Saturday, May 23, 2015

Mod Review 14/15 Sem 2

PL3232
Should take this mod with PH1102E because there's quite a bit of overlap with the philo stuff and I'm sure it will help somehow for both mods. Take this mod with pl3236 too because overlaps with abnorm psych too (Isn't this the case for most psych mods though, haha) Won't say much about the lecturer - Derbyshire since he is no longer going to lecture this mod (hmm, maybe then the overlap with ph1102e will not be that great). As for my tutor (the guy) uhm sorry but I have to say he's the worst tutor I've ever had in my short two sems here. He's really boring and monotonous. There's no doubt he knows his stuff well but that's about all, doesn't help in him becoming a better tutor sadly. Tutorials were manageable not much preparation work required beforehand maybe just a bit of reading.

Will not talk much about this mod since it will be a different lecturer and teaching style and exam format may be different. Past year papers are avail on nus lib portal if relevant.

PL3236
Not sure if it is the content or just the lecturer..but the lectures are quite dry. (My lecturer: Collinson) However the occasional case study videos make it a little less dry. Tutorials are also quite dry, most preparation work is required is when your groups needs to present for that tutorial. For the other tutorials, you just need to read through the case study book (case study is reaaaally long like 5/6 A4 size pages of lines after lines of words) Tutor is also no longer going to be a tutor for 3236, so shall not elaborate on him. He took the whole cohort's tutorials though so that is really impressive!

Midterms - 100 mcqs, but the lecturer took really long to come back with the results - we only knew of the results after we took finals.
Finals - 75 mcqs (if I didn't remember wrongly) and 5 SAQ. Questions came from all the chapters we learnt since the start of the sem.

PL2132
Sim was my lecturer - awesome guy but really loves playing tricks in his paper so blur students (like me) will fall into them. >:( If you have great project group members (30% of grades) I guess 1/4 of the work is done, just need to do the indiv project report. I scored below average for that soooo I'm not sure how my results will turn out, sigh. Kinda disappointed cause I really spent a lot of time on that darn report. Oh well, we shall see how when the results are released on 2nd jun. (BTW, that is also my first day of work............means I have to get up early = see results early = ?? mood for the whole day)   Back to 2132, textbooks are not really needed, just need to make sure really understand and internalise what Sim is talking about during lectures. Really lucky to have got him as my tutor too :)
Tutorials are quite similar in style to that of pl2131, going through tutorials ws and SPSS.

PH1102E
Well, interesting mod. Never thought that I will take a philo mod one day cause at the start of sem 1 I was thinking to myself how these people that take philo are crazy. The lecturer - Pelzcar is really interesting and funny, his lectures are daebak. Even though I will love to show him some support by attending his lecturers, I was really lazy to wake up for his 10am lectures at U-town so I ended up watching all of them online, from the second one all the way till the last lecture. Summary assignments as per usual, and sometimes MCQ assignments. Just 5mcqs instead of a summary that week, and wow the 5 mcqs might seem little but they're mind-blowing.

No mid-terms which is really awesome, 20mcqs for finals as per usual too. Felt like it was okay but I always feel that way too for my summaries but sometimes the results are quite meh.

GEK1062
I'm part of the second batch taking this module. How fun the lectures are depends on who are the guest lecturers for that week. Basically just listen to the lecturer and take notes then do a reflection at the end. Sometimes the prof is really awesome and we didn't have to do reflections every week, esp when the guest lecturer talks too much and exceeds the pre-allocated timing given to him. So basically the whole LT will root for the guest lecturer to talk a lot = no reflection. No finals but there was a 'quiz' which is 5 choose 4 SAQ. Papers are provided with lines on only one side of the paper to prevent us from writing too much, but some kiasu people wrote a lot (flow over to the other side which is blank pfft).

Tutorials - Required to present every week. I had a shitty group member but the rest of us overcame it anyway. Quite boring when listening to each group presenting on almost the same thing, can just zone out during tutorials cause there is nothing much to absorb (i.e it doesn't really help with your grades for this mod). Do not skip the tutorials though cause attendance is taken.

For 14/15 Sem 1 review: click here
(pl1101e, pl2132, sn1101e, ec1101e, sc1101e)

Monday, April 13, 2015

Last week of Sem 2!!

Hell yeah, one more week (or technically 3 more days) of school before Year 1 Sem 2 is OVERRRRR. Time passes really fast omg. Then it will be reading week followed by finals. And then holidays!! (Let's just forget about the results for now)

And GOOD NEWS! I'm officially a psych ogl now :) Come come and join psych camp now!

Friday, March 27, 2015

Update - In bullet points


  • Bio psych tutorials are horrible...just plain horrible. Not sure if it is the content or the tutor but it's the tutorial that I dread the most this sem. It's super boring and I can barely stay awake. I feel like I do not learn anything much from the tutorial which I can already learn from the readings we were assigned to read before the tutorial.

  • Stats 2 - The lecturer said he can't return us our mid-term papers cause the distribution of the cohort is shifted to the left (ie. the results are not very good). So he said he will try his best to look through the paper again to see if he can help us :-) I thought everyone will cheer but the reaction from the class was quite neutral - Does it mean those around me actually did quite well for the test and were disappointed that the lecturer was trying to do something about it? Hmm food for thought.

  • Philo - I'm quite sure I will be the one helping to support the bell curve, sigh. I have no idea what is going on during tutorials and my summary results went up and then they dropped again. :-( Can't say I regret taking this mod though, cause it's really interesting. And I like the lecturer and the tutor.

  • GEK - Finally going to be the end of the tutorials = Last presentation! Will be graded by the other tutorial mates though..not sure how it will turn out.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Read this if you need a little motivation ;)

Credits

Signed up for so much stuff recently. Hope I get them! -Crosses fingers-
I will definitely share the good news here (I have a positive outlook in life, if you haven't realise) when I receive notice on the various stuff I signed up for :)

Just wanted to say, it's such a competitive world out there. But that's life isn't it? We all have to learn how to face the scary scary world out there and deal with it. After all, everyone has their own fears, their own worries. To whoever out there, just know you're not alone :)

If you fall, just pick yourself up and move on. Your grades do not determine who you are, you determine who you are. Just suck it up cause life goes on, and so will you. Might as well make the best out of it. ;)

Do share this post with anyone who needs it!

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Too March To Handle

Okay okay, I get it this March pun is too overused. I can feel your cringe through the computer screen. Just tolerate me this once. I can only do this once per year at max only anyway (Hmm or maybe 31 days per year if I want to be real irritating ;))

Actually, March has been really good to me till now. It's kind of unsettling how my tests are so evenly spread out that I don't feel overwhelmed by my studies (like last sem) :) So March, please remain this way and let me march my way to success (ie good finals results + amazeballs CAP)
However, have to say I'm quite fedup with this group mate of mine. He says he has work to do and can't contribute to our ppt slides at least till tonight when the deadline is supposedly this evening -.-  I already said in the whatsapp chat  long ago that I'm going to submit by today. Man. Why can't people take some initiative. I can't even describe how much I felt like flipping a table earlier when I saw his reply. Oh well.  I'm too tired to care anymore, honestly. We shall see how it goes since the presentation is already TMR. Shall not let this affect my good mood, hmph.

Elearning week next wk! :) 4 more days to the end of this week YEEHAAA. I'm quite afraid for the PL2132 midterm this thursday though. It's not as straightforward as I thought it was after the prev quiz. I scored below avg btw -.- But I'll make up for it! Wait and see.

Okay, the end of the short rant.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Reading Week

Credits

Day 2 of Reading Week, Day 6 of Chinese New Year.
I'm super relaxed during reading week this time round because I only have one midterm to prepare for in the upcoming week. Cheers to that! 

Had my first bio psych (PL3232) midterm previous week, and I have to say I tried my best, and we shall see the results when they're out :) Though I really don't want to admit this, I really enjoy this prof's (Derbyshire) lecture :) He really means it when he warned us at the very beginning of the first lecture, about how we should drop this mod immediately if we are afraid of not knowing what we are getting ourselves into. 

Also, though many say how he involves too much philosophical content into this supposedly bio psych lecture, it really does make the content less dry (though I don't really get what he's trying to say at times hahaha).
Keeping my fingers crossed then my perspective of PL3232 will not change when I get my results back haha. 

Scored my first 10/10 for my PH1102 summary too! Let's keep it that way ;) 

Friday, February 13, 2015

Question of the day (or maybe the Semester)

Bio psych exams coming up in a few days! Essays, essays and more essays. Just realise this is the first psych exam I have that actually requires us to write essays instead of mcqs/short ans questions.
-Crosses fingers-

A lot of people are shocked after I tell them that I'm taking bio psych & abnorm psych in the same sem. Hmm, did I really make the wrong choice to take these 2 mods together? Hopefully not! Even if I did, it's too late now. I will disprove this theory that it's impossible to clear these 2 mods together!

(Bringing in what we learnt in stats - on how we cannot prove a theory, but we can disprove it. HAHA)

Cheers to a great weekend of reunion dinners and mugging for bio psych! :)

Monday, February 2, 2015

14th Feb; Valentine's Day

Credits
One month has passed since the start of sem 2! Everything seems to be going well except for the fact that I just got back my results for my first philo summary & it's..not really well done. I shall not let it affect me & I'll push on for the rest of the summaries!!

Anyway wrt the post title, once again, I'm going to spend it alone again haha. Not that I'm not fine with not being attached, just that occasionally I get a little drunk on jealousy (heh) when I see couples having so much fun together. I guess I will meet my other half someday.. (Or will I? Hmm) 

Secretly (or maybe not now that I've said it here), I'm quite thankful V-day falls on a sat this year, at least I don't have to feel a little lonely seeing all the couples together, especially the ladies holding roses and chocolates while it's just me and my...laptop. It's okay my laptop, I got you! But then again I have school on Friday (dayuum), and there are so many different groups of students in fass selling flowers and stuff. Like urgh. The <adv> have been going on in the different whatsapp group chats. Sigh.

Oh well, came into uni with the intention of studying and doing well anyway, not to get into a relationship (sorry, being sour here HAHA). But of course, manifest and latent functions both apply. Heh. 

Happy (super) advanced valentine's day to all you people out there! Including the singles too. Who say singles can't have fun! :) And to those sweet couples out there..enjoy that special day where you get relatively more attention from your other half HAHAHA. Joking, stay loving to each other & get married when the time comes and then do the nation a favour and boost the Singapore population! ;)

Monday, January 19, 2015

Tutorial balloting frustrations >:(

Credits
Couldn't focus on reading my textbook, so here I am!

The results for tutorial balloting are out and I didn't even get a tutorial slot for one of my mods. Damn. Have to reballot again tomorrow. Thankfully the rest of my other mods are kinda fine, at least my timetable is not screwed up. 

But, bye bye to my three day work week. Four day work week here I come! :( At least it will be a biweekly thing, I either have to come back on the odd weeks or the even weeks. Hopefully I don't mix up the weeks if not I'll go to school for nothing hahaha. And I definitely have the tendency to mix up the weeks. 

Oh well, I shall see how it goes again tomorrow! Tata!

Saturday, January 17, 2015

Year 1, Sem 2, Week 1 CHECKED.

Greetings! :)

I HAVE to start off with saying that it feels REALLY good to have a 3 day work week! Hopefully this continues in wk 3 when the tutorials starts. It's going to be really hectic from then onwards. Really thankful that tutorials for GEK1062 only start in week 5?! When the lecturer annouced this piece of news, the whole lt went "woaaaaah" together hahahah. It was quite funny cause the lecturer was kinda surprised by our response heh.

PH1102E is at Utown Aud 3 and wow it is really far in, all the way at CAPT area. I had to use the map to navigate myself hahah. It was really worth it though, cause the lecturer is really engaging :) Best part was the first lecture was only about 1hr long! AWESOME or what. Had an extra hour for lunch thanks to him :) Sadly though, I will watch the webcasts for the future lectures cause I have tutorials immediately after the philo lec, and I don't really enjoy squeezing in the buses (assuming I can even get on the bus on time first). The worst part about school for me is definitely the travelling, without any doubt.

As for the psych lectures, as usual they have been interesting! A lot of group projects though. Really hope I can get into the same tutorial as my friends, for at least I will have some familiar faces to form groups with haha. Well, I'm socially awkward if it's still not obvious by now haha.

Okay, won't have time to update this blog much now that Sem 2 has started. Haven't even completed my readings for week1 and the week is almost over. -cries- I really don't want to have a huge backlog to catch up with during recess week, it really sucks.

Thursday, January 8, 2015

My mods for Year 1 Sem 2 are officially set! :)

Well well well, my mods for Sem 2 have been decided! :) -Heaves a sigh of relief-

3 of my mods were allocated to me, PL3232 Bio Psych, PL3236 Abnorm Psych & PL2132! So that cost me a total of 3 points from my P account! So much difference as compared to the 500+ points I "paid" for PL2131 and PL1101E in Sem 1. Ahhh, life is so fantastic right now, everything has been going well since the start of 2015 :) Hopefully, it maintains like this till the end of the year!

I had to bid for PH1102E in Round 1A and it cost me 100 points from my P acc, well, I guess that's acceptable. The worst part is GEK1062, it cost me 700+ points from my G acc?!?! Thankfully I planned my timetable in such a way only this mod requires points from my G acc, and I threw in my pathetic 800+ points in to secure this mod. At least on a positive note, I still have 100+ points leftover. I can't even explain how relieved I felt when I refreshed my ivle and saw the GEK mod under my mods for Sem 2 :) :) I kept refreshing from 5pm cause I was too excited/nervous and it appeared at 6pm!! -Throws confetti in the air-

So glad that the bidding has gone so smoothly :) Next up, tutorial balloting in Week 3! If everything goes as planned, I will only have a 3 day work week which is plain awesome. ;)

Saturday, January 3, 2015

All about that Research Participation (RP)

Greetings! :)
Excuse the title,I keep hearing  All About That Bass everywhere and it's stuck in my head.

Just occurred to me that I haven't mentioned anything about RP. -Gasps-  How could I have left out such an important thing, especially as a psych student. Tsk tsk. I remembered how I had no idea what RP was about when I first heard about it, and I was flustered cause everyone else seemed to know what they were supposed to do. Anyway, here is my own opinion on RP. :) 

Here's the official link that gives a brief intro of what RP is about : http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/psy/_research/rp.htm

Basically, RP is necessary for those taking PL1101E and PL2131. You have to collect 12 points each per mod (6 hours) , and if you take 2 mods in the same sem, you have to collect 24 points. (23.5 points is also acceptable). As for those taking GEK1064, 6 RP points are needed (3 hours). The duration of the RP varies from one RP to another, and you have to find empty slots in your timetable to attend these RPs.

The RPs avail for signing up will be posted up on the RP Programme Page (Here's the link, but you can only log in with access. You will know when access has been granted to you when an email is sent to) . My advice is to check this page daily (Personally, being kiasu, I will check the page when I'm free. I can check the page up to 5 times per day hahaha). This is because slots are limited, and we all know fastest fingers win. It will be easier if you have a group of friends who are also required to participate in RP, so everyone can help update each other! :)

Do not fret though, if you didn't manage to get a slot. The list of RPs will constantly get updated! RPs can range from just doing a quick questionnaire (click, click, click) to activities involving simple movements. Some are quite fun whereas some can be..let's just put it at less engaging yea? 

Below are some screengrabs from my own RP page. 




An email will be sent a few days prior to the RP, so do take note of the time and not be late! Certain organizers for the RP are very strict about timing, and you might not be able to enter. This means that you will lose the points that would have been allocated to you if you had completed that particular RP. I'm not too sure about this, but I heard that if you are disallowed from entering the RP venue due to reasons such as being late, the status listed beside this particular RP will be "incomplete". The system will then not allow you to complete another RP as it will have recorded that you have already met the minimum number of points required.

If you realised that you will not be able to make it for the time slot you have signed up for earlier, you can cancel it without any implications. However, you must do so at least 24 hours before the day itself. 

So after all this rambling about RP, you might wonder so what are the consequences of not completing the min number of points required? I did my research previously, but I can't seem to find the details anymore. The gist is that, marks will be deducted from your final total marks (ie including assignments and papers). If I do not remember wrongly, 0.5 marks will be deducted for every lack of 1 point?  I'm not too sure about this, please do not quote me! Do email the coordinator in charge if you have any queries!

In conclusion, just complete the RP ASAP! So that you do not have to constantly worry about it. :)