On AY19/20 Sem 2, SEP, internship and coronavirus

Poof and I'm done with half of my university life. As I reflect, it hits me that I'll be soon entering the workforce and will probably work for life until retirement or death. No more holidays, summer break or exchanges. It's gonna be 8-6, five days a week. :(

I was supposed to embark on overseas exchange but it was cancelled due to the virus. I was given the option to either cancel or defer to the next semester. Given that the global situation is extremely volatile, I'm not sure if I want to even go for it. But then again, it comes with a CAP freeze and an unique experience that I will not have an opportunity to embark on anymore. The economy is not doing very well and spending more than five digit on SEP will be a huge financial concern for my poor family. It's gonna be a huge decision to make. Thankfully I was able to secure an internship that pays reasonably well at a very late stage. If I didn't do that, I will have to totally forgo SEP in sem 2 and be forced to study in NUS in the next semester. 

Regarding this semester's results, I guess it was better than Sem 1 but still no where as good as year 1. Because of EE2012 in sem 1, my results are permanently scarred. My CAP dropped drastically as well. I'm still clinging onto the class of honours I am aiming but we shall see. From this sem onwards, I will exercise S/Us on anything B+ or below. After consulting with seniors who regretted not S/Uing their Bs, I guess I will not make the same mistake. Some people may say S/Uing too many Bs increases the risk of CAP fluctuations but I think it's a myth. Let's be honest, if you put in reasonable effort, you should get at least a B+, so you shouldn't worry too much about fluctuations unless you're a consistent C grader. Besides that, I have fair amounts of As and A- as well. Even if everything does go south, I am pretty confident a commendable 2nd upper is attainable. 

One bright side from COVID-19 is HBL. It allows me to sleep, wake up late and avoid the MRT crowds. It also forced examinations to be fully open book which helped a lot. Most importantly, it gave an additional 10 MCs of unrestricted S/Us! Thankfully, I didn't not have to exercise it on my EE modules. 

Those who went for SEP or internship this sem are a little unlucky as didn't get to exercise the additional concession NUS gave. To be honest, I don't miss the human interaction as much as what others say. Maybe because I'm introverted? To think about it, year 3 is basically a CAP freeze year. Internship isn't letter graded and SEP (if I go) is pass/fail as well. So I'm only left with year 4 modules. 

Let's hope for the best and stay safe! 

Cheers. 

P.s. Lemme try to sociable. Feel free to leave any comments anywhere. Will love to engage with people who (regularly?) visit my humble little abode here :)