NUS AY2016/2017 Sem 1 Module Review (Yr1)

Modules Taken
- ST1131
- MA1102R
- CS1010S
- LAK1201
- GER1000

I'm a freshie in NUS, a stats major, the first sem has honestly taken a toll on me to the extent I just want to graduate ASAP. To me all the modules I have taken especially MA1102R and CS1010S, the difficulty level is so high, my head cracks apart when I try to solve them. I'm not the typical genius, so if you are a genius this blog may not be your struggles.

Note: This is a S/U sem for me, so my grade expectations is not v high
New Note: I did better than expected, my finals pull up my grades:)
Overall Cap: 4.0


Reviews:

ST1131 - Introduction to statistics
Prof : Wang Jun Shan

This is basically an introductory module to statistics, whereby you will learn from sampling method to z-test/t-test for various type of sampling.
NO ASSIGNMENTS OR PROJECTS , ONLY EXAMS to determine your grades

For my sem specifically: (May not apply to later sem)

Chapter 1  Statistics: The Art and Science of Learning from Data

Chapter 2  Exploring Data with Graphs and Numerical Summaries

Chapter 3  Association: Contingency, Correlation, and Regression

Chapter 4  Gathering Data

Chapter 5  Probability in our Daily Lives

Chapter 6  Probability Distributions

Chapter 7  Sampling Distributions

Chapter 8  Statistical Inference: Confidence Intervals

Chapter 9  Statistical Inference: Significance Tests About Hypotheses

Chapter10   Comparing Two Groups

Chapter 12   Analyzing the Association Between Quantitative Variables: Regression Analysis

#dontaskmewhereis #chap11 #thereisnochap11

About the prof:

So to give you a heads up, the prof is hard to understand, explains slow but repeatedly repeats the same thing throughout the chapter which can be simply simplified in many ways. AKA she beats around the bush. She speaks with an accent although she is nice when you approach her with questions. Sadly to say, she is really not helpful because she repeats the same words to you from the slides which I don't understand the slides in the first place. Her lecture is really empty. Try to ask her in chinese, she seem to really explain really well in chinese, added advantage for china students. sigh.

Don't ever get complacent to think this mod is so easy, because I thought that way, skipped her lec, webcast speed 2X BUT only spent less than 30min weekly on the tut for first half of the sem and I got punished in my own way. This was my worst mod for mid-terms.

Midterms: (30%)

• 2 Page cheat sheet
• tested from chap 1 - 5
• 10m - open ended, 20m - mcq
• the whole paper was tricky esp the mcq.
• Median - 22/23 out of 30m
• My grade - 12/30 (25th percentile RED ZONE) :(((

Finals: (70%)

• 4 Page cheat Sheet
• tested - EVERYTHING
• 10m - mcq, 60m - open ended
• mcq heavily weighted on chap 1-5 except 2 qns on chap 6 onwards (1 of them on calculating correlation r)
• 60m - 12m on type I and II error(how to calculate)
•         - all the z/t-test for binomial/matched pair designs/independence/one-sided/two-sided test
•         - minor ones on probability independence

(I think I study so hard for this, I can S this:))

Expected - C

Final Grade - B (S/u)

MA1102R - Calculus

Prof - Wang Fei (SO much better)/Li Wei(not recommended)

I was from Li Wei Lecture and I really don't understand from her lec notes to teaching style. Her lec notes full of english and super messy, another lecturer that beats around the bush. Math notes why full of english essays omg. 

So I jumped to Wang Fei Lec(just crash only), thankfully his webcast can be watched from my account hehehe! His notes is really neat and only the main points and all mathematical formulas. Just that I hope he can breathe sometimes in lec cos he talk non-stop and got no time-out to process LOL. Thanks to him I start to grasps in time before mid-term. But why he set killer paper for finals SIGH.

My tutor Wang Liu Quan, was quite a good tutor to me. In nus, tutors don't really teach, they are just not obliged to do so. They are undergrads pursuing masters or year 3/4 students which tutoring is their side thing and your learning has no impact on them.

He provided chapter summaries and exam tips, really useful after you read the lec notes and you read his notes again as recap. Plus although he writes down answer, you can ask him and he can answer you out of those answers, which is quite a good quality tutor.

Content:

Chapter 0: Functions

Chapter 1: Limits

Chapter 2: Continuous Functions

Chapter 3: Derivatives + Applications of Differentiation

Chapter 4: Integrals

Chapter 5: Transcendental Functions

Chapter 6: Techniques of Integration

Chapter 7: Applications of Integration

Chapter 8: First-Order Differential Equations

Grading component:

•  3 assignments (5% each)
•  Maple (5%) ->computer mathematics, key into maple to get ans.
•  Midterms (20%)
•  Finals (60%)

My grades:

Assignment 1 - 47/70 , median - 62/63

Assignment 2 - 70/70 , median - 68

Assignment 3 - 70/70 , median - 68

(Trick to getting full marks, discuss with your friends, where to get friends?! - SOW camp/SCAMP)

Maple - 12/20 , median - 15

Midterms - 80/100 , median - 78

Finals - UNKNOWN, so hard many leave the exam hall hoping to pass including me:(

Expected - A- at first, after finals I hope I can at least get a C to S it.

Final Grade - B+

CS1010S - Programming Methodology

Prof - Leong Wai Kay

The software you will be learning is Phyton, the "easiest" software to code. Which as a beginner I struggle A LOT, you won't know how much tears I had to shed just to pass this mod minimally. There is REALLY HIDDEN PEOPLE WHO DID COMPUTING IN THEIR LIFE AND ITS SO EASY FOR THEM. Basically, computing is not something you can just memorise from theory, anyhow bomb 1 ans and get correct. It comes with a lot of practice, sitting in front of the computer for 1 full day trying to pass your test-case is what you are likely to face. Be prepared about sacrificing your weekend life, those who is giving tuition(like me), grit your teeth and survive this sem well! 

For me, I spend about 2-3 full days a week just to solve 1 mission("weekly assignment"), you still have hw for tut and recitation, after lec hw to put into practice what the prof has taught. 

ALL IN ALL, a super big burden, this mod takes up so much time I THOUGHT THIS WAS AT LEAST 3 MOD COMBINED WORKLOAD. Really glad its over man.

FYI,I was going through so much struggle with tuition(demanding parents and took 3 tuition - crazy me) and school work , I really died and JUST QUIT TUITION after 1 full year. I do not intend to teach anymore either, money doesn't feel good as you see your own grades crashing.

Grading component:

• Coursemology (25%) - mission/tut/recitation/lec exp goes here, hit level 50 to get full 25%

• Midterms (15%) 

writing iterative/recursive code mainly,master that you can score,higher order functions abit harder to score, free 25-30m for Q1 to solve the code by stating what phyton will print, get tricked, you still get 2-4m for almost correct ans. Amazingly people scored like 80+ to 90+ in my tut, I felt v insignificant.

• Practical (15%)

3 "mission", quite a fight against time, practice enough and you will do okay. Because the qns format is quite the same throughout the years. How you solve the qns for Q2,3 is really about the same. Q1 is more subject to changes but it is just simpler iterative/recursive solution compared to Q2.

• Participation - 5% (attend tut/discuss ans in class-not so aggressive like biz)
• Finals (60%)

Questions rather unpredictable, but the story for Q4 based on trends including my year, uses midterm last qns story hahahha! To me not v useful but at least you don't waste time understanding the idea. But main idea is Q1 quite the same like midterms Q1, Q2 and Q3 is dictionary/list qns, Q4 uses OOP. Q5 is free 4m to pour out your emotions about the module(prep this on your cheat sheet, pour your emotions before the exam okay, no time to be emotional when you only have 2hr)

My grades: (re-test is given for midterms and practical if you fall below median,but there is a max/cap even if you get full marks, your marks is the cap)

Coursemology - 25% , median 25%

Midterms - 52/100 , re-midterms 60/100(capped at 60,LUCKY MAX) , median 64

Participation - 3.5% , median 3.5%

Practical - 17/30, re-practical 24/30(capped at 20) , median 22

Finals - 69/100 , median - 73

Overall - 75%

Expected -  B+

Final Grades - B+

LAK1201 - Korean level 1
Prof - Lee Mi Sun

This mod is super fun to me, like legit, the only time I smile in NUS during lec. The prof to me is super prepared and engaging, like you wouldn't fall asleep in class. On top of that, your peers are also super interested in the lesson further motivating you to really learn. Funny thing is hearing your friend speak with an accent, and you have to control your major laughter. Because my prof just have that classy feels, I just feel shy to LOL.

If you have the bid points/YOU WANNA JOIN LPP, please do so if you have the passion to learn a new language specifically korean. Worth your time!!

But the bellcurve is really steep, so PREP YOUR S/Us.

FYI: I'm in LPP program, stay tune if you would like to know about korean immersion(confirm go) /SEP(I might go SEP)

Component:

1. written test(60%) - Mid- terms + Finals 
2. Assignments(15%) - 2 Assignment - 1 page essay about hometown, weekend activity
3. Class Participation(10%) - just be more active during lessons, plus the lessons is quite fun like pre-school style, got small games within friends, and the teacher engages you in her lesson.
4. Oral(15%) - 1 recording, 1 face-to-face oral

Midterms:

• 1h30min
• Fight against time, better know all the words, how to write them
• Note your grammar, spelling even 1 minor mistakes say goodbye to 2 marks each qns
• Listening component(some they repeat twice) - 27min
• 40 qns in 1h BE FAST AND QUICK, I didnt know about listening until half-way through the paper, I looked up and saw the timing for listening LOL. I knew I was major screwed.

Oral:

• I think I read the passage 50 times to record within 2 min HAHAH! Good luck if you are doing that.
• As for the oral it was the most stressful thing I have ever taken in nus, my lec teacher placed 2 timer in front of me and even used her phone to record the convo, OMG super stressed out. 
• 1st component - interview style, asked about my name etc
• 2nd component - BETTER HAVE SOME LUCK, she places out 3pic and you choose 1 without seeing the pic. I was lucky and got mountains and I get to describe quite a bit BUT I FORGOT TO USE PAST TENSE SIGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH:((((((

Finals:

• 1h15min
• This time listening component about 40/100 , SO better open up your ears man
• The written component is an increased difficulty from midterms
• NOTE THAT THEY TEST HEAVILY ON THE BEHIND CHAPTERS 
• By the time its finals you should already know mid-terms grammar cos its really quite straightforward
• Major fight against time
• BUT THIS TIME IM SUPER PREP and didnt screw up

My grades:

Mid-term - 50/100 median 80 (HOW COME THEY SO SMART - fake dono/never learn before)

Assignment 1 - C

Assignment 2 - B

Rest of the grades are not published.

Expected - C

Final Grade - B- (S/U)




GER1000 - Quantitative Reasoning
Prof - Chua Tin Chiu

Tutorials held every even/odd weeks, its a pre-allocated mod to clear the 5 pillars(new thing). Basically this mod is a repetition for chap 1-4 from ST1131, but I dono this mod so much better to score than ST1131. The bellcurve quite spread out, about 3000+ students.

You have weekly quiz, takes up 5%, try to find someone who always get full marks to share their ans AFTER YOU DONE YOURS. DON'T ever blindly copy. After first 2 weeks I got full marks for the rest of the quizzes thanks to the full marks guy, but I only change 1 or 2 ans weekly. This quiz is v useful BECAUSE THIS IS A MCQ MOD. I LOVE MCQ MOD. But the qns difficulty is high and tricky, so be prepared if stats is not your thing.

Component:

• Midterm(20%)
• Project(25%)
• Weekly Quiz(5%)
• Finals(40%)
• Class Participation(10%)

My grades:
Midterm - 9/15
Project - A/A+ -prof has no qns, no qns = high marks for my prof case.
quiz - 4.6%
Finals - unknown

Expected - A-
Final Grade - B+ (So sad omg)