Musings from someone bored

Out of all the three math modules, this is the one I struggled the most. Unlike MA1511 or MA1512, this doesn't have calculus or difficult arithmetics, just simple addition or subtraction. However, the real difficulty comes in grasping the concept given the abstract nature of linear algebra. To do well, you need to digest these concepts and work with speed and accuracy as many of the processes are algorithmic: one wrong calculation and the whole question is gone... 

Like previous math modules, this also uses the flip classroom methodology, where students have to watch pre-recorded videos before coming to class. I tried my best to watch those, but gave up halfway due to laziness. This module is conducted in small classes for ECE students just like the previous two math modules. 

If there's a key take away: this module is very pressurised. With three graded quizzes every week, you're constantly occupied with it. :(

The first quiz is a weekly LumiNUS MCQ quiz. It felt like an IQ test that gone south. Questions are notoriously ambiguous and the options are all so similar. But given that the quiz isn't randomised,  you just need to make the right friends who is willing to share discuss the solutions. 

The second quiz is held weekly during lecture slots which focuses on current week's content. Before the quiz starts, the instructor will give a brief recap from the online videos you never have watched. When the quiz starts, no discussions are allowed, hence it's advisable to at least skim through the content before coming to class. 

Finally, we have the tutorial quiz, where application questions are given. These quizzes are so difficult that many took so long to complete it and the whole class often have to evacuate to the classroom next door to make way for the next class! Before conducting quiz, the instructor will go through tutorial questions. He will randomly select students to present their answers and if you did not do the questions, he won't be too pleased. 

The midterm was extremely difficult (for me) and I left many blanks and unsurprisingly, flung the paper. For finals, it was doable, but everyone else found it easy. Having left some questions blank, I had the expectation for a humble B at most (if I'm lucky). But somehow, I got a pretty decent grade (despite failing midterms). To do well, you need to have to grasp the concept well. Rote learning won't help as there are many proofing, True/False questions where explanations are expected. 

My main advice is constant practice and digesting the concepts fully or you are going get lost quickly. I'm guilty of neither doing tutorials nor watching the videos diligently (mind you, it's 10 min per video!) and it's probably why I struggled. 

Difficulty: 4/5

Workload: 4/5

Teaching staff: 4/5 

Overall: 3/5 (Manageable, if you put constant effort)

10% online quiz

10% Lecture quiz

10% Tutorial quiz

20% Midterm paper

50% Final paper

It's the time of the year where students start to receive offers and one common dilemma is the choice between NUS and NTU. To be honest, both universities are outstanding and you will not go wrong with either. However, I will list certain considerations if you are uncertain on which to pick! If you ask me, the tipping point for me is the S/U system NUS offers.

S/U system:

Both NUS and NTU have the S/U system but NUS's system is by far more superior to NTU's by many miles! In NTU there are several restrictions to the S/U option:

- It cannot be used for a core module 

- S/U must be declared before results release

- Only 12 AUs of credits to S/U

While in NUS... 

- It can be used in all level 1000 and certain 2000 modules (core included) 

- S/U options are exercised after the release of results 

- You have 32 MCs of S/Us and can bring up to 12 MCs over after year 1

NUS's system offers flexibility and give students more opportunities to write off bad grades, even for core modules. This is definitely an important consideration if you know you require more time to adapt to university life. NUS's safety net is stronger for freshies who may potentially struggle. Furthermore, you can bring another 12 MCs of unused S/Us to use from year 2 onwards. Some people may say NUS's system allows the manipulation of your CAP/GPA but I disagree. If you're going to fully utilise your S/U credits (ie S/U the whole of year 1) and get a First Class Honours CAP, potential employers may raise eyebrows. Another contention is if you use S/Us to artificially prop up a First Class CAP/GPA in year 1 (or whatever class), you need to continue getting As/A-s to maintain the CAP or your class classification will not be maintained in later years. 

Module registration system:

In NUS, the module registration system is called ModReg (CORS bidding has been scrapped). For every module, a "priority score" is calculated. The score is computed based on numerous factors, including the seniority of the student (year 4 have higher priority than year 1), whether the module is a core requirement for your major/minor and how you rank the module. And if there are two students with equal score, a tiebreaker will be used. In NTU, it uses the famous STARS wars system where it's based on the fastest fingers first concept. So if you are notoriously not punctual or have a slow PC/Internet connection, perhaps NTU's system may not suit you. Conversely, if you have a fast Internet connection and start bidding on the dot, you will probably get all the modules that you want. Personally, I have not tried the new ModReg system but the system is definitely fairer than STARS wars. 

Housing: 

In NTU, students are guaranteed housing for up to year 2 of their studies. NTU has been embarking on massive construction projects for the past few years and many new halls that look like condos are built. As there are many halls around, securing a housing unit in NTU will be a less of a hassle than NUS. In NUS, there are two main types of housing. The first are the Halls, which are older and very competitive to get in. The halls are reminiscent of older HDB estates. To retain your housing, you need to participate in hall CCAs or maintain some sort of "connection" with hall seniors and a lot of other rubbish requirements that will eat into a lot of your time. If you remain a "hall phantom" and not participate in any activities, be prepared to lose your room. The more popular halls may also take into account your looks. It may sound crazy but if you have a pretty/handsome face, you're more likely to gain admission into the hall exposure camps. Halls have mandatory meal plans and are not equipped with aircon. I heard it can be quite stuffy at nights due to the humidity. Another type of housing is the residential college (RCs) which are academic in nature. The fees for RCs are higher but enrolling into the programme guarantees 2 years of housing without the CCA rubbish. Some rooms are equipped with aircon and you have to take RC modules instead of GEs to fulfill your GEM requirements. The key point is, if housing is the main consideration, NTU will be a better choice. 

Facilities:

When I first came to NUS, it definitely struck me as somewhere from the 1990s. You will see chip-off tiles and bricks everywhere. There are these particular stairs linking the bus stop to Engineering which has been taken over by tree roots, ferns, and mosses. Don't be fooled by the glass facade and tall buildings NUS Marketing Department always tries to convince you with. While newer parts of NUS, like U-Town are indeed shiny, unless you stay in the RCs, you will rarely step foot there. However, to give them credit, they are trying to improve. It's common to see construction works going on around the campus. But to be honest, I find it more of a hindrance. This is probably due to the poor planning done by NUS. For example, they closed the main Engineering canteen and the only McDonald's in NUS for 2 years! A few months later, they closed the canteen used by SoC and BIZ students. The only accessible canteen left is the one at FASS. But I won't be surprised if they closed that down soon! So if all the canteens are closed, where do you eat? Do you remember the barely edible out-ration paper packet meals during NS? It's identical, except you will have to pay for it! Another thing about NUS is that it's built on top of a hill, so be prepared to climb plenty of stairs! And the layout of the buildings is odd. For example, if you're on the 2nd floor and kept walking straight without climbing any stairs, don't be surprised to suddenly find yourself on the 5th floor. In NTU, while many times larger than NUS, the main facilities are concentrated in the North and South spines of the school. This is unlike NUS where it's very spread out and travelling will require to squeeze onto the shuttle buses. NTU facilities are newer and better equipped. In NUS, it's common to find faulty power sockets or shaky seats in the LTs. Not all LTs are equipped with individual power sockets either. I heard NTU video records tutorial classes in addition to lectures while NUS only records lectures based on the lecturer's discretion.

Location:

Both schools are located in the western part of Singapore. NTU is frequently known as "Pulau NTU" because of the remoteness from civilisation. It does not have direct train access you will have to take the packed shuttle buses to Pioneer MRT station. While in NUS, Kent Ridge MRT station is at your doorstep. It's nearby Clementi MRT station by public bus as well. NUS  is more accessible as both Clementi and Kent Ridge stations are closer to city and train interchanges compared to Pioneer station. If you don't plan to stay in the hall, NUS is a more convenient choice. 

As what our future PM says: Every school is a good school. Perhaps NTU students should stop comparing which school is superior and instead focus on continuous improvement.

Cheers.

This is some random rambling cos I'm pretty bored right now.

It's not a secret that my A Level results kinda suck. I made no attempt to hide it from anyone and in fact, I find mild satisfaction in seeing the wtf faces when I told them I got straight Cs, Ds and E. Not to worry though, I was surprised too. And no, my CCA records were rubbish as well, so no special non-academic entry either.

A little background: I was from a typical "neighbourhood JC" and took the standard PCME combination (with a little twist). My JC life was as normal as it can be. I was never a star performer academically and was at best, average. When deciding between JC or poly, my parents made it very clear they wanted me in JC and hence ended up there. I have always suspected that I might have thrived better in poly and maybe even gotten a scholarship if I'm there... But it comes at a high risk of not even entering university at all. It's an open secret the university's quotas are skewed towards JC students. One of my secondary school teacher regularly reinforced that the sure path to uni is always through JC, not Poly. Oh well... 

My personal view is that the policy to restrict the number of university quotas is something that may be unpopular, but it has to be done. Imagine if everyone in Singapore is a local university graduate, it will probably lower the value of a NUS degree, since anyone and everyone can get in. It's just like any currency, where having too much will deflate its value. 

Anyways, on results day, I was rushing home from camp as BMT commanders only allowed us to book out a few hours before. I was secretly hoping to receive a "good news" call from the school to prepare to appear on stage. You see, being in a super-neighbourhood JC will mean that getting Bs and one or two As entitles you to be on stage. That's how trashy we are. That also means if you don't appear on stage, you are pretty much screwed with Cs and Ds, which turned out to be true for me 😖.

Beggars can't be choosers and my results pretty much limited me to Engineering and hence I applied for that. (I was never into those languages, FASS stuff).

Surprisingly, NTU responded relatively quickly with an offer to EEE but NUS took its own sweet time and rejected me after months of waiting. My appeal into NUS also failed. I wasn't really surprised given that I was pretty far from the cut off points.

But nevertheless, I still wanted a spot in NUS because of several pragmatic reasons:

- NUS's branding is more atas than NTU 

- NUS has a superior S/U policy

- I don't plan on staying in halls, so NUS is definitely is more conveniently located than NTU (Pulau NTU?) 

- I heard horror stories of the unpredictable crowd and bus schedules for the shuttle buses between NTU and Joo Koon train station. I can't stand crowds.

I tried my luck applying for NUS again the following year. I submitted my application in camp and it was done hastily. I was quite sure I was gonna be rejected again and hence put a token effort in the application. I left sections like personal statement/reflection/non-academic achievements blank. These were the very sections that were supposed to help rejects like me to boost our portfolio beyond academics, but I did not bother that much since I already had a place in NTU. Basically, I was just trying my luck. I gave NUS my lousy results, the $10 fee and nothing else.

As usual, I did not hear anything from NUS until April when I received a phone call from the ECE department for an interview scheduled for the following day. The interview was conducted at the ECE General Office.

When it was my turn, the two profs inside were indeed annoyed I did not take the application forms seriously. One of them randomly took out a couple of printed applications forms and placed mine side by side. Like a scene from crimewatch, they were pretty frank that they were not impressed and asked why everyone had written something for their personal statements and I did not. Not armed with any excuses, I apologised and told them that I had the impression it wasn't mandatory.

Next, I was told by them that my A-Level results suck as if I'm not aware of it. They shared their concern if I can cope with the rigour of the degree course (but the odd thing was that NTU did not share the same concern). Honestly, it felt more like an interrogation than an interview and I did not feel good inside the room. My interview lasted less than 5 min compared to others who I observed were inside for quite some time.

The only bright side to this story was that after more than two months, I finally got accepted. I was probably at the bottom of the waiting list and was lucky that others switched courses allowing me to take their place. Had I regretted choosing NUS so far? I don't think so. But I will always be grateful to NTU for accepting me initially.

Difficulty: 3/5

Teaching staff: 4/5 

Overall: 4/5

20% Quiz 1

20% Quiz 2

30% Various lab assignments

30% Lab Project