Hey guys! So here's the reviews for the modules I took in AY12/13 Year 2 Sem 2.
LAK3203 - KOREAN FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES
Okay. So this is Korean for Academic Purposes. What it actually teaches you is how to listen to lectures and lessons in Korean. This module is basically for people going to study in Korea. If worse comes to worst, and you have to study your course in Korean, then this module will help you a lot.
I have to say, this module is killer. It has so much homework and so much preparation to do. Miss one lesson and it feels like you missed a whole month's worth of work. I am not kidding. Be prepared to spend a lot of time for it if you take this module.
On the bright side, this module is extremely informative and helpful for your Korean Language studies. My teacher said that many seniors have found the higher levels of Korean Language offered by NUS are much easier compared to this module. So I guess it's kinda like suffer for one semester and ease your way through the higher levels or skip this one and find the higher levels as challenging as they should be.
I just realised I haven't said much about this module! Anyways, the grading system for this module is similar to Korean 1-3. But the presentation part is not a skit anymore. It is more like a research project on the topic you choose with your partner. One great thing about the presentation is you get to hold cue cards during the presentation. For the skits in the lower levels, you are not allowed to look at any cue cards, you just have to memorise your part of the skit, which sucks big time because you have other exams to memorise for as well. Oh right, you have to debate in this module as well. It's a one against one debate and you get to prepare your points beforehand, but you won't know if you are against or for the topic until you enter the exam room. Bummer. So make sure you prepare as many points as you for both for and against in Korean and memorise them as much as you can. You are not allowed to hold any paper with Korean on it during the debate.
So that's it for this module. Let's go on to the next...
LSM2101 - METABOLISM AND REGULATION
Ah... This one killed me last semester. My grades dropped like crazy because I failed one module. It sucked. But I didn't fail this time, so it's all good. But I won't be going on to getting an honors degree because of this module in the end.. I just couldn't pull up my grades enough.
Anyway, this module is a lot of memory work. There are 2 CAs and 1 Finals. The CAs are kinda easy, all MCQs and you should be able to score high for them, if you memorised enough of the lecture notes. Lipids is an extremely important part. It's really hard to understand sometimes, but just memorise the whole thing. I neglected lipids because I thought it was difficult and probably not that many questions on it will come out, but I was WRONG. How stupid was I to not study lipids. Stupid!
The finals are 20MCQs and 40SAQs. They are manageable in my opinion. Much easier to answer compared to last semester's. I have to warn you that different lecturers are in charge of this module in different semesters. Make sure you get the Prof. Swarup, Prof. Ganesh and Prof. Yuan combination. They make things much easier to understand and their questions are easier to answer as well, compared to the other semester's lecturers, whom I have conveniently forgotten their names.
This is it for this one. On to the next~
LSM2103 - CELL BIOLOGY
Cell biology. Hmm... This module has 'research papers' written all over it. Especially for Prof. Thilo Hagen's parts. He makes us read thick research papers and write our own commentary on one of them. His exam questions are really easy though, if you read his research papers thoroughly and know where to look for the answers. The profs for this module are crazy. Last semester, there were only 4 IVLE quizzes for 5% of the grade. This semester, there were 8 of them. And I bet they are going to increase the number of quizzes next semester as well. And it's all for the same 5%. The good thing is, you get to google the questions, although it doesn't always work. Yes, I googled all of them. xP
Oh, did I mention that the MCQs are all True/False questions? Well, there is a technique to answering T/F questions. If there is only one possible answer for that question (eg. calculation question), and you have no idea what the answer is, like you attack the calculator and still can't get any of the options given, then just shade False for all the options. At least you get marks for all the options except one. And there is negative marking too. So remember this trick, and improvise on other questions.
SSA2215 - THE BIOPHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT OF SINGAPORE
Ahah! Singapore Studies module. My least favourite type of module. I really hate learning about Singapore. It's just boring..!
So anyway, this module teaches you what the title said it would, the biophysical environment of Singapore. It's more like a geography module than anything else, just that it focuses on the Singapore geography.
They have 4 'lab sessions', you have to attend those. There is a quiz at the end of each lab session so make sure you attend them. Each quiz is 10% of your grade, no kidding. CA is also 10%. It's not very difficult, just remember the types of rocks in Singapore and the age of those rocks, and where they can be found. Mostly rocks is tested in the CA because the other lectures on mangroves and climate haven't really started.
The final exam is 50%. The format is similar to the CA. Fill in the blanks and some MCQs. With an additional essay portion from each lecturer (this is not in the CA). You can spot questions, really. It is quite obvious what the essays would be on. Practise as much as you can on the mock papers given to you, because some of the questions are repeated in the CA and final exam. I mean seriously, they recycle some of the questions!
ST1232 - STATISTICS FOR LIFE SCIENCES
Last, but not least, statistics. The enjoyment of this module really depends on which lecturer you get. I got Prof. Teo YY. And he is just one of the most adorable lecturers I have ever met in NUS. His jokes are lame, yes, but he can entertain! I am not kidding. Statistics suddenly actually doesn't seem so bad once you've met Prof. Teo.
Prof. Teo likes to set killer CAs and easy finals. The CA is all probability stuff, calculations and all. The final exam is more on analysis and has no calculations at all. If you can score well for the CA, you are definitely one of the top students in module. Because the final exam is so easy, everyone is going to get almost the same grade for the finals. So the deciding factor of your overall grade is on the CA. Get in a lot of practice with past year papers and understand the concepts really well, is all I can tell you. The finals are really easy, like really easy. It is possible to get full marks for the final exam, really.
I can't help you much if you get the other lecturer for this module though. I just know that he has a totally different style of teaching from Prof. Teo.
And...... That's it for the module reviews! See you again soon~
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