Saturday, July 5

Module reviews

NUS module reviews
This post wont be interesting unless you are looking for tips for the following modules, wondering if you should take a module listed here etc.

Doing reviews for these modules I took the past year:

CS2010 Data Structures and Algorithms II
CS2105 Introduction to Computer Networks
CS3241 Computer Graphics
NM1101E Communications, New Media and Society
NM3216 Game Design
NM3221 Mobile Interaction Design
EL1101E The Nature of Language
CS2101 Effective Communication for Computing Professionals
CS2103 Software Engineering
SSS1207 Natural Heritage of Singapore

This is the last time I'm going to do ten at once LOL.
Shall do one every sem from now on.

Again, you can download all my semester files here.

----- 13/14 Sem 1 -----

CS2010 Data Structures and Algorithms II

Had steven halim for this one. He made it quite competitive.

We had 8 take home programming assignments with stories about his wife's pregnancy, vagina size and child. Apparently, you can find the code needed for these assignments in Steven's green book that he asks you to buy. However, some still require critical thinking.

We also have two online quizzes. You have two tries each time. I kept getting 8/10 ｡･ﾟﾟ･(>д<)･ﾟﾟ･｡ Know the basic algorithms in the lecture, and be really careful!

I did some past year papers but fucked up the final. But Steven still gave me a B+. As long as you write something in your exam paper, he will give marks even if it seems ridiculous. Bring his green book also, you might find answers in there. （￣ー￣）

CS2105 Introduction to Computer Networks
I really don't remember much content. Even though the lecturer is nice, most people drift off after awhile. （´□｀川）

I did badly for the midterms because I missed a couple of slides and half the midterms tested on that. Make sure you know all the formulas written in all slides!!
The cheatsheet isn't generous (one side only), so you might have to memorize some stuff.

There were three java programming assignments that were so terrible for me, that it made me believe I could never ever program.

I was like bottom 25% for this until the finals.
I thought I was gonna fail, so I did quite some past year papers and went for consults with my awesome TA. I tried reading the textbook but couldn't really finish. In the end got a B+. I was happy ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

CS3241 Computer Graphics

I feel quite disappointed with my performance - the bell curve for this one is really steep. Even though I did above average for midterms, still got a B in the end /ashamed （＠´＿｀＠）

We have pretty interesting programming lab assignments. You can find all the stuff I made for my labs here, though they are really crap compared to what most people do. Some people will really put in a fuckload of effort and make tanks and shit.

The lecturer is from Hong Kong, is super funny and shows interesting animations during lectures. He's also not bad at teaching. The notes are quite comprehensive.

The exams are quite mathy. Doing past year papers is very helpful.

NM1101E Communications, New Media and Society
A useless module. Dry and boring content. The textbook is sometimes quite fun to read though ^^ You can tell that the writer is very feminist... LOL.

The lectures are skippable. I keep falling asleep anyway. He never finishes the slides. So we have to watch webcasts.
During a lecture on perceptions, the professor literally printed out his facebook on the slides, walk through the entire lecture hall, and asked students for their perceptions of him. Seriously?!
I remember one lecture on orientalism though, that was good.

The prof also makes you read excerpts from a book he wrote. It has the most convoluted and terrible writing I've ever read in my entire life. The Communications department never fails to amaze me sometimes. Sentences are literally a paragraph long with no stops, and big words are used when there's absolutely no need. You read one line and forget the previous. (¬_¬)

We had to write a few essays. The teachers are very anal about citation format so make sure you look it up and make it perfect, or they minus marks.

Exam is in MCQ. Read the textbook, lecture notes and the readings that the prof forces on you. Plain and simple memory work, and you should be able to score.

NM3216 Game Design

I think this is the only decent NM module I've taken so far.

It is rich in theory, covering relevant materials like game mechanics and elements of casual games. The lecturer responds very fast to you and is very helpful.
Classes are always fun - you have mini game design sessions and you get to play people's games. (。⌒∇⌒)。

We had to write 3 reflections and I wasn't too good at those. Vague requirements.
We also had to create a board game and we went round playing people's games.
For our final project it was a computer game, using Gamemaker, a drag and drop game creator with some scripting. I did the graphics for mine. I think our mechanics really suck and it's kinda lame, but it's cute! You can download my group's game here.

What I dislike is the lack of constructive feedback. It happens only sometimes so I guess it's alright. But at times, their feedback's all like "Great work! I liked how you did this and mentioned that and blabla" but then they give you like a 7/10. (｀Θ´)

----- 13/14 Sem 2 -----

From here on out, I will include assessment weightages ♫꒰･‿･๑꒱

NM3221 Mobile Interaction Design

20 tumblr posts	20%
Written summary of observations	20%
Appery.io tutorials (5x)	20%
Mobile prototyping Advanced Challenges	10%
Group project prototype+rationale	30%

This module is the most off-topic, poorly planned module I have taken in my entire academic life, and almost makes me want to never take NM modules again.

Useless
Firstly, this module is on par with NM1101E in terms of uselessness. The module title was TERRIBLY MISLEADING. It's more like researching for children's learning rather than designing for mobile devices, which you do VERY little of. My job right now is designing mobile interfaces and has almost zero relation to what they teach you here. In fact, only in lecture 10 there is actual content on design patterns, and even the lecturer admitted herself, "This is the lecture you all probably joined the module for." Yeap.

Poorly planned

Secondly, while all NM modules I've taken were quite poorly planned and gave vague requirements, this one takes the cake. We had a 20% assignment which we got three weeks to do, but two days before it was due, she added new requirements which stunned everyone. Many questions were asked, and the lecturer only replied one day before it was due! She claimed her requirements were still the same, but whether they were, her students definitely did not think so. I heavily modified my essay and managed to get an A+ for it, while many classmates who didn't manage to grasp what the fuck she wanted scored lowly.

Crappy TA Thirdly, the module's TA was this guy who not only seemed like he didn't know what he was doing, he was also uninterested in what he was 'teaching', and he clearly didn't like teaching. During tutorials, he will just walk around to grade you. If you tell him you have problems, he will not offer to help. In fact, he will say "I'll come check later" and walk away. What's more, tutorials simply involve him projecting a web tutorial on the screen, asking us to follow it.

Confusing project
I am also not happy that we didn't do well for our project like I thought we should because our team consisted of designers. Our ideas kept being shot down because it didn't meet the lecturer's weird requirements, or were "too big". Even the TA couldn't tell what she wanted because he kept saying our ideas were fine while she shot them down.

So in the end, we had to scale down to a small boring project. Despite my A+ for the essay, this project managed to pull my grade all the way down to a B+. But I don't feel comfortable blaming the lecturer entirely, I too feel that we could have done better.

I'm not going to bother giving tips for this module. Half the module is 100% grade as long as you do it, no matter how shitty your quality of work is. Only the essay and project determines your grade.

EL1101E The Nature of Language

Class participation	20%
Group Project	20%
Midterm	30%
Final	30%

I really like this module. I learnt SO MUCH. Syntax, semantics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, Singlish etc.

The lectures are so interesting. Prof Yosuke Sato is responsive, knowledgeable, passionate, enthusiastic and funny.

The TAs are helpful. I got the best TA, Zechy, who Yosuke keeps proclaiming as his favourite. Haha! Zechy speaks so beautifully. If you see him on the TA list, try to get on his tutorial slot. Zechy teaches so well during tutorials, you can even skip the lectures.. but please DON'T haha.
He also made a blog here that has tutorial answers and past group presentations.

Tips for exams - 60%:

Closed book.

Lecture notes are the most important. Few questions will be on the textbook and readings, so read 'em if you want to do really well. I got 85/100 for the midterm, average was 70/100. I read the lecture notes, readings and textbook.
Even though the prof said he will only test understanding-based stuff, he actually tested "Who came up with XXX theory?", which to me seems like memory work.
The application/creative questions are worth 5 marks each, compared to the knowledge based 2 marks. Answering one wrong might kill you. Focus on checking those.
The IPA is a pain to memorize but actually you don't really have to, but I did it to be safe.
Syntax is apparently the hardest chapter, but the exams didn't seem to test sentence formation trees which is very tricky, so that's good. But learn to form syntax trees, to be safe.

Tips for group project paper - 20%

We had to write a 5000 word research paper on Tohono O'odham, a native american language, and compare its morphology and syntax with German and Japanese.
My group got 85/100. It was a great group:)
You really have to explain very in-depth. Like how you deduce that certain words are verbs, how some are determiners, etc. Don't forget to mention that not only the word orders are flexible, they also take on different meanings.

Tips for group presentation - 20%

So during your first tutorial you need to pick a topic to present on in one of the future tutorials. Your presentation is simply to answer the questions posed in the tutorial. My group did sociolinguistics and I think we did pretty well, even though my part was bleh because I suck at presenting :P

Singlish is the most interesting topic so maybe pick that. Spam SGAG posts or something. No actually, don't. I'm kidding.
A lot of groups finish early and go through questions too fast. Don't do that.
Put interesting graphics to capture your audience's attention.
Maybe research on some extra info to present, you could earn some brownie points.

SSS1207 Natural Heritage of Singapore

Midterm	30%
Poster	25%
Ivle discussion	5%
Final	40%

This, IIRC, is the ONLY Singapore studies module with no essay. So, v high demand, and it costs about 600+ points to bid, but is wholly worth it. I learnt so much about the wildlife in my country, the workload is light, the lectures interesting. We have one small project which takes only a few days to complete.

Tips for lectures:

The lectures are interesting, and I'd advise against skipping them. But I think if you skip them and read the textbook still you can still score OK.
The guest lectures can be skipped, imo. Not really tested in exam. But if you really care for Singapore's natural heritage you should go for them because they are informative and make you want to do something for our habitats.
Ng Ngan Kee likes to tell many stories and frequently ends late. She is a very lovable lady and you can see she's very passionate.
Amy Tan is very clear, gives just the right amount of info, shows us funny videos during lecture and often releases us early.

Tips for exams - 70%:

Open book. It is ESSENTIAL to read the textbook and know where to find info. You won't have time to flip through so many pages during the exam.
The textbook glossary is your best friend during the exam. You'll be referring to it a lot because most answers can be found in the textbook.
The tricky questions require knowing what the question setter really wants. Eg. You are a financial minister. Then you must select only the economy related answers, even though other answers look correct.
The midterms were straightforward with a nice mix of questions and many giveaways. I got 28/30, the average was 25/30. There were many poorly worded questions that confused people. If you're unclear you should raise your hand and ask during the exam.
For my final, many questions on managed and marine habitats came out, not much on pri/sec vegetation. According to the profs, they said they'll test the guest lectures with lecture notes, but I don't think they did.
To me, SSS1207 exams test the number of facts you know. Most questions were "Select the true/false statements", and these statements could come from any chapter, not just a single chapter. Which means MAD flipping of textbook. You really gotta know your shit.
They also test a lot on SG's places. You have to be knowledgeable about how many nature reserves/habitats/research centers/museums/rivers we have, what they are, facts about them, etc
Both common names and scientific names of species come up in the exam so you have to know both.
I know the textbook lists down many species but for those that are just listed as brief examples in a list, there isn't a real need to memorise them. Focus on the ones explained in the lectures.
The tutorials that give you sample questions are important to go for because they can test some repeat questions from there!

Tips for project poster - 25%:

Our project was to do a poster on 3 animals 3 plants from Singapore.
All flora and fauna must be native.
And come from ONE vegetation only.
My group went for an outing to take photos for our poster. Because our photos couldn't compare to the ones we found online, we ended up using mostly online photos. So I guess you don't really have to visit a habitat.
If you use online photos, they need to be copyright-free, or you have to write for permission and CC your profs.

CS2101 Effective Communication for Computing Professionals

Oral Presentation (peer teaching and software demo)	25%
Oral Discussion	15%
Progress Report	10%
Developer Guide	10%
Critical Reflection	25%
Class Participation and Oral Interactions	15%

A lot of people think this is a bullshit module, but I think it has made me a more confident person. We had to do so many presentations and discussions and everything was graded.

If you have Janet Chan as your lecturer, I think you are in good hands. She makes sure you participate and takes the effort to get to know every single member of the class personally.

To score well you probably need to know how to write and do public speaking. You can't really study for this. But before you do a reflection or prepare for a presentation, make sure you've read through the handouts and powerpoint slides that give pointers for them.

I thought I needed to buy formal wear but the presentation outfit required is just smart casual. So no need to buy blazers and office skirts!!

CS2103 Software Engineering

Project final submission	45%
Participation	15%
Final exam	40%

I had damith as the lecturer. He is very passionate and well prepared. So the schedule is all laid out for you. Just follow it and you should do well.

Tips for project software

The module handbook lists the software requirements, follow it religiously
You can see our program here. According to damith, we were the group that gave the most thought into our program for that semester. I think that means we met the most requirements? idk.
Read his emails and IVLE announcements as they contain important feedback.
Dont put so much pressure on yourself; lots of people rush this last minute.
Code quality is very important
They want to see design patterns/principles present
Use a singleton maybe

Tips for exam - 40%, open book

Do past year papers.
I didn't really pay attention to the lectures but got an A. Read the handouts. Don't really need the lecture notes. But you should still go for lectures because you need the participation points.
Print out your module handbook/schedule to be safe.

Labels: module reviews, modules, NUS, university

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