This semester will be the first time that I'm gonna have midterms for all my modules. And to make things sound slightly worse, it happens that I am reading five core modules this semester. Fortunately or rather, unfortunately, there'll be only three midterms in Week 7 and the remaining two will be in Week 8 or 9. That just means more topics will be tested at the expense of a less packed schedule.
But in the last few weeks or so, I wasn't too occupied with studies (in fact, I have been pretty slack the whole time). And finally one company replied out of probably a little over ten companies that I have applied to. I was asked to do a written assignment whereby it was basically answering a few questions if you had taken it literally. After submission though, I didn't find it very perfect and thought I could have done better despite having already spent one entire day on it. So the reply was that I had to wait about two weeks or so to know whether I will be called up for an interview. Yet surprisingly, the company has called me up for an interview yesterday. Although I should say it isn't my most desired internship, I don't really expect much given that I'm only in Year 2 on top of my major.
So back to studies. EC3312 and EC3333 are becoming pretty time-consuming to study. But for now, EC3312 is still dealing with fairly simple concepts, touching on the main themes of Static Games of Complete Information and Dynamic Games of Complete Information. I have been self-studying the textbook and I must say the textbook is pretty well-written in the sense that it is detailed yet at the same time, concise. As I had mentioned in my previous post, EC3333 is still a tad irritating to study as there is not too much focus on derivations and proofs. Somehow I get the feeling that many deem this module as a "formula-based" course though I believe that isn't the main idea at all.
ST2132 is still very straightforward for now in terms of the concepts covered. I'm not too sure how the midterm test questions will be like but I overheard two guys giving a rough gauge of the format on the shuttle bus yesterday. And if it's gonna be like what they described, then I doubt it'll be really helpful to keep practising. But speaking of that, practice isn't going to be more helpful if you overdo it; you can only go this far with practice.
On the other hand, I have received much criticisms about ST3131 with regards to both the Prof and the notes. Yes, indeed the notes are lacking in examples but then I always believe that if one really understands the concepts, examples wouldn't be necessary. And I actually think the amount of effort Prof Anthony Kuk puts in in writing his notes is very commendable. In fact, the only problem I found with the notes is that it assumes too much background knowledge which might be of a slight disadvantage to those majoring in Maths. As for me, it helped a lot that I'm reading ST2132 with ST3131 as there is quite some overlap in the concepts covered. Or to put it more accurately, ST2132 builds the foundation for ST3131. Then again, I don't find attending lectures very useful. Eventually, chances are you would have to go back home and spend time yourself to understand the material thoroughly again. I was pretty much forced to go for lecture yesterday as Assignment 1 was due in class. Weirdly enough, the lecture hall was a lot emptier as compared to the last time I went for the lecture which was probably in Week 4 or something like that when I decided that I should give the Prof another chance. And another thing is I have gathered that the TA for this module is close to atrocious in terms of both his teaching and attitude. So that's another thing to skip though I haven't attended a single tutorial for this module since attendance is not counted.
Just last week or so, I did my first sit-in lab for CS1010E and shockingly, the setting of the so-called quiz or exam was so informal that communication is allowed, both verbally and 'electronically' though neither would help much. Also, again because attendance isn't counted and plus tutorials are apparently useless, I have skipped all of the tutorials for this module as well. I mean it's stuff that I can practise at home to an even more effective extent. So for the midterm, there'll be 10 MCQ and it's scheduled to be on the first Saturday of Week 7. Yes, quite stupid to go all the way back to school just to do 10 MCQ which can be completed in less than half an hour.
And so that's about it for the updates.
