Was just looking for mods to take, and blog reviews are helpful so i shall be a good helpful NUS student to do my own blog reviews. but i'm lazy so don't expect much.
just finished my first year, pure math major, with a lot of other interests.
mods taken in Y1S1
MA1101R Linear Algebra I
one of my core mods, very easy. prof victor tan made it really fun too, with lecture quizzes, pop quizzes with sweets and chocs, as well as really funny and cute lecture slides. really makes it so easy to learn, but.. i'm a math major, its supposed to be easy ***lol***. it is, but the cohort is really big, LT26 is almost always full, quite hard to find seats. my tutor was really great too, prof chan heng huat, who explains really well. i think i did slightly less than average for my mid-terms.
difficulty (1 easiest, 5 hardest): 1
workload (1 easiest, 5 heaviest): 2
expected grade/achieved grade: A-
MA1102R Calculus
core mods, its alright. not easy easy, but not difficult. manageable i feel, with consistent work and effort. 2 lecturers, my lecturer was wang fei who is supposedly faster, but i think its good pace, doesn't waste time. tutor was some student, who is alright. i scored slightly above average for my midterms
difficulty: 2
workload: 3
expected grade/achieved grade: A
MA1100 Fundamentals concepts of Math
core mods, but.. it was quite tough. hard to follow, prof chin chee whye was... i think he'd be alright for high levels mod but for an intro math mod.. he's quite terrible. lecture slides are quite simplified and to the point, but.. it's difficult if u don't have knowledge. which a lot of us didn't. lecture attendance was terrible. he's not a very good lecturer. i know he's brilliant and all, but we're not all geniuses *lol* its interesting though, knowing the fundamentals to numbers and all. but quite difficult to understand some parts. that being said, now doing this review after taking 2101, its really necessary *lol*. workload not that much, but coz its difficult u spend quite long on it. very little work actually. also, prof chin does't believe in model answers, so ... there's completely no answers at all. only those discussed in tutorials, and if u didn't copy u dead. note: don't be deceived by the name of this mod, my lsm friend took this and died so bad *lol*
difficulty: 4
workload: 2
expected grade/achieved grade: C/B+ (really surprised. because the tutorials were really terribly hard, but the finals turned out to be just tutorial and homework questions so i probably did well for finals. midterms were difficult)
GEK1508 Einstein's universe & quantum weirdness
i hate this mod, i hate physics. i thought it'd be fun but no i don't like. i can't do physics for nuts. my physics friends said its simple, another who took h3 physics said its so damn easy. but the prof does make it interesting and he's quite funny. but.. content is terrible i can't grasp it. it makes no sense. physics is shit.
difficulty: 4
workload: 3 (due to group project. took quite a bit of time. tutorials are alternate weeks, with nothing much to do no kidding haha. attendance counts though, as do forum postings. )
expected/achieved: C/B-
ES1541 Exploring science communication through popular science
compulsory for FOS students. damn lame. its basically a combination of GP, and PW, with the essays and presentations. i'm good at presentations, so no big for me. i scored pretty well so far, even a few highest scores for presentations. group presentation was great, as i grouped with 2 other OG mates, we mostly discussed through whatsapp and ppl are amazed we actually got work done just by discussing on whatsapp *lol*. i shouldn't comment much since ppl will only take this mod because they have to *LOL* no choice. but.. its not too bad, since its about all the sciences e.g. math stats bio physics chem and you're from FOS theres bound to be at least 1 topic thats quite interesting
difficulty: 2
workload: 4
expected/achieved: A/B+ (i swear its the final personal essay that killed me. my tutor hated my topic)
mods taken in Y1S2
MA2108 Mathematical Analysis I
i didn't like it. core mod, no choice. i was quite lost for first half, but unsure if thats because its difficult or i just skipped too many lectures. ***lol***. lecturer to wing keung or something was TERRIBLE. he just puts you to sleep, worse lecturer **lol**. content wasn't very interesting to me either. i did quite badly for my midterms though.
difficulty: 4 (it got better towards the end, i actually understood. but that was just before finals *lol*)
workload: 3
expected/achieved: B/B+
MA2101 Linear Algebra I
this was known to be difficult, my seniors told me. so.. was quite afraid. turns out to be alright for me? my clique found it difficult though. i thought the prof was alright, prof zhang de qi. he tries to be funny but he's not very **lol**. his accent kills some, but i'm fine with it. he managed somewhat clear explanations. i did above average for midterms though.
difficulty: 4
workload: 3
expected/achieved: A-/B+
MA1104 Multivariable Calculus
core mod. easy. but big cohort. bell curve. slacked a bit, did below average for midterms.
difficulty: 1
workload: 3
expected/achieved: A-/B+
GEK1004FC Reason and Persuasion
interesting, somewhat. i really put in effort, participating in forums, and tutorial discussions. but.. idk sighs. i thought i did pretty well for finals though, mcq 20 questions. not difficult.
difficulty: 3
workload: 3 (readings)
expected/achieved: A-/B+
GEK1002 Intro to Japanese Studies
interesting, but mostly took it cost cheap. head its difficult, but i put in quite a lot of effort as well, participated a lot of tutorials and forum. i swear every single tutorial i was speaking. hahahah. but really content was interesting, Dr hislop's lectures were really interesting too. but be warned, lectures terribly fuelled my wanderlust to go to japan hahah. sensei tutor was quite interesting too haha.
difficulty: 2
workload: 4 (group project and readings. PEOPLE ARE BITCHES, my group mates were terrible. except annabel. hahaha. everyone else sucks, they did NOT do work. if not for this i'm sure i could have gotten an A. we got a D+ for the group project. seriously. zzzzzz. )
expected/achieved: A/B+ (read above)
pm me for info/notes. i do still keep them.
