Module Review: GER1000 Quantitative Reasoning

Introduction 

This module is compulsory for all NUS undergrads, so we didn't have much choice in this. To describe it, it's statistical math that is heavily watered down. You will be learning about probabilities, rates and reliability, validity of experiments; all at the surface level. There's a lot of theory embedded as well. Getting a good tutor is important to secure a good grade. No physical lectures but replacing it were e-lectures which of course I didn't bother. Just skim through the PDF transcript and you should be fine. Tutorials were held fortnightly and I was seated with pre-allocated project partners (yes, you CANNOT choose project mates!!). During the first few tutorials, we tried our best to ignore each other's presence (introverted group) but unfortunately, we eventually needed to communicate for our group project.

IVLE quizzes

Weekly quizzes on IVLE where the best of 8 out of 10 quizzes were taken to calculate your final 20%. Kinda surprised that they were peers who were constantly not getting full marks for the quizzes despite the open nature of it. Good for the bell curve, I guess. 

Group project

The group project took a lot of time and many meetups. We were tasked to choose one existing statistical study out of five they provided. We then had to come out with a paper to critique the existing study and prepare for two presentations! But fret not, it's was an "informal" presentation. My tutor told us that she doesn’t give a f if we wore shorts and or slippers and said we could read slides from cards or the projector. She is only concerned about the content. For our final paper, everything was done last minute, and it was in a huge mess. Hours before the deadline and we were still making major changes but somehow managed to hastily glue different parts together and submit it minutes before the deadline! 

Final examination

The finals was doable but tricky. They are obviously trying to screw us up by giving ambiguous but similar sounding options to choose from, sometimes I feel, overly technical, not in the spirit of being a module for all majors... You need to read very carefully. You will have more than enough time to do the 28 MCQ questions. Sometimes when checking your answers, you may turn indecisive after re-reading the questions. It's just mental torture.. That's why many just leave the exam hall after the first hour. Just be confident with what you have done, leave and study for your other modules!!  (FYI, GER1000 is usually the very first exam in NUS exam schedule). 

Assessment:

20% IVLE quizzes

10% Tutorial participation

35% Group project

35% Final exam

My rating:

Difficulty: 2/5

Workload: 3/5

Teaching staff: 4/5 

Overall: 3/5

Expected grade: B+

Final grade: better than B+ :)