NUS Module Review AY 2016/2017 Semester 2

Modules taken: EC4306, EC4398, EC4332, EC4394, GEK1049/GEH1051

I can't believe I'm now down to my final semester and retrospecting through my reviews over the past semesters (in which I missed one semester's review btw lol), it feels almost surreal to see how much I have grown since the first semester til now.

This semester had been a harsh one, from adapting from work life to academic, overloading my modules, NOT getting my modules because I could not bid for my honours modules, trying to secure an internship while feeling extremely demoralised and struggling to keep my mind sane. Yet, I am pleased to say I survived extremely bipolar semester on a good note, and with grades I haven't gotten for a while though I had initially planned to achieve something better.

EC4306: Applied Microeconomic Analysis

Lecturer Indranil Chakraborty

4306 was the one and only mod I managed to secure for my semester for the first two weeks. I was at first very apprehensive about taking this module because it was mathematics heavy but it was the best and most chill module I took for this semester. I took EC1101E under Indranil before and I knew he was someone who seemed stern on a first impression but turned out to be a really nice prof so I decided to stay on for the module. Indranil starts his semester with really hard mathematical theories of auction in which he only tests what he feels is reasonable, in which is really really manageable. The next half of the semester is like a breeze and you can really focus on other modules because there's no projects or class participation for this module. I strongly recommend students taking this class to go for consultation to ask more advice on how the papers would be like. 

Grade B+

EC4398: Economics of Inequality

Lecturer Ong Ee Cheng

4398 was one of the most memorial modules I took for my whole university life, with a very bittersweet process throughout the semester. Workload is extremely heavy and Ong Ee Cheng expects a lot from her students. I do enjoy her class and her engagement throughout the semester but I constantly question myself whether it was worth taking her class because of the readings. The readings she requires the class to read (in which you need to read 80% of the readings) was really technical and an extremely painful process for me. My advice for those taking this module is to focus your energy and time in answering the quiz questions and not so much of trying to understand the readings 100% because the truth is, the readings are tough and nobody ain't got time for that, at least for me lol. I admit I did not do well for her class was probably due to my final paper because I was frantically trying to volmit as much info as I could on each question and I didn't have sufficient time to finish the finals.. cries. But i guess the module was overall, a good and extremely tiring run.

Grade A-

EC4394: Behavioural Economics

Lecturer Zhong Songfa

I thoroughly enjoyed the contents for 4394. Song's principles are pretty much static but very comprehensive. I saw a 2010 version of his notes and it was exactly the same lecture notes I had during my semester so if you want a head start, my advice to get the lectures notes from your peers (or me lol). I initially had an extremely hard time trying to apply his concepts onto the assignments but I decided to use my application skills from my old level 3000 days and it worked tremendously lol. Project work was fine but time consuming like all other project works are but little Stata application is needed, actually no stata application is needed lol. Overall, this module was pretty enjoyable, debunking normal "rational" economic theories with psychology and redefining new methods of constructing economic equations were refreshing. 

Grade A

EC4332: Money and Banking

Lecturer Huang Ji

4332 was the toughest module out of all the modules I took this sem. I’m someone who has little or no finance knowledge, it was a challenge to pick up quite a lot of the terms and intuition. The project grade I got was a stunner because we (my group) thought we did a pretty good job doing up the report but we ended up being the only 5 groups that received a B grade for the semester, in which B was the lowest grade received for the project. If you’re considering what to be put into the project report, put a regression line by hook or by crook because my other classmate who didn’t put a regression line got a B as well. *cries on top of that my midterms was pretty screwed I only had a 5/10 out of the average of 7 which created a lot of uncertainty this module. I even had to calculate what my CAP would be like if I got a C for this module lol. Finals was a bitch, Huang Ji’s final had a lot of extra info in the paper that was quite irrelevant to the final answer.it really test your understanding of whether you fully grasp the concept of the module. Tough mod.

Grade B

GEK1049/GEH1051 Narrative

Lecturer Ismail S Talib

I took this module out of pure desperation because I needed a module to clear my GEM and because of the new system NUS had I was 100% out of luck of obtaining any general modules.. sad. I got this mod because a friend of mine recommended me the module and told me the prof was really nice which indeed he was. The beginning of the module was pretty boring but I slowly gained interest after the second half of the module. It’s a super artsy module talking about moving images (a.k.a. movies) and books, basically narrative. Very slack module with only one essay and MCQ finals. For students who want to talk this module, I strongly recommend them to participate fervently in class because I realized class part is 15% and I didn’t participate much lol. Anyway, I thought I would have ace-d this module in order to compensate for my money and banking but my grade turned out pretty gruesome I had to use my SU for this hahaha. Highly recommend this module if you want to use it to clear ur GEM because of how little the workload this module has.

Grade B- (my very first and last SU)

Overall

SEP: 4.25 

CAP: 4.13