Into Week 2 of Sem 2

I'm quite glad I got almost all my desired tutorial slots as I actually thought I wouldn't be able to get most of them. Unfortunately though, I've been allocated a CS1010E tutorial which happens to be at ungodly hours. Hopefully I can get the 1-2pm slot tomorrow during Add/Drop/Swap.

So far, EC3312 and EC3333 are still fairly easy. However, I sort of dislike EC3333's style of teaching in the sense that the lecture notes takes snippets of contents from all over the textbook so I tend to miss the big picture in mind when I study for it. I mean I can't blame Prof Lu cos' the textbook we use is apparently for MBA students so if we were to study entire chapters, it might be a little advanced. But this also means that if the lecture notes are not uploaded early, I wouldn't be able to self-study to get ahead for this module. It seems for now that there is close to zero derivation in this module. Mostly are understanding and applying the formulas though I must say in order to appreciate whatever that's going to be taught in this module, it will be beneficial to have a solid foundation of mathematics and statistics. Otherwise, if you're really left with no choice, you can attempt to memorize those formulas by hard (but that just defeats the whole purpose of learning). On the other hand, EC3312 seems pretty interesting. Prof Sun's lectures are a tad lively and yes, that's probably the first time I ever said that a lecture is lively. But as I'm not very good with formal mathematical representations, I tend to take some time understanding the proofs.

ST2132 is also pretty doable for now. However, I'm lagging behind for ST3131. Now that's the problem with skipping lectures; you have to be disciplined and always be ahead of others. And it doesn't help that I need the earlier chapters of ST2132 to start on ST3131 because fortunately or unfortunately, it seems that ever since Prof Kuk has taken over, ST3131 has lost its reputation of being the easiest level-3000 module. As far as I know, many people were either not listening or trying their best to understand the material covered in the notes during lecture last Friday. I guess most people are still in the festive mood like me. But I constantly remind myself not to repeat the same mistake of excessive procrastination like what happened for MA1506 and ST2131.

Sadly, I haven't started on CS1010E. Well, the thing is probably only 1% of the industries in Singapore uses C so I got pretty much no idea as to why we are still learning this obsolete language. Even C++ or C# would have a relatively higher degree of relevance.

And yeah, I guess that's all for now. For the whole of last week, I've been busy trying to adapt myself back to school and of course, in all honesty, to recover (as I was sick and did not manage to make it to school until last Wednesday). So that means I've quite a lot of catching up to do and will be very busy this week, hopefully.

AY2013-2014 Semester 2 Modules

In the coming semester, I'll be taking the following modules:

CS1010E Programming Methodology

EC3312 Game Theory and Applications to Economics

EC3333 Financial Economics I

ST2132 Mathematical Statistics

ST3131 Regression Analysis

I had wanted to take EC4341 International Economics II this semester while the content for EC3341 is still fresh in my head. However, I think FASS is quite rigid in terms of the fulfillment of prerequisites; level-4000 modules require the completion of 80 MCs. But as I did not overload in any semester, I have completed only 60 MCs.

Apparently, ST2132 used to be a killer module for Stats majors but ever since Dr Lim Chinghway had taken over this module, the content and exams have become much easier.

Also, ST3131 will be the last module I am using to preclude myself from an EC module. As compared to EC3303, ST3131 is much harder (obviously) but more importantly, it is going to be a lot more useful. EC3303 focuses very little on the understanding of the formulas involved and students are required only to apply the formulas. Of course, there will be some derivation involved but it really isn't as difficult as many made it out to be. Moreover, taking ST3131 will allow me to have an advantage over others (except those from FOS) for EC3304. However, there is one drawback from taking ST3131 instead of EC3303. The software used for EC3303 is STATA while that used for ST3131 is R so I'll have to learn STATA by myself.

On a lighter note, I have finally cleared all my exposure modules which means I can start taking only my core modules from now on. This is great news for me as there is nothing else in FASS that interests me apart from econs.

I have checked my preallocated modules; both EC modules have been allocated to me which means I do not have to bid in Round 1 for this semester. However, the enrollment for these two modules does not seem to be very high which means competition will be more stiff (though I don't think the enrollment and competition can beat that of EC3314).

I am looking forward to doing my modules for this semester especially EC3312, CS1010E and ST3131.