NUS Module Review AY 2013/2014 Semester 2

Modules taken: EC1101E, EC2303, FMA1206M, MKT1003X, NM1101E

EC1101: Introduction to Economic Analysis

Lecturers Dr Indranil Chakraborty, Dr Seet Ming Kok

Content Microeconomics and macroeconomics. It would be of an advantage if you took H2 economics in JC, 70% of what I was taught in JC was relevant here. Thus, content wasn't so much of a hassle. But my friends who did not have any econometrics background at all didn't have any problems understand the lectures or what not so no worries for that.

Workload Probably invested the least amount of time on this mod. Tutorials are unmarked and you would only have to present in class for your 10% class participation. Most of the time your friends in your tutorial would help you haha. and of course, Midterms and Final paper.

Exam Well, we were privileged to have two seperate papers for microeconomics and macroeconomics so contents were entirely separated so we didn't have to study the entire sem's worth of work hehe. Both were written papers. Midterms was honestly really just a copy-and-paste of tutorials thus I think everyone scored dam well and I kinda sucked LOL. Finals was pretty tough and tricky, but if your econs is solid, you shouldn't have a problems but read questions properly!

Personal Thoughts If you're taking this module in sem1, this review is probably not really an accurate gauge because as what I had heard of, 600 people took EC1101e in the first sem (since it's a required core for econs majors) and only estimated around 40 people took it during my[2nd] sem. PLUS, the lecturers were both different so exams and all that were entirely different from what people in semester 1 had taken so do take note of that.

Should you take this mod? I think everyone would recon H2 econs students to take this mod, so yea I do recommend it too! Just note that the bell curve is pretty steep.

Grade A-, honestly I had quite abit of careless mistakes here and there but I'm pretty contented with the results :)

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EC2303: Introduction to Econometrics 

Lecturer Dr Emily Beam

Content Very statistical and mathematical based. Thus,  JC students who have taken H1/H2 mathematics may be of an advantage. It doesn't mean poly students will be of disadvantage, really. Familiar JC stuff are hypothesis testing, permutations&combi, poisson blablabla.

Workload I think I spent quite a lot of time on this mod, around 50%? Since it's about math, this mod requires quite a lot of practice like any typical math paper. News problems, individual assignments, in-class quizzes(ICQ), mid-term and final paper. News problems are, what I feel, a waste of time really.. but heck, it's like 10% of the overall grade so just do. ICQs are quite sort of an "attendance" for lectures but I do suggest u just go for lectures rather than watching webcast la. For assignments, getting full marks is important since in math, there is either only right or wrong and everyone would check answers with their peers to get "free" marks. It's damn annoying part cause' you have to be kiasu.

Exam Midterms was set pretty tricky and abit tougher but like all math papers, if you had been practising, it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Finals were easier but let me tell you that I had so many careless mistakes but I didn't finish the last part of my paper heh.. No time! okay but that's just my poor time management, most did!

Personal Thoughts Emily Beam was pretty comprehensive with her slides and explanations with chapter except the last few lectures, I dont know why haha. Resources given by her were really useful. Ahya, just practice really.

Should you take this mod? A requirement for economics majors. Competition is quite high and bell curve pretty steep since it's not super tough or anything.

Grade A, got an a- for mid terms so I guess finals was the one who pulled it up to an A, better than expected :)

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FMA1206M: Food Politics

Lecturer Matthew Lepori

Content Signed up for this module without knowing what it was, at all, except for the word food. So here's some head's up: it is about how food is "manufactured" from farms to your table and the many intricacies that happen along the way with governments and power, that affects the international trade of food i.e. politics. Ugh mouth full of words but you get the point. Think geography, sociology and politics.

Workload Lots of readings, there will be books that you need to purchase but you can also find in online in PDF files. I'm not super hardworking so I disregarded some of the readings... :( I feel bad. Class participation is considerable here since it's a seminar-based module, not something I'm entirely comfortable with. Presentation and RP which was done by a step-by-step basis. Slack.

Exam NO exams! Woohoo!

Personal Thoughts I generally do not have much knowledge on food or politics thus participation in class wasn't the best plus my presentation was kinda.. erm.. how should I put it, under the standard. hehe. I really enjoyed writing and researching on the essay though because you get to write an research paper(RP) about some food that interested you which related back to politics. I did an RP on fish! Our tutor was also kind enough to give up tips on writing a good essay which we were quite privileged to know of.

Should you take this mod? Yes, okay I think FMAs are generally interesting and thought provoking even though it is a freshmen mod. If you love talking, this is the mod for you! No bell curve since class is small (15 peeps max)

Grade A-, I was counting on an A considering I got an A for my RP but ah well, A- perhaps due to the participation in class.

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MKT1003X: Marketing

Lecturer Dr Ang Swee Hoon

Content Business stuff. What is marketing? concepts blabla. Basic stuff but don't be fooled because common sense is not so common. The 'X' in MKT1003X means it's for non-biz students in case you don't know.

Workload One individual assignment, one group assignment + presentation, subject pool stuff and Finals. Class participation consist of 10% but there isn't much time to speak up or anything so try your best to make some impression of your presence. All content for work can be found in the textbook. Syllabus covers 16 chapters in the text book and each chapter has like 20-30 pages? Cray. Unless you are a psych major maybe this is pretty okay for you... heh.

Exam Finals are 100 MCQs. Seriously, MCQs are no easy stuff. So don't be fooled to think it's easy. A lot of nitty gritty is being tested so I suggest reading the textbook word for word. I myself had a problem with answering the questions since it's really quite tricky.

Personal Thoughts I think I was really blessed to have a nice tutor and group. Everyone in my group was cooperative and not slack. We even have a mini celebratory outing after finals hehe <3 I enjoyed every single lecture and tutorial though they're not really useful for finals since you just have to somehow memorise the whole textbook. But hey, it's fun so you should go! Don't be such a boring mugger unless you're busy with cca or hall then maybe you can consider not to go haha. Subject pool is a burden so you should clear it asap.

Should you take this mod? Yes! If you like humorous and fun lectures, you should take this. Dr Ang usually teaches sem 2 marketing classes so do take note of that.

Grade A

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NM1101E:Communications, New Media and Society 

Lecturer Associate Professor Lonce Wyse

Content Common communication sense stuff put into technical terms. You learn about communication in offices, culture, individual. Content jumps from chapter to chapter and readings to readings which I can't really describe comprehensively because it's really just, everywhere. I suggest following closely to lecture content, slides and what chapter of the textbook is being taught that week.

Workload One individual assignment, two partnered assignment and finals. All 15% of overall grade each. I personally didn't like how our assignments were marked because it was quite messy and biased based on each tutor's strength. But I can't tell entirely for sure. They decided to waver off class participation because it would be somehow unfair if someone gets a hard question and unable to answer it..

Exam Finals are 74 MCQs. Weird number right? I have no idea why but it beats having to have short answer questions so I'm not complaining.

Personal Thoughts I think I was vexed by how arbitrary and ad hoc everything was. I suggest going for every lecture and study content word for word (yes, sigh). Questions for finals were not the clearest and I think quite a lot of people got screwed for not going to lectures, heh.

Should you take this mod? Not really. I don't know why people suggest taking it as a UE, I don't think it's really beneficial unless you just wanna S/U.

Grade B+, I was really glad I got a B plus. It was my first final paper then and I really didn't know what to expect.

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Overall

CAP: 4.6

Thank God for the decent results ^^ not sure if anyone would read this but you can leave a comment if you have queries about taking these mods :)