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!
