Freshie year, Freshie Sem...!! Exciting...! We were also the pioneer batch for the SU system (even more exciting). I pretty much wasn't in the mood to study for this entire semester which explains why I actually SU-ed 4 modules.
Modules taken this semester:
1. ES1541 Exploring Science Communication Through Popular Science
Grade expected: B-/BGrade Obtained: B+
Module difficulty: 3/10 (anything that is not stats or math, is easy to me)
Tutorial/seminar style module, no lectures at all.
This module was pure torture, from the start till the end. There were just many assignments every week and as a science student who doesn't have a flair in writing... Damn, ES1541 posed as a huge pain for me. The worst part of this module for me was the readings... To be exact, I'm totally not a science SCIENCE person. So the moment when they made me to read about chemistry, physics (Stephen Hawking was good though!), biology (Oh my god the whole GM corn/food thing again...).
I chose the Biology reading on GM food for my final presentation as I used to do H2 Bio in JC.
Overall, albeit a little torturous with the mundane readings and weekly assignments, this module was bearable because I made new friends through this module and also because the entire class hated the module together too (unity brings out positive strength).
Ironically, this was the only module that I kept/ didn't SU for the semester, even though I thought that I'd have to SU this. Definitely a easy module to score.
2. MA1101R Linear Algebra I
Lecturer: Prof Victor TanGrade expected: B+
Grade Obtained: B or B- (couldn't remember) /S
Module difficulty: 6/10 (actually I don't have much recollection of how difficult the mod was.. but it definitely wasn't easy because LA is just....... I really hate vectors fyi)
Prof Victor Tan is the best math prof that anyone can ever dream of having... He was so patient, so approachable, so humorous and so darn good at teaching and explaining theorems and concepts. His slides are fantastic! We mostly used the Linear Algebra textbook for lectures (it's a must to get the textbook, but it's worth it because the textbook is really useful and well-written). I had a friend who took the module under Prof Ma Siu Lun, and said that he wasn't as good..
Take this module under VT and you definitely wouldn't regret!
I thought that I could do math well because I did well for H2 math in JC, but nah.. Uni math is just a whole new different level *winks*
Sorry but I really cannot remember much from this module... You know, the brain tend to have zero retain rate when it comes to uni math *cough*.
3. MA1102R Calculus
Lecturer: Prof Goh Say SongGrade expected: B
Grade Obtained: B or B- (couldn't remember)/S
Module difficulty: 6/10 (actually I don't have much recollection of how difficult the mod was.. but it definitely wasn't easy because Uni calculus is just disgusting..??)
Once again, I was super lucky to take this mod under Prof Goh. He's such a cute and jovial lecturer! Sooooo patient and just such a joy to hear him explain the theorems with that burning passion for math (which I still cannot comprehend after 3.5 years of being in stats) :')
There were assignments and I remembered that I really couldn't care less about them.. Furthermore, my calculus wasn't exactly very strong. Calculus in University is just very... hard to digest.
Too bad it's still a core module for you my beloved stats majors, so definitely do it during your first sem (SU it if you screw it up)!
4. ST1131 Introduction to Statistics
Lecturer: Prof Gan Fah Fatt (First half of the sem) / Wong Yean Ling (second half of the sem)Grade expected: A-
Grade Obtained: B? Couldn't remember/S
Module difficulty: 3.5/10
Prof Gan is my first favourite stats prof in NUS. He's just so damn funny to the extent that I realise that I'm attending the lectures just to laugh at his jokes. However, he only taught for the first half of the semester. The remaining half of the semester was taught by Ms Wong, who is unfortunately, a drastic difference from Prof Gan. She definitely did try to be engaging however her voice spectrum range was just so insane to the extent that it made it really difficult for students to make out what she's saying... I tried attending 2 of her lectures and gave up after that because my ears hurt whenever I go for lectures, so self-studying seem like a better option.
The content is definitely extremely easy and manageable for this module. However I didn't do well in it because the 'difficult' part came in during the 2nd half of the semester (which I actively skipped all of the lectures and tutorials). But nonetheless, definitely a easy module lahhhhhhh. You definitely can do well if you study your notes, tutorials and go for lectures and tutorials consistently. Warning, bell curve might be steep, thanks to the fellow ISE peeps.
5. GEM2901 Reporting statistics in the media
(module not offered anymore)Lecturer: Prof Chua Tin Chiu
Grade expected: A-
Grade Obtained: B (but I SU-ed it anyway)
This module is no longer offered and I believe that it's been replaced with the compulsory module - Quantitative Reasoning.
Took this module under Prof Chua. It's basically a fluffy GEM mod that talks about how statistics is being reported in media and how we should be critical of them, et cetera.
There were 2 assignments and my group actually scored A- and A for both so I really thought that I'd score really well for this module. I think I probably screwed my finals then hahaha. Don't even know how I died for this module - it'll always remain as a mystery.
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