Module Review: EE2023 Signals and Systems

This module is mathematically intensive. If you're allergic to calculus, you may struggle. However contrary to what others may say, I find this module significantly easier than EE2028/PC2020 and you will definitely score if you spam practice paper. 

Instructor and lesson format

This module is divided into two parts; signals and systems and is conducted seminar style; there are no fixed tutorial or lecture slots as it is dependent on the class's pace. My instructor, Prof Lawrence Wong is very experienced in this field. If you were to read his CV, he was the former big boss of the ECE department. He always emphasizes for us to look for him if you’re struggling. He also made himself very accessible: he shares his phone number and replies to emails promptly. For those who require extra help, he conducts extra "clinics" (remedials) in evenings and weekends. The lessons are recorded and it’s extremely useful for revisions. He's one of the best Prof (in terms of teaching) I have encountered in NUS and you can’t go wrong if he teaches your class.

Module content

In the signals part, the first few lessons focuses on proofs for Fourier transform properties. Honestly, it's fine if you get lost. I personally find little use to fully grasp the proofs. A superficial understand will suffice. Afterwards, the focus is shifted on how to apply the Fourier transform properties to convert the signal from t to f domains and vice versa. To score well, it is important to master the exam formula sheet. What I did was to print out the formula sheet (not referring it from the laptop screen) and use it for all the tutorials, assignments and past year questions. Another tip is to continuously practice the replication, convolution and sampling properties in tutorials and past year papers as these are guaranteed questions that will appear in examinations. The systems part is more complicated. You can think systems as a processing box that takes in an input, transforms it and output something else. Instead of using Fourier transform, it's now Laplace transform to transform functions from t to s domain. There are many plots to master in this part. The most annoying ones are the bode diagram. There are also 1st and 2nd order systems with different types of damping and their respective responses.

Midterm and finals

Many students will struggle with this module. To be ahead of others, the key is to do well in midterms as others will stumble. The midterm weighs 25% and only focuses on signals. Practising past midterms will help a lot. You will see a "pattern" where the same few questions are repeated. For my batch, the midterm paper was easier compared to previous semesters. Despite that, the average marks were kinda low (imo) and this was an opportunity to get a head start in terms of raw marks. There is also a 15% graded assignment on the systems part. Given that it's a take home assignment, most students will get close to full marks. Like the midterms, the key to score for finals is to spam past year papers. To directly quote from the lecturer's final exam feedback: 

 It is clear that students who had spent a lot of time practicing past year papers did much better than those who did not..

Unlike midterm, answer for final papers were not given. Because my Prof runs extra lessons during weekends and evenings, many students will be queuing with past year's questions for him to go through during the examination period. If you are resourceful enough, you will know where to find the answer keys even if it's not provided. :)

 

 

Madness!!! :(

Additional remarks

The only major change we have because of COVID-19 (other than E-lessons) was the change to an E-exam. Our midterms weren’t affected. As it's impossible to fully proctor through Zoom, the exam was made open book. I think the phrase "open book" can ignite the excitement of some students, but what is important is not to fall into the trap of printing all the notes and not organising it. You will lose precious time during exam and it may come back to bite you. Or worse still, is to have the mentality that because its open book, there's no need to revise and just print out the tutorial solutions. That's the path to failure. They also made sure everyone's answers are different by randomising the questions based on our matric number.

To conclude, while this module is indeed intense, you need to consistent, continuously be on task and clear your doubts with the Profs to do well. Good luck.

My rating: Difficulty: 3/5 Workload: 2/5 Teaching staff: 5/5  Overall: 4/5

Graded components: Midterm: 25% Assignment: 15% Finals: 60%

Expected grade: B+ Final grade: better than B+