Nicole Bernadette

Even though my results aren't exactly up to my usual standards (especially since I did well in polytechnic), I felt fine. And this is a huge sign of my growth because throughout the semester, I was devastated whenever I didn't meet my own expectations. I'm hoping to continue into my new course with this mindset - to be content with the result since I've already done my best. 

Here's a video of me talking about what I learned in terms of my tips & modules. 

And here's a more in-depth review of each of my modules: 

The duration of this module is half a semester and it's a Pass/Fail module. You just need to watch all the videos provided on LumiNUS, prepare your profile on NUS TalentConnect, and submit a resume and get ~90 points on VMock. You can complete this module in a day so I would consider this module extremely manageable and not a cause for concern at all. 

Grading (Pass/Fail)

- Weekly readings & quests (e.g. submitting Q&A questions for special guest speakers)

- Class presentation (news article on gaming)

- Field trip to a game convention during recess week 

- Final: Create a card/board game

I thoroughly enjoyed this module! It's a great module to take if you're staying in the College of Alice & Peter Tan (CAPT). I learned about game design, game mechanics, MDA framework, game addiction, e-sports, game subcultures, gamification, etc. 

The platform that we used to fulfill the weekly quests is Coursemology. With gamification being a part of the curriculum, it was nice that we got to use a website that directly applied what we learned in the module. One of the quests was to do a presentation on a piece of game-related news. Another quest was to write an essay (in a blog post style) on a game that we got to try out in class.

We also got to interact with a few guest speakers like female gamers, game designers, and psychology researchers/professors. 

For the field trip during recess week, we could have gone to a game convention but due to covid, we went to PAX Online instead. 

- E-Class Quiz (11%)

- E-Labs/e-Tutorials/Fieldtrips (69%)

- Final: E-Test (20%)

I found this module really challenging at the start. Right from the get-go, we were given a quiz for the professor to access our biology knowledge - but it was also a chance for us to access what we would be learning for the module. I was stunned by the questions, there were so many terms that were foreign to me. I stopped learning sciences after O-Levels so it took a while for me to remember the topics but after studying consistently throughout the semester, I managed to revise and learn new information. 

The lectures were rather difficult to follow in the beginning though, especially since they were very detailed - it was hard to understand how the different subjects linked to one another. But a website that really helped me was CK-12. It was an excellent tool that helped me understand the big picture of a lot of the topics.

One thing that I really liked about the module was that we didn't have to memorize the content - that's not the intent for the module. We had to learn how to apply our knowledge to solve the questions in the quizzes. Another thing that I liked was that it was very hands-on. The experiments that we had to conduct on our own could be cumbersome but it was still very easy to score well for this component. We also needed to visit the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum in NUS to complete one of our weekly tutorials, I really enjoyed that experience~

- Participation (10%): Class participation (5%), E-learning (Recorded) attendance (5%)

- Mid-term test (25%)

- Final-test (25%)

- Two vocabulary quizzes (10%)

- Two oral tests (15%)

- Two writing assignments (15%)

The bell curve for this module is insane. But besides that known fact, I personally felt that it was a rather time-consuming module. Every lecture is 2 hours and we have them twice a week. You also need to factor in the time taken to memorize vocabulary and study. It's not difficult, but it does take a lot of time so I would recommend this module if your other modules are not very laborious. 

I compiled some notes just to give you an idea of the topics and amount of words we need to memorize.

This module is very manageable before mid-terms but the pace is almost doubled right after mid-terms. It became a lot heavier and tedious to study for. I suspect that I got a B because I did not do well for my finals despite doing well for my mid-terms and decent for my other assignments/tests. So if you intend to secure an A for this module, there is a very tiny margin for error. 

- Four Practice Quizzes (LumiNUS Quizzes) each worth 3% 

- Two Assignments (LumiNUS Quizzes) each worth 6% 

- One Mid-term test (26%)

- Final Exam (50%)

I've never been very strong in math so this module was no different. The four topics that I learned were: 

1. Arithmetic & Geometric Sequences - formula sheets really saved me
2. Differentiation and its applications
3. Integration and its applications
4. Vectors 

I had to redo the tutorials several times throughout the semester to keep the knowledge fresh in my mind since it was a really long time since I touched math. I felt like it was a really decent module in terms of difficulty and workload but there was very little guidance since everything was online.  

You can see how much I struggled in this module in my vlogs throughout the semester. This was a really tough module for me. But others have told me that they found this module fun - to each their own~ I did not take CS1010 or its equivalent modules in NUS because I was exempted - that was my first mistake in uni. I think CS1010 offers a very good foundation for other modules that have it as a prerequisite. I think polytechnic prepared me well for the working world, but not so much for NUS which is very academic. If you happen to be exempted from CS1010, I would highly recommend looking through the materials and seeing if your Programming Methodology foundation is strong enough otherwise you may struggle in this module and others. 

The projects were quite tedious and require a lot of logical thinking and planning. The practical exams were a huge nightmare. I would leave the lab feeling so dejected and defeated. The instructions for the labs would be really unclear too and you'd have to figure out the nuances through examining the expected output of the test cases. The platform we used to upload our codes is CodeCrunch. This module is one that separates those who are naturally gifted in coding from those who are not - and I struggled quite a bit to accept that I fall in the category of people who was not gifted in logical thinking like many of my peers. But I'm thankful for this realisation because without it, I wouldn't have found out where my true passion and strength lies (UI/UX design, creating apps/websites).

That's all for this post, take care and God Bless❤️☺️🙏🏻