AY2016/17 Semester 2 Modules Review

ST4240: Data Mining
Lecturer: Alexandre Thiery

This module can be used for specialisation and it is a very popular module due to the whole "big data" trend recently. I found this module to be extremely useful as it tackles real-life scenarios. As statistics students, we are definitely going to face loads of data in the future. This module will introduce you to some common predictive methods used for large datasets and provide ample practice for a good foundation.

After taking ST3233 under the same lecturer last semester, I already knew what to expect for this module. As always, the lecturer's notes are very simple with not much information, but he will always write notes during the class and upload them onto IVLE. The tutorials consist mostly of coding questions, especially in the later few chapters when we start learning all the different predictive methods. Webcast is provided for those who did not attend the lecture and surprisingly, the lecturer is actually fine with us not attending LOL. Ok, I admitted I skipped a few lectures due to my unsatisfactory timetable but at least I attended more than 50% :)

Workload wise, they all come in the second half of the semester. There are 3 group assignments in total and all revolve around coding. You will receive large datasets and have to predict the outcomes. 1 of the assignment lasted the whole semester. We had to predict some values and upload them onto this website called Kaggle, where there is a leaderboard to see how well our prediction fares compared to other groups. The midterm and final were both closed book and no cheatsheet, which is the lecturer's style. No surprise there. Since coding cannot be tested in a pen-and-paper test, expect a bunch of questions testing your conceptual knowledge. I think I did really badly for that. Anyway, I would strongly recommend all statistics students to take this module as I personally feel that we really need some practical knowledge to compete with other grads from computing, business analytics, etc. A lot of our stats modules are theoretical and not really useful for work.


ST4245: Statistical Methods for Finance
Lecturer: Xia Yingcun

This module is also popular because of its name. Like, come on, there is "Finance" in the module name. Obviously we would try to clamour for it. Ok, so this module covers quite a broad range of stuff. There is some portfolio theory which was also taught in MA3269 and time series which was taught in ST3233 and some other econs modules. I would say this module might be useful as it does cover a lot of topics but statistics is built on a lot of theories (read: assumptions) and in real life, you cannot expect all your data to be so nice...

This lecturer is ok I guess. He is my worst lecturer for this semester but I had good lecturers for my other modules so I would rank him average. It might be a little hard to understand his accent and sometimes I have no idea what he is writing on the notes but I just copy anyway. If you did not catch what he is saying, you can always watch the webcast. His notes are very simplistic (read: no design) and sometimes not really organized well. I think that as long as you pay attention during his lectures and practice his tutorials plus some other questions, you should score decently for this module.

On to the workload part. So every week there is a tutorial BUT you have to do them and submit. In groups of 10. That is like the biggest group I worked with in my entire life. Thankfully, his tutorials have a lot of repeated questions from last year so a lot of groups just copy those answers. NOT thankfully, he also repeated questions for his midterms. He repeated questions in an open book test. So people with access to past year answers could just copy and get like... nearly 60/100 marks free. Wtf. Some people complained after the test but all he did was to reduce the weightage of the midterm. Well, at least the open book finals were fresh questions. Unless there were repeated questions that no one told me about. The horror.


EC2204: Financial Accounting for Economists
Lecturer: Chua Yeow Hwee

Hmm I actually did not plan on taking this module, but my appeal for the third core module failed so I settled for an elective instead. As the module name states, this is an economics module but it covers basic accounting and also precludes the accouting module over at the business school. You will learn about the basic stuff in all those financial statements and know how to record and analyse the financial statements. Apparently this module used to be offered a long long time ago and it was only revived this year. So I guess I was part of the new guinea pig batch?

The lecturer is enthusiastic and good. He teaches through examples which suit me just fine and he frequently mentions recent news articles to show us how relevant this module is. Webcast is also provided. His notes are really thick because there are tons of stuff to learn and he puts practically everything in his notes. You can see the effort put in by the lecturer as the notes are quite time-consuming to make. The tutorials are also all taught by him (whoa one man show) so you can see his friendly face twice a week.

Workload wise, you should do the tutorials before attending as you might be asked to answer the questions. But it is ok if you really cannot answer. There is a group project of 3-4 members which make up a large percentage of your grade. The group has to choose any company from the SGX website and analyse their financial performance over the past 3 years, then submit a report and do a group presentation. Midterm and final were closed book. Midterm had some MCQ questions but final did not and you will also have to prepare some financial statements from scratch during the final. I found this module useful and this is a good alternative if you do not wish to compete with the business students in their accounting module. It is always good to have some basic accounting knowledge so you know where money flows to in companies.


LAK2201: Korean 2
Lecturer: Chi Seo Won

Lucky me. I managed to appeal into the module (probably because I gatecrashed the first lesson) and had the same lecturer as last semester too! Korean 2 is like a level up from Korean 1. Expect a slightly faster pace with more grammar, more vocabulary, more work. Other than that, the format is basically the same as Korean 1. Please ensure that you have a good foundation from Korean 1 before taking this module or you might die.

Well, having the same lecturer is good since I already knew how interesting she can be. As usual, she can be a little dramatic at times but still teaches really well. I wouldn't really consider her a lecturer. She is more like a teacher, those kind that you have in kindergarden or primary school, always energetic and enthusiatic. Lessons are always fun and very interactive. You will definitely need to speak up at least twice every lesson and if you come early, you will probably end up having a korean conversation with her.

Workload wise, it is more than Korean 1. There are a few written essay assignments with longer word requirements that are scattered throughout the semester. Also, there are 2 oral tests (1 reading a passage and 1 face-to-face) as well as a midterm and final. The new workload comes in the form of a pairwork whereby you have to partner someone and film (in one take) the two of you having a conversation (write your own script) based on the given topic for about 1 min 30 secs. Other than that, everything is about the same as Korean 1, so you should be used to the testing style and everything already. Expect stiffer competition since those who continue on to Korean 2 are those who did well for Korean 1. 화이팅!


GEK1505/GEH1036: Living with Mathematics
Lecturer: Lou Jiann-Hua

This module covers a very broad range of topics that you may encounter in daily life: counting (series and permutations and combinations), graphing (basic graph theory), clocking (periods and modulus), coding (not the computer programming but the secret message kind of coding), enciphering (create and decode secret messages) and chancing (probability). Expect a whole bunch of fake noobs from maths, stats and other similar majors coming in to take this module. And therefore, expect very steep bell curve.

The lecturer has taught this module a few times already. He is quite old and speaks slowly, but he explains the stuff well. The lectures are from 6-8pm and webcast is available so I just skipped all the lectures and watch the webcasts at 1.5x speed. If you are smart and hate watching webcast, it is fine too since the notes are self-explanatory and full of examples. It is possible to just read the notes, do your cheatsheet and waltz into the exam hall since the module difficulty is not high. But I would still try to encourage you to support the lecturer and either attend the lectures or watch the webcasts. :)

There is practically zero workload for this awesome module. The midterm is 30% and the final is 70%. 1 piece of cheatsheet is allowed for both of them so just copy the necessary stuff and maybe a few examples. Tutorial attendance is taken but not counted towards your grade. My tutor was pretty ok at going through the questions so I just went for the tutorials to support her. There is nothing much to do for this module. Just go through the tutorial questions and understand them for a decent grade. There are also a whole bunch of past year papers to try and you will realise the questions are about the same. So if you are good at math and logic stuff, feel free to take this module to lighten your overall workload.

AY2016/17 Semester 1 Modules Review

ST3233: Applied Time Series Analysis

Lecturer: Alexandre Thiery

I took this module because I think it will be useful in the future. And luckily I took it! Although I don't think I learned much stuff from this module, the module was easy compared to my other modules this semester and the content was light too. It was a break I needed from the other mods.

The first few chapters were easy stuff and the harder part only came nearer the end. I think I managed to understand the concepts thanks to the good explanations and diagrams. I like the lecturer. Although he had a slight accent which made him hard to understand sometimes, he takes time to go through the concepts well and has a lot of examples which he goes through step-by-step with us, literally. He always give us a few minutes to think (which we usually spend slacking and not using our brains) and then writes down the answers while explaining. His examples were good as they are all basic questions that help us to understand the concepts. His handwriting is nice too :) This is probably why I still attend his lectures even though they are at 8am and webcasted. 

Workload wise, there were 2 group assignments (form your own groups) to be done which consisted of questions that made sure you understood the lectures. No biggie there. You can just split the questions within your group members. His midterms and finals were hard, but both were good papers as they had a range of questions, which is what I expect of an exam paper. Sadly, no cheatsheets were allowed, so I had to groan and memorise the all the formulas from the notes. Compared to the 2 other stats modules which I took this semester, this module was the best and I will definitely consider taking another module under this lecturer.

ST3236/MA3238: Stochastic Processes 1

Lecturer: Ajay Jasra

This is a compulsory module for stats students. It is taught under stats department in Sem 1, under math department in Sem 2. I found this module really tough, maybe since it is coded as a math module too? Well I am definitely not taking stochastic processes 2 after this.

Since this is a compulsory module, I thought that it will be slightly easier since previous compulsory modules were kind of easy too (gotta cater to students of varying calibre hehe). But it turned out otherwise. Gosh, this module was so hard. The lecturer was ok I guess, but his notes can be improved as the wording was really complicated and hard to understand. I felt like I was reading some new language. And the lecture timing was 6pm-8pm. I skipped every single lecture since I prefer to spend that time eating my dinner and there is webcast anyway.

So here's the catch. Apparently this lecturer is known for testing previous problems in his finals. Yup, that means if you somehow manage to copy all the tutorial questions and all the past exam questions and all his extra example questions onto that pathetic 1 piece of cheatsheet, you are very very likely to attain a super high score for the finals, maybe even full marks. I was lucky to copy a few of the correct questions, but sadly not everything. But seriously though, I think that this is really unfair since the finals does not really test what you actually know. I mean, finals was 60% and his assignment (which only had 2 questions) was 40%. So basically this means everyone scores about the same for the assignment and your grade boils down to the final paper. I hope he can revamp this next time.

ST4233: Linear Models

Lecturer: Yao Zhigang

This module is compulsory for stats honours students. I hate this module so much and it is all thanks to the lecturer. My friends will know how much I complained about him throughout the entire semester.

I was already a little afraid of tackling a level 4000 module this semester and the lecturer did not make it any better, he made it worse. His explanation sucks. At first I thought it was because he was teaching new stuff. But when he taught some parts which I already knew, that was when I realised that his teaching really sucks because I cannot understand what he is saying. And my friends agreed with me too. Sometimes I really wonder why I even bother to attend his lectures (maybe because no webcast) when I do not understand what he is saying. And it does not help that the tutorials are conducted by him too, so I just spend every tutorial lesson copying stuff which he will still upload onto IVLE at the end.

Workload wise, it was really tough for me as I did not understand the module and could not do the homework. He had 5 assignments in total, and they were given out consecutively, so the moment one assignment is due, the next one arrives. I spent a lot a lot of time trying to do the questions and Googling for the answers. There was also supposed to be a midterm, but he cancelled it due to "logistics reasons" and changed it to a report instead. Great, now instead of suffering through a short exam paper, I need to waste more time doing this report that can totally pass off as a ST3131 report because the content in the report is the same. The finals had 2 pieces of helpsheets but they were useless because the tutorial questions I copied did not come out, he retested a few of the assignment questions instead plus a few new questions. Frankly, I regret taking this module under him and I am very afraid of my results...

LAK1201: Korean 1

Lecturers: Chi Seo Won, Shin Hye Jung

한국어를 사랑해요! Yes, I got influenced by K-pop and the Hallyu wave... but I finally racked up enough bid points to take this module! Overall, this module was super fun, definitely did not waste my points. 

We had a teacher for the first half and another teacher for the second half. Both teachers were enthusiastic in their teaching and made their lessons fun. I really looked forward to the lessons each week.The good thing about learning a language in NUS is that there is homework every week and the pace is pretty fast, so it forces you to keep studying to avoid falling behind. And, that is precisely the trick to language mastery. You have to keep using it, through reading, listening, speaking and writing. Every lesson, we will practise the 4 main skills. It's all about practice, practice, practice.

Workload for all language modules are high, so you will need the passion to fuel your way through. Every week there will be an e-learning video to watch, which counts towards your attendance grade too. And every lesson we have some sort of homework, which is extremely easy and takes about 10 minutes to do. Then every fortnight or so, there will be some assignment to do which will be due in about a week's time. For the midterms and finals, there is a written and oral portion. The written portion will test you on the grammar and vocabulary learnt, while the oral portion will be reading out a passage(for the midterms) and primary-school style oral exam(for the finals) where you describe a picture. It was kind of easy in my opinion, but there will be fake noobs in every language class. So either you become a fake noob yourself first, or be prepared to work harder to catch up wih them. But overall, recommended module. I can see why the bid points are so high.

PR1301: Complementary Medicine and Health

Lecturers: Koh Hwee Ling, Lin Haishu, Chan Cheng Leng

This module focuses on Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM), which is basically stuff that is not your conventional western medicine. The module is really generic and it would be an advantage if you have any previous knowledge since the module is just about boosting your general knowledge in this field.

Ok, I shall admit upfront that I am guilty of skipping lectures and not paying attention even though there is no webcast. But the module is pretty much a memory-based module. So in my opinion (in my opinion only! Don't take my words for it!), it is ok to skip some lectures since most of the content are in the lecture notes. It is good to go listen to the lecturers though. They share some of their experiences and extra knowledge. There are 3 lecturers in total and they cover different topics. At the beginning, 1 lecturer will do the first lecture of the week and another will do the second lecture. Then somewhere near the end, the last lecturer will take over (she is from Health Sciences Authority). So you may have to get used to juggling between 2 different topics at the same time.

Workload is super light, which is why I took this module. There is only 1 assignment throughout the entire semester, which is take 2 pictures (must be self-taken) and add a description of not more than 200 words each about how the module has affected your life. Easy peasy. I did the entire thing in under an hour. The midterms was just 8 short answer questions in 40 minutes, and the finals was 125 MCQs in 2 hours. The finals was tricky though. It had stuff like:

A) Statements i, ii, iii are correct

B) Statements i, iii, iv are correct

C) Statements ii, iii, iv, v are correct

D) Statements ii, iv, v are correct

E) None of A, B, C, D

That's right! NONE OF A, B, C, D! Which means any other combination lah!

AY2015/16 Semester 2 Modules Review

ST3131: Regression Analysis

Lecturer: Wang Junshan

This is a core module for Statistics students. You should expect to learn about Regression and how to fit to your data to a suitable model.

The lecturer is a first-timer, so her teaching is lacking and she also uses last semester's notes. Thankfully, she understands her own shortcomings and encourages us to give her feedback, she also adds on her own comments to the lecture notes. I kind of pity her because she received feedback that students would prefer webcast, but after she started the webcast, students started skipping lectures(me included oops) and the LT became super empty. It also does not help that the lecture is at 8am, the ungodly timing.

Workload is easily manageable, there are weekly tutorials which are kind of useless. The only work is the group project, which requires you to form your own groups then find a dataset online and perform regression analysis on it. I knew that there was a project beforehand but the lecturer only gave it out in Week 9, and we had exactly 4 weeks to complete it..... I was lucky to be grouped with this genius guy who offered to do all the coding for us :) Midterm and finals were totally manageable too, cheatsheets allowed, the questions usually show you the output from R/SAS and then you have to calculate certain stuff based on the output. This also explains why I don't remember doing any coding for this module hehe. It is totally possible to not attend tutorials and still get a decent score.

ST3239: Survey Methodology

Lecturer: Kuk Yung Cheung, Anthony

WHY WHY WHY did I even use up 1000 of my bidding points for this stupid module? I thought that I would be learning how to conduct surveys and analyse the results (ok I actually did learn those stuff) but I felt like I gained nothing from this module.

I blame the lecturer. First, his notes are bad. I don't understand the explanations, and there were a whole bunch of useless stuff. Second, the teaching is boring. He keeps jumping here and there and I lose track of what he is saying. Usually I'm more excited for his tutorials because I actually learn more stuff by just copying the damn answers to the tutorial questions. Unfortunately, I was still forced to attend lectures since there was no webcast.

There are 2 assignments given out, which consist of around 2 questions each. For me, I just kept flipping through the notes until I think I found the correct formula, because that is what this module is about: using the correct formula. Midterm and finals were ok, but for me I forgot to copy a formula into my cheatsheet during the midterm and it was tested. Oh well, just blame my luck. The papers also had a question or two taken from the lecture notes/tutorials.


ST3247: Simulation
Lecturer: Vik Gopal

This module is hard but actually fun? Basically we learn how to generate distributions, Poisson process, how to do discrete event simulation, Monte Carlo integration, variance reduction, etc. Coding for this module is done using R Studio, so do not forget your stuff from ST2137, as well as some basic stuff like writing loops from CS1010S.

The lecturer rocks! His notes are straightforward, and he explains the stuff really really well. I always have a lot of stuff to copy during his lectures because his explanations are really good and I just had to write down all the things he says. My friends complained that he spoke too fast and they had to watch the webcasts sometimes, but personally I found the speed ok. I guess maybe he did go really fast though, he finished the syllabus early and kept dismissing us early during the last few weeks (yay for avoiding squeezing up the shuttle bus to the mrt!)

Workload might be a little high. There are 4 assignments, and all the assignments have a coding and a written portion. I spend quite a lot of time for each assignment, but luckily I still remember some programming skills so I could manage the questions. Midterm and finals were ok, the worst part was no cheatsheets allowed! I wanted to pull my hair out trying to remember all the various algorithms for generating the distributions. I have to admit that the questions were actually well set, with various difficulties that test your understanding of the various concepts. If I find that this lecturer is teaching other stats modules, I will definitely go take them.


DSC1007X: Business Analytics - Models & Decisions
Lecturer: Tung Yi-Liang

Ok, I took this module for an easy life. The first half of this module is basically statistics (probability and probability distributions) while the second half is about optimization. DO expect a lot of math, stats, econs, engineering students taking this module. If you do not have the relevant background, be prepared to do a lot of catching up.

The lecturer was ok I guess. I think he used the same slides as the DSC1007 module? Not sure about that. I cannot really give comments about the teaching since I have already learned most of the syllabus before, so regardless of the standard of teaching, I can still understand the module. The lecturer is really friendly though.

Workload is manageable. The work assigned are all easy if you have the relevant background. There are weekly group assignments which are easy, there is also a group project(same group) about doing simulation on Microsoft Excel, and there are individual quizzes fortnightly during the tutorial sessions. Despite this super easy module, I had a lot of trouble due to my lousy groupmates. The groups were randomly assigned and I got stuck with a bunch of... yeah you get it. Do you know how it feels to be able to do the assignment questions every week but you cannot submit your answers because you are forced to "discuss" with your groupmates who don't respond to your whatsapp messages? UGH, ok no more talking about the group, they don't deserve such a big space on my blog. The finals were totally easy, cheatsheet allowed, question topics already announced beforehand and we took the same exam paper as the DSC1007 people (but different bell curve!). Apparently, we scored better than the biz peeps from DSC1007 hahaha :P


LSM1301: General Biology
Lecturers: Loh Chiang Shiong, Wu Jinlu

This module is a popular module for its easy and slack syllabus. Only people without H2 Biology are allowed to take this module. Topics covered are similar to O-level and A-level Biology.

There are 2 lecturers for this module. The lecturer for the first half was not bad, he cracked a lot of jokes and the lectures were enjoyable. The lecturer for the second half was from China, so his lectures were harder to understand because of his pronunciation. But overall the lectures were fun, no webcasts but it was beneficial to attend the lectures as you do get to learn a lot of useful stuff. My interest towards Biology increased after taking this module, but not enough to take the Life Sciences stuff (oops hehe sorry).

Workload is super light. Only 4 assignments to be submitted online, just google for the answers and fill in the Word document. There was also a lab session where we get to explore stuff like using a microscope as well as the gel electrophoresis. Finals were all MCQs and open-book, so expect a steep bell curve. The lecture notes are insufficient to score well, so try to borrow your friend's textbook or something. 

AY2015/16 Semester 1 Modules Review

ST2132: Mathematical Statistics

Lecturer: Gan Fah Fatt

So I got taught by GFF again, and despite him claiming that he's "so excited!" to teach us, I'm not that fond of the 8am lectures. Without webcast. Apparently he doesn't like webcast, so we are all forced to wake up early. There's no avoiding this module anyway, since it is compulsory. Most stats majors will take this Year 2 Sem 1, with a few sprinkles of math majors.

The first half of this module is just ST2131 repeated, so it was easy at first, the new stuff comes after the midterms. There is a huge focus of estimation of parameters. Personally I feel that this is my hardest module ever, I couldn't do the tutorial questions at all for the new topics. There are 2 lectures and a 1-hour tutorial weekly. Workload is minimum, just do the tutorial questions. Midterm was MCQ and finals was short questions. Cheatsheets allowed. I doubt I will score well for this, but my advice would be to pay attention during lectures and do some practice questions. Well, I paid attention but still couldn't do the questions, I must be really dumb.

ST2137: Computer Aided Data Analysis

Lecturer: Lim Chingway

This module is also compulsory for stats majors. Basically we just learn how to use 3 statistical programs: SAS, R, SPSS. I would encourage students to finish up CS1010S before taking this as you may require some programming techniques.

The 3 programs used were vastly different and my cheatsheets were filled with tons and tons of code. R gives the most flexibility and you will still need some R knowledge in later modules, so please don't erase it from your memory. SAS is slightly more rigid, while SPSS is like an upgraded version of Microsoft Excel. Although we do learn some statistical stuff in this module, the midterms and finals tested mainly on coding, with a few T/F questions at the front. There is a weekly lab session where you just go to mark your attendance. Only R can be downloaded free onto your computer, so you would have to visit the lab often to practise your coding. SAS has a free University edition, but the interface is slightly different from the version used in the lab.

There is also a group project where each group has about 5 members. Basically, the group has to find a dataset (either online or go survey people) and perform some statistical analysis on it. The report is around 8 pages long, so that should give you an idea of the workload. Like most groups, my group only started the project after the midterms (despite me bugging them since the beginning), so it was pretty hectic. I would recommend for future groups to at least find a dataset and decide on a hypothesis before recess week, otherwise you might be swamped with work after the midterms, especially when everyone has other projects from other modules.

MA2311: Techniques in Advanced Calculus

Lecturer: Leung Man Chun

Definitely the most memorable lecturer I had this semester. Here's a tip to find people who have taken this module under this lecturer: just tell them that you need the "intuition" to solve the math problems and seeing the "simplicity" behind them is absolutely necessary. Seriously, these 2 words have become an inside joke for everyone. 


I... am rather wordless now for this module. I don't even know what I learned, so I'll just copy from the notes: Sequences, Series, Vectors, Differentiation, Integration. The lecturer likes to focus on the idea behind solving problems and not the actual techniques, plus he is the only one teaching the tutorials too, so I have no one else to consult, ugh. Lecture attendance was very very poor, I also started skipping lecture after recess week oops. His notes were horrible too, so many blank pages and he does not upload the full set of notes before the lecture. I would recommend students to just skip lectures, wait until he has finished a chapter, then watch the webcasts to copy notes in one shot. Midterms was open-book, and many people brought in last year's notes, including me, LOL. No surprise there. I screwed up my finals too, also no surprise there.

This module overall was super slack, but it was due to the lecturer. Every tutorial has only about 2-3 questions. So, if you trust your ability to self-study, you can try this module out under this lecturer. Keyword: "this lecturer". Oh yes, this module precludes all those math, applied math, QF people, so you'll only face competition from us stats majors! -gives an evil smirk-

MA3269: Mathematical Finance 1

Lecturer: Gong Zheng

I took this module because I can use it for my specialisation in finance and business statistics. My first ever level-3000 module! The cohort for this module mainly consists of math, applied math and stats majors. There are a lot of year 3 students with a minority of year 2 students.

I have conflicted feelings about this module. I love this module as the stuff we learned are practical and useful. We study the basics of cashflows, utility theory, portfolios, Capital Asset Pricing Model and options. I felt smarter after every lecture. However, the midterms and finals were super hard for me. There is a reason why this module is coded as MA and not FIN. All the math came out during the tests and I lost to those math people and all those seniors. I did so badly :( should have asked for supplementary questions to practise. Nevertheless, I do not regret taking this module.

Workload wise, there's only 1 lecture weekly, but it was in the evening at 7pm-10pm (the horrors!). There is also a 1-hour weekly tutorial which was just going through the solutions. I found those useless as the solutions will be posted up anyway, but at least the tutor was nice and tried to summarise the chapters for us every tutorial. There are also 2 assignments throughout the semester to do, we get about slightly over a week to do and hand in. Midterms and finals were hard, as mentioned previously, but copying some examples and proofs will help to answer the giveaway questions. Overall a recommended module, but will have to spend some bidding points.

GEK2003/SSA2209/PS2249: Government and Politics of Singapore

Lecturer: Bilveer Singh

Ok. I took this module because of my lack of bidding points, since I wanted to save up for next semester. I also took this because of the General Election, which was expected to happen during this semester. I think a lot of students took this module for the same reason, especially those who were voting for the first time.

I'm not really sure if this review will help, as I suspect that the focus every semester changes depending on Singapore's political situation. This semester, the focus was on GE2015 as well as the passing away of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. Our essay assignment was on Mr Lee's demise, and the finals had 1 question for GE2015 and 1 question on Mr Lee, out of a total of 3 questions. So it's pretty obvious where the focus is. Nevertheless, we still covered a lot of generic stuff during the weekly lectures, which were kinda fun, I guess. I find the lecturer ok, and sometimes he will walk around the auditorium to ask students questions, eg. how do you find the performance of (insert minister name here) or do you think (insert party here) will win their constituency.

This module is slack too in terms of workload. There are no midterms, only finals which was choose 2 out of 3 questions. There are fortnightly tutorials when we just discuss about random topics and share our ideas, no need to prepare anything. I got some ideas for my essay from the tutorials. Also, an essay assignment which was around 2500 words, choose 1 out of 2 questions. I scored decently for that essay, despite not being a politics major. The essay questions would change focus every semester I suppose. Overall, a recommended module, since it has very little writing as compared to other arts modules. A good module to clear your SS or GEM or whatever.

AY2014/15 Semester 2 Modules Review

Annnnnnd... Another semester is over. I have officially completed the first year in my uni life. This semester was definitely more interesting than last semester due to my choice of modules. So here's the review which I did up in 15 mins. Hope it isn't too shabby. Well, the language is shabby. But whatever.

CS1010S: Programming Methodology

Lecturer: Leong Wai Kay

Compulsory module for Stats majors. No previous knowledge of programming needed. The module teaches Python programming, plus, NO BELL CURVE.

The homework was done over an online platform called Coursemology. So apparently there are missions, side quests, contests, trainings. And you get exp from completing them, which allows you to level up (sounds totally like a game, yeah?) Your final level on Coursemology determines your CA component. I’m pretty sure the game-style learning was the thing that motivated me to do the homework. But it was fun to do all those questions actually. Sure, the questions were hard, some super hard. But that sense of satisfaction when you finally managed to solve them? Priceless.

There’s a weekly lecture, as well as recitation (they go through the lecture stuff again) and tutorial (go for them to get participation exp). The tutors were mostly undergraduates. Since we’re all students, I felt more comfortable talking to them. Tutorials were like gatherings instead of a lesson. It depends on who you get as your tutor though. My friend apparently got a lousy tutor who was unresponsive outside lessons.

That aside, the workload for this module is super high. I mean it, seriously. The problem with programming is that if you know the answer, you can do it in 3 minutes. But if you don’t know, you can just stare at your computer for 3 hours and still make no progress. That was apparently what most of the tutors said during the first lecture. In fact, I spend more than half my homework time just doing this module. I had no time to do other modules! So I would advise potential students to balance it out by taking other modules with lower workloads.

ST2131/MA2216: Probability

Lecturer: Ho Man Wai

Probability is no longer just about permutations and combinations and whatever you have learnt in A-levels. Apparently, there's way more stuff to learn for a module with a deceivingly simple name.

Some people claim this is the hardest module in NUS. Well, I’m not sure about that but I guess they are close. The first 3 chapters were basically topics learnt already in H2 Maths, so I kind of skipped lectures and didn’t watch the webcasts. I guessed that was a bad move as it dragged on to the later chapters too, I did not understand how to do the tutorials. So I worked harder (when I wasn’t doing programming) and I read the textbook (the textbook is good), which helped me to understand much better than the lecture. Not that the lecturer is bad, I just can’t concentrate when he’s teaching.

I was really awesome at probability in JC, my friends used to approach me to solve problems, and I solved all of them. :D But I guessed that caused me to be complacent and assume that I can just skip past the first half of this module. Sigh. So my advice, please go for all the lectures and practice doing the problems. Oh, and buy the textbook too, there are tons of exercises inside.

PC1143: Physics III

Lecturer: Kenneth Hong Chong Ming

So... I realised that doing well and getting an A for A-level Physics is of no use at all for uni physics. This module covers electricity and magnetism, a core module for physics majors. I found it really interesting that people who ask me about taking this module all have the same responses. Basically the conversation will go something like this:

Person: ‘So what major are you?’

Me: ‘Stats major’

Person: ‘Whoa! Then why did you take this module?’

Me: ‘Faculty requirement?’

Person: ‘You took the wrong module… This module damn hard!’

Me: ‘I know. Everyone says that. Stop reminding me OMG!!!’

Yeah, so I guessed I made the wrong choice? Less than 10% of the people taking this were non-Physics majors. There was a lot of integration to do. And sadly, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but integration is a piece of cake as compared to the other parts of the module. I’m referring to solving the integral, not coming up with it.

We also had lecture quizzes where I had to use those clickers (Hi clickers! We meet again!), and tutorials were once every fortnight. The tutorial questions are crazy, apparently you are supposed to spend 3-4 hours on 1 question?! Even the physics majors cannot solve them. And we had online assignments on Masteringphysics, where I relived the horror of submitting answers online, sometimes I obviously got the answer correct but apparently the system wants the answer to be presented in another form… There are also 5 lab experiments and you have to hand in a lab report after each lab session. That is actually the easiest part, since the reports just require you to be tedious and spend some time on them. I usually just dedicate 1 afternoon to them.

GEK1062: Bridging East and West: Exploring Chinese Communication

Lecturer: Guest lecturers

I totally did not waste my bidding points on this module. Don’t be fooled by the scary-sounding module name!

So basically, every week you just read the reading provided. Then you attend the lecture and listen to the experts talk. Some of them are really prominent in their field. At the end of the lecture, you write a reflection and hand it in. Those reflections make up 50% of your final grade. Every fortnight there are tutorials which are just group presentations. But the tutorials are really slack. Eg. For the first tutorial, we just had to collect info of our parents’ and grandparents’ name in English and Chinese, then present on the trends found from the group members. Easy peasy.

You have to remember your Chinese though. Some of the guest lecturers talked in Chinese. So I was kind of surprised when I saw foreigners taking the module(in the end, they got people to buddy the foreigners and be their translators). So just remember your basic Chinese from school and you are all set to take this! I actually have nothing to write about this module other than it’s slack, so so slack.

SSA1201: Singapore Society

Lecturer: Rose Liang Yee Hing

I have no idea what to write for this. Basically, I would rename this module as Sociology of Singapore. And I still have no idea what sociology is.

The most important part of this review: if you see this lecturer, do NOT take this module. I don’t even know how I survived through her lectures. I dozed off a lot of times, and I had to bring in food everytime so I had something to keep me awake. The lecturer is horrible at explaining (proof: she cannot even explain the essay question for the midterms properly. In the end, our tutor had to step in to explain) and I don’t even know how she qualifies as a lecturer.

Tutorials are once a fortnight. I noticed that FASS modules seem to have less lesson hours as compared to FoS modules. Basically, just read the readings and turn up at the tutorials for the participation mark. I felt like I learned nothing from this module anyway. Ok, maybe a little from the tutorials. Oh my gosh, I just realised I DID learn everything from the tutorials. I don’t remember the lectures at all! Anyway, I ended up writing every essay like an A-level GP essay since I didn’t understand what sociology is. Lesson learnt: check which faculty is teaching the module before taking it. Oh, and also the lecturer too. Gotta remind myself not to make the same mistake.

AY2014/15 Semester 1 Modules Review

My first module review! Modules include ST1131, MA1101R, MA1102R, EC1301, ES1541.


ST1131: Introduction to Statistics
Lecturer: Gan Fah Fatt
This module is really easy. The topics covered are mostly JC stuff with a few new chapters. Workload is seriously light, there are tutorials every week but they don't even check your work at all. Mid-term is MCQ and final consist of short questions. Helpsheets allowed.

Being a studious freshman, I diligently attended all the lectures and did the useless tutorial questions at the beginning. But soon I became lazy and realised that the textbook was sufficient enough. I stopped doing the tutorials and spaced out during lectures. The module is that easy. Just practise the past year papers and you should be fine. Learn how to calculate test statistics without your trusty graphing calculator, the calculators are allowed but no credit will be given if you just use them to get the answer.

Basically, if you did well for statistics during your JC time, then I would strongly recommend you to take this module since you can basically slack all the way. Don't be too confident and think you'll get that A though, the bell curve is super steep. I lost to the bell curve myself :(


MA1101R: Linear Algebra I
Lecturer: Victor Tan
I loved this module. It requires consistent work but the process was satisfying. I have to give credit to my lecturer, Prof Victor Tan, he makes the lectures really interesting.

Lectures had almost full attendance every time. Before you go "woah!", let me explain. We had lecture quizzes. Basically, you have to pair up with someone and share a "clicker", which is used to answer lecture quizzes posed throughout the lectures. I loved these quizzes. It gets the whole lecture theatre talking and the results will be shown immediately. I was really fortunate to have taken this module with one of my ex-classmate from JC, she was a great help.

The lecture notes for this module is the textbook, so buy it. The tutorial questions are also inside. You will also learn how to use MatLab during the lab sessions, please attend them as there will be a lab quiz at the end of the semester. Also, attendance gives you bonus marks for both the tutorials and labs :D

The beginning chapters were easy but they got progressively harder. You must put in effort to understand the concepts or you won't score well. I did fantastic for my mid-terms but I screwed up my finals, ending up with a lousy grade -.- Looks like those helpsheets weren't helpful enough.


MA1102R: Calculus
Lecturer: Wang Fei
Ouch. Up to now, I still don't understand some of the topics taught in this module. Functions, limits, differentiation, integration, differential equations.

I thought I had this in the bag. Functions was super easy, it was JC syllabus, so I thought I should do well. But limits were a killer for me. Even till now, I still do not know how to prove a limit using that epsilon-delta method. So as expected, I screwed up my mid-terms real bad. Lets just say the mean was around 35/65 and I scored below 20. -hides face-

Thankfully, I woke up and realised that I had to buck up. I practised and practised. I started scoring better for the homework assignments which I did by myself (there are 5 in total for 15%) and I did well for the lab quiz too, which uses Maple program.

What I have to say now is, practise really makes perfect. I thought I didn't do well for my finals and I kept praying to pass, but the bell curve must have been in my favour as I scored a B! So no worries, just practise and you should do well for this module. I learnt important life lessons from this module.


EC1301: Principles of Economics
Lecturer: Connie Chung Wee-Wee, Georgios Georgiou
This module is so slack. I can't believe such a module exists in university! Just a 3-hr lecture weekly and that's it!

There are online tutorials to do weekly which are MCQs, approximately 25-50qns every week, by my estimate. You need to log on to do the questions, and you have officially completed your work for the week. Lectures were just based on the textbook, so it's not necessary to attend. The attendance for every lecture was poor anyway. I attended as I did not want to watch the webcast.

I did not take H2 econs, but those who took told me that most of the topics covered were JC syllabus, so I guess that's the reason why people skip lectures. Mid-terms and finals were both MCQs, so do take this module if you need a slack module this term. But watch out for the bell curve since this is an easy module. I S/U-ed this module, must have lost out to the econs people.


ES1541: Exploring Science Communication Through Popular Science
Note: This module is only for science students admitted in AY2013/14 and after. It is compulsory for this group of students, and it is considered as a breadth module.

Attendance is compulsory for this module as there are a lot of in-class work to be done. There is a lot of groupwork for this module, but since it's new, the workload might change. What irritated me the most was that we only had around 3 days or so every time to submit our groupwork or individual work. I had to rush so many times and frankly, I hated this module.

The final part of this module requires you to write a 1800-2000 word essay based on 1 of the 5 books for the module and also give a 10-min oral presentation. I know this sounds shocking but you can always approach your tutor for help, there is also ample time given for you to finish your essay and prepare for the presentation.

Overall, I started looking forward to this module as time passed as the constant groupwork ensured that the whole class knew each other. It was the only tutorial where I had friends :)

Getting Started Out

Ok, let's settle all the basic stuff in this post:

1) I haven't blogged in ages. All my previous blogs were deleted at least a year or two ago. I hope this blogging thing does not die out on me again halfway. I will slowly re-figure out how to use blogger and make this blog better.

2) Module reviews: I actually read a lot of blogs out there when choosing my modules, so I guess it's good to help my fellow NUS mates/future juniors by commenting on my modules too. So I'll post a module review after every semester. Please stay tuned. I will not write down stuff that can be easily found on IVLE, instead I'll focus on experiences and tips.

3) Other NUS posts: Hmm... That'll depend. If my workload is light for that week and I suddenly have this urge to blog, maybe I'll make a few guides. It amazes me how some of my peers don't even know how to use IVLE properly, or realise that you can actually search for the whole list of GEM/SS modules if you explore the NUS website...

4) Comments: I'll have to figure out how that works. Basically you can comment and I'll reply, but don't expect a reply within 24 hours or something, I'm usually swamped with other stuff and will probably only check back every few weeks(?) so sorry about that :(

Yup so that's all for the first post, I guess. I'll just post a list of modules taken this semester then figure out how to customise this blog another day...