EC2101 Microeconomic Analysis I
This module was taken by Dr Zhang Yang. She is a very enthusiastic lecturer and will reply to student's queries promptly. Also, she can explain concepts very clearly during lectures. I recommend studying the textbook together with the notes. The textbook used for my batch was Microeconomics by Rubinfeld and Pindyck. I think it has changed after my batch.
Weightage
Tutorial attendance and participation: 10%
Homework: 15% (one before and one after midterms, if I remember correctly)
Midterms: 25%
Finals: 50%
The median for the homework was on average only 2 marks away from the full mark, 15. Hence, try and secure close to, if not full marks for both the homework sets.
The midterms consisted of 6 MCQ as well as 2 or 3 structured questions. The MCQ carried a heavy weightage; each question was worth 6 marks. The structured questions were quite easy. The median was around 75/100 and I got 89. Study the notes and textbook well and it'll be easy to get above the average. Midterm scripts will be returned during tutorial.
The emphasis in the finals was on government intervention; taxes and subsidies. This happened to be the chapter I really neglected as it was the very last chapter. To do well for finals, it is really important to know the concepts well.
Result: B
I really screwed up the finals very badly, hence ending up with only a mediocre grade. The reason was that there were many concepts I was unclear of towards the end of the semester coupled with some careless mistakes.
EC2102 Macroeconomic Analysis I
This module was taken by Prof Ho Kong Weng. There were more chapters covered for this module as compared to EC2101. Personally, the chapter that required the most time was "Dynamic AD-AS". Others are relatively easy especially the ones on IS-LM. I strongly recommend getting the textbook, Macroeconomics by Mankiw. But then again, I self-studied this module all the way so I don't know if there's really a need but I thought the notes weren't very good.
Weightage
Tutorial attendance and participation: 15%
Midterms: 35%
Finals: 50%
The midterms was a 35 MCQ paper. It tested students mainly on their memory skills. I remember there was an absurd question asking about the year this theory came out or something like that. Prof Ho only releases z-scores for the midterms, 0 being the mean and positive scores indicate you are above the average. As I focused on the applications during my revision, I did very badly for the midterms and scored only -0.6. Midterm z-scores will be uploaded onto IVLE.
Many had complained about the finals being a killer. However, I found the finals easy probably because my concepts were strong. Nevertheless, there were some parts which I did not explain clearly, causing some marks to be lost.
Result: A-
I am not sure if Prof Ho still sets memory-based midterm papers as for my batch but it is still possible to pull up your grade even with a mediocre score for the 35% component. Finals was slightly more mathematical but it really isn't as hard as many people had described it to be. It is important to remain calm during the exam and recall the concepts learnt in class.
MA1506 Mathematics II
This module was taken jointly by 3 lecturers if I remember correctly, two of them being Prof Leung and Prof Chew. Do not expect too much from the Profs though. In fact, I did not attend the lectures at all. The reason why I took this module was to replace MA1101R as this was a more applied version of linear algebra. But I actually thought the topics covered were more of ODE.
Weightage
Midterms: 20%
Finals: 80%
The average for the midterms was around 6.99/10. As with all PYP format, there were 10 MCQ to be completed within one hour. I screwed up the midterms; I could not formulate the ODE for one physics-based question while I made careless mistakes for two other questions, hence ending up with a mediocre score of 7. Anyway, this is a test that you should know your grade as soon as you step out of MPSH. Otherwise, I think the solutions are uploaded almost immediately.
The finals was not really that difficult but it requires knowledge of Fourier Series from MA1505. As I took MA1102R instead, I had to give up the last question on PDE. I don't really think time was much of a problem but do exercise extra caution when doing the paper.
Result: B+
I ended up with a sub-par grade due to my carelessness in finals as well. I screwed up one question on cantilever as well as another question which I can't remember what it's about. Coupled with my midterm score, B+ was expected. In fact, I only began studying for the finals (and when I say studying, it really means going through the notes for the first time since I did not attend lectures or watch webcasts) from Week 11 or 12 onwards so yes, I deserve it. As with all maths modules, practise consistently.
MA2216/ST2131 Probability
My lecturer was Dr David Chew. His notes were basically a summarized version of the textbook and the format was almost identical as well. But I thought he is a pretty good lecturer even though the concepts may be quite dry towards the end. However, do not be fooled by the simple title of this module. As all maths and stats majors will know, this is one of the killer modules. I do not advise anyone from other faculties to take this module if you are weak in maths.
Weightage
Midterms: 20%
Online quiz: 10% (done towards the end of the semester)
Finals: 70% (helpsheet allowed)
The midterms was simply a 15 MCQ paper. I did badly for the midterms, again due to carelessness but in all honesty, I couldn't do 2 questions no matter how hard I tried. The mean was 11/15 and I got only 10. The bell curve for midterms was skewed terribly to the right. Solutions to the midterms was uploaded onto IVLE.
The finals was mostly application-based but it also requires some higher-level thinking. The probability questions at the back were a giveaway.
Result: B+
I was really unclear for the last three topics, Joint Distribution, Expectations and Limit Theorems and not only were they the harder topics (probably with the exception of Limit Theorems), but also, I slacked off towards the end of this semester thus ending up with only a B+ for this module. I should think practice actually doesn't help much in scoring for this module. What is important is to understand the concepts that have been taught.
SE1101E Southeast Asia: A Changing Region
This module was taught jointly by two profs, Dr Irving Johnson and Dr Julius Bautista. I absolutely dislike the content covered for this module probably except for the religion part. I thought SEA has more interesting stuff to talk about like politics rather than what was covered for this module. But in terms of workload, this is probably the best module to take to clear the exposure module under the Asian Studies Division for FASS students. Readings weren't heavy but they also weren't helpful in scoring for the finals.
Many students had praised Dr Irving's lectures but I personally thought he wasn't a very good lecturer. Besides wasting too much time cracking jokes only to rush through the lectures towards the end, he isn't very helpful as well; he might seem enthusiastic to many but he doesn't even reply students' queries. Dr Bautista, on the other hand, though boring (as many have described him to be), is a lot more helpful.
Weightage
Tutorial attendance and participaton: 10%
Group project: 30%
MCQ quizzes: 20%
Finals: 40%
The project was to be done in groups of 4 or 5. There were 3 questions to choose from, each on one theme. My group did the easiest one on urbanisation as data was readily available on the net. Another question was on religion and I can't remember what the last one was about. Having substantiated our paper very well, my group got an A for our project.
MCQ quizzes were memory-based but it can also tests students on the movies broadcast during lectures. However, these movies were made available on IVLE so I didn't think there was a need to attend the lectures at all on top of the lectures being close to useless.
If I remember correctly, the finals had 1 compulsory question and we could choose 2 out of 3 questions for the next section. Each question was on one separate theme but there was one question that combined two themes together.
Result: B
I basically screwed the finals up really badly as I was not well-versed in the content taught for this module and couldn't crap enough during the exam. However, I have no advice as to how to study for this module; I think it really boils down to general knowledge but that could just be my biased opinion as you can attempt to read up the recommended books for this module but it can be really time-consuming.
