offered in sem 2 and if i didn't take it in y1s2, i'd have to wait until y2s2 which is quite stupid la bc then i might as well just have taken from Korean 1??? hahha). but then i wasn't allowed to audit it bc there were too many people in the class ): so i asked her if it was possible to take KAP instead. KAP is for those in LPP. it's like Korean 4 for LPP but they use the same textbook and everything so to me i was kind of like well it shld be abt the same so why not HAHA
no regrets taking it though!!! i mean i didn't take Korean 4 but (now that i'm about to finish y2s1 HAHA HELP LOOK HOW LONG THIS TOOK ME) when i talked to friends who took Korean 4, i think the difference is just the final presentation? cos for KAP we had to present BY OURSELF but in Korean 4 it was in a group haha.
the teacher was super super super nice omg i love her. she's so friendly and sweet and nice and it really just felt like i could have a simple casual conversation with her. she even made weekly quizlet quizzes for us to learn the new vocab that we're taught and everything so it was really easy to study the vocab when exam hit.
class was 6-8pm at night so it was really quite tiring for me la tbh. i think i rly overbooked myself too much last sem bc it was on tues and thurs. so like on tues immediately after class i had to go for evo prac until 10? and then on thurs after class i had to freaking fly to tc for mod of which i was usually only able to participate for like 30 minutes? so it was really quite sian for me la but then it's also like desperation cos i rly rly rly wanted to take KAP.
imo i don't really like 6-8 lessons cos it's really late and it affects a lot of night plans and stuff like that so yeah hahha but i mean if we don't have any choice then what to do right? (': there was one day where i was super tired and tried to take a nap in my room but ended up sleeping past class time HAHAHHAHA DED
oh! and in around the start of the sem, students from a private uni in korea came to visit us and it was quite fun!! i was only able to be with them for like 2 hours but it was still a really interesting 2 hours!! to be able to speak in korean and just interact and everything yknow? ahah although we're awkward but it was nice having that 2 hours to just talk ah! i ended up gg into french nearly answering my tchr in korean AHHAHHAHA
Exam Format: normal exam format. just think primary school chinese but in korean HAHA and also a solo presentation at the end of the semester. i think you have to submit a script and stuff to the teacher but for our teacher she didn't edit our script. she just gave us comments on what we could do to improve our script haha.
Recommend? i mean if you're from LPP and taking Korean you don't really have a choice. for those who can't fight w seniors w bid points, i think it's a good idea to write in and ask if you can be placed here esp since i think a lot of ppl drop korean halfway so the LPP class tends to have space? can go check it out ah! and like french, it's really just your own interest haha
NM2104 Qualitative Communication Research Methods
Grade: B
Professor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
Tutor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
so this is a core mod for cnm students and i took it bc qualitative research just sounds like a pain in the ass and i wanted to get it over and done with and probably s/u it HAHAHHAH so yeah i s/u'd this mod (': but anyway it was interesting-ish?? idk like i learnt some stuff but i think the biggest thing i learnt is that research isn't for me HAHHAHAH at first i thought bc this was a core mod i wouldn't be able to s/u it and i got really stressed and studied v hard but after i found out it could be s/u'd i was just like MEH HAHAHHA OOPS #badstudent98
for this mod, we had to do a project based on a topic she gave us. for our sem, it was about ageing and i was super interested in it (which was one of the reasons why i didn't drop this mod). my group did about whether (ohkay i can't 100% rmb but here we go) working adults aged between 45 and 63 (or something) are prepared for retirement. and it was quite interesting doing it tbh. like doing the tiny bits of research here and there and formulating different theories and stuff?
one thing about this mod is that it's SUPER tedious. like no joke super tedious i think it consumed all my brain power help HAHA if you have to take this mod, my recommendation is to not take any other mods that have heavy group work/project work. if not cfm will burn out. unless you're prepared to f it and s/u, rly try to have this as your only (or maybe one out of two?) project mods or else prepared to be damn tired and sian of this mod.
in the project, we EACH had to interview 5 people for ONE HOUR and TRANSCRIBE our interviews. can u imagine how tired that is????? i interview for 1 hour i transcribe for 3. it was rly rly rly so tiring for me tbh. like even to interview. i found myself asking a lot of rubbish qns and things like that to make up the 1 hour bc sometimes despite the number of qns you've prepared, your interview seems to almost come to an end in 30 mins and it's quite stress la cos teacher wants 1 hour. or thereabout. depending on tutor, you may have to submit recording also. so this one cannot fake one HAHAHHAHAi mean of course you can always just type as you talk casually then say interviewee declined to be recorded then don't provide recording
i found that playing the recording and typing on word was damn tiring. cos u can't type as fast as you talk so i found myself having to pause/rewind a lot. then when i tried it play it in slow motion sometimes it got too slow then i was just like waiting for the conversation so that you can type so really quite waste time also. AND bc it was on my phone and i was typing on my com, it's like my hand had to keep moving back and forth to alter the speed of the recording. so after one painful and tiring transcription of my shortest interview, i hired one of my juniors to do one transcription for me HAHAHH and she did it so well and i wanted to like buy her food or something but she declined omg so thankful ;A; hiring help aside, i also used this (i think) link to help me in my transcriptions. it was rly v v v good cos like all the controls are on the keyboard itself so i didn't have to move my hand anywhere to speed up/slow down my recording. the only downside is that it doesn't auto-capitalise all that like microsoft word so if ur teacher is damn anal about formatting then maybe it'll be a bit difficult for you. but i dont even think my teacher read through our transcriptions (or rather i hope HAHA) so meh i just left it there w bad formatting. oh! and it doesn't have autocorrect also so like if u type wrong you'll only realise it when you export to word document and see all dem red squiggly underlines HAHAHHA so really it's just a space for you to type that's it. no correction, not auto-capitalisation no auto-punctuation no nothing. but it rly helped me leaps and bounds in my transcription, especially in longer interviews.
also one thing about this mod is that you should try to refrain from interviewing your close friends/family members bc then it kind of defeats the purpose of the interview? like idk. ohkay one thing that they did say was that bc they're close to you, there are some things that they might not wanna share w u. like for example if i ask my parents if they think their children (aka me and my bro) will take care of them in the future u think they will say no meh?? HAHHAHAH but yeah. so we actually planned to interview each other's parents and relatives BUT time constraints and work and uni life kicked in so we just ended up interviewing our own parents HAHAHHA OOPS sorry cher ):
omg and don't get me started on coding. as if transcribing isn't tiring enough, then we had to CODE. and it's not like what html coding kind of shit that one still can refer online and copy. NO we had to code our interview transcripts meaning like find the big picture of what people were saying and all that and all in all it was just really so tiring and it made me realise that research lyfe really aint for me HAHAHHAHAHHA
holy shit this is a long ass review HAHHAH
so anyway my friend who took this mod w me and was my grpmate saw me typing this jn and she was like "this is a compulsory mod u review for what" but idk yknow it's more for me. but if anyone's searching module reviews and things like that, i hope this helps you! even if you HAVE to take it, at least maybe little tips or the things i found out can help make this mod less painful! :D
OH RIGHT READINGS OMG HAHAHHA shit i dont do so much of my readings#badstudent98 strikes again that i forgot to talk about it WHOOPS. the reading for this mod is insane. there's so much to read and it's so dry and everything i found myself feeling really tired and drained reading it. but then for exams what you read is tested la so unless you can buy notes/find some senior who has superb notes, i think it'll do you good to READ READ READ. and pls do so early and don't be like procrastinator me who does it during reading week and promptly dies. AHHAH i mean tbh i was up to speed w readings all the way until i realised i could s/u this mod. HAHHAHAH OOPS
Exam Format: we had finals AND project. so it's really like urgh. HAHHAHA finals (and midterms i think?) was just all MCQ. then project we had to submit our project and also do a presentation (of which i think my grp was like 0 effort HAHAHHAHA OOPS). then in between there were small little assignments here and there. it's quite a lot of work ah so really please don't take another heavy mod with this.
Recommend? i mean it's a core mod so no choice also la hor. but if you're not a cnm student but thinking of it, my opinion is that unless you're super sure you wanna be a researcher and really want to know how this thing works, don't take it la hahhaa. i haven't heard anyone say that they love this mod yet, and i don't think i ever will, truth be told.
NM2220 Introduction to Media Writing
Grade: A-
Professor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
Tutor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
YES ms tan recognises me i tell u. she's the lecturer for 2104 and 2220 AND she's my tutor for both mods HAHAHHA DEAD. anyway i took this mod as a recommendation from a senior bc she told me that it's actl really beneficial but there's no guarantee that you'll score well. that's why i took it last sem hahah
AND I AGREE W HER. on the beneficial part. i dont think i'm qualified to comment on the may not score well part bc this was my best grade last sem (': sians best grade only A- (': but yeah!!! i rly loved this mod so much omg i actl looked forward to tutorials (which is something i usually don't ever do) bc it really learnt so much and it was so hands-on and she really goes through each and everyone's writing so it's not like you always write and you don't even know how well you're doing. i would say the only bane to this mod is the 8am lectures of which i've slept through quite a number (': she constantly invites guest lecturers and it's really so nice hearing from them. contrary to popular belief, this mod is not just all about journalism. we learn about pr writing, social media writing, all this kind of things also so the guest lecturers are also from so many different fields. i mean ms tan to begin w she was a journalist w reuters for quite some time i think so she has a wealth of information that she freely shares with us.
i would say to definitely start the tutorials early. don't be like me. my first tutorial i was chionging like hell for it bc there was quite a bit to do (aka write an article w the info she provided) so i rly did until quite late at night. i would say it'd be good to start the moment she uploads it? hahha another time we had to do photojournalism and it was abt durian and i only checked it the day before tut WHEN TWO DAYS BEFORE TUT I WAS EATING DURIAN W MY FAM so i basically missed an amazing chance to take good photos for tut la hor (': but yeah she gives really good advice when she looks through what you do and because of that, i think i'll be good if you don't have back to back tuts esp if hers is the earlier one bc she likes to personally look through everyone's work and give specific comments and stuff like that so if u have the rush off for another tut and she's being held up by other students, you can't really get the feedback first-hand. she may comment on the google docs (every class uses one per tut session to collate all the work) but yknow it's still better to hear straight from here. that being said, when she asks u to show her ur work GO FIRST bc if not u gna have to wait for the whole world my friend (':
we had 3 assignments to do, first one planning how we would write a follow-up news article, second one writing a follow-up news article (doesn't have to be the same article as the first assignment) and the last one write an advertising campaign. i think it might have changed from my sem but yeah mostly things you've done in class la haha she wont make u do rubbish. but also PLS START EARLY cos i nearly wanted to hang myself writing the news article. ESPECIALLY THE NEWS ARTICLE. u can crap the rest if u rly need to but then the news article cos u needa interview ppl PLS DO IT EARLY. ppl are not at ur disposal so u cannot expect them to reply u quickly and all that. really if u can, start this once u get the brief. bc i started like a wk before and that wasn't enough either.
also there are readings to this but tbh i didn't do a single bit of it. my friend said that the readings is just teaching you english and stuff so not really that useful HAHHAHA
Exam Format: she's a bit traditional in the way that she tests you with pen and paper. so it's slightly difficult bc yknow news writing needs a lot of editing and refining. so my paper was freaking messy. like i literally drew an asterisk and boxed up something BECAUSE I MISSED A WHOLE DAMN PARAGRAPH. guys pls read the brief she gives u carefully HAHA bc i realised last minute and nearly had a heart attack bc i didn't know how to add it in so i had to call Ms Tan over to halp halp halp HAHAHHA for me, i did a news article, PR article, social media post and described a kind of photo i would take and use for my article. generally there's not a lot to study bc all the info is given in the exam, but you definitely have to memorise news article and PR article writing formats.
Recommend? YES. i mean, if you're someone who has interest in writing it'll really be a beneficial mod for you like legit. it's really really nice to take. i would say the workload isn't crazily heavy so yeah. and i rmb reading another review saying that nm2220 should be the compulsory mod instead of fas1102 HAHAHHA but yeah! also warning would be if you're someone who mainly only does story writing this mod might be a bit tiring for u bc there was this one girl who apparently always wrote in the storytelling style rather than news writing so Ms Tan always had to tell her about it. but i think it's good la, to learn a new writing style (:
WR1401 Workplace Readiness
Grade: none
Tutor: i forgot I'M SO SORRY but she was a lady LOLso halpful
we had to do a number of surveys and stuff to just like collate our response and reflections. for the hands-on side, we went to this thing i forgot the name of, but it's like a cave? it's damn ulu somewhere in bukit something idek but it was an interesting experience! so basically we had to climb through this cave-like thing in complete darkness so we really just had to talk and communicate and tbh it was a bit scary for me but then again i'm a scaredy-cat la so HAHHA it was fun tho!! but damn hot HAHA also! i wore glow in the dark bracelets so i kind of cheated a bit OOPS
another thing we did was rock climbing! it was really super cool la hahah cos nus has its own rock climbing wall but then for me who is scared of heights, it's slightly scary (': but i managed to reach the top like thrice!!! i can't believe it omg. i think they got the nus rock climbing team to teach us and one of the people in my class is in the rock climbing team so we had one extra teacher HOHO
one quote that i rmb well from that is
you can be scared, but you can't let your fear stop you from doing it.
or something along these lines i cant rly rmb but i just know i was telling the coach(??) that i was scared of heights. then he said he was too. so it's a meaningful quote ah (:
got to get closer to friends and have a chill-ish time during the week so t'was gr8 (:
Exam Format: -
Recommend? -
LOOKY HERE OMG I'M FINALLY DONE WITH AY17/18 SEM 2 ON WEEK 13 OF AY18/19 SEM 1 HAHAHHHAHA this was a damn tiring review to do and i can't believe in about 2 months' time i'll be starting on another one again (': i started this 4 June and ended this 14 November. Exactly 5 months and 10 days #procrastination :D
seeya soon (':
Hope™
DISCLAIMER: idk if i'm gonna kena anything for talking bad about teachers/modules over here. or if there will be changes to the modules in the future and people end up being misled for a module. but i'm here to say that all these are my opinions; they may not be right or accurate, but this is what i felt. and all information is correct as of the time i took the modules (i.e. Semester 2 of Academic Year 17/18 at the National University of Singapore).
this is similar to a stats mod just that instead of always just calculating answers, you also have to comment about how some research methods are carried out etc. basically like stuff about research and things like that ah. it's honestly not that great of a mod but well, if it's compulsory i can't say anything about it hahaha.
lectures are webcast (which i then watch at 1.5x speed HAHA) and if you're someone who doesn't like to watch webcasts, the script is also given so you can just refer to that if you want hahaha. the things we learn are pretty ohkay, like i wouldn't say it''s so amazingly interesting but ohkay la it's something that i've never heard of before. the most memorable thing for me was learning about the six degrees of separation cos i think that's a really cool and true concept.
there'll be group work in this. your group will have to assess some research that has been carried out and talk about what they did well or what they didn't do well, then talk about their results and all that. i'm very thankful that in my group there was someone studying stats so he helped us lots with all the stats terms and shit (': i feel like my group kind of did the bare minimum but oh wells, all is well hahha didn't really expect to do well anyway bc hello i cannot math for nuts (':
our tutor was really nice! he's those kind of nice tutors that is so nice that you will feel bad if you don't do things properly (which our whole class didn't lmao). he's really very patient and i feel like the way he explains things makes it v easy to understand? hahah or maybe i've just never heard anyone explain it to me before and i happen to understand when he explained it.
Exam Format: Mid-term and Finals, both MCQ. There will be weekly quizzes on ivle so please remember to do them (it's like 6 questions and you can usually share answers with friends HAHAHHA). there's also a group project then that's all.
Recommend? you have no choice
GES1010: Nation-Building in Singapore
Grade: B
Professor: Dr Seng Guo Quan
Tutor: Ms Nur Syafiqah Bte. Ahmad Jaafaar
i'll be super super super honest here. i hated this module.
i literally took this module to just clear the s pillar and tbh i regret taking this module. bc it's a history-based module and i've not touched history since sec 2 so i was really struggling a lot. i guess this is what i get for not doing proper research and proper planning of my modules. bc this was a module that i requested to take after i was being approved for overload so i kind of just randomly picked whichever one and was like MEH. i thought ges should be anything also can one but NOPE. there's this ges mod that's geog-based and i honestly wish i took that instead but oh well, what's done is done so no point also lah (':
this mod really (ohkay i wrote this like probably three months back at this point when i decide to revisit it and actually finish what i started HAHA also i'm doing this is class #badstudent ANYWAY i dont rmb my train of thought so lemme just write from what i think now HAHA)
so for this mod idk i felt like... it was really difficult to understand and pay attention? from my point of view la bc i'm not interested in history and there's really so much to talk about and learn about and stuff like that that i really cannot do. i barely paid attention in any of my lectures - i just recorded them and listened to some of it when i was doing some last minute studying to make sure i don't actually fail (cos i was planning to s/u already anyway so as long as it's not a u it's fine). the tutorials were... quite difficult la tbh cos it was a damn small grp and the tutor expected everyone to do the readings (i mean quite normal la hor HAHA) and the readings were boring and confusing as heck so it was really tiring to do it all.
i mean sometimes it was fun but mostly i was there panicking in my seat thinking how i should answer the teacher to make it sound like i know my shit HAHAHHA the assignments were difficult too i think. like until today i still don't understand the what the first assignment i did was talking about. i kind of just bullshitted everything to just get a decent score and leAVE lol so i'm sorry don't really have an objective view over this cos i rly didn't enjoy this mod at all.
Exam Format: Assignments, and Finals (i think. HELP HAHAH I FORGOT) no group work thankfully. finals is just essays really. like just i think there's an SBQ one then there's an essay one so kind of like sec sch history from what i rmb? i just know i didn't finish my last essay because i spent way too long stoning at nothing bc i just really really didn't wanna do this exam HAHA. compared my answers (like just a brief qn) w my history friend and our answers were worlds apart. his has such deep level of thinking and i just sound like an idiot HAHAHA
Recommend? if you ask me, really no. i just don't think it's worth it bc esp if u think abt it this mod is also some 2k mod for some south east asian studies or something so you're doing the work of 2k for the credit of 1k. so just think about that. and there's really a lot to discuss about Singapore la like there're actually a lot of things hidden from us normal Singaporeans so unless you're really super interested in learning about the entire history of Singapore that isn't being censored like what we learnt in our SS textbooks, i think this mod is gonna be quite tough. i think most people take it just bc they wanna clear and this is 1010 so it's probs one of the first mods anyone sees HAHA
GEQ1917: Understanding and Critiquing Sustainability
Grade: B+
Tutor: Mr Sivasothi N.
wELL y'all've already heard about this mod last sem and i really don't have much to say about it la tbh. i would say that for this sem it's really unguided so everything you just have to do within your group and gaodim everything yourself. and just meetup w ur tutor/aa whenever you need to/whenever they ask u to HAHA
for my grp we really didn't give two shits about what we were doing and just did the bare minimum and yknow as long as we don't fail cos we kind of gave up on life already by then. we did about world water day in singapore and like there was gonna be a water rationing excercise held in rv so we based a lot of our stuff on that. and like we just did the damn primary school method of making posters then bullshitting results LOL as in like the results were real but we bullshitted our analysis quite a bit la HAHA
the presentation was quite ohkay tho i think. just that my grp never had full strength and never practiced together. HAHAHHAH but everything ended well la thankfully hahah
Exam Format: presentation. that's it i think? apart from like maybe all those status checks it's really just otot la
Recommend? no choice bro. good luck. hopefully u get a team that thinks the same as you ya (:
LAF2201 French 2
Grade: B+
Tutor: Mr Yannick Appriou
tbh i don't really know what to say about this module? hahah like it's just French lor. leaning French lor. there isn't much to talk about it...?
i think my teacher was super nice tho!!! like he's really sarcastic so he jokes around in class a lot but at the same time he doesn't take people's shit la. so if u do something stupid and things like that he will get annoyed. i mean there were a few people in my class that were slightly loud and annoying so like um i think it was a bit irritating bc of that but i feel like i was able to learn well! like idk how it happened but in general i was just able to get and understand what was going on in class ah so i guess that's a good thing? haha
made a friend in class also so that's really great!!! we had like this special spot for us that sometimes people took and we would like bitch about them for taking our seats HAHAHHA
oh dear i feel like i'm not giving a good review of this mod but then again it's just language so it's not like ppl don't know what they're signing up for right? (':
Exam Format: same as French 1. so like there's the normal tests like writing, grammar, listening, reading. for oral we had to like act out a skit la which i think if i had put more effort into it i would've done better but yeah maybe i was just getting jaded bc the sem was ending but yeah heads up that you'll have to have a tiny skit!
Recommend? well, if you took French 1 and liked it? or if you placement in. tbh i don't know to how recommend language mods cos it's really subjective ah hahah
LAK3203 Korean for Academic Purposes
Grade: B
Tutor: Ms Cho Jin Hee
so this is a funny story hahhaha i meant to take korean 4 instead of KAP but then people are so scary w their bid points )): in jan when bidding started, people were bidding for korean 4 like damn crazy. in round 3 the winning bid was 1599???!?!?!!?!!!! i year 1 so i only had like 1275 wtf i all in also cannot get it (': then in 3b it was freaking 2000 so idek man lyfe (': i emailed the Korean coordinator if i could audit it (bc Korean 4 is only offered in sem 2 and if i didn't take it in y1s2, i'd have to wait until y2s2 which is quite stupid la bc then i might as well just have taken from Korean 1??? hahha). but then i wasn't allowed to audit it bc there were too many people in the class ): so i asked her if it was possible to take KAP instead. KAP is for those in LPP. it's like Korean 4 for LPP but they use the same textbook and everything so to me i was kind of like well it shld be abt the same so why not HAHA
no regrets taking it though!!! i mean i didn't take Korean 4 but (now that i'm about to finish y2s1 HAHA HELP LOOK HOW LONG THIS TOOK ME) when i talked to friends who took Korean 4, i think the difference is just the final presentation? cos for KAP we had to present BY OURSELF but in Korean 4 it was in a group haha.
the teacher was super super super nice omg i love her. she's so friendly and sweet and nice and it really just felt like i could have a simple casual conversation with her. she even made weekly quizlet quizzes for us to learn the new vocab that we're taught and everything so it was really easy to study the vocab when exam hit.
class was 6-8pm at night so it was really quite tiring for me la tbh. i think i rly overbooked myself too much last sem bc it was on tues and thurs. so like on tues immediately after class i had to go for evo prac until 10? and then on thurs after class i had to freaking fly to tc for mod of which i was usually only able to participate for like 30 minutes? so it was really quite sian for me la but then it's also like desperation cos i rly rly rly wanted to take KAP.
imo i don't really like 6-8 lessons cos it's really late and it affects a lot of night plans and stuff like that so yeah hahha but i mean if we don't have any choice then what to do right? (': there was one day where i was super tired and tried to take a nap in my room but ended up sleeping past class time HAHAHHAHA DED
oh! and in around the start of the sem, students from a private uni in korea came to visit us and it was quite fun!! i was only able to be with them for like 2 hours but it was still a really interesting 2 hours!! to be able to speak in korean and just interact and everything yknow? ahah although we're awkward but it was nice having that 2 hours to just talk ah! i ended up gg into french nearly answering my tchr in korean AHHAHHAHA
Exam Format: normal exam format. just think primary school chinese but in korean HAHA and also a solo presentation at the end of the semester. i think you have to submit a script and stuff to the teacher but for our teacher she didn't edit our script. she just gave us comments on what we could do to improve our script haha.
Recommend? i mean if you're from LPP and taking Korean you don't really have a choice. for those who can't fight w seniors w bid points, i think it's a good idea to write in and ask if you can be placed here esp since i think a lot of ppl drop korean halfway so the LPP class tends to have space? can go check it out ah! and like french, it's really just your own interest haha
NM2104 Qualitative Communication Research Methods
Grade: B
Professor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
Tutor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
so this is a core mod for cnm students and i took it bc qualitative research just sounds like a pain in the ass and i wanted to get it over and done with and probably s/u it HAHAHHAH so yeah i s/u'd this mod (': but anyway it was interesting-ish?? idk like i learnt some stuff but i think the biggest thing i learnt is that research isn't for me HAHHAHAH at first i thought bc this was a core mod i wouldn't be able to s/u it and i got really stressed and studied v hard but after i found out it could be s/u'd i was just like MEH HAHAHHA OOPS #badstudent98
for this mod, we had to do a project based on a topic she gave us. for our sem, it was about ageing and i was super interested in it (which was one of the reasons why i didn't drop this mod). my group did about whether (ohkay i can't 100% rmb but here we go) working adults aged between 45 and 63 (or something) are prepared for retirement. and it was quite interesting doing it tbh. like doing the tiny bits of research here and there and formulating different theories and stuff?
one thing about this mod is that it's SUPER tedious. like no joke super tedious i think it consumed all my brain power help HAHA if you have to take this mod, my recommendation is to not take any other mods that have heavy group work/project work. if not cfm will burn out. unless you're prepared to f it and s/u, rly try to have this as your only (or maybe one out of two?) project mods or else prepared to be damn tired and sian of this mod.
in the project, we EACH had to interview 5 people for ONE HOUR and TRANSCRIBE our interviews. can u imagine how tired that is????? i interview for 1 hour i transcribe for 3. it was rly rly rly so tiring for me tbh. like even to interview. i found myself asking a lot of rubbish qns and things like that to make up the 1 hour bc sometimes despite the number of qns you've prepared, your interview seems to almost come to an end in 30 mins and it's quite stress la cos teacher wants 1 hour. or thereabout. depending on tutor, you may have to submit recording also. so this one cannot fake one HAHAHHAHA
i found that playing the recording and typing on word was damn tiring. cos u can't type as fast as you talk so i found myself having to pause/rewind a lot. then when i tried it play it in slow motion sometimes it got too slow then i was just like waiting for the conversation so that you can type so really quite waste time also. AND bc it was on my phone and i was typing on my com, it's like my hand had to keep moving back and forth to alter the speed of the recording. so after one painful and tiring transcription of my shortest interview, i hired one of my juniors to do one transcription for me HAHAHH and she did it so well and i wanted to like buy her food or something but she declined omg so thankful ;A; hiring help aside, i also used this (i think) link to help me in my transcriptions. it was rly v v v good cos like all the controls are on the keyboard itself so i didn't have to move my hand anywhere to speed up/slow down my recording. the only downside is that it doesn't auto-capitalise all that like microsoft word so if ur teacher is damn anal about formatting then maybe it'll be a bit difficult for you. but i dont even think my teacher read through our transcriptions (or rather i hope HAHA) so meh i just left it there w bad formatting. oh! and it doesn't have autocorrect also so like if u type wrong you'll only realise it when you export to word document and see all dem red squiggly underlines HAHAHHA so really it's just a space for you to type that's it. no correction, not auto-capitalisation no auto-punctuation no nothing. but it rly helped me leaps and bounds in my transcription, especially in longer interviews.
also one thing about this mod is that you should try to refrain from interviewing your close friends/family members bc then it kind of defeats the purpose of the interview? like idk. ohkay one thing that they did say was that bc they're close to you, there are some things that they might not wanna share w u. like for example if i ask my parents if they think their children (aka me and my bro) will take care of them in the future u think they will say no meh?? HAHHAHAH but yeah. so we actually planned to interview each other's parents and relatives BUT time constraints and work and uni life kicked in so we just ended up interviewing our own parents HAHAHHA OOPS sorry cher ):
omg and don't get me started on coding. as if transcribing isn't tiring enough, then we had to CODE. and it's not like what html coding kind of shit that one still can refer online and copy. NO we had to code our interview transcripts meaning like find the big picture of what people were saying and all that and all in all it was just really so tiring and it made me realise that research lyfe really aint for me HAHAHHAHAHHA
holy shit this is a long ass review HAHHAH
so anyway my friend who took this mod w me and was my grpmate saw me typing this jn and she was like "this is a compulsory mod u review for what" but idk yknow it's more for me. but if anyone's searching module reviews and things like that, i hope this helps you! even if you HAVE to take it, at least maybe little tips or the things i found out can help make this mod less painful! :D
OH RIGHT READINGS OMG HAHAHHA shit i dont do so much of my readings
Exam Format: we had finals AND project. so it's really like urgh. HAHHAHA finals (and midterms i think?) was just all MCQ. then project we had to submit our project and also do a presentation (of which i think my grp was like 0 effort HAHAHHAHA OOPS). then in between there were small little assignments here and there. it's quite a lot of work ah so really please don't take another heavy mod with this.
Recommend? i mean it's a core mod so no choice also la hor. but if you're not a cnm student but thinking of it, my opinion is that unless you're super sure you wanna be a researcher and really want to know how this thing works, don't take it la hahhaa. i haven't heard anyone say that they love this mod yet, and i don't think i ever will, truth be told.
NM2220 Introduction to Media Writing
Grade: A-
Professor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
Tutor: Ms Tan Ee Lyn
YES ms tan recognises me i tell u. she's the lecturer for 2104 and 2220 AND she's my tutor for both mods HAHAHHA DEAD. anyway i took this mod as a recommendation from a senior bc she told me that it's actl really beneficial but there's no guarantee that you'll score well. that's why i took it last sem hahah
AND I AGREE W HER. on the beneficial part. i dont think i'm qualified to comment on the may not score well part bc this was my best grade last sem (': sians best grade only A- (': but yeah!!! i rly loved this mod so much omg i actl looked forward to tutorials (which is something i usually don't ever do) bc it really learnt so much and it was so hands-on and she really goes through each and everyone's writing so it's not like you always write and you don't even know how well you're doing. i would say the only bane to this mod is the 8am lectures of which i've slept through quite a number (': she constantly invites guest lecturers and it's really so nice hearing from them. contrary to popular belief, this mod is not just all about journalism. we learn about pr writing, social media writing, all this kind of things also so the guest lecturers are also from so many different fields. i mean ms tan to begin w she was a journalist w reuters for quite some time i think so she has a wealth of information that she freely shares with us.
i would say to definitely start the tutorials early. don't be like me. my first tutorial i was chionging like hell for it bc there was quite a bit to do (aka write an article w the info she provided) so i rly did until quite late at night. i would say it'd be good to start the moment she uploads it? hahha another time we had to do photojournalism and it was abt durian and i only checked it the day before tut WHEN TWO DAYS BEFORE TUT I WAS EATING DURIAN W MY FAM so i basically missed an amazing chance to take good photos for tut la hor (': but yeah she gives really good advice when she looks through what you do and because of that, i think i'll be good if you don't have back to back tuts esp if hers is the earlier one bc she likes to personally look through everyone's work and give specific comments and stuff like that so if u have the rush off for another tut and she's being held up by other students, you can't really get the feedback first-hand. she may comment on the google docs (every class uses one per tut session to collate all the work) but yknow it's still better to hear straight from here. that being said, when she asks u to show her ur work GO FIRST bc if not u gna have to wait for the whole world my friend (':
we had 3 assignments to do, first one planning how we would write a follow-up news article, second one writing a follow-up news article (doesn't have to be the same article as the first assignment) and the last one write an advertising campaign. i think it might have changed from my sem but yeah mostly things you've done in class la haha she wont make u do rubbish. but also PLS START EARLY cos i nearly wanted to hang myself writing the news article. ESPECIALLY THE NEWS ARTICLE. u can crap the rest if u rly need to but then the news article cos u needa interview ppl PLS DO IT EARLY. ppl are not at ur disposal so u cannot expect them to reply u quickly and all that. really if u can, start this once u get the brief. bc i started like a wk before and that wasn't enough either.
Exam Format: she's a bit traditional in the way that she tests you with pen and paper. so it's slightly difficult bc yknow news writing needs a lot of editing and refining. so my paper was freaking messy. like i literally drew an asterisk and boxed up something BECAUSE I MISSED A WHOLE DAMN PARAGRAPH. guys pls read the brief she gives u carefully HAHA bc i realised last minute and nearly had a heart attack bc i didn't know how to add it in so i had to call Ms Tan over to halp halp halp HAHAHHA for me, i did a news article, PR article, social media post and described a kind of photo i would take and use for my article. generally there's not a lot to study bc all the info is given in the exam, but you definitely have to memorise news article and PR article writing formats.
Recommend? YES. i mean, if you're someone who has interest in writing it'll really be a beneficial mod for you like legit. it's really really nice to take. i would say the workload isn't crazily heavy so yeah. and i rmb reading another review saying that nm2220 should be the compulsory mod instead of fas1102 HAHAHHA but yeah! also warning would be if you're someone who mainly only does story writing this mod might be a bit tiring for u bc there was this one girl who apparently always wrote in the storytelling style rather than news writing so Ms Tan always had to tell her about it. but i think it's good la, to learn a new writing style (:
WR1401 Workplace Readiness
Grade: none
Tutor: i forgot I'M SO SORRY but she was a lady LOL
we had to do a number of surveys and stuff to just like collate our response and reflections. for the hands-on side, we went to this thing i forgot the name of, but it's like a cave? it's damn ulu somewhere in bukit something idek but it was an interesting experience! so basically we had to climb through this cave-like thing in complete darkness so we really just had to talk and communicate and tbh it was a bit scary for me but then again i'm a scaredy-cat la so HAHHA it was fun tho!! but damn hot HAHA also! i wore glow in the dark bracelets so i kind of cheated a bit OOPS
another thing we did was rock climbing! it was really super cool la hahah cos nus has its own rock climbing wall but then for me who is scared of heights, it's slightly scary (': but i managed to reach the top like thrice!!! i can't believe it omg. i think they got the nus rock climbing team to teach us and one of the people in my class is in the rock climbing team so we had one extra teacher HOHO
one quote that i rmb well from that is
you can be scared, but you can't let your fear stop you from doing it.
or something along these lines i cant rly rmb but i just know i was telling the coach(??) that i was scared of heights. then he said he was too. so it's a meaningful quote ah (:
got to get closer to friends and have a chill-ish time during the week so t'was gr8 (:
Exam Format: -
Recommend? -
LOOKY HERE OMG I'M FINALLY DONE WITH AY17/18 SEM 2 ON WEEK 13 OF AY18/19 SEM 1 HAHAHHHAHA this was a damn tiring review to do and i can't believe in about 2 months' time i'll be starting on another one again (': i started this 4 June and ended this 14 November. Exactly 5 months and 10 days #procrastination :D
seeya soon (':
Hope™
DISCLAIMER: idk if i'm gonna kena anything for talking bad about teachers/modules over here. or if there will be changes to the modules in the future and people end up being misled for a module. but i'm here to say that all these are my opinions; they may not be right or accurate, but this is what i felt. and all information is correct as of the time i took the modules (i.e. Semester 2 of Academic Year 17/18 at the National University of Singapore).
Comments
Post a Comment