NUS Module Review AY 2017/2018 Semester 1

Modules taken: EC4880A, EC4307, EC4352, EC4305, HY1101E

I deeply apologise for the delay in response in the previous semester reviews in this as I was away for awhile end of last year and I hope my replies will still prove useful! I'll be able to reply promptly this day on so feel free to comment or drop me an email :)

In every semester, I consistently complain about how difficult it is and how it is the hardest semester yet and I believe my final semester as an undergraduate was the most trying of them all. Balancing with job applications for full time career opportunities, battling major rejections and taking up multiple extra curricular commitments alongside taking an overloaded 24MC semester pushed me to my limits both mentally and emotionally. (I recommend you guys to overload in the first few semesters and not in the final year)

Yet, I would say I made really awesome friends and also pushed my boundaries in both my critical thinking alongside my communication skills. While I would not say that it was something I would like to experience again, but it was indeed an extremely meaningful semester to reflect on.

At least I ended it off okay, academically. Not super okay but okay. You'll see why as you read, spoiler alert: did pretty badly this semester but here's how to avoid Abigail's mistakes. Apologises in advance if the content and structure seems pretty scattered, did this as quickly as a could.

EC4880A: Topics in Economics: Economics of Careers

Lecturer Aloysius SIOW

This module at the point when I was takin was cramped up into 5 weeks of the semester occurring 3 times a week in the evening, which was pretty exhausting but a huge sigh of relief when it ended haha. If you're looking for a new perspective of economic theories while looking for relevancy of surviving in the corporate world, this module is for you. Prof. Siow teaches a lot on how we as students can do well in the corporate world and controversies of the current academic curriculum to the working world. In which was a very refreshing perspective. There was almost no math at all and the finals are in essay/ case study format. 4 questions, put your thoughts. Workload was light relative to other honours modules. Til today, I have no idea what Prof. Siow is really looking for in the module but I guess for an honours module, it's really pretty slackish and fun to take.

Grade B

EC4307: Issues in Macroeconomics

Lecturer JO In Hwan

Very easy to understand module and Prof. Jo's content is quite light. Pretty slackish honours module but I don't really have the grade to compensate for it and here's why: we had a midterm during this semester that only allowed us one hour to finish in which obviously everyone was frantically rushing through it. Plus it was so freaking difficult, not only I say one okay. Unfortunately for me, I'm someone who has extremely low aptitude for MCQs and was unable to finish the open ended question (yea left like 15 minutes to do 2 open ended questions worth around 40 marks? *cries*) So eventually I quite badly for the midterm that consisted of 40% of the overall semester grade, in which was also the only differentiating factor for the students because the rest of the components were project work. However, I did enjoy the group project work alot, partly because I liked my project group mates and our country was Singapore so it was very relevant to us. I would not deter you from taking this module because honestly, I'm not a good gauge when it comes economic MCQs because I feel I am an outlier when it comes to 100% right and 100% wrong questions.  

Grade B-

EC4352: Singapore Economy: Practice and Policy

Lecturer CHIA Ngee Choon

I took this module only because it is a compulsory for my batch's graduating requirement. There were alot of really SMART double degree students in my class that semester because most of them were year 5s who needed to clear the module as well (this module was only offered this semester) and everyday felt like a reality check for me because everyone was so proactive and smart, like even their answers to Prof Chia's questions sounded as if they gave a full lecture of EC1101E? HAHA okay I sound like I am exaggerating but I am really not! Students and competition aside, I must say I really really enjoyed this module and Prof. Chia's teachings to Singapore policies and the economic outlook on questions of why Singapore's direction is what it is today. Though it's really pro-Singapore, it did give me a good understanding of different government bodies in Singapore. Extremely applicable if you're planning to pursue a role in the government sector. Oh yes, project work for this module is super heavy and very difficult (super?!), had no idea how many times my group tried to crack a solution to our projects. But presentations are super fun because the class is so interactive! Would recommend the mod if you like a form of challenge and relevance to government related roles. 

Grade A-

EC4305: Applied Econometrics

Lecturer LI Bingjing

4305 was a decently alright. Full projects based I didn't do so much of stata on my part of the projects because my group mates took the initiative to do it, so I did most of writing which also required alot of application work and understanding of the econometric tools. If you're looking to take applied economics modules, especially EC4398, I highly recommend you to take this module first in order to have a quicker understanding of the very intensive amount of required readings lol. This module was quite a bane to me though I really like understanding the econometrics behind research papers (that's why I always enjoyed econometrics) but because of how I put my job applications at a higher priority lol. It was hard to be consistent. Well, thank God it's over but I would hope to make it a point to relook at the econometrics methods taught in this module.

Grade B

HY1101E: Asia and the Modern World

Lecturer John SOLOMON, Bruce LOCKHART

I am someone who never liked history. In fact, I dropped this exposure module on my first semester as an FASS student because history is just so boring to me. I ironically took this exposure module again this semester because amongst the other humanities module, this had the least workload. I didn't expect much from HY1101e, with regards to my lack of passion and interest in this subject, but Prof. Lockhart and Solomon really brought out this burning passion of history from me. I'm not discrediting Prof. Solomon (he was also a very funny guy especially during globalisation lecture), but Prof. Lockhart is seriously on another level, I really loved his lectures and his very accurate pronunciations of the Chinese Language. I actually read the entire required readings because it was interesting, which was also btw very relevant, you can't really study the lectures if you don't read history in a story form. Definitely take this module if these lecturers are teaching. 

I would love to take more history modules but it was my final sem in NUS :P

Here's a tip, join the tutorial groups in which the prof is the TA. There's something about the history department grad students who become teaching assistants (TA) that suck the interest of history out of undergrads while further giving you a underwhelming grade just to say "good effort". Seriously.

Grade B+

Overall

SEP: 3.7 (lowest grade I've gotten in my FASS undergrad life)

CAP: 4.04 (Distinction)

Yea done with this maintaining cap and worrying about it every semester life :P