For most NUS students, Year 2 Semester 1 marks the first time that we step out of the protective S/U bubble, with only 12 units worth of S/Us left for our remaining 3 AYs. This means needing to put in more effort and making sure you're really on top of all your courses, something that might be a big change from Year 1, especially if you want to maintain your Honours classification. With tougher courses throwing me for a loop, it's time to explore Part 3 of my NUS Course Reviews.
Disclaimer 1: As a CHS student doing a double major in Communications and New Media (CNM) and Management, as well as a Minor in Korean Language Studies, my reviewed courses will be almost exclusively CNM, Business, CHS and Korean courses with very few exceptions if any.
Disclaimer 2: All of the following courses were taken in AY 22/23 Sem 1 and the structures of these courses MAY BE DIFFERENT in subsequent sems. All views expressed in this article are my own so please only take this review as an unofficial guide. More detailed information can be found in the links at the bottom of this article.
HSA1000 - Asian Interconnections
Expected grade: B+/B
Actual grade: A- (I'm actually pretty surprised with this grade because I felt my performance for this course was average at best but I think my final essay really pulled up my overall grade)
GEI1001 - Computational Reasoning
Expected grade: A-/B+
Actual grade: A (I had a hunch that this would be the course I scored highest for this sem so I'm very happy about this and since I kind of want to be a TA for this course in future, I'm really thankful for this result)
HS1402A - Career Compass II
Expected grade: CS
Actual grade: CS (as expected since I completed all requirements)
NM2104 - Qualitative Communication Research Methods
Lecturer: Prof Angela Li
Tutor: Prof Angela Li
TLDR: An introduction into the world of qualitative research for communication studies.
Description of course
- One of the compulsory CNM courses, NM2104 (as its name suggests) aims to help students understand the ins and outs of qualitative communication research.
- Students will be introduced to the research areas of visual analysis, ethnographic fieldwork as well as the conducting of interviews, all of which will play a huge part in the assessment criteria for this course.
- Weekly tutorials from weeks 3-13 are 2 hours long and held on campus, with tutors going more in depth into lecture topics and also conducting activities that give students more exposure to qualitative research areas.
Assessment
- Participation (20%)
- 3 Method Practicums (70%)
- In-class Presentation (10%)
Pros
To its credit, NM2104 is a good first look at qualitative communication research and the content taught in this course will be crucial for many higher level courses. The first thing that comes to people's mind when they think of research is probably quantitative research with lots of data and number-crunching, and few will think of the qualitative aspect of research. In that sense, I find NM2104 to be useful in helping students understand the nuances of qualitative research and how we can apply that to our future work.
I also quite like that assignments for this course are completely individual, which allows students to take things at our own pace without having to worry about another person's work (less the usual bell curve worries).
Cons
Of the 4 compulsory NM courses, NM2104 is the only one that doesn't provide recorded lectures. I don't understand why and I think that really causes students to stress out because they force themselves to cram everything into their heads in that short 1 hour lecture. The timeframe of the lectures is itself an issue because the content taught in each lecture is just extremely rushed and if things can't be completed in that 1 hour, everything snowballs to the next lecture and beyond. This isn't a problem unique to NM2104 since other courses also have hour-long lectures but it is still something that can maybe be looked at in future.
I also found that, barring the first one on visual analysis, NM2104's assignments were somewhat vague and poorly defined. Ethnography is something that is very subjective and unlike quantitative research where data is slightly more black-and-white, whatever we've covered in NM2104 is always up to interpretation. I don't understand how grading for such assignments can be objective if it depends on the marker's subjective point of view. In terms of vagueness, I find the last assignment to be absolutely ridiculous. I can't fathom how students are supposed to churn out a SIX PAGE report on something that we're provided little guidance on and come up with our own research questions and whatnot.
First off, this is something that takes researchers years to do and we're expected to do it in under 5 weeks (from the date assignment 3's prompt was released to the submission deadline). I know that university education isn't about hand-holding or spoon-feeding but I don't think it's unreasonable for students to expect in this situation to be given clearer guidance on how to approach this assignment. This extends to our report presentation because we literally don't even know what we're supposed to share. If assignment guidelines are so ambiguous and vague, how can students be expected to know what to do?
Personal thoughts
I've known since my days as an IB student that research for research's sake is not my cup of tea but NM2104 firmly cements that thought. I did not like this course, which is a huge shame because I've liked both NM-coded courses I took before this. Overall, I wasn't very interested in what was being taught and by the end of the semester, I just wanted to clear it ASAP. I also felt like Prof Angela gave off very confused and anxious vibes during both lectures and tutorials, which didn't aid the learning experience. I'm hoping some of my comments made through the course feedback will be taken into account and improvements can be made.
Expected grade: B/B-
Actual grade: A- (an actual shocker, I did not think I did well for my final method practicum or my presentation but I guess my higher scores for other components made up for it)
MNO1706X - Organisational Behavior
Lecturer: Usa Skulkerewathana
Tutor: Yan Liuxin
TLDR: How do humans behave in an organisational context?
Description of course
- MNO1706X is the introductory course to the Leadership & Human Capital Management basket of Business courses. This course is meant for non-Business students, hence the "X" suffix.
- This course examines processes at the individual, group and organisational levels, alongside developing theoretical and applied approaches to organisational behaviour. Topics covered include motivation, diversity, workplace culture and leadership.
- Fortnightly tutorials are 2 hours long and held on campus, with tutors recapping lecture topics and encouraging extensive class participation. The final tutorial will also be used for students to present on their group projects.
Assessment
- Subject Pool Exercise (10%)
- Learning Contributions (20%)
- Test (30%)
- Group Project (40%)
Pros
As a CNM major, I found MNO1706X to be very relevant to my course of study (in fact it's also a recognised course for my major). Many of the concepts taught overlapped with what I had learnt previously in other courses, so I had an easier time understanding the content. Organisational behaviour is something that all students should have a good understanding of because most of us will end up working in organisations and companies where we'll have to deal with others, and what we've covered in MNO1706X will be very useful in helping us communicate with others.
Working world aside, whatever's taught in this course is also very applicable to working with others in university or in general, and so I really enjoyed what was being taught. Many people will consider MNO1706X to be a "fluff" course with a lot of theoretical concepts but personally, I think that it's quite interesting to connect the theory taught in this course with what's practical for the real world. I plan on moving on to higher level MNO-coded courses in future and I think whatever I learnt in MNO1706X will serve me well. I would also like to say that the large number of exchange students (exchangers) in the cohort allow for many perspectives to be showcased and that really adds to the learning experience.
Cons
I had the same complaint for MKT1705X last semester, but I don't understand why 10% of our grade for MNO1706X depends on participating in subject pools. This is not an insubstantial percentage and even though it's practically a "given 10%", this only makes me feel that the department is forcing us to participate in studies conducted by either higher level undergraduate or graduate students in exchange for our grades. I find this to be a very problematic assessment criterion and while it isn't unique to Business courses , it is something that I think can be reworked into another form of assessment.
I also felt that the class participation was overwhelmingly mercenary and almost excessive for MNO1706X. I find that it puts an unnecessary amount of stress on students during class when they're unable to speak up or passed over by the tutor, which has happened more than once to me. As a FASS student, I'm no stranger to "class parting", but I find that an unnecessary amount of emphasis was placed on this aspect by the teaching team. For example, my tutor will literally take note of who "class parts" by making a note next to a student's name whenever they speak up and I think that just stresses other students out even more because they feel like they're missing out. This instills the mindset in students that they should class part not because they want to but because if they don't, they'll lose out to their peers in terms of grades. Such a toxic mindset is not something you want students to adopt.
Personal thoughts
I had only heard of the horrors of 8am live lectures from seniors who had experienced pre-COVID university life, but MNO1706X truly opened my eyes to how bad it was. Personally, I struggled to pay attention during lectures, primarily because of just how early they were. Overall though, this was a pretty interesting course. Like I said earlier, the content taught is very applicable to the world beyond NUS and I also learned a great deal, especially from the exchangers. If the class participation wasn't so competitive and my project group had been more responsive, this course would probably be one of the most enjoyable courses I've taken thus far.
Expected grade: B+/B
Actual grade: B+ (got what I expected, feel a little meh about it but it's still a decent grade)
DAO1704X - Decision Analytics using Spreadsheets
Lecturer: Dr. Eli Tung
Tutor: Dr. Eli Tung
TLDR: Learning to use Excel to address business uncertainties.
Description of course
- As an introduction to Business Analytics, DAO1704X focuses on preparing students to understand data from spreadsheets, and using that understanding to make decisions. This course is meant for non-Business students, hence the "X" suffix.
- Lectures for the first half of the course cover basic probability distribution functions as well as how they're applied on Excel, while the second half goes deeper into business uncertainty concepts like decision trees, simulation and optimisation.
- Weekly tutorials from weeks 3-13 are 1 hour long and held on campus, with students completing in-tutorial quizzes before the tutor runs through the method and solutions.
Assessment
- Class Participation (15%)
- Group Project (15%)
- Weekly Quiz (15%)
- Assignments (15%)
- Final Examination (40%)
Pros
Many of the Excel functions taught in DAO1704X are extremely useful and apply to many business-related decisions. Simulations, optimisation and more, the course content is very important for making business decisions. This is a good introduction to the business analytics specialisation and will be very helpful for those looking to do higher level courses in the area. Despite the fact that I'm not a STEM student, I found this course (or at least the later half of it) to be actually quite interesting and I had a bit of fun with the group project, which involved heavy use of simulation functions on Excel.
Cons
A big issue I have with the first half of DAO1704X (basically all the probability distribution content) is that many of the questions asked during quizzes are extremely tricky, to the extent that the questions are adopting a meaningless level of difficulty. I understand that questions cannot be so simple to the point where students don't think about how to apply what they've learnt but sometimes the questions don't even take into account real life situations or business principles. For example, one of the assignment questions was related to the weight of separate durians from a tree, which in the real world would logically be independent from one another. But for the purposes of this question, we were told that we cannot assume independence EVEN THOUGH real life would dictate otherwise. I think that that's not very useful for students and defeats the purpose of this being a business course.
I also think tutorials can be longer. Granted, each tutorial quiz is only 20-25 minutes long but it still feels extremely rushed and going through the tutorial questions afterwards just feels too fast. Almost every tutorial overruns the 45 minutes that it should take up and I think it would be better if the tutorials were slightly longer. I know there are 1.5 hour classes in NUS so maybe that could be a thing for this course.
Finally, though the finals are the same for both DAO1704 and DAO1704X, their bell curves are considered separately and the latter's is far steeper. This is partially because many students taking this course hail from STEM majors and are already well-versed in the material being taught here, giving them an inherent advantage over a FASS student like me who went in blind. Another reason for this is because we are given multiple attempts to get full marks for each weekly quiz and tutorial exercise. The median for each of these quizzes and exercises stands at full marks, drastically shifting the bell curve to the right.
Personal thoughts
Every semester thus far, I've always had one course that hurts my soul in indescribable ways. DTK1234 and ACC1701X were those courses for Year 1 Sem 1 and 2 respectively. For this sem, it was the first half of DAO1704X because words could not quantify how much pain I was caused. I simply couldn't grasp the probability concepts and I struggled throughout the first half of the course, constantly doubting my decision to take it and considering dropping it before it was too late.
But overall, I'm glad I stuck it out because I think the content I've learnt from this course will prove useful in future. I also had a good experience with the group project for this course. We gelled really well together as a group and though I doubt I'll meet them in other courses, I still enjoyed being in a group with them. Doubt they'll see this but shout out to them for that.
So, if you're looking for an Unrestricted Elective (UE) course that you'll be able to learn a lot from, or if you're just a STEM student wanting to boost your GPA by doing something you already have experience in, DAO1704X is the course for you.
Expected grade: B/B-
Actual grade: A- (I was extremely worried about this course's bell curve because majority of the cohort was practically scoring full marks for all the quizzes and tutorial questions so trust me when I tell you that I am elated that I ended up scoring this well)
LAK4201 - Korean 5
Lecturer: Dr. Park Mi-hi
TLDR: Are you ready to dive into advanced Korean?
Description of course
- The first advanced Korean course, LAK4201 no longer just covers new grammar and vocabulary, but also exposes students to topics in contemporary society through the use of mediums like blogposts and articles.
- Just like with any other Korean course, students must first watch pre-recorded videos that introduce us to that week's grammar and vocabulary, before attending biweekly lectures held on campus, where the lecturer will recap content, and have students participate in activities that improve our understanding of the nuances of the language.
- Take note that this course is only offered in the first semester of every AY so make sure you plan your schedules properly!
- Prerequisites: Passed LAK3202 (Korean 4) or LAK3203 (Korean for Academic Purposes), or by allocation after placement test. Students must not have read a higher level course than this.
Assessment
- Group Assignment (10%)
- 2 Quizzes (40%)
- 2 Writing Assignments (15%)
- Weekly Reflection (10%)
- Interview (10%)
- Group Presentation (15%)
Pros
As the first advanced Korean course, the jump in difficulty from LAK3202 to LAK4201 is very apparent to me. The course is not easy but that's what makes it fulfilling. In the previous course, students' speaking capabilities were built up and while this is still the case for LAK4201, it takes this a step further by having us apply our speaking abilities to relevant social scenarios. The group project, wherein students had to present on a topic of our choice from whatever was covered in class, was also very useful in introducing us not only to research in Korean but also once again tackling relevant social situations. This is a good stepping stone towards the next course (LAK4202), which I've heard takes a deeper dive into contemporary social issues.
I also liked the format that LAK4201's weekly reflection notes took. In the previous course, most reflection notes were more like mini-assignments where we had certain tasks to fulfill but for LAK4201, the reflection notes are relatively unguided and really allows students to pen down their thoughts. It is a great way for us to "reflect" on what we've learned and internalise the content. Finally, while this isn't really purely because of what the course is like but more so because there are just fewer people in this course, I really enjoy the small class sizes in LAK4201. There are only 12 people in my class, which makes learning even more conducive and everyone gets a chance to practice in class. I had a really great experience with this course and I hope future Korean courses will be as wonderful.
Cons
With the recoding of FASS Level-4000 courses from 5 to 4 units, it has been made known to us that the 4 unit versions of these courses will be adjusted to have a comparatively lower workload. However, this was not the case with LAK4201 because I did the exact same things as my classmates who were doing the 5 unit version. I don't think it's fair for a student who's gaining fewer units from the same course to have to do the same amount of work.
Moreover, unlike what I've seen with LAK4203 (Korean 7), where students taking the 5 unit version are graded out of 125% as well as having more assessment components while those doing 4 units are graded out of 100%, this isn't applied to LAK4201. This will ultimately become a moot point because the 5 unit version will be phased out in two AYs but until then, there will be students who are affected by this.
Personal thoughts
You can really tell this is the advanced level of Korean because let me tell you, your boy was struggling with this course. I've never been particularly good at Korean because I skipped the elementary courses and thus my basics weren't as strong, but I never felt like I was immensely lagging behind in the Korean courses I took previously. That completely changed once I hit LAK4201 though because everyone else in my class was so much better than me when it came to speaking and forming sentences that I felt so incompetent next to them. I constantly questioned whether I was even fit to be at that level and I was so sure I would mess this course up.
Nevertheless, even with the uncertainty of this course, I thoroughly enjoyed it. For all 3 of my semesters thus far, Korean courses have been my absolute favourite and this was no different. Was it difficult? Definitely but it was just so much fun. It also helped that I had a great lecturer in Dr. Park Mi-hi, who has only further cemented my belief that the Korean department in the Centre for Language Studies are just GOATed. Even though she was the only lecturer for this course, I still felt like she knew each of us and connected with us. She was a big part of making my LAK4201 journey as enjoyable as it was and though I likely won't be taught by her in future courses, I do hope I get to see her again, even if it's just to chat.
Anyway, with the completion of LAK4201, I'm only 2 courses away from fulfilling requirements for the Minor in Korean Language Studies so time to pull up my socks and improve before I take those courses.
Expected grade: B/B-
Actual grade: B+ (a part of me did hope for an A- for this course and honestly I felt that my subpar performance during the finals dashed my chances of that, but overall I'm still very satisfied with this decent grade)
PLS8005 - Elevating Interpersonal Communication
Instructor: Camilla Tam
TLDR: How can we improve our communication with another person?
Description of course
- A 1 unit course that's graded on a CS/CU basis, PLS8005 is part of the Roots & Wings 2.0 programme, a series of courses run by the Centre for Future-Ready Graduates (CFG) and the Department of Psychology.
- Consisting of 3 3-hour-long seminars conducted fortnightly (exact weeks depending on which slot you've registered for), PLS8005 touches on the soft skills required to better interpersonal communication.
- Through hands-on class activities like roleplay, group discussions and speech practice, students will learn more about communication techniques like active listening, persuasion and non-verbal communication, with the final goal being to learn more about communicating with others.
Assessment
- Class Participation (70%)
- 3 Post-Class Assignments (30%)
Pros
As a CNM and Management double major, I realise that a lot of topics covered in PLS8005 actually overlap with what I was taught in my own major. Things like feedback loops, principles of persuasion and more, I'm no stranger to these so I know that these are important aspects of interpersonal communication.
I'm glad that PLS8005 covers these because they're quite relevant to students both now and especially in future when we enter the working world. Moreover, the workload for this course is minimal and so students don't have to stress over it, instead we can focus on actually learning and absorbing the content taught in this course that can help us in future.
Cons
N/A
Personal thoughts
I have no qualms about admitting that I only did PLS8005 to work towards fulfilling HS1402A's completion criteria and any of the PLS-coded courses would've sufficed. I also didn't need the units either since I had already planned to go over the minimum needed to graduate. So overall, I didn't put that much effort into this course at all and completed all my assignments on the same day they were given. Most, if not all, students taking this course are likely just here for the "free units" and there will be those who think this course has no value.
However, even though it was a real no-brainer of a course, I still took something out of PLS8005. It was pretty much a more surface-level recap of topics I had learnt in my own majors so I appreciated that and all in all, I thought it was nice to go through lessons that didn't need much brainwork compared to my other courses. Kudos to the teaching team as well for doing their best with this course even though most students probably don't really care.
Expected grade: CS
Actual grade: CS (as expected, if I didn't get this I would be shocked)
CFG1003 - Financial Wellbeing-Introduction
Coordinator: Camilla Tam
TLDR: Your first foray into financial basics and how to lead a flourishing life.
Description of course
- A new initiative by the CFG, the 0 unit CFG1003 aims to introduce students into the world of budgeting and managing their money. This course also provides students with tips to living a flourishing life by learning how to grow their money.
- Run in conjunction with financial literacy startup PlayMoolah, CFG1003 is graded on a CS/CU basis.
Assessment
- All you have to do is complete the entire online course, and submit pre- and post-course surveys to pass. That's it.
Pros
CFG1003 definitely provides students with a better understanding of financial wellbeing and how it can relate to our life. Teaching us the basics of things like budgeting or how to manage our money is also really useful. Finally, it's good that this course is self-paced so students can finish it as quickly or slowly as they want.
Cons
While some of the content taught in this course is useful, I felt a lot of it was too theoretical. I was hoping to get into nitty-gritty financial topics like investing, and while I know that will be covered in the follow-up to this course (CFG1004), I felt like it would have been good to include this in this course. Alternatively, I think it might be a better idea to just have both courses merged into one rather than have one be a prerequisite to the other.
Personal thoughts
I only knew about CFG1003 because my friend told me about it and I decided to just do it for fun, even though I don't plan on doing the next course. I sped-ran this course in a day and then totally forgot about it, so it wasn't memorable at all. To its credit, I did take something away from this course, since it made me more aware of my finances and how flippant I was with my spending. If you're looking for free units, I suggest you take this course even though it's only 0 units, because you're going to need it to take the 2 units CFG1004.
Expected grade: CS
Actual grade: CS (no surprise here, if I didn't get CS for this I wouldn't know what to do with myself)
Grade Point Average (GPA): 4.58 [I was so sure that I would be dropping down an Honours class after what I felt was subpar performance throughout this sem so I still can't believe that I'm in the Honours (Highest Distinction) range. With renewed motivation, I'll do my best to stay in this bracket.]
I want to end this course review on perhaps a more serious note. I understand if there are courses you want to S/U, trust me, I understand this very well. In those cases, I don't care what you do for individual components because those are on you but please please please, if there's a group component, PUT IN EFFORT. I had a really bad experience this sem with a couple group projects where members didn't pull their weight, and that made me both unbelievably and unnecessarily stressed.
So please, don't ever be that guy and for those of you who are the culprits of such actions, I sincerely hope you don't have to experience groupwork with people like you.
For more information, please access the following links-
General Course Info: https://nusmods.com/modules?sem[0]=1&sem[1]=2&sem[2]=3&sem[3]=4, https://luminus.nus.edu.sg/module-search, https://canvas.nus.edu.sg/search/all_courses/
CHS Curriculum: https://chs.nus.edu.sg/programmes/
Career Compass Courses: https://fass.nus.edu.sg/career-compass-series/overview-of-courses/
USP Courses: https://www.usp.nus.edu.sg/curriculum/academic-requirements/
NUSC Courses: https://nuscollege.nus.edu.sg/learn/critical-competencies/
SPS Courses: http://sps.nus.edu.sg/academic-programme/
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