Im writing this post before release of results; I'll update it once it comes out and tbh I dont have high hopes because I honestly didn't study as hard as last semester... :'(
And for me i know quite certainly how well i fare for a module because well, you can tell once u step out of them damned examination hall lol
My timetable for this sem! It's not as bad as it looks because towards the end of the semester (like 2 weeks after recess week or smth) I had 3 free days lmao
I took
LSM2101
LSM2102
LSM2291
ACC1002X
GEH1027
Module Reviews
LSM2101
Metabolism and Regulation
This module covers the pathways of carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids and nucleotides. As you go through the content you will realise every single thing is inter linked and there is no escaping memorising key enzymes, reactions, products and reactants.
Personal thoughts:
Personally I hated this module because no matter how much I tried to study,
1. Nothing could go inside my head
2. Every time I studied the prof was already like 746127831 lectures in front of me
But of course my disdain for metabolic pathway reactions contributed to the negative outlook I had on this module. I have friends who did extremely well because they were organised and kept doing notes for the module consistently. I find that this module requires you to organise information from lecture notes consistently, if not it gets kinda messy imo.
Towards the end i got so stressed from this module I kinda gave up and im honestly not surprised if I have to retake the module :( i have never been so stressed ever and it kinda scared me to actually want to give up like a day before the exam (didn't help that the exam was 2 days after my bday lol HOLIDAY MOOD ALRD)
About the module:
— 2 CAs, 20% each (MCQS)
— Closed book final with given metabolic pathway help booklet, 60% (MCQs + 2 SAQ)
— Lectures twice a week, with Friday (??) lectures web casted but not Tuesdays
— No lab
Bell curve was really steep, which added onto my stress because WTF GUYS HOW????
First lecturer was my favourite (Carbs + ending summary)
Second lecturer (male) was not really my fav but he's a lot of ppl's fav (a.a. + nucleotides)
Last lecturer (female) was kinda bad imo (lipids)
Do go for all lectures and write down all important points, because I missed a few and the notes were kinda... bare and painful to understand. I think people will do well for this module if they appreciate metabolic pathways and can see the big picture of how something in 1 pathway affects the other.
Great for you if you have superb memory too.
Grade: C+
(Honestly rly thankful I WAS READY TO RETAKE THIS MOD I KID U NOT)
LSM2102
Molecular Biology
This module covers genome sequencing technologies, prokaryotic genomics and eukaryotic genomics. Each part is taken by 1 lecturer. This is one of my favourite core modules as I like genomic topics! I find them to flow very well and unlike 2101, it is not very complex and inter-linked with each other.
Personal thoughts:
I find this module to be lighter than 2101 in terms of content and constant studying. This module requires you to listen to the emphasis of lecturers (a bit) and also know the general flow of each mechanism taught (for the CA). Finals tested on very difficult concepts that I never thought would come out and minute details were tested too. Finals was kind of a shocker to me tbh but I walked outta the exam hall early because no matter how much I starred at the paper I know I wont know the answer lol.
About the module:
— 1 CA, 30% (MCQ + SAQ)
— Closed book finals, 70% (MCQ)
— Lectures twice a week, no web cast
— No lab
Bell curve was steep with this module too. For 2101 and 2102, the CAs were all left skewed omg.
First lecturer - prof Too
His part seemed to be quite redundant because he mainly touched VERY LIGHTLY on concepts that will be further elaborated by other lecturers... WHICH MADE ME FEEL LIKE.... why did I waste my life on his lectures... And anyone who sits with me during lectures will know im always fucking angst when he's lecturing because he loves to go through content super slowly and punctuate them with old grandmother stories in the beginning, THEN GO SUPER FAST AT THE END BECAUSE RUNNING OUTTA TIME =_=
The only important part of his lectures are the genome sequencing technologies.
Second lecturer - prof Nobert
I have a love hate relationship with him because
1. I appreciate his kinda neat kinda chronological lecture notes
2. I appreciate his lecture notes having sufficient content (not so bare that you are frantically writing down notes, not so much that you dont even know where to look)
BUT.
He speaks kinda fast and doesn't breathe when he speaks long sentences... AND HE SPEAKS KINDA SOFTLY so i cant catch wtf he's saying sometimes. It's like hes lecturing to himself
But he's good because he will reply your emails and also post the content of the email onto IVLE for everyone to view
Third lecturer - prof Ding
She's my favourite lecturer this semester because she is very systematic with her teaching and emphasises points that are truly important. One bad thing about her though are the lecture slides that she provides. It is very messy and cluttered. Also, I feel that the pace of her lecturers and content each lecture is well spaced out.
Grade: A-
(THANKFUL!!)
LSM2291
Fundamental techniques in microbiology
This module is about... microbes. Lol. You get to do experiments on skin, food, water and soil microbes. There are 2 main lecturers and 1 lab safety lecturer. The 2 main lecturers are also the main supervisors for the lab portion of this module. This is a very fun and chill module. Take it if you want to do lab work but don't want it to take up too much of your time haha
Personal thoughts:
This is one of the lighter LSM elective modules imo. Lectures were once a week (but ceased after recess week). Lab was every odd week, which made the work load very well spaced out. I loved this module a lot as lecture content and lab experiments were interesting! Definitely recommend this module if you like to know about microbes!! The lectures also had a portion on human immune system so that was interesting too.
About the module:
—2 CAs, total 70% (I forgot the breakdown, sorry!)
— Lab (odd week) + lab reports (30%)
— Lectures once a week (but stopped after recess week)
— No finals
Bell curve was steep af for this module. For the first CA I think more than half got above B/ B+?? I was damn worried but luckily I got A- (Thankful because there were quite a few questions that I didn't know how to do).
Your grade for lab reports depended heavily on your TA. But I am sure each TA has a standardised marking matrix they have to adhere to!
For my bench, I think there were people who got Bs but personally for me I got A+/A/ A- for all four of my lab reports. The trick is to not describe, but discuss and explain. Even if you don't know why your results deviated from the expected result, just give some bullshit but plausible explanation. Don't leave anything your TA asked you to specifically discuss because that will penalise you heavily (as that point is probably in the marking matrix lol).
For the final CA, it was SAQ!! + some lab components where they test your lab techniques. IT WAS SO DIFFICULT OMG I COULDNT DO A FEW QNS BECAUSE I DIDNT KNOW THEY WOULD TEST CONTENTS IN THE LECT NOTES ;__;
Grade: A
(Kinda shocked bc I honestly didn't know how to do much of the last CA. But thankful!)
ACC1002X
Financial Accounting
I thought accounting is just math but NO it is extremely concept based and if you're stupid like me prepare to die because you're fighting with MANY other students from engineering that apparently need to clear this module for their degree (think, many china students that are far superior at numbers and accounting concepts)
To me, this is the kind of subject that seems extremely easy in lecture and tutorial but the exams are like whut. Ok to be fair, the exams arent that hard at all but
1) Bell curve was really high - i got 24/30 but that was the mean/ below average?? haha idk cant remember but most got full marks for the CA!
2) I didn't know how to find the correct answer in a MULTIPLE CHOICE question??? like my calculations didnt match even one choice on the question LMAO biggest joke ever
About the module:
—1 CA, 1 final
— Lectures every week, tutorial every odd week (??)
Grade: B-
(lol to be fair i gave up studying and my friend who's in accountancy couldnt even help me b/c i was rly dumb) (I S/Ued it!!)
GEH1027
Einstein and Quantum weirdness
DO!! NOT!!! take this if you hate physics.
Ok i dont HATE physics; I like having concepts explained to me in youtube videos, and not by a professor who's voice has a dreamlike, ethereal SLEEP INDUCING quality
I guess the prof tries to make his lectures interesting but I get lost in all the random stories he would insert into explanation of the content. And when he goes back to actual teaching, I forget to listen and then I would miss out on like 10 key points in a lecture. And then I wouldn't know what to study for in lecture. His lecture slides are a total mess btw so if you love neat lecture slides and will die if they are not, dont take this module.
I also didn't find stargazing to be that amazing (all the mod reviews i read said stargazing was cool, special or whatever)??
1) The people manning the telescopes were either awkward or not friendly; I couldn't tell. I tried talking to one of them but they didn't seem to care about my interest so I gave up. I saw the moon through 1 of the telescopes tho so that was really cool
2) They just made us fill up a worksheet and we could leave without stargazing. IMO i understand it is a way to "mark attendance" but it's a pity because the true purpose of this stargazing component wasn't fulfilled.
The CAs were a mixture of concepts being laid out in an extremely abstract way and legit math/physics questions. The CA also makes you realise you should
a) attend AND listen during lecture
b) write down everything the prof says during lecture lmao
Tutorials were really helpful because the tutor summed up multiple lectures before he starts explaining tutorial questions. He is a really good explainer and if the prof doesnt want to teach this mod anymore he should be the lecturer LOL
I actually liked the tutor more than the prof (because i dont like stories/ jokes during lecture. yes im a boring student ok but i dont like being distracted during lecture!! and most lecturers follow up with a serious point after their weird jokes which make it impossible for me to catch the point he wanted to make bc i was distracted w the dumb joke zzzz)
Project: you could choose to either do a book review, story, or a video??
My group did a story it was so crap i cant. literally hundreds of pages of crap LOL
The bad thing is you need to have people of various majors in a group or they will minus your project marks lol. My groupmates were cool so I was lucky
**You find your own groupmates; they arent assigned.
About the module:
—2 CAs, stargazing, marked tutorial, project
— Lectures every week (twice a week i think)
— NO FINALSSSS (which was why i took this mod but lol knn)
Grade: B-
(fak mi, my CA i got a C grade lel)
(I typed acc1002x and geh1027 like during summer break i apologise if i messed up facts!!)
(by now you should realise these arent real mod reviews just an excuse for me to bitch and whine)
(but at least you know which parts of the mod MAY make u bitch and whine)
(ok thanks for reading bye)
jaslynnx
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