Update on AY2014-15 Semester 1 Module Review

I know the reason for why the number of views on this blog shot up in the past few days is because readers are waiting for my module review to be up. I am already working on it; right now, I'm halfway through but I do not want to sacrifice quality for speed as well. Rest assured it'll be up by this weekend so for now readers, please be patient!

Course Materials Update

For those who have requested for materials, please try the new link and let me know if it still doesn't work. I don't have the full stuff for everything but it should be enough to give you a gauge as to whether you should take the module or in the case that you have to take the module either way, you can get a sense of the difficulty level.

Just some quick comments though:

• The lecturers for EC4102 in Semesters 1 and 2 are different. So the styles might be quite different but I do think that the content covered is about the same. Also, the notes is missing Chapters 6 and 7 which are just Chapters 6 and 7 of the textbook, Advanced Macroeconomics 4th Edition by Romer.

• I heard ST3131 got a lot harder this semester so I am not going to upload the assignments as they aren't going to be of any help.

• What is covered under "Exchange Rates" in EC3341 isn't a good gauge as to what's going to be taught in EC3343. So what I uploaded in EC3341 is only going to serve as a guide to EC3342. 

Course Materials

I realized I forgot to mention one important thing: I will only upload files upon request as you can now see in the side panel. So if there's anyone who will like to see the lecture notes/tutorials/assignments etc. for a module that I've taken, do leave a comment and I'll upload them as soon as possible. Also, let me know if the link isn't working.

Semester 5 is over!

Yesterday marks the end of my fifth semester as I had my last finals and yes, 6 finals in a timespan of exactly one week. By far, this is the most gruelling semester for me as I had 6 core modules on top of work. Thankfully, not all the modules are too demanding. However, I am not very confident of doing well this time round (again) mainly because of the steep bell curve for several modules like EC3332, EC4102, ST1131 and ST2137; the finals for EC3332, EC4102 and ST2137 were disappointingly too easy and suprisingly, ST1131 finals was a bit more challenging than I thought. I feel a bit bad talking about this module though because I can literally count the number of hours I spend on it for the whole semester. Moreover, there are some modules which I did not do up to expectations for midterms and that may cause me my grade. Well, I shall leave the details to my module review after results are out. 

I'll be starting my internship tomorrow which leaves me only a day in between as my break. But I think it's good to be occupied rather than having too little on hand. Now I think it feels weird to have finished finals in the first week of exams as my finals have been stretching to two weeks since Year 1 Semester 2. Nevertheless, I'm quite drained this semester so it's good to have finished all the finals within a week. Somehow though, it feels like this semester has passed too quickly such that it seems that I haven't settled down very well to study my modules very thoroughly and everything's over.

And MPE is coming up and I guess I should have decided on my modules for Sem 2. Finally, I can take just 4 core modules from now on (if you don't count the last semester) which is good because I am beginning to understand how time-consuming level-4000 EC modules can get. By the way, the Economics department has requested for students to complete a MPE exercise for the next academic year. It seems like they are asking for EC4101 and EC4102 to be taken away as core requirements for honours and also to open more electives for students. I've seen the new electives and they are pretty interesting like the Economic and Financial Forecasting, Income Distribution Analysis and Mathematical Economic Analysis.

Anyway, here are my choices:

EC4332 Money and Banking II

Apparently, this module is many times harder if you take it under Bodenstein instead of Jungjae. He even recommends that students take EC3314 and EC4102 before taking this module. So I guess a fair amount of maths will be involved. I saw things like multivariate, eigenvectors and eigenvalues in the syllabus so it should be one of the more challenging electives. 

EC4880 Topics in Economics: Special Topics in Economic Growth and Macroeconomics

This took me quite some time to decide on it. I was contemplating a few modules mainly EC4333, EC4394 and this. And I decided that maybe it's time I prioritize my interests and grades a bit instead of usefulness. Despite this module being quite theoretical, I think it will suit me better than the rest. I really wanted to take EC4341 in place of this in view of the wider range of electives that's going to be offered in 15/16 and that EC4341 is a must-take for me but then Gentile is really not going to give me as good a learning experience than Davin Chor can. So I will leave this module to Year 4 Semester 1.

ST3239 Survey Methodology

This is one of the more fundamental modules that I think if you are looking into research fields in the future, you should take it. It teaches different types of sampling methods; how to construct surveys taking into cost considerations etc. Conducting surveys is probably one of the more layman-understood areas whereby it's "just like that" so I'm hoping this module will provide me with some new insights. One drawback is that I heard the bell curve is extremely steep and that it is highly popular so it isn't that ideal if you're suffering from the problem of lack of bid points.

ST3244 Demographic Methods

I was deciding between this module and ST3243 but I think ST3243 may be a bit over-specialized. So I'd rather take more general modules to gain the necessary skills to increase marketability. I guess the module title makes it quite obvious that students are going to learn about demographics such as population rates, fertility rates etc. I am looking forward to the part on making projections though.

SSA1201 Singapore Society

This is definitely one of the most irritating component that all undergraduates must clear. I chose this because (1) it fits my timetable (duh) and (2) it doesn't seem like it requires much studying to be able to crap during exams to get away with any grade that's B- and above so that I can s/u it with zero problems. And I am not looking forward to the 25% class participation component at all because I've seen how this department works and most of the time, the arguments are full of fluff.

And so that's all for the updates. It doesn't seem very easy to be able to secure two level-4000 modules when you are not in the SOC4 batch yet. EC4102 was easy to get because no one wanted to take it under Aamir Hashmi due to the rumoured difficulty compared to Semester 2. I hope the same goes for EC4332 since I'm not too sure how EC4880 will turn out exactly. Past experiences tells me 4880 isn't easy to get so it's like you should be prepared to waste over 1k bid points on it. But that's not the main issue for me. The thing is non-honours students are not allowed to bid in Round 1 and I probably have to wait until Round 2A or 2B to bid for it and by then, all the slots may have been filled up and it'll no longer be offered for bidding. So that means I have to go through all that hassle to appeal for it and it doesn't help that I have no other possible choices besides this. Hopefully, MPE will work its magic.

Updated Module Reviews

Now that midterms are over (or at least it was just over for me), some people may be very anxious over their results. But lecturers aren't returning them and you've got no idea how they'll be returning them as well. So I updated all my module reviews to add in this piece of information. I hope it helps a bit.

Anyway, for interested readers, I only know my midterm results for EC4102 and ST1131 as of now. For this semester, I shan't post the scores up at this point in time so look out for my module review during the end of this year.

Start of a New Semester

I will not be posting anything new onto this blog for quite some time. The reason is I'm busy juggling between work and studies.

Well, a short update for my readers though: I like the content covered in EC4102 and MA2311. And although EC3304 and ST2137 aren't as interesting, they're pretty useful. As for EC3332, I took it only because there were not many level-3000 electives left. I mean if the department actually sticked with those interesting level-4000 electives like Mathematical Economic Analysis and Income Distribution Analysis, I would take either one of them this semester. Moreover, it doesn't seem very fuss-free to appeal for EC4332 without taking EC3332. But truthfully, EC3332 was a bit more insightful than I thought. Lastly, ST1131 is just content from ST2132 as well as ST3131 presented in a simpler fashion. I think I spend at most an hour on it every week because I have other priorities on hand. Besides, having already completed the higher level modules gives me quite an advantage. The tutorials are very disappointing though so I gave up attempting them after Tutorial 3 or 4.

And that's all for now. I'll post again later this semester if I've free time.

AY2014-2015 Semester 1 Modules (Updated)

After careful consideration, I have changed my module selection slightly and will be taking the following modules next semester instead:

EC3304 Econometrics II

EC3332 Money and Banking I

EC4102 Macroeconomic Analysis III

MA2311 Techniques in Advanced Calculus

ST1131 Introduction to Statistics

ST2137 Computer Aided Data Analysis

And yes, so I decided to overload this semester instead of the next. But indeed, I find myself quite foolish not to have included EC3332 when I did the MPE (though the points in my P-acct should be more than enough for the remaining 4 modules that I need to bid). And this is the first semester that I actually hesitated so much about which modules to take. Usually, I just MPE what I need and I don't remember any one time that I didn't get any of the modules that I MPE-ed. So this is probably an exception though I foresee more of such coming since it seems that most level-4000 electives aren't very easy to get.

Anyway, there are a few reasons why I chose to take these modules:

(1) Well, apparently ST1131 should be taken in the first semester under Prof Gan Fah Fatt. And in terms of the bell curve, a cohort size made up from two lecture slots as compared to one in Semester 2 is going to make a bit of a difference I guess. Nevertheless, I wish to clear my core modules asap and thus I'm taking EC3304, MA2311, ST1131 and ST2137 all at one go.

(2) Then why didn't I stick to EC4341 and overload? I think given my results and standard, it's a little too adventurous for me to overload to 26 MCs. But more importantly, EC4341 is pretty heavy in terms of both content and workload. Initially, I was pretty bent on taking EC4341 this semester despite it being the module causing all my timetable problems due to some reasons which I'm not too keen on explaining. So EC4102 was the module I would rather give up to overload. However, after careful consideration, I personally think that EC4341 will be more demanding than EC4102 and the fact that I didn't get allocated EC4341 just reaffirmed this decision. 

(3) I wish to take EC4332 Money and Banking II under Prof Martin Bodenstein in Semester 2 so it's a good idea to clear EC3332 this semester.

(4) I've planned my timetable such that I'll be taking only 4 core modules in Semesters 6 and 7 with the fifth module either as SS/GEM (yes, I haven't cleared these modules). So it shouldn't be as bad with 2/3 level-4000 EC modules plus 2/3 ST electives.

Although I'm not confident I'll definitely do fairly well with the above selection, I think this is probably the most optimized arrangement to spread out my workload for the remaining four semesters even though there'll be two exams each day in a span of three days which means I'll finish 4 exams in three days with only one Sunday in between as a break (I experienced worse before: 4 exams in two consecutive days) but well, preparation for finals should really be ready by then.