Nus Modules Review - AY1617 SEM 1

NUS Module Review

My first semester in NUS! *dreaddds* 

Really dread studying now but no choice...

Here's what i took in AY1617 Sem 1 

LSM1105 Evolutionary Biology

ST1232 Statistic for Life Science

LSM1306 Forensic Science 

GES1002 Global EC Dimension of Singapore

GER1000 Quantitative Reasoning 

So here goes... 

LSM1105 Evolutionary Biology

A preallocated module. Talks about evolution duh and those darwin theory and all. Don't really like this module as the content gets really boring (for someone who are not interested in evolution this module is super burden) 

Two 2-hour long lecture per week. No tutorials. No webcast.

Best thing about this mod: MCQs for Midterms and Finals, OPEN BOOK TOO (but at the same time hard to score, steep bell curve) 

Worst thing about this mod: Have to read 2 chapters of textbook every week and 1 chapter is easily 40+ pages long ok!!! Quite a number of calculations and have to memo the equations (wtf) 

Okay so summary: Quite a shitty mod. When i was taking this mod it was taught by 2 angmoh professors (but i heard the next sem they changed the profs..) There's a IVLE quiz in the first 10mins of every lecture which tests on the textbook chapters you are supposed to read beforehand. It was initially closed book which made the questions really hard and I scored super badly. After loads of complains they changed it to open booked IVLE quiz. But it doesnt mean i did better lol. The amount of readings is crazy and i usually just Ctrl F to search the keywords in the question. Or you could just sit beside your friend who does the reading and just copy his/her answers... Lectures are 90% boring but there are some interesting ones too la. It really depends on how you view evolution as a whole. But one thing for sure is that after each lectures majority of the students were left confused because we have no idea what the profs are teaching. (Reading your TB will help you) Lecture slides sometimes are just pictures so take your own notes!!! The thing about the TB is that you have to buy it and it cost $80++ (?) Damn ex. But me and my friends are smart we found the online version although not the same edition but I am definitely not willing to spend so much on a TB lor. So we just make do with what we had. I really really realllyyy disliked this mod and I remembered most of my IVLE quizzes were like 2/5 or 3/5 hardly full marks or high score. I skipped quite a few lectures because I am too lazy and had to read the TB on my own to figure out whats going on. (Because no webcast sian) 

My midterms were on the 25th percentile and during finals I wasn't feeling really well.. I had eye infection on my left eye but lazy to see doctor and rescheduled all that so I went ahead with the exam. I was tearing while doing my paper man... Think people would think I am crying because of the paper but I am so not. Oh right, both midterms and finals are open book during my time but you hardly have the time to flip through the notes unless you can do very fast? I think there are about 50++ MCQ questions and 1&1/2 hour. There are calculation questions too so.. I didnt really flip through the notes because most of the questions are application based (if i rmb that correctly)

Even though i didnt do well, I am glad i at least got a B- so i can SU it. I was really scared i was gonna get C or below then i cannot su hahaha. But my friends who found this mod burden scored well (i think A/A+) so i guess as long as you work hard you will be fine! 

Grade for this Mod: B- (SU-ed) 

I wouldn't recommend this module unless you are really interested in evolution. (But then you might as well take GET Darwin and Evolution instead.)

ST1232 Statistic for Life Science 

Preallocated Module. 

Two 2-hour long lecture per week (webcasted yay)

One 1-hour tutorial per week 

Best thing about this mod: It is more of stats and using this SPSS software rather than just maths. It is quite an easy mod but the bell curve is crazy crazy steep. Cheatsheet allow in exams for you to write the formulas and all. 

Worst thing: Super steep bell curve. Lectures are quite boring and she tends to be abit long winded.

Summary: At the beginning you might find this mod difficult or daunting but as it goes on you will find it easier. The midterms and finals paper is really easy and many people scored damn well. I remember getting 23/30 (? around there) for midterms and it is not even the average. They will teach you how to use the software SPSS but the exams wont test on that. Exams test on different stats results and how you interpret the data (smth like that). There are many different types of statistical method to use for diff types of data and if you are clear on that you will do well. Some might be a bit confusing but it is manageable. There's attendance for tutorial and they allow people to crash tutorial so even if you didnt get the slot you want you can crash other classes. But sometimes because of people like this there isnt enough seats for those that are supposed to be in the class (damn annoying). Finals were super easy and i finished the exam within one hour (it was supposed to be 2 hour long). A lot of people left early. The lecturer is quite long winded so i would recommend you to just watch webcast instead of going for the lectures hahaha. Can x2 speed on webcast. 

Grade: B+

Recommend for people interested in stats. 

LSM1306 Forensic Science 

Super super super popular module!!!! I think the class has about 400 people ?!?! And the bidding omg damn crazy. But i was lucky to bid it in y1s1 when i have protection so I get it for 1 point only (lucky me yay) I heard stories about people spending 1000 over points (wtf) for this module. 

But this is a damn worth mod if you are interested in CSI and stuff. 

One 3-hour lecture per week on friday night 7pm-10pm (No webcast! No phototaking or video recording due to sensitive materials shared)

One lab exam on a Saturday 

Best thing: Super interesting module. Fun lectures + Funny lecturers. MCQ for Finals!! 

Worst thing: No practice lab before lab exam. During lab exam super rush (time constraint). No TGIF. 100 MCQ for 2hour finals. (100 mcq omg and it's just test your memory work..) 

Summary: Bid for this mod because it is a prerequisite for Minor in Forensic Science programme and i really want that minor. I took forensic electives while i was in Poly so some stuff had been covered before. There are two lecturers and they are both prosecutors (wow) and they rushed over after work on friday to teach us (thus lessons being at night). They are both very very experienced profs and entertaining as well. Lectures are almost never boring except when they make use of 2 hour showing you some video clips. Some topics that was covered was hair/firearms/blood pattern analysis, fingerprint patterns and all. Some topics are really disturbing. They show gory images and that's why they dont allow any picture/video recording in class. There are some guest lecturers from HSA and the last few topics are a diff prof again. All topics covered are very interesting. 

But one thing I really disliked and felt unfair is the lab exam! There are no practice sessions before that and on the exam day itself the timing is really packed and super rush (esp for fingerprinting). I was the second group to go into the fingerprint exam room (there were a total of 3). I think it was supposed to be 45mins for fingerprint exam but the first group dragged and delayed. By the time my second group only had like less than 30mins to do everything!!! And because of how the first group delayed, during my time the lecturers forced us to stop on the dot (they threaten to discard our papers and all if we dont submit within 30secs and all because they wanna "get back on track" but like wtheck the first group ate in our timing! so unfair). So the last group got their 45 or so mins also. I did so badly for the lab exam and it pulls my grade down T.T because of this my grade suffered and i didnt get in the minor programme. (so sad i really really wanna get in!!!!! I will try again again and again and hope they will accept me somehow) 

Grade: B+ 

Recommended!! *thumbs up* 

GES1002 Global EC Dimension of Singapore

Took this module to fulfill my GES pillar. Kinda regretted because there are many more interesting GES mods out there but i took coz my friend wanted to so... 

One 2 hour lecture per week (webcasted yay!!) 

One 2 hour tutorial per week (was it 1/2hr? hmm..) 

Best thing: Finals are open book. No Midterms but presentation instead. Profs is really nice. 

Worst thing: Wasnt a well delivered module. Information all over the place quite messy. Finals test how fast you can write lol. I think it was 6 essays choose 4 to write on?? Cant really rmb. I didnt manage to finish writting my essays and thus it cost me my A. 

Summary: I did not attend any lectures at all but watch webcast instead. I think you wont even understand anything even if you attend the lecture haaha. The way the prof deliver the lecture is very confusing. The lecture slides are damn poor interms of format and content. The content is there (not all) but the sequence is like all messed up. It seems like he just throw anything he can remember into the lecture slides without caring about the sequence. During lecture he will just talk about the stories and all then sometimes he seems like he forget what he wanna say then the initial sentence he didnt even finish then he went on to another topic???? So for the first few weeks of this mod I am just like wtffff is going on?!?!?!?!?!?!  Your saving grace would be the recommended textbook (written by the prof himself woww!). You can buy it at co-op or just borrow it at library (i borrowed it at the tampines NLB library there are quite a few copies!) The TB is very well written and it's all in sequence and after reading the TB (if you dont read the TB i think you wont understand shit) everything make sense. 

The topic itself is still quite interesting. Just that its more like historical stuff. I think i only get most of the content after term break at the later part of the semester hahaha. There's a group presentation on one of the topic (prof will allocate). It was quite easy and the info can be found in the tb and his slides. He gives quite alot of tips for finals and he seems quite lenient during presentations. Overall this prof is really really super nice and very knowledgeable just that he is quite old and he does everything himself (lectures, tutorials all taught by him only). He is quite forgetful too (because of his age) and hence the confusing lectures.

Grade: B+

Recommended if you are interested in Singapore + other countries history. 

GER1000 Quantitative Reasoning 

A compulsory module for all NUS students. Yep, ALL. Its like a stats/english module, like they are trying to teach you stats using english language (??). I didnt like this mod but no choice.. 

One 2-hour (or was it 3hr?) tutorial on even/odd weeks only. 

Best thing: Midterms and Finals are MCQs only. 

Worst thing: Super confusing exams and webcasted lectures to be watched before tutorials. Group work and shitty group mates. 

Summary: Dont really like this mod and it was quite confusing esp the exams question. I remembered staring at the paper and goes huh...? Maybe because my eng isnt very good and this mod is like test you math using english so I am all like wtf. I didn't do well for midterms/finals or essentially everything. I think i was at 25th percentile all along. (my first sem in NUS and so many 25th percentile alr wth.) There's a group poster and presentation to do and tutorials are all discussion with your group mates. Groups are determined by your tutors. I had some shitty groupmates (not all but like one or two) and they really gets on my nerve man. The project itself when divided with your group (one group 5 people) is actually quite light and easy to do. But when nobody wants to do anything and is just waiting for you... slaps them upside down I hate groupwork because of this and sometimes i wished i was the one that cared less so i dont have to do their things for them. The presentation style is quite funny because my tutor would just asked us if we want to present or he would just look through our poster and ask questions. Of course we choose the latter and i think he ask about 2-3 questions and thats it. Very short 'presentation' but of course it varies from tutor to tutor.

Grade: B 

Not recommended but no choice 

Tags: NUS module review, LSM1105, ST1232, GES1002, GER1000, LSM1306