LSM2103 - Cell Biology

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Hard

Workload: Heavy
Lecturer(s): Thilo & Sudhakar & Ee Sin

Assessment: Assignments (Diagram Drawing, Video), IVLE Quizzes, Open book Finals

A big jump from LSM1301, this module focuses heavily on much more advanced biology. There is an emphasis in the ability to interpret experimental results and form conclusions from methods like the western blot and microscope images.

As this module is taken with life science students, you would already be expected to know quite a lot of scientific jargon such as "RNA Knockout Mice", "Wild Type Mice" as well as many abbreviations such as "SHOC2", "Alexa Fluor-594", "ABCA1-GFP" and "ABCA1".

During the first lecture, it was as though I was sitting in a korean language class without knowing korean. The lecturer was spewing out the abovementioned jargon and terms ever so often and I could not understand anything at all.

Thilo is known for looking like Gru in the despicable me movie. The video assignment in particular takes up quite some time, but you may find many examples on youtube if you search "LSM2103". Thilo is looking for correctness, but he also emphasizes heavily on design. He particularly likes interesting-concept videos, so please do not use the following 2 video concepts unless you are super super good at it as they are overused by students in this module:

• Whiteboard Presentations
• Please no, do not use such video concepts such as videoscribe or powtoon. Those videos which features a virtual hand which draws and erases the whiteboard contents are simply overused by everybody!
• Hand drawn video
• These videos are a fast forward time lapse of a real person hand drawing diagrams and presentation on a sheet of paper in front of the camera. Unless you are a super good drawer, please do not use this as this concept gets really boring because it is overused too.

This module is not easy in my opinion. You have to learn interpretation skills, and this can only come with practice. Pure hardcore muggers will not do well in this module as you can never study application skills. The finals are open book, so I printed this Molecular Cell Biology Glossary for the finals, just in case you encounter some unknown terms. This is highly recommended as it was a life saver for me.

* A Hint: Especially for bioengineering students, it is highly recommended that you follow the pace of all lectures. If you do not understand a lecture, DO NOT fall behind. Rather seek to understand by reading up more. It takes a lot of effort, but it is possible. I did not take Biology in JC, yet I still managed to score fairly okay. The finals is open book 

Expected Grade: C+

Achieved Grade: B+

CS1020E - Data Structures and Algorithms I

Type: Unrestricted Elective Module

Difficulty: Normal (Subjective)

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): A/P Tan Sun Teck

Assessment: Class Participation, Labs, Practical Exam and Finals

Disclaimer, this review may be slightly skewed because I am pretty experienced in programming.

CS1020E is the second module of a 3-part series of Data structures and Algorithms.

CS1010 -> CS1020 -> CS2010

I had found CS1010E a breeze because I was in competitive programming since my secondary school days. However, this jump in difficulty between this module and CS1010E was pretty huge. Even I was taken aback. Unlike the previous module, this one emphasizes on object oriented programming (OOP). The former module was mainly on functional programming. If you found CS1010E easy and you are considering this module, note that this is a very different ballgame altogether. I'd suggest that you read up on OOP and the C++ language before making your informed decision to take this up.

This series covered the basics of C++ language, abstract data types (stacks and queues), sorting, recursion and hashing. Unlike CS1010E, this module emphasizes on efficiency. That means that you are required to not only make it work, you will also have to devote a lot of brainpower into making your algorithm efficient. Often, the most obvious solution gives minimal credit because it is not efficient.

Midterms were pretty easy to score, as it comes in the form of MCQ. Class participation was easy, everyone just took turns to present your tutorial solutions for one session, and you will be awarded the marks.

The practical labs took up the main bulk of the assessment weightage. Don't be fooled by the easy first practical. The difficulty increases exponentially. Even I struggled to complete the practical labs on time. There are a total of 4 graded practical lab sessions altogether. In between graded practical labs, the lecturer releases around 3 practice questions, of which one is graded. I'd suggest that you do ALL 3 practice questions even though it is not graded, because it will definitely help you in the next practical assessment.

Finals was a closed book examination. Seriously speaking, even a book won't save you. While studying for this examination, it is advised that you understand the whole logic behind every topic, rather than memorize everything.

* A Hint: Do your tutorials, and if you do not understand anything, make sure that you consult someone ASAP. This is because the topics build upon each other, and if you fall behind, you are practically dead. Practice a lot! Do every single lab practice questions which the lecturer releases.

Expected Grade: A-

Achieved Grade: A+

CM1501 - Organic Chemistry for Engineers

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Ms Ong Yue Ying & A/P Lai Yee Hing

Assessment: Labs, Midterms and Finals

CM1501 is a buildup of JC's H2 Chemistry. I never liked chemistry, hence that probably justified my grades for this module. About 30% of the content is familiar if you did H2 Chemistry, the remaining 70% is just a buildup on the usual O.Chemistry topics. Textbook is optional, I always believe that lecture notes are sufficient, because lecturers will never test you something they didn't teach.

Topics are as such:

1. Structure and Bonding
2. Acids and Bases
3. Functional Groups introduction
4. Alkanes
5. Stereochemistry
6. Organic Reactions in general
7. Alkyl Halides
1. Nucleophilic substitution
2. Elimination substitution
8. Alcohols, Ethers & Epoxides
9. Alkenes
10. Alkynes
11. Conjugation
12. Organohalides
13. Benzene-Aromatic Compounds
14. Carbonyls
15. Acids-Nitrile
16. Acid Nitrile
17. Acid Derivatives
18. Amines

There were 2 lab sessions, and the second is a build-up on the first lab. Basically you'll make crystals in the first lab, and then use these crystals which you've made to perform experiments in the second lab. Hence it is very very very very important to perform your first lab carefully. (I must stress it a lot). Otherwise, it will snowball over to the second lab and get marked down for it.

Read the lab manual before attending the lab sessions. This is because there are many time consuming steps in the process. Finishing on time before the lab session ends in a challenge.

As for finals, you are allowed to bring in a single piece of paper cheatsheet (double sided). This is really very helpful because I can't possibly memorize all the reaction pathways and reagents used.

* A Hint: In organic chemistry, everything is linked. You can convert one molecule to every other molecules in the world, some even with different pathways. I'd suggest drawing an overall big mindmap to visualize the entire picture.

Expected Grade: B+

Achieved Grade: B (SU used)

BN2103 - Bioengineering Design Workshop

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Easy

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Dr Alberto Corrias

Assessment: 1 Quiz and a Project

This is a rather easy and fun module to take up. It's worth 2mc's but dont neglect this module altogether. The first couple of lectures are instructional lectures which cover lab safety and equipment tool usage. Remember D&T back in secondary school? This module resembles D&T where you use equipment like bench drills, milling machines, lathes and bench saws. Solidworks (a 3-d construction software) is also covered in this module.

Around midway through the semester, your assignment will be released. You have around half a semester to complete the assignment, but I suggest you to finish this as early as possible for 2 very good reasons

1. Towards the end of the semester when the deadline is drawing close, everyone will be rushing to use the machines
2. Students doing this module tend to break the machine parts (Especially the mill or the lathe) due to inexperience). Thus its better to use the machines before it spoils.

There is an online platform to book the machines in the Design Studio. I will recommend booking the machines required as a group as this will guarantee you all exclusive usage of the lab for around 2-4 hours.

Near the end of the semester, there will be a final quiz consisting of 2 parts: a written test and a solidworks practical examination. The written test will quiz you on safety that was taught during the lectures. Some questions I received (as far as I remember) were

• What does PPE stand for?
• Name 1 PPE and 1 safety precaution which you should take when using the 
• Mill
• Bench Drill
• Lathe

This will give you an idea on what to study for because during my time, I really didn't know how to study 'Lab Safety'... For the solidworks, you will be given either a 1st or 3rd angle projection engineering drawing and you will be required to reconstruct the 3-d model of it. It is really do-able as long as you attended all solidworks tutorials and tried it out during tutorial. Every technique taught during tutorial will be sufficient for you to do the assignment (of course right?!).

Lastly, have fun for this module!

* A Hint: Use the small mill and lathe machines by the window counter instead of the larger mill and larger lathe machines across the window-side table. These are far more precise and do not slip. Also, do not skip any solidworks lectures. They are vital to your learning.

Expected Grade: A

Achieved Grade: A

BN2102 - Bioengineering Data Analysis

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Dr Alberto Corrias & Prof Loh Wei Liem

Assessment: Matlab Assignment, Class Participation and Finals

Remember the statistics taught during H2 Mathematics back in High School? Well it's time to revise those notes for the very familiar topics are back, with more! But don't worry, this time there wont be a group of rather fickle minded people who refuse to sit next to each other around a table.

This module is split into 2 parts, part 1 which is taught by Prof Loh and part 2 which is taught by Prof Alberto. Prof Loh was very passionate in his teachings and always stops every now and then to check if we understand thus far. He explains things really clearly (and sometimes quite slowly) but nevertheless, I praise his passion. Prof Alberto on the other hand, employs a very unique method of teaching. Basic concepts were conveyed through short video lectures which we were supposed to watch before lectures. Lecture time was reserved for mainly applications of the basic concepts taught. Prof Alberto was equally passionate and the occasional pop quizzes with chocolate rewards are proven to keep you awake.

When studying for this module, make sure that you understand the concepts well instead of plainly memorizing equations. This is especially important for prof Alberto's part II where his questions during finals were a little more on the tricky side. (You may take only 2s to answer a trick question if you see through it while others will take a couple of minutes trying to derive a rather complex equation).

* A Hint: Pay attention to the mini-quiz question and answers during Prof Alberto's lectures! They really help in testing your understanding, and may even come out during the final exam!

Expected Grade: A

Achieved Grade: A+

Module review for my Year 2 Semester 1 modules

Year 2 Semester 1

BN2102 (Bioengineering Data Analysis)

BN2103 (Bioengineering Design Workshop)

CM1501 (Organic Chemistry for Engineers)

CS1020E (Data Structures and Algorithms I)

LSM2103 (Cell Biology)

BN2202S - Introduction to Biotransport

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Easy

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Dr Yap Choon Hwai & Dr Kim Sang Ho

Assessment: 2 Essay questions, 2 Quizzes, 1 Project

BN2202S is different from BN2202. This module was held in Zhejiang University (ZJU) during a summer programme. It is very different from BN2202 in terms of workload and content. Just ask any of your seniors and they will say BN2202 (the module taken in NUS during a normal term) is crazily difficult. However, in BN2202S, we learned just what was important from the topic of Fluid Dynamics. This is rather controversial as you don't get to learn the entire syllabus, but I can guarantee that what was taught was sufficient to understand all the modules in Year 2 thus far. Because of this reduction in syllabus, it was really really easy to score in this. And because of the low number of students, there isnt a bell curve too :D

As for how we were tested, they comprised of 2 Essays, 2 really short Quizzes (half hour or one hour) and a project. There wasn't any scary finals like BN2202.

As for the Project, we were given an Arduino starter kit to measure the fluid flow speed in a tube. We were free to purchase any other equipment and free to use any techniques as long as they were not too expensive. Assessment was a presentation and a group report. Personally, I prefer doing a group project rather than sitting through a Finals paper. We had to work together with the Zhejiang Students for the groupwork. They were all generally very nice people, and whatever stigma we have about PRC's here in Singapore was proven wrong during the summer school experience.

During the weekends, there was no school. We pretty much spent weekends touring, singing K etc. The scenery was especially nice. And you all have local tour guides at no cost - the Zhejiang Students!

And if you're worried about the costs, I must let you know, it isn't that at all expensive. We flown there via Cathy Pacific at $550 for a round trip (all taxes included). Food and cost of living there was really really cheap, and accommodations were provided by the university. And to further offset costs, we had the option to apply for fundings. I applied for both YTP and CISC fundings which came without any household income requirement, and I received $450 in total in fundings which almost offset the entire flying cost.

One more benefit to this is that you are able to clear an additional module the next semester, which can greatly lighten your Year 4 life.

BOTTOMLINE: Go for this summerschool. You'll never regret it.

* A Hint: Try to put in effort for the essays and the overall group report. Throw in anything technical, graphs and analysis. The more you analyze, the more marks the profs are obliged to give you :P

Expected Grade: A
Achieved Grade: A+

Module review for my Year 1 Summer Break

Year 1 Summer Break

Many of us went Zhejiang University in China to take this module. Highly recommended as this module is much easier than the regular module when taken in NUS.

BN2202S (Introduction to Biotransport)

PC1432 - Physics II

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Prof Tan Meng Chwan

Assessment: Labs, Midterms and Finals

Again, this module was pretty much similar to JC H2 Physics. Just that in some topics, they dwelve a little deeper into the subject. Again, you may refer to Ms Qiu Leiju's website as she tutors both PC1431 and PC1432.

It was pretty similar to PC1431's structure as ultimately this is a continuation of that module.

Expected Grade: B+

Achieved Grade: B+

MA1506 - Mathematics II

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Prof Chew Tuan Seng

Assessment: Midterms and Finals

This module is a continuation of MA1505. This time, I got another prof which used handwritten notes and notes copied directly from the department syllabus. Im a person who gets confused easily when you bombard me with complex looking mathematical symbols and greek letters in equations. When I looked at Prof Chew Tuan Seng's notes again, it was much much simpler and again, I recommend crashing his lectures. I had a timetable clash with Prof Chew's lectures, hence sadly I wasn't able to crash his lectures. This took a bad toll on me.

This semester, I was lagging behind the lectures so much that I stopped attending lectures completely. During the 1 week recess break, I ended up having to webcast all lectures given from midterms onwards. As expected, I performed badly.

Midterms was 10 MCQ questions, and again I scored 9/10 for midterms. However, midterms has a very low weightage so these marks mean nothing to the final results.

Hence a takeaway message for this module, constant practise is very important for this module. Do not lag behind! It's very bad for your health and your cap.

Again for finals, we were allowed to bring in 1 A4 cheatsheet just like MA1505.

* A Hint: Same hints as MA1505

Expected Grade: B

Achieved Grade: C+ (SU Used)

LSM1401 - Fundamentals of Biochemistry

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Dr Kim Chu Young

Continuous Assessment: Weekly Quiz, E-practicals, CA1 and CA2

I took this module ahead of my peers, and I did not regret this decision. During this semester, the Prof that was teaching this module was Prof Kim Chu-Young. He's a korean prof, and you can see immediately that he's a super nice prof. The only drawback was that his lectures can be pretty boring and dry given his accent and lecture contents.

Lecture content was very similar to LSM1301, in fact it was a smaller subset of it.

In this module, we were made to memorize all 20 amino acids, their 3 letter and 1 letter codewords as well as their structures. I felt that was asking a little too much, but I did it anyway.

I'll talk about the modes of assessments below.

The weekly quizzes were simple. Every week he'll release a research paper or an article about a topic of interest related to biochemistry in one way or another. It's not part of the syllabus, but the prof aims to use these to let us see the applications to biochemistry. The quizzes are conducted on IVLE and require you to understand the research paper or article.

E-practicals were simply recorded powerpoint slides which "simulate" a real practical process. You watch videos of a person doing the experiment and you will be presented with collected data. Your job is to process it and come up with valid conclusions. In my opinion this was a rather cheap way of conducting practicals.

CA1 was simply a fill-in-the-blanks style and a couple of structure drawings to do. The most difficult question was the drawing of the amino acid chain. "Draw the chemical structure of the hexapeptide CANQWE at neutral PH". (10 marks, no partial marks awarded).

For CA2, he released a 57-questions problem set which are fully MCQ. Half of the questions will be from this problem set, and the other half will be questions from the topics DNA, ATP and Gene expression. He literally reduced the syllabus we had to mug for by 67%! It was because of this which I did pretty well during CA2 ^^

 * A Hint: Same hints as that of LSM1301 module review I gave above

Expected Grade: A

Achieved Grade: A

GEH1049 / GEK1900 - Public Health in Action

Type: GEM Module (Type C)

Difficulty: Easy

Workload: Light
Lecturer(s): Prof Chia Kee Seng

Continuous Assessment: Weekly Quiz, Weekly Groupwork, Assignment 1 and Assignment 2

This module is absolutely awesome! I've always recommended this module to all of my peers. Public health is just economics in healthcare. We deal a lot with effects of policy changes. Dont be mixed up with the H2 Economics during JC, this module is far more different and fun. No multiple lengthy essays to write. However, this module is pretty expensive in CORS, I purchased it for 437 G points.

Why is this module awesome? It is because you do not need to study for this module at all. No kidding. Every week, this module takes up a 3h consecutive lecture slot. During the first hour, a random speaker will be invited to give a lecture about any topics related to Public Health. At the end of the lecture, he'll give everyone a task to complete for groupwork. Afterwhich, the next 45 minutes are allocated for groupwork. You will work together with your groupmates to come up with a report to be submitted at the end of the 45 minutes. Because 45 minutes isn't a long time, usually they will limit the word count to about 500-700 words maximum. The last 1h will be q&a session where there is group participation marks awarded. (In fact for participation, they will just expect your group to ask 2 questions for the entire semester maximally, so that every group has the chance to gain participation marks).

At the end of each 3h session per week, you may consider yourself done with that topic for the week. There isn't any finals whatsoever. However, do note that there are 2 assignments in this module. Assignment 1 is a 1500 words report, and Assignment 2 is broken down into 2 questions, 1000 words each report per question.

As seen, your groupmates play a key factor in the success of this module. However, groups are assigned for you, with a fair mix between race, nationality, gender, level and faculty. I owed the success of this module to my fantastic groumates who comprised of

• a year 4  (forgot her major :/)
• a year 2 political science student
• a year 3 fass student
• a year 2 life science student
• and me! a year 1 engineering student

If you're looking for a module which you do not need to mug your head off, take this module!

 * A Hint: I found out that the lecturers love it when you quote jornals and research papers to substantiate your arguments. So try your best to include them in your reports and assignments!

Expected Grade: A

Achieved Grade: A

ES2331 - Communicating Engineering

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Easy

Workload: Normal

Continuous Assessment: Class Participation, CEP1, CEP2 and Reflection Project

This is a module where it focuses on presentations and panel discussions. One has to be pretty good up on stage to ace this module. I personally am not the kind who is comfortable with speaking on stage, hence I wasn't very pleased with this module in the beginning.

CEP1 was broken into 2 parts. First, we had to find an engineer (yes a real one) and interview him/her. Finding engineers can be quite hard if you do not have contacts. And you had to submit a voice recording and transcript of the actual interview so you cannot fake the interview. Second, with the knowledge gained through the interview and your own research, you'll be placed in a panel discussion with random classmates and a random topic which would be made known 10 minutes before the panel discussion. This is pretty tricky as in a panel discussion, you had to be impromptu. It is as if you're having a conversation with the other panelists.

* A Hint: Should you forget who to quote, even if its just your opinion, you may simply just say "My engineer mentioned XXXX in the interview previously"

CEP2 was a presentation. You had to present a product which has a certain technical component in it, in which only engineers can give that presentation (and not just by any business sales marketing department). Cue cards are frowned upon, and there is a hefty weightage in the style of delivery of this presentation. Hence a lot of practice is a must. My product happened to have a TED Talk related to it, so I ripped some pointers and ideas from them. Powerpoint styles are preferbly TED talk standards - Full Screen images per slide. You do the talking, slides should not have more than 7 words. I practised a lot a lot for this as I'm not a natural speaker. And I guess I pulled this off quite well due to my tutor's favorable comments afterwhich.

* A Hint: Find  a TED talk related to your product. It can give you ideas and hints on how to design and deliver your presentation.

Expected Grade: A-

Achieved Grade: B+

CFG1001 - HeadStart Module

Type: CS/CU Module (0MC)

Difficulty: Easy

Workload: Light

Assessment: None

This is a compulsory module preallocated to everyone. Although it is 0MCs, it will still show up in your transcript as CS (Completed Satisfactory) or CU (Completed Unsatisfactory). To pass this module, you just need to attend 3 physical lessons held at YIH. These lessons are surprisingly helpful in providing tips on how to do up your CV and attend interviews. So I must say just attend these lessons, dont fail this module or it'll be very ugly on your CV.

Expected Grade: CS

Achieved Grade: CS

Module review for my Year 1 Semester 2 modules

Year 1 Semester 2

It's the end of my 1st year in NUS, and I must admit that it wasn't an easy journey (because my brain was a little rusty from my 2 year break from studying while serving NS). I realised the importance of module reviews are to freshies (having been scouring through them myself when bidding for modules). Thus I've decided to create this blog, for you!

I'll try as best to give an in-depth review, as well as throw in everything I think you'll need at hand to aid you in scoring for the module. After all, we're on different bell-curves *sniggers

CFG1001 (HeadStart Module)

ES2331 (Communicating Engineering)

GEH1049 / GEK1900 (Public Health in Action)

LSM1401 (Fundamentals of Biochemistry)

MA1506 (Mathematics II)

PC1432 (Physics II)

PC1431 - Physics I

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Prof Tan Meng Chwan

Assessment: Labs, Midterms and Finals

This module was pretty manageable too, especially if you had taken JC H2 Physics. In my opinion, the syllabus was pretty much similar to that back in high school, with just a little extra topics. For example we learnt the same momentum and angular momentum, just that now we had an extra topic which delved deeper - Angular momentum and rotational momentum, which are pretty much similar in one way or another.

There were 2 labs in total, and the lab reports are graded. I suggest that you put in some effort for these lab reports. Try to make it look aesthetically pleasing, and throw in sources of errors and possible solutions to mitigate these errors to further beef up  your report.

Tutorial wise, I got Ms Qiu Leiju as my tutor. I would say she was a pretty awesome tutor. Her explanations were very clear and I easily understood concepts. She also provides handwritten solutions to the tutorial problems which can be found on her website here.

* A Hint: This module was really really manageable, so just keep up with the tutorial pace and understand every single concept taught and you should be fine.

Expected Grade: B+

Achieved Grade: A

MA1505 - Mathematics I

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Prof Chew Tuan Seng (He's really really good)

Assessment: Midterms and Finals

This module was pretty normal in difficulty. However it is important to attend lectures. I had Prof Chew Tuan Seng as my lecturer, and I must say he was amazing! His powerpoint slide notes were very concise, and summed up pretty much everything we needed to know for the module, with occasional highlights of certain concepts. His notes were much better than the notes by other profs and the official notes released by the department. In fact, studying with just his notes suffices!

Midterms was closed book MCQ assessment which was pretty easy. It comprises of 10 MCQ questions and I scored 9/10 for midterms. However, midterms has a very low weightage so these marks mean nothing to the final results.

This module required you to practice a lot (A LOT, as I emphasize). Simply reading lecture notes and model answers isn't going to work. That was why I did not obtain a score I was happy with. For the finals, this module allows you to bring in 1 piece of A4 cheatsheet. The catch - it has to be handwritten and not machine printed (aka everyone has to create your own). Coming up with this cheatsheet took me 1 full day to complete it, as you will have to tactically plan the amount of space you are allocating for each chapter.

* A Hint: Start with notes revision first before doing up the cheatsheet. This allows you to have a 'feel' about how much content you need on that cheatsheet. Use your cheatsheet to practice past year papers, you need to familiarize yourself with referring back to your cheatsheet.

Expected Grade: C

Achieved Grade: B (SU used)

GET1021 / ES1531 / GEK1549 - Critical Thinking and Writing

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Heavy
Lecturer(s): Ms Happy Goh

Assessment: Class Participation, Assignment 1&2 and Finals

This module has an exceptionally heavy workload, and with a hefty percentage put on class participation. Tutorials were twice a week. Almost every tutorial, we were required to read some article/readings before class, hence the heavy workload. Content of such materials will be discussed during tutorial, so if you don't do your readings, you'll not score well in the class participation portion too.

For Assignment 1, it was individual work. We were given an article and we had to do up a mindmap and a summary of the author's arguments. Note that this isn't like the A-level GP summary where we summarized the content.

For Assignment 2, we worked in groups of 3. We were given a problem statement, and we were tasked to do research, present this problem and solve this problem with a proposed solution. In my opinion, this was almost like A-levels Project Work. A word of advise, please be proactive in choosing good groupmates. I made the mistake of letting everyone form groups beforehand before I formed groups with the 'leftovers'. In the end, I had lousy groupmates who did not do much. (I ended up having to chase my groupmates for work to meet deadlines)

* A Hint: Start your assignments early. No extra advantage to clear this module, its just sheer hard work, and you're required to be good in your languages generally (which I'm not really good at)

Expected Grade: B

Achieved Grade: B+ 

EG1108 - Electrical Engineering

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Light
Lecturer(s): Prof Ben M. Chen

Assessment: Labs and Finals

This module was split up into 2 parts (1-Basic Concepts and 2-Applications) The module consisted of a lecture and a tutorial a week, and the tutorial doesn't start until week 5. It may seem like an easy module at first, however do not slack off or underestimate the module, for the later portion of part 1 can be a little hard to grasp. Part 2 on the other hand was easy. Just use formulas and you can score.

There are 2 lab sessions. Labs are individual work but they are generally quite easy to perform when you read the lab sheets before the sessions. In fact, you may also pre-fill the answers to the questions and draw in the table to avoid overshooting the time limit given. If you do so, you'll just have to stay back and finish it up, which may come at an expense to the quality of your answers. Labs are the best time to score.

• You'll need to purchase a blue "Science Practical Book" from NUS co-op to be used for both lab sessions. Ensure you have it or they'll make you walk a long distance to purchase one.

The finals did not go as bad as planned, probably it's because my year's paper was really really easy. However, some questions may be very conceptual (i.e. if you know your concepts, the answers are very straightforward, if not you'll be sent on a wild goose chase). There are only a few chapters in this module, so studying it is very easy. Practice a lot, to find out which topics you need to revise.

* A Hint: Be familiar with sine and cosine graphs, and the reasons why you can shift them by PI and they become the other graph.

Expected Grade: A

Achieved Grade: A

CS1010E - Programming Methodology

Type: Core Module

Difficulty: Easy

Workload: Light (Subjective)
Lecturer(s): Dr Henry Chia

Assessment: Assessed Labs, Class participation, Midterms and Finals

This module has a very very steep bell curve, especially nowadays where more and more people have background in programming. This course teaches you to program in C. Topics covered are the bare basics of programming, arrays, pointers and up to recursion. (It's okay if you don't know what these are as of now). As for me, I had been participating in C programming competitions since secondary school, so this module was a breeze for me. However, if you do not have prior programming background, I would suggest that you should get started today (yes, NOW!). Either consult online websites or you may contact me (refer to the sidebar on the right).

There are tutorial sessions which participation marks are awarded. Every alternate week are assessed labs and you would be given a task to solve individually within a certain time limit. These labs are open book, however the questions are usually "killers" for many. I've heard numerous people groaning as they retold the horror stories in the labs. Every other weeks would be guided labs where the lab instructors would guide you and provide assistance to whoever who requires help. The guided labs are purely optional and ungraded, but the assessed labs are graded and constitutes a fair chunk of weightage.

* A Hint: Start preparing early, and score well for the assessments which are easy to score (i.e. class participation)

For the finals, it constitutes of a couple of MCQ and open ended questions where you would have to write your own code in. Dr. Henry Chia loves to play with the weightages of the various components, and assessment papers varies in structure every year. Thus, it's just important to score for the easier components to make up for any other "killer assessments".

After all, as Dr. Chia quoted, everyone can program. It's just whether you can learn to program in 13 weeks or not.

Expected Grade: A+

Achieved Grade: A+ 

Module review for my Year 1 Semester 1 modules

Year 1 Semester 1

CS1010E (Programming Methodology)

EG1108 (Electrical Engineering)

GET1021 / ES1531 / GEK1549 (Critical Thinking and Writing)

MA1505 (Mathematics I)

PC1431 (Physics I)

LSM1301FC - General Biology

Type: Breadth Module

Difficulty: Normal

Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Prof Seow Teck Keong

Assessment: Labs, Midterms and Finals

You cannot take this module if you have taken H2 Biology back in JC. This module covered a wide range of basic biology, like biological materials (carbohydrates, proteins, etc), basic functions in cells and plants. I took biology back in secondary school up to sec 4, so there were many familiar topics. The lecturer was Professor Seow. He was very passionate when teaching, and he's very friendly and approachable. However, his voice is a little monotonous which can get a little boring after a while. My class size for this RNS Term was 12, which was amazingly small.

Labs were actually very enjoyable as we got to brew beer and make kimchi. It was very hands-on. However, the lab worksheets were graded and can be a little difficult (especially for the application questions). I suggest that you try to Google as many answers as you can. It is very possible to score for this component.

Midterms and Finals were all MCQ and conducted in a computer lab. I forgot whether midterms was open or closed book, but finals was definitely open book. In fact for the iBLOC term, we were allowed to even use Google and the internet to search for our answers (whereas those who took this module during normal term did not have the luxury of internet access during finals). Because of the small class size, there wasn't a bell curve which was good if you studied.

* A Hint: Purchase a textbook, and highlight important points. Bookmark all the chapters using the stickers which stick out of the edge (i dunno what it's called). Practice a lot, and be especially clear with the following concepts.

• Directions (5' to 3' / 3' to 5') of transcription, translation and DNA replication (watch videos)
• Names and functions of all organelles within a cell, and what processes occur within each organelle (a mindmap would help)

Expected Grade: A

Achieved Grade: A+

EG1109FC - Statics and Mechanics of Materials

Type: Core Module
Difficulty: Hard
Workload: Normal
Lecturer(s): Prof C. Quan & Dr Victor Shim
Assessment: Class Participation, Midterms and Finals

It seems like they are not offering this module as an iBLOC module any more. However, it is very very similar in content to the normal EG1109 module.

This module is split into 2 parts (1-Statics and 2-Mechanics). In my opinion, the concepts in part 1 were very easy to grasp. The entire part 1 only uses 3 simple concepts:

• Moments = Force * Perpendicular Distance
• At equilibrium, net force = 0
• At equilibrium, net moment = 0

See, it is that simple and it's taught in JC physics. However, the lecturers usually set very tricky diagrams to dissect during tests and examinations. Hence, it's important to practice a lot.

* A hint: Please be comfortable when dealing with 3-d diagrams (x, y, z components). Although all tutorials in part 1 seems to focus mainly on 2-d diagrams, it may not be the case for the test.

Part 2 was mechanics of materials. The difficulty of this part is rather subjective, with some saying it is hard. Personally, I found part 2 easy. You just have to make sure you memorise every formula you see in your notes, and know what each term in the formula stands for. You also have to be strong in your integration (especially for non-uniform variables like the shape)

Midterms was 1 statics and 1 mechanics question. I flunked the statics question because it was 3-d which I was not prepared for it. The mechanics question on the other hand was straight out of the tutorial question. Finals wasn't very easy.

Expected Grade: B

Achieved Grade: B+

Module review for my RNS Term modules

RNS Term (iBLOC)

This term is something like a "Special Term", just that we have more time (not as rushed as NUS Special Term period). However, this is only applicable to people who are serving national service and already have a reserved place in NUS. (Sorry girls) The price was about $700+ per module you take up, which can be quite pricy. However, you have an option to pay using your PSEA account, which SAF had topped up a generous amount. I highly recommend taking up this term, as it gives you a headstart, and it's a good transition opportunity to clear the rust in your brain.

On top of that, the modules which you take during this term are included in your free 20MC worth of S/U Grade-Free semester. So, if you didn't do so well, you can just simply S/U the module. (Note that you need a grade C and above to consider the module as "Satisfactory"). If you did very very very badly, there's also an option for NUS to drop the module. (You'll just have to retake the module again during the semester) With all these safety catches in place, the only factor left to consider is just whether you're willing to give up a small portion of your holiday for it.

EG1109FC (Statics and Mechanics of Materials)

LSM1301FC (General Biology)