NUS module reviews, Year 2 Sem 2

This post came two months later than I expected, but I was taking a shower just now and thinking back about the sem and I just felt the inspiration to write something.

It's gonna be really content-heavy because I'm kind of in a lazy mood so searching for pictures takes too much effort.

Surprisingly I did really well this sem, I don't know if it's because I finally picked up the proper skills for studying, better time management, less distractions and drama in my life, or what, but my results really picked up. I was quite panicky when I was staying in hall because my results really took a toll. Seems like staying in PGP is really beneficial to me.

GE2206 Life & Death

This was one crazy mod. I had so much ups and downs during this mod I can't even describe. Took this with my usual Geog group plus two new friends that we made along the way. The grading consisted of one individual essay central-ed around your group project, and a group project. So essentially you're kind of doing the same thing, but it also means that the competition is really stiff and concentrated among your team members as every group will be touching on different topics. And since they're basically on the same thing the submission for your individual essays and the eventual presentation is only about two weeks apart.

Prof Elaine Ho mentioned in lecture that she was doing research on Indian surrogate mothers and we took a gamble even though we expected a lot of other groups to be doing on the same topic. I was really really really lost during the project discussion. I missed a few lectures and I had no fracking idea what was expected. The group was going on and on about governmentality and biopolitics and the likes and I just went blank. But somehow somewhat my individual essay did really well. I got my first A+ in my whole NUS life. I think it helps if your essay is very organised, I divided mine into sections as well under several headings.

We did a skit for our presentation because the prof wanted something out of the box and creative. There were groups doing podcast, news telecast and so on. We did not bad for that even though we were quite messed up for a while because we confused the slides and then we kept clicking back and forth. I didn't speak up at all during all 5 tutorials and I still did better than a friend who participated a lot, so I guess the speaking part doesn't constitute a very high percentage to your overall marks.

The finals were pretty straight forward and if you tried the past year questions, you would be fine. Overall, I did really well for this mod and so, of course I'll recommend taking this! :)

GE2202 Economy & Space

I took this module alone because none of my friends were interested, ended up I didn't turn up for any of the lectures nor watched the webcast. But I guess it's suitable if you're taking alone as everything is individual-based, there was a movie review and an individual essay. I did really badly for the movie review, I couldn't see any link between the movie and the concepts that we're supposed to be learning so I was smoking almost the entire time. For the individual essay, I did it on surrogate mothers as well because the essay submission for this and Life & Death was only like one hour apart and I had too much shit on to do research for an entirely new essay. I did pretty okay for it though, well above my expectation. I was expecting like a C or something.

For this mod, you must must must do prior preparation before turning up for the tutorials. You're expected to group into small groups (which you have signed up for before each tutorial) and then do a presentation on your topic at the end. And unless you've brought your laptop along, it's not easy to crap out something intellectual in such a short time.

SSA2202/GEK2001 Changing Landscapes

This mod is easy, but really really competitive. And because the information is so readily-available and straight-forward, it boils down to an English-ability fight. It's like a race to see who can twist and present the information more beautifully so every single mark you get, be it mid terms, finals, class part or project, is really really crucial. There's webcast but ended up I also didn't go for any lectures nor watched the webcast. It's pretty self-explanatory and everything is in the textbook. You get several lecturers, but some are really boring.


I did my project on Mount Sophia Old School under Prof TC Chang and he has really been a great help. We went to the consultation (each group gets one) without any clue of what to do, and he practically led us right where we want to be, and we came up with the essay topic, the research guideline and everything. He was really very informative and helpful, and the best part is he leads you there instead of spoon feeding you. And I was so touched by the constant follow-ups that he gave us even though he's such a busy man.


SSB2216 Employee Management in Singapore


This was one of the most fun mods that I took this sem. I took it with one other friend under Prof Winston Lee, while my two other friends took it under a different (female) prof. There's a total of five profs and I recommend that you really go and find out who you want to be under because ultimately, the profs mark back their own class papers. My friend and I didn't know this and she just chose the first slot that was available and I blindly followed, but it was really a blessing in disguise.


The class was really fun, there were only like four biz students and the rest were from a mix of faculties. We ended up doing our project with four guys sitting near us and they were really nice and fun people. The project progress was also quite efficient, which is a major plus point.

Prof Lee is a really friendly and nice person. He comes across as a very nice grandpa, but he tends to be soft and forgetful sometimes. It was so funny when he asked us the same few questions or gave the same examples week after week. But he tends to be more conservative and I think it'll really help your case if your work is not too controversial or bends and challenges the traditions. We went along with this theory and did our project on non-profit organisations instead of private companies. He also doesn't like people to print in black and white, especially the NUS logo, and projects should be properly binded/filed. I guess the nice impression gives you an added advantage la. But we never got back our marks so I can't tell for sure if we did well. I was also perpetually half an hour late though since it's like an early 9am class.

This was my first biz mod and I did quite well for it, so I might just take another biz mod for my breadth.

LAK2201 Korean 2

I did the lousiest for this mod. It was soooo hard and competitive. The amount of people taking this is really considerably lesser, with only four classes. But I like my lecturer a lot better too because she's more lively and bubbly, whereas my level 1 teacher came across as very motherly. There were so much things to be covered in the syllabus, and I did a check on NUS extension, one mod equates to three levels there omgggg.

I was struggling with the grammars and vocabs since there was so much to remember, but it was better and easier compared to level 1 in terms of techniques, because you're more or less used to the word forms by then.

I flunked really badly during the oral, so much so that my tutor pretended to cry and I walked out feeling so dejected. I'm just grateful I didn't fail in the end. And with this mod, I've used my third S/U option. -.- spent all 3 S/U options on language mods. But I guess learning Korean did pay off somewhat, my boyf is Korean and at least now I can carry some basic conversation with his dad. Of course, half the time I'm guessing what he means instead of knowing for sure, but knowing more vocab and grammar does help. I mean, it's better than nothing right.