Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Y2S2

(wow i wrote this like one sem ago but i have not published it lololol)

I took 6 modules this semester:
LSM2103
LSM2191
GEH1049
GET1039
GES1016
FMS1212P



Even though I overloaded, it was manageable... but towards the end where submissions were all around the same week... I almost thought I couldn't do it wtf!! Imagine having 3 essays due all the same week. And you have a lab report due. And a presentation on something you have no idea about.

LSM2103
Cell Biology

About the module:
- Lectures twice a week
- No tutorials
- Many assignments (video, paper discussion, poster design, question design)
- Yes finals (open book)

Lectures were by 2 main lecturers, Prof Thilo and Prof Yeong. Prof Thilo loves teaching concepts by using research papers. Prof Yeong follows the more traditional, chronological order lectures that we are probably used to haha. I liked both methods, and they do attempt to keep lectures interesting by showing us videos etc, which I appreciate (as opposed to the lecturers cracking jokes every second).

Content wise, i would say it wasnt heavy because all you had to do were to understand concepts and apply them in the questions asked. So if you live your academic life by memorising everything... maybe it wont help as much in this module? I just remember frantically speed reading all lecture notes the day before ;__; and printing notes on the day of the exam (open book, but I didn't use the notes a lot tbh).

About the various assignments:

a) Video assignment (prof thilo): explain a concept via a 3 minute video. Video graded on how the common layperson understands the concept explained. Prof thilo actually emailed me!!!!!! And I got the highest mark in the module for this assignment WTF ;__; bittersweet b/c it was brandon who helped me with the video and i kept scolding him bc i was so stressed but he will never help me anymore so i guess its for the best
b) Research paper discussion (prof thilo): 2 discussions were held i think.
Basically you team up with 1 other person (you choose), register your teams and then prof thilo would merge 3 teams into 1 discussion group.
You read a research paper before hand and come to lecture to ask other teams questions/ answer questions/ evaluate other people's responses.

c) Poster design (prof yeong): Our task was to design a poster explaining how ER stress could lead to diabetes. The content on the poster should be easy to understand for the layperson, and this wasnt the biggest challenge imo; it is that all the images in the poster had to be original to get maximum marks!!!!! I SUCK AT DRAWING and wtf i gave up and decided to use a few stock images from google zzz
My poster didn't get good marks though, I think I got 6/10? 

c) Designing MCQs (prof yeong): Make 2 questions on the lecture content and answer 20 questions made by your peers. Pretty easy I think.

d) Perusall research paper discussion (prof yeong): similar to prof thilo's paper discussion, but this time it is not a "live" discussion with your peers. You use this platform called perusall and you can highlight the content in the paper and add your own comments/ ask questions etc.

e) Mock CA: Not graded at all lol but its good to practice/ review the answers put out by the professors for finals

Finals: LSM2103 has a reputation for setting really hard questions for finals, but imo, if you understood all the lectures and the concepts behind western blot band widths, I think you wouldn't find it immensely challenging? Many people were whining after the paper but to me it was actually do-able HMMM

Grade obtained: A-
(I got a shock!!!! I always expect a B+ for all my mods lel so I get happy when expectations are exceeded. I think I got a good grade because of my video assignment? but still yey)


LSM2191
Laboratory techniques for life sciences

About the module:
- Lectures once a week
- No tutorials, but weekly lab sessions
- 2 main lab reports to do (4 expt = 1 lab report)
- 2 CAs
- NO finals!!

I love modules with no finals lol

ok anyways for this module, lectures were important for helping me understand concepts applied in the experiments. Lectures were also, obviously, important for scoring well in the 2 CAs lel. I had 2 lecturers for this mod, prof Nobert and prof Chung.
As like LSM2102, Prof Nobert's lecture notes were systematic (because he bases them off a textbook lol), and his lectures were quite fast paced because of the way he speaks. Prof Chung's lecture notes weren't bad too, and his lectures were okay. BUT HE COULDNT FIGURE OUT THE MIC SETTINGS, SO I COULDNT HEAR A SINGLE SHIT FOR HALF HIS LECTURES.... ;__;

For lab, you should pray everyday that you get a good TA hahaha. THANK GOODNESS my TA was awesome and explained everything we needed to know to do the lab reports!!!! He was also responsive to emails, which really helps when you have a question while doing the lab report lol. Mabel's #1 tip for me pertaining to this module is to start your lab reports early. After every experiment, just collate the information gathered during that session and start writing your introduction/ results section. Trust me you will not suffer lol Mabel didnt sleep at all writing the report before her deadline and I saw how stressed she was (ryan was more stressed through hahah)

Blast honestly isn't that hard to do... Like everyone whines that omg its so hard wtf is this blah blah blah but if you would just spend half a day fiddling with the software you will get it!!! At first I was so overwhelmed but i spent an entire day figuring shit out and it is honestly SO SATISFYING to finally get it. 

TBH 2191 was my favourite module because.. I love writing lab reports lol wtf
I get "flow" when I do lab reports hahah but of course it is different for everyone!

CAs:
a) Prof nobert's CA is open universe with unlimited attempts I think? Good time to collab with your friends and discuss! Helping each other > doing it alone
b) Prof chung's CA was the traditional sit-in-MPSH-and-do kinda CA. Closed book. Quite hard????

Grade obtained: A-
(I think if only I did better for the second CA, I would have gotten A!! But its ok im satisfied haha)

GEH1049
Public health in action

About the module:
- 1h lecture + 1h group assignment + 1h evaluation (weekly)
- 3 individual essay assignments
- No finals, no CA

Lectures: Before the start of every lecture, at 10am on the dot (even if it rains, they still start at 10am lol) will be a short lecture quiz pertaining to the readings released on IVLE beforehand. The first few weeks I was like whut. where are the readings. so I googled DURING the quizzes lol bless me
Lecturers were different every week, so that kinda sucks when a lecturer is great, you'll be sad because he'll only teach us for a week lol. But they do that so each lecturer lectures on something they are specialised in, which is great!!
The last lecturer that did the topic on cigarettes sucked though zzz.

Group assignments: Groups are determined by the course coordinator, and you should get a mixture of people from different majors in a group! I was lucky to have cooperative and awesome groupmates that came to lecture every week (i've heard of people from other groups not showing up for the entirety of the module's group work lol)
Basically after lecture, everyone will be given questions to work on, which usually take on the form of case study/ policy planning questions, to be completed in 50 minutes. Then we will have to submit it on turnitin and return back to lecture.
I'd say it's pretty stressful to complete so much discussing/ typing in less than an hour!!! But the great thing about this mod is you'll just need to be stressed for an hour every week and then you're free lol

Evaluation: Here is where the lecturers try to get everyone to speak up and showcase whatever we've talked/ thought about the past hour. Participation marks are awarded to groups that speak up, but they will call on people who haven't contributed to anything yet lol

Individual essay assignments: 1 essay as 'mid term CA', 2 essays as 'finals' lol
I did one mark above average for the first essay, and idk my marks for the final two. But I think I should have done quite well, because of my final grade hehe
The essays mainly revolve around the Bronfenbrenner's ecological framework! It is important to understand this framework and apply it to answer the question/ structure your answer.

Grade obtained: A+
(unexpected! i was honestly rly stressed formulating how to approach the final 2 essay questions. I attended the lecture session where questions about the essay were made open and we could ask the markers what they are expecting from us. I guess that kinda helped? )

GET1039
What, where, when is art

Took this module because prof greg did a very comprehensive module outline, which made me want to challenge my learning in NUS LOL. Basically the module is seminar style, 1h twice weekly. We learnt about the different viewpoints of how people perceive and categorise art.

https://blog.nus.edu.sg/whatisart/

^ does a better job at me summarising what we learnt, so i'll just give you my personal exp and thoughts!!

Initially, I took this module because it had no final examinations. I was intrigued by the content that was going to be taught in the module, but I think we didnt finish whatever prof greg initially planned out, because discussions in class were always lengthy and an hour per session just wasn't enough. I guess the nature of the content we learnt were all pretty confusing to us (think, aristotle and goodman lol) and hence everyone had questions and the prof rly addressed each one thoroughly

Prof greg is one of those rare professors in NUS that seem to genuinely love what he's teaching!! :') I hope his family is okay, and that he can continue teaching this module.

The art review and art theory essays were quite difficult for me tbh, because I was still pretty lost about how to formulate content taught into my own thoughts, and structure them such that it was my personal art theory. 

Overall, this is for sure going to be one of my favourite modules that I've taken in NUS :')

Grade obtained: A-
I guess i didnt do the art theory writing well LOL honestly the way I wrote it was too simplistic and didnt bring out the complexities of whatever we have learnt in the semester. I would like to take another mod by Prof Greg but i dont think he teaches any other mod that is non music/ non utown lol

GES1016
Contemporary social issues in Singapore

About the module:
- Lectures weekly
- Tutorials once every 2 weeks (either odd or even, depends on tutorial balloting results)
- No webcast (fml)
- 1 Group project
- 1 Individual reflection
- YES finals

ok the only reason why I took this module is because i assumed it was a sociology module, but its a social work mod lol. So my bad, and this is partially why I did so badly for this mod lol

This entire module is essentially a current affairs module, but with a social work perspective. And tbh I always thought social work was like just helping people (yes im ignorant), but it's more than that! It's analysis of the problems in society and putting yourself in the perspectives of multiple people. That being said, I didnt quite grasp what my tutor and lecturer were looking for in this module. I feel that the expectations for this module in terms of what to know, and what to write in finals wasn't clear. My final essay ended up being a round-a-bout mess.

Having said that... There was group project involved in this mod, and I was lucky to have social work group mates! Although that became more of a bane than boon because the tutor seemed to expect way higher of our presentation wtf and tbh i felt she was kinda unfair because she cut us off, when she didnt for other groups that were also over time :/ So... I think we didnt do so well for our group project haha
But doing fieldwork research by talking to various people like the older folks living in the neighbourhood, and also people in senior day care centres were an eye opener. I actually felt quite sad after the end of all the interviewing because there are so many people our there who really just BARELY get by, even with all the "govt subsidies". This lady I spoke to who lived in a rented one room flat said she is unable to get additional financial subsidies because her son earns $1.6k. I dont know how true that is, or if she has spoken to a social worker who can help... But i really sympathise with her and realise because of how GOOD policy sounds when ministers or the newspaper reports it, we dont stop to think if the people in our soc who truly need such help are really getting it (accessibility and information gap).

Ok im rambling way too far haha

But yes take this mod if youre curious about the way a social worker thinks, and if you like to analyse current issues!

Grade: B

FMS1212P
SYC: Simple Yet Complex

CS/CU module
Project work presentation
Book/ chapter review

Fuck me. When people said FMS is easy.. IM LIKE WHAT ARE U TALKING ABOUT. Literally the entire time I was in class taking this mod question marks were running through my head. This module is about chaos theory and every seminar the prof would show a video explaining chaos theory. The videos were really good, but maybe I'm too dumb LMAO because i was (and still am) confused. Well obviously I got a few parts but overall??? I was just super thankful that its a CSCU module lol.

I took FMS because I wanted to clear the irritating faculty requirement thing science students need to clear. And yes in case you're wondering... If you're not Y1, you can still bid for FMS! Although it's only open in round3. TBH the mods available in R3 are all the odd physics/ math mods that are not in demand. I think 80% of my classmates were from Y2 and above, and there were only a handful of Y1s? So the class dynamic was pretty imbalanced imo.

The prof was rly nice, and he really tried his best to simplify/ explain the concepts LOL so good effort on his part.

Project work... ok so you pick a topic by raising ur hand asap and yelling the topic u wanna do (lol)
My project was on cancer. If you're interested to view my presentation slides here is the google ppt link!

Overall.. I think it's an enjoyable mod with regards to the people and the prof. I'm just glad I got the chance to learn something new totally outside my major! I've always wanted to know more about chaos theory (and not just the media hyped version) and I guess this mod was great in supplementing more technical information.

Grade obtained: CS


OK DONE!! BYE!! Hope this helped lol every sem i try to write something concise but veer way off

Monday, June 5, 2017

Y2S1 Module Reviews

I took five modules this semester; don't think i will ever over load tbh because.... I am dying with just five mods hahha YEA IM WEAK OK
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
















Saturday, December 10, 2016

Y2S1 Year Review

HELLOO
It's the December holidays and I have been doing nothing except working, watching ZHZ and doing other things like shopping (I finished buying all the clothes I need for next year, I only need to get a pair of good jeans from Topshop!!) and kinda going out with friends but not really.


During SOW 2016 hahahah
Backstory: I'm the Wet Games IC and during camps there will be secret missions OGs/ Houses can do to gain extra in camp credits. So idk who told Lexus to pour water on me and scream JASLYN U MAKE ME WET
Now I was fine with him pouring water on me but when he started screaming my first reaction was just OMFG STFU!!! So I slapped him =__= SOFTLY. It wasn't hard or anything lol
Anyway, SOW isn't rabak at all (apart from me) so yes freshies pls join SOW 2017


Jon brought us to the trampoline park!! And we ate mookata after. I miss him and mel!!! :(


NDP 2016
My dad had tickets for the preview! I think it's as good as the actual HAHA except you get to see fake PM Lee and fake President waving
I was really impressed with this year's NDP! The performances were NOT LAME AT ALL and they actually used a real thing (the Singapore rock) to write a cohesive story to blend all the performances together. Seriously really super impressed, and was in awe most of the time! Kudos to all the performers too because wtf to run on that big ass stage is tiring af hahaha


Ikea with Jerrold
Very blessed to still have this lovely in my life!! I love you and I hope our friendship is 4EVA (Even tho youre leaving my ass in SG while you frolic in Aussie :( )


I miss Charmaine too
I miss the days when she would say omg I slap u to ANYONE AND EVERYONE
All of her speech mannerisms are super funny and I realised I ended up speaking a lot like her
This is during Subcommittee Appreciation party 2016
I won 3 free movie tickets that i have yet to use wtf.


With lovely mabel!! But now she got Ryan dowan me alrd


With mel and Jon at Sin Lee cafe!
Damn embarrassing omg
I thought the waiter was Jon and I wanted to pass Jon the menu and i said very very loudly and rudely to him OI. The waiter was obviously shocked and when I realised I was OI-ing the waiter I got a shock too and said SORRY OMG
So yes I think they gonna ban me from that place soon lol


We went to watch a movie, although now I really cannot remember what movie haha
We ate at Jamie's Italian
Price of food was kinda expensive for ok-ish pasta


Outdoor spaces @ utown are my fave place to study!!
I used to study at science lib all the time but recently I really appreciate the outdoor spaces as its really windy and also equipped with fans
I also feel less grossed by germs in an outdoor area than air conditioning lol


Outing with RENA, MICH & MABS
All of my friends are good looking yo


So pretty hehe


WICKED with Jessica!
THE MUSICAL WAS SO FUCKING GOOD.
Although the second part kinda lost steam a bit at the beginning, I would say it ended with a blast!
The actors and singers were all wonderful, and I honestly really appreciated the very fast stage prop and lighting changes.
After watching WICKED... I kinda had a hard time watching RHMP haha
because in 99% of the main lead's scenes for RHMP.... she was fucking crying and I got tired of her crying very soon

WICKED WAS SO AWESOME I DID NOT REGRET ANY AMOUNT OF $$$ I SPENT

And this woman omfg she wanted a photo with the WICKED POSTER AND WE STOOD THERE FOR WHAT SEEMED LIKE ETERNITY FOR THE POSTER TO COME BACK ONTO THE SCREEN i almost killed her


Why this photo quality shitty


Watercolour painting for my mortal
My first painting attempt I think it is ok la hahah


Block 8 Angel Mortal Revelation




Lexus' play! It was honestly really enjoyable and the art hoe side of me was so happy lmao

And I joined hall this year! Although I'm not as active as I wish I was tbh because im y2 and NO FREE S/U
CCAs: Block comm, convening vice head (altho i didnt rly do a lot sorry sk hahah) & bball lel

I joined communications comm too (nus science club)! I didnt get into SCAMP so I guess its nice to be in a more chill subcomm for a change. Being in a camp comm is no joke DO U EVEN KNOW HOW MANY PROPOSALS I WROTE OMFG
But being the treasurer & secretary is kinda eye opening and fulfilling experience
I learnt how to handle money stuff and also learnt how to organise my thoughts more clearly to pass down info the the comm. Overall no ragrets this sem tbh

Only regret is not exercising =_=

ok bye for now

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

23 Nov

Wow this blog is so dead; I use tumblr more often now
Anyway its my birthday today and im dying studying 2101 because i refuse to focus and i really want to kms. I HATE BIOCHEMISTRY

ok bye

Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Y1S2 AY15/16 + module reviews

Module Reviews

This sem I took
LSM1101
LSM1102
ST1232
SP1541
MKT1003X

LSM1101
Biochemistry of Biomolecules
Grade: A-

NO WEB CAST
Lectures were once a week (??), mass tutorials (fortnightly), lab work was fortnightly too.
Closed book all the way

Topics:

(from the top of my head; I transferred all of my notes into my hard drive already haha)
(You can always search for more details on google)
  • Water + DNA properties (Prof Too Heng Phoon)
  • Enzymes + Enzyme Kinetics + Inhibition + Haemoglobin (Dr Long Yun Chau)
  • Carbs + Fats + Nucleic Acids (Dr Sudhakar Jha)
Prof Too - an okay lecturer
Dr Long - very passionate & enthusiastic lecturer. But a bit boring because he speaks too slowly for me haha
Dr Jha - Likes to talk about current research. Interesting yes. Content-wise.. I cried lol. Not an effective lecturer in my opinion because the microphone is always too far away from his mouth and even when I concentrated 100% I couldn't catch all he said???????? It was kind of frustrating.

Continuous Assessments (20% each)
First CA - 
all of Prof Too's topics plus half of Dr Long's.
Super difficult imo because Prof Too has the tendency to test on the smallest things that you think are totally unimportant lmao. Dr Long's parts are easy. But please remember your units for the kinetics questions wtf. 
43/100 (I think? It was below the median and mean mark)

Second CA -
Half of Dr Long's topics and half of Dr Jha's (we literally had the CA a day after Dr Jha finished carbohydrates SUPER RUSHED).
It was a killer imo because even though I got all of the MCQs correct, I was stunned by the open ended questions (how does the glycogenolysis cycle cause cancer + identification of cancer gene??).
For the open ended questions I wrote acceptable things, but Dr Jha was looking for concepts like CRISPR. Instead I was stuck with the RNA extraction concept :/
95/100 (I screamed when I saw this)

Lab work
Not graded at all, but important to have a great lab partner to make labs fun, as it is a 4 hour session.
(I got Diane as my lab partner and I am eternally grateful)

We did lab on things like
  1. pH and Buffers
  2. Quantitative Protein Estimation
  3. Enzyme Kinetics
  4. DNA gel electrophoresis
A great thing about the lab sessions are that they added onto the content we learnt at lectures. And they were really fun for me! I learnt many lab techniques (beginner level haha) which I really needed because I'm honestly fucking stupid at lab. Our lab reports were filled with ticks so a part of me is kinda sad that lab reports aren't graded but oh well!

Side noteDon't be a fucking jerk and just skip lab just because it isn't graded. Think of your assigned lab partner?? This girl in front of me had no lab partner for 3/4 of the labs, but she seemed really independent. When her lab partner came for one of the sessions, she was just a fucking noisy, annoying bimbo that hardly contributed to anything. I remember staring daggers @ her because she was talking so fucking loudly like shut the fuck up this isn't a market. 

*I think some questions in CA and the final are based on lab, but I can't recall*

Finals (60%)
I really don't remember anything. I can't recall the questions. I can't recall how I felt after the paper. Oh god.
Closed Book.
Okay there were multiple choice & open ended questions. 
For open ended, there were enzyme kinetics questions (calculations). The other questions were on Prof Too and Dr Jha's content. Basically, everything that was not tested in the CA was tested. I was quite dumb and didn't study well for the finals because I didn't know what else they can test since it felt like the CAs were pretty thorough lol 
I think I did pretty well for the final, considering how I wrecked my first CA. 

Conclusion: This module was really tough for me because I struggle with memory work. If you love memorising then it's perfect for you. Pay attention to what the lecturers emphasise, because more often than not, they test it. Of course understanding is important as well!
Lab is kind of important imo because it helped me reinforce concepts taught in lectures.

LSM1102
Molecular Genetics
Grade: A

YES WEB CAST

Topics:
  • Chromosome organisation, cell division, genetic transfer (Dr. Wu Jin Lu)
  • DNA replication, Transcription, Translation (Dr. Lou Yih Cherng)
  • Mendelian genetics, population genetics, linkage etc (Dr. Chew Fook Tim)
Dr. Wu - Has a strong accent but accents never bother me. (I don't get why people complain.. Just shut up and listen to the lecture la) He is a great lecturer, goes into detail, answers email questions really quick. Not very boring
Dr. Lou - Kind of boring.......... Quite a funny lecturer. Overall not bad??
Dr. Chew - Very passionate about genetics lol. Open to questions. (I still don't get why every lecture 1948289748 people will go up to ask him questions like genetics isn't that hard??)

Continuous Assessments (15% each)
One CA for each lecturer.

First CA-
Dr. Wu's first 3 lectures. This the only CA I know my marks lol. Quite do-able. Read the textbook to get more content. Read the specified scientific publication he gives as it will be tested.
10/15

Second CA-
Dr. Lou's first 3 lectures. Do-able. Quite easy even if you study and remember all content & what he emphasised during lectures. Do the tutorial.

Third CA-
Dr. Chew just anyhow bombed us lol. It was an open universe exam (the other two were closed book). So we could discuss, but at a low noise level. We relied on Diane's smart friend (I still dk who you are since I witnessed your prowess on whatsapp, but thanks!!) because we dont know how to calculate the probability wtf???

Lab work (15%)

Lab is graded via lab reports, lab work ability & lab notebook. Hence it pays to be active and ask (smart) questions during lab. (Diane was my lab partner again!!!!!!!!!!!)
Our lab topics are:
  1. Gel electrophoresis
  2. Transformation
  3. Yeast Mutagenesis (group project)
If you really don't know how to answer the discussion questions for the lab report, please go ask the lecturers / your TA! Diane and I were arguing back and forth for our first lab report so I decided to email Dr. Wu. He was really nice and thorough dissecting my questionable draft for the lab report lol
Overall, lab was great because I had a good lab partner (fucking important for this mod because lab reports are graded, plus the group project!) Iy also helped reinforce concepts like 1101's lab did.

Finals (40%)
Honestly, really tough. 80 MCQs. Each lecturer's portion was equally tested. 
The annoying thing was that the calculation questions (dr chew) are all at the back and I knew how to do NONE. I just randomly chose my answer wtf. 

Conclusion: A relatively enjoyable module, albeit extremely content heavy. Consistency is key!! The many CAs we have will actually force you to study and ultimately help for your finals, as in a way, you study less during reading week since you've already studied most of the content beforehand. Lab is important, don't neglect it. All lecturers are extremely approachable and just ask them if you have any doubts.

ST1232
Statistics for Life Sciences
Grade: A

YES WEB CAST

Topics:
  1. Exploratory Data Analysis
  2. Data Collection
  3. Probability
  4. Theoretical Probability Distributions
  5. Confidence Intervals
  6. Comparing Means
  7. Nonparametric Tests
  8. Linear Regression
  9. Categorical Data Analysis
  10. Logistic Regression
Lectures were twice a week. Tutorials once a week (attendance taken, 10% of grade). One mid-term, then finals & closed book all the way.

Ms Wong(??) took the first half and then Daisy Pham took the rest after probability distributions I think! I think both were extremely good lecturers. For this module, I webcasted all the way. Most of the time even though I went for the lectures, my soul would leave my body halfway LOL so I had no choice but to webcast it. I actually quite like this module because

a) Lecturers know what they are teaching
b) Tutorial questions given mostly reflect what was thought and not some random thing

Tutorials (10%)
Tbh.. I only went for 3 tutorials lol the rest I asked Gerald to help me sign the attendance sheet wtf (thanks gerald omfg) because.. I didn't do tutorials on time so going there is like a waste?? (I just sleep lol) BUT I finished all tutorial qns before finals and I think they were super useful for application of concepts learnt!!

Mid term (30%)
Essential in securing your grade for this module.
I got 27/30 and it was so scary because 1 point = 1%???? wtf
I honestly studied a lot a lot for this test and I am happy it paid off

Finals (60%??)
Very huge percentage wtf please study everything! Even though they won't test everything. The first question was simple probability and I was STUNNED because I keep doubting if the question is really this easy wtf damn paranoid.
Funny story: I thought the stats exam was @ 9am... So I got my dad to send me to school... But no... it was at... 1pm?? So I almost cried upon realisation wtf and I called my dad to come back and send me home lol im fucking burden!!! But super touched because my dad isn't normally this nice HAHHA i think cox he saw me panic lolz

Conclusion: Do the tutorials, familiarise yourself with the content (VERY IMPORTANT because a lot of people confuse certain concepts and get penalised unnecessarily), do extra practices from text book if you really need (I didn't cox I had no time lol).
This module was the only module I expected an A from (the rest if I get B+ I will dance alrd lol) because of the confidence I got for my mid terms. So again consistency is key!!!

SP1541
Exploring Science Communication through Popular Science
Grade: B+
  • Synthesis writing
  • Essay draft 1, 2 & final
  • Peer review of a classmate's essay
  • Group presentation 1& 2 (graded)
  • Individual presentation (graded)
This is required mod for all science students, unless you stay in a residential college and take some modules that are able to replace this.

Overall, this is an extremely workload-heavy module. There were group presentations for almost every lesson. My classmates and I had the horrid habit of preparing such ungraded presentations the night before the lesson! Thankfully we didn't do so for the actual graded ones.

Summary of the stuff I did:

Synthesis writing- formulate your own (intellectual) opinion after considering several articles/ given material of a given topic.
Ungraded group presentations- almost every lesson. Our teacher will give us the topic to research and our groupings a few days before class. (There're 2 lessons every week)
Ungraded essay outline presentation- basically give the teacher an idea of what you wish to write on for your essay. Then they can tell you where you should go from there/ if can you even write this topic lol
Graded Essay Drafts- First essay draft is like super raw. Then comes the peer review. Then your second draft. Then your final draft. PLEASE HAND UP ON TIME!!!!! I HANDED UP A DAY LATE AND I GOT PENALISED 20% FUCK MY LIFE I COULD HAVE GOTTEN A- MAYBE??? IDEK SOBS
Peer Review- help your beloved classmates by giving constructive criticism!! It helped me too because I realised my own essay had the same problems as the ones I was reviewing. I think I reviewed Claud's and Shu Kai's, even though I only had to officially do one! 
Graded Group Presentation- We could form our own groups, but different group members for the two presentations we had to do. Choose your own topic, but don't choose something that your group mates are writing their essay on/ same as other groups. Topic should be from or at least inspired by topics from the readings given.
Graded Individual Presentation- This is when you get to present what exactly your essay is about! A tip I would give is make sure to tell everyone (and yourself) why exactly did you choose the topic you have. I feel that passion for a topic is important to formulate a good product (aka your essay + presentation) because you will put more effort into it. Personally I did on the birth control pill (I argued for institutions to educate women on the effects of the pill and other better/ on par alternatives.) (don't copy cox... PLAGIARISM LOL its a really serious offence ok)

I didn't get the best tutor, but I did try my best to understand the requirements of this module by constantly bombarding my tutor with questions. Thinking back I think she probably hates me.
I met the best best best ultimate best classmates from this module. Shukai's nonsense was a breath of fresh air and Claudia's no nonsense kept me really grounded?? HAHAH

MKT1003X
Introduction to Marketing
Grade: A-

(a lot of topics I lazy to copy paste; refer to here)
(I got Prof Lau Geok Theng)

  • Flipped classroom (had to watch a lot of videos but I gave up and read the transcript instead
  • Real life lectures fortnightly
  • Tutorials fortnightly
Tutorial Attendance and Participation  10%
My tutor was Mr Trevor Xie. I REALLY REALLY LIKE HIM because he was so chill but still got things done. He really engaged me and I learnt a lot in every tutorial.
Basically you do your work then go to tutorial to clear misconceptions you may have/ reinforce concepts (basically how all tutorials are HAHAH)
He's also super friendly!!

Subject Pool 10%
I think grad/ research biz students need people to survey LOL hence this subject pool thing. Basically you sign up for surveys to do. Each survey is typically 0.5h and you need to fulfil 3h worth of sessions. If you miss a session you signed up, you'll get a penalty of 1h I think!!

If you really don't want to do this subject pool you can request the lecturer to give you some assignment but why would you do that haha it's super easy to get that 10%

Individual Assignment 15%
You'll be assigned a case study and you have to answer the accompanying discussion questions.
I got Hada Labo and my case was about distribution channels. I think 5 people per tutorial class will get the same case study!
Each case study focuses on a different topic. Other people got pricing strategies and hmm ok I can't remember HAHA
My case study was really doable and I actually enjoyed it

Group Assignment 15%
Choose a company, get information about the company, and then analyse their marketing decisions.

Final Examination 50%
FUCKING DIFFICULT.
I COULDN'T DO HALF THE QUESTIONS I WAS NEAR TEARS DURING THE EXAM I WAS SO SURE I WAS GONNA GET A B- BECAUSE OF FINALS.
Finals tested everything I didn't study lmao
Showed me how spotting questions is always a terrible and gross idea. But everything turned out good I AM SO THANKFUL

_______________________________________________

Went to the national art gallery with chad and mabel!
Kinda awkz double date but it was fun!!



Went to engineering and SRC for reccee lol i almost died
But on this day i used innisfree's BB cushion (the anti oil wan) and it stayed all day wtf?


Took this photo because I thought brandon looked cute lol



Sangee's birthday!! it was a great day of just talking crap and catching up with everyone


First games trial ever lol almost died from screaming @ everyone


Random photo of 02 lab hahaha


Mabel's concert!!!!!! she was so good wtf


I remember this!!! we were studying before a lesson and as usual i didnt study and annoyed diane with snapchat


 Horrific face swap w mabel

Gross yeast that didn't mutate fakku
(ok i think its not the mutation wan i think this is the resistant/ not resistant wan idk)
(yes i am not coherent)

I really like this photo LOL


Brandon's exam welfare pack (i havent eaten most of the snacks.. haha)


Sister's bday celebration @ TYKF!



Javier's housewarming bbq!!!

ok so this semester.. omg what did I do apart from studying..
1) Wrote a lot of proposals lol
2) Did 2 game trials!!
3) Conducted OGL interviews
4) Studied with Diane a shitload
5) Had a SOW chinese new year meal which was fucking good we cleared the entire table hahha
6) Attended like 2 dance lessons lmao

Overall it was a good, albeit kinda boring sem! Thank you Mabel and Gerald for accompanying me during lectures. Thank you Michelle and Diane for helping me chope seat cox im always fucking late lmao. & thank you Diane for studying with me all the time!! Oh and huixian haha thank you for studying with me and choping seats @ science lib during reading week LOL