Year 2 Sem 2 Modules

Principles of Economics (EC1301) - B+
This is a typical principles course in Economics. The subject was really new to me and was very interesting. I had 3 lecturers for this course - the second lecturer - Roland - is amazing! Anyways, what you have to understand is that nearly 3/4 of the class have already studied 'Econs' before. So it is going to be highly competitive. One thing good is that there are only 2 exams - 40% mid-term and 60% final. Attending and following lectures and trying the tutorials is a must. Make sure you are comfortable with your tutor - it really helps. Reading the text book also helps a lot. It is important to understand the concepts and the ability to interpret graphs is definitely handy. The papers are in an MCQ format - trying past year papers is a must as questions of the same concepts are often repeated.
Semiconductor Devices (EE2004) - A-
This is a totally conceptual module. The first part of the course may seem very trivial as none of it actually appears directly in the exams, but the entire module is based on your understanding of the materials presented from week 1-6. There is another tendency too - if you understand the first part very well, you tend to assume that the second part will be followable too. That's the mistake I made. The second part of the course presented materials totally new to me and I was in a really sticky situation in the end. Reading the textbook definitely helps, but a pointer here - most of the questions are based on the concepts presented in the lecture notes' style. So, don't worry if your textbook (which is the only material allowed inside the exam hall) gets scribbled on - cause getting a good grade in this module is important. 1/2 the engineers who graduate from NUS get into the semiconductor industry and so yeah, it is highly likely that the interviewer is interested in you EE2004 grade! CAs are 40% - So don't take them too lightly either!
Electronics (EE2005) - A
Firstly, yay!! This is my first A in NUS! Many people who take up this module, usually complain about its difficulty. But this is really an application module. Studying EE2004 side-by-side helped a lot. The first part of the module is relatively simpler and you should be able to follow the tutorials and lectures well. Not much effort is required here. The second half of the module is the dreaded part. Attending lectures alone is not sufficient. It is very important to do daily or at least weekly studies and follow the lectures. Trying the tutorials/home work by yourself is key to getting a good grade. Attempt the labs by yourself too. It greatly aids the learning process. But ultimately, the 80% final exam pretty much determines your final grade. Make sure you practice a lot. As this is a completely open book exam, you can expect the questions to be difficult. The first 2 questions from the first part are invariably from the first part tutorials. So make sure you've worked them out and understood them well. The second 2 questions from the second part are usually application based and require you to have a good understanding of how to solve complex circuits.
Microprocessor Systems (EE2007) - B+
This was the first so-called 'programming' module that I really liked. Though my score isn't too good, I really learnt a lot here. 50% project and 50% final exam. So CAs matter a lot. One thing is that there is no plagarism checker like in C or C++. So there is a tendency to copy your friend's report. But don't do it. You'll miss out on a lot. Doing the projects by yourself may require a lot of effort on your part - you need to thoroughly read the lecture notes, understand how to use DOS and spend a lot of time on debugging and designing. But in the end, its totally worth the effort. The first 2 mini-projects will require you to write codes which come directly from the lecture notes. The trick here is understanding the hardware aspect and coming to terms with assembly language. The 3rd and 4th mini-projects require a higher level of understanding and coming up with a good flowchart will nearly solve all your problems. A small pointer here - Check out this site called 'Assembler for dummies' if you have difficulty starting your program. Though the mini-projects take up a lot of effort, they ultimately don't affect your grade very much as nearly everyone completes them too. So the final exam, which is usually easy and directly from the lecture notes, but closed book, makes the module highly competitive. Looking at past year solutions helps a lot.
Engineering Electromagnetics (EE2011) - B+
Okay. This is a module which has recently been upgraded to a 4MC one. But the material volume has increased only by a bit. So you should expect the questions to be tricky (Unfortunately I fell for a trick and got an entire question wrong in my finals!) As the material isn't too much and there are webcasts, there is a tendency to slack. Don't. This is actually quite an interesting module and is highly applicable in recent times, with ICs becoming so small, that currents flow at speeds nearly equal to that of light. All you have to do is understand the lecture notes and work out all the tutorials. The text book is also very small and you can work out all the simple problems there every week before your tutorials. Past year papers don't help much at all. Write your own helpsheet. Work out all the tutorials - by hand. Don't just look at the solutions. Know the lecture notes inside-out.
Einstein's Universe and Quantum weirdness (GEK1508) - S (B+)
This is one of the best modules offered in NUS! A science gem. The lecturer is really amazing! He is very passionate about the subject and there are a lot of small stories and quotes out there that you'll enjoy a lot if you are an avid reader. Even with a good background in physics, you can learn a lot and the lectures and tutorials make this a really enjoyable process. Wondering why I S/U ed then? Well, it is a 100% CA module. So if you aren't taking up any other project modules in the semester - I was busy with EE2007 - :-( - you can take it up on a graded basis. It also depends on how you stand in the class. There will be a 20% mid-term before the S/U dates. Your score there can help you take a stand on how the module will otherwise affect your CAP. Lot of creativity and imagination involved and applied in a scientific context! If I become rich enough one day, I think I'll buy the telescope that the lecturer brought to our star - gazing sessions! :-D

Overall, it was an okay sem for me. I got my first A in NUS (which was actually my 2006 resolution - but nvm ... this sem falls under the 06/07 academic year ^^) and an A- in 2004 was a pleasant surprise. Got what I expected for 2007, econs and the gem. My only disappointment this time was 2011. I was really hoping for an A- in that - but I suppose you can't get everything in life! Anyways, one really good thing is that I finally crossed over to 2nd class upper! With my SAP at 4.3 my CAP has risen to 4.04! (Though it was only a .09 rise)
But now I'm already thinking about my next semester. Its going to be an extra hard one where I'm going to be doing the dreaded '3rd year project' module which is 6 MCs, jump into Technical Electives, a minor module - whcih is mostly going to be marketing, an arts gem to fulfil my university requirements and a faculty requirement module - mostly engin prof. So yeah..6 modules again next sem! Or maybe I'll settle for 5 by doing just 1 TE...dunno leh..Anyways..2 more months to go before it comes to that..So I'll just leave it here..hehe!

The thing about results is...

It starts the weekend before. You begin to realize how irregular you visits to the temple have been! You think how nice it would have been to have known the lecturer on a name-to-name basis - how nice it would have been to butter her/him up, and have thrown at her/him random hints of how your handwriting usually looks like! You realize that instead of watching all those movies during the term time, you could have watched them in the vacation, like you are doing now! You think that if only there had been another day's gap between the exams, how you could have raced through some past year solutions and aced the exams! But now all you can sit and do, apart from spending the dreaded 24 hours before your results are announced refreshing that page you blankly stare at, is pray - that everyone screwed up as you much as you did!
Yep! Results in NUS are nothing short of 'miracles' - what you totally don't expect pops up! I remember how I clearly feared failing my C exam and my pleasant shock when I got a B (that's still only an average grade) but man! I was all phew!!! That being a module I took up in my first semester too, I was too busy making comparisons to my school exams to notice how differently we are graded here!
I never get tired of repeating this one particular incident though - which I think summarizes my opinion on 'results expectations' In my third semester, I did 2 core modules - Analytical methods in ECE and Signals. The thing is I loved the Signals module. I loved the lecturer, I loved the materials, I loved the labs and so naturally, I followed the module throughout the semester like a chammathu (good girl) And analytical... well, I must admit that it is a wonderful module as well! The materials represent the complete transition from pure to engineering math! But well, Math n me are like the 2 ends of a magnet!! I'm a more nature loving Physics person..hehe! Anyways, the thing is that I didn't like the module too much - though the lecturer is really sweet :-) - and so I ended up studying the entire module in the 2 days before the exam. You can imagine my shock when I got the same B+ grade for both the subjects! I was expecting an A- in Signals and a B in Anal! You may say - Pah! What's the big difference! But to me it is still uncomprehendable!
I realized that in this 'bell curve grading' system, you grades only reflect how you stand with respect to others. They do allow people to judge you among others, but good grades hardly mean that you know the things you are supposed to know! I mean, I got a B+ grade in C++ module as well, but though I can chalk out a few algorithms and pseudo codes , I can hardly say with authority that I'm good at the language!
Okay...I suppose that's about it for my ramblings today! Tomorrow's the D-day! Pray for me ppl!!