AY19/20 Y2S2 Review

This semester was unprecedented because of the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.  As a result, most of the content that was supposed to be covered were cut short and not tested.  For the modules I took, the finals were cancelled/replaced entirely.  So, this review may not be relevant for future semesters.

Anyway, my general thoughts on this "unique" semester are that it was initially very stressful due to the frequent changes in assessment criteria.  However, in the end, the arrangement worked out well at least for me and I was more relaxed hahah.  We had free S/Us even for our core mods!!  But, I ended up only S/U-ing 1 elective.

CM2031 - Organic & Bioorganic Chemistry | CORE | 3AU | B+

Midterm CA1 (100%): 41/50 → 82/100 [average: 74/100]

This module lives up its name and is very scary.  This mod was taught by 2 profs (Dr. Chiba & Dr. Ito), the same profs that teach this mod in sem 1.  Dr. Chiba teaches the 1st half and Dr. Ito teaches the 2nd half.  In sem 1, the arrangement is the opposite.  I would suggest taking this module in sem 2 because the format of midterm 1 is easier as it is set by  Dr. Chiba.  My friends and I were guessing that maybe the tests set by Dr. Ito is more difficult meaning our midterm 2 will be extremely difficult (no one knows for sure).  But turns out there was no midterm 2 at all yay.  As I have mentioned, midterm 1 was unexpectedly simple, a 1.5hr test could be completed in 15-30mins.  I left after about 30 minutes expecting to get almost full marks.  I think I was too complacent and made careless mistakes haiz... who would have thought it will become 100% of my grade 🙃 Heard from some of my friends who took this mod in sem 1 that their midterm 1 was super difficult and that they left the entire retrosynthesis question worth 10 marks blank and the average was super low too.

There is no running away from memorisation for organic chem.  A tip could be instead of blindly memorising, try to understand the mechanism and how the electrons move to form/break bonds. 

P.s. good luck with jap accents! 💪🏻

CM2041 - Physical & Biophysical Chemistry 1 | CORE | 3AU | B+

Midterm CA1 (100%): 82/100 [average: 74/100]

Guest Lecture: bonus 2 marks (perhaps this only applies to our cohort)

This module is also taught by 2 profs.  Knowledge of partial differentiation from MH1804 is expected.  However, the partial differentiation required is very simple.  There are a lot of calculations.  However, formulas that are needed will be provided so you do not have to memorise them, you just have to know how to use them.  For example, you would need to know what the symbols represent and their units so that you can plug in the values after converting them to the right units.  Understanding the different concepts and the relationship between them is very important.  The content from the first half is more difficult than the second half.  The content from the first half includes the 1st and 2nd law of thermodynamics, entropy, etc.  Seems like the stuff you have learnt before?  Well, trust me it is not that simple.  Be sure to read the question properly, know what information you are given and what formulas you can use.

The midterm was surprisingly difficult, almost everyone came out of the test thinking we have definitely failed.  However, because there was a problem with one question, the prof decided he will mark that question based on our approach instead of the final answer.  The prof was also very lenient and accepted any answer that made sense and gave method marks which resulted in the average being so high.

CM2062 - Chemistry & Biological Chemistry Lab 2 (LAB) | CORE | 3AU | A

Lab Reports (80%): Grade A for all

Term Paper (20%)

From what I understand, the format for this module was supposed to be 9 lab reports with 1 presentation.  Out of the 9 lab reports, 5 were proformas, while 4 required full reports from scratch.  You would receive a grade A to E for them, they no longer mark it such that they would deduct marks for your wrong answers.  As such, you would not know if you had a high or low A compared to your peers.  Everyone I knew had grade A for all their lab reports/proformas. 

The experiments were quite straightforward, make sure you read the lab manual, understand the concepts behind how the instruments work and follow the instructions from the TA.  Try to visualise what you would do in the lab to minimize errors and time wastage.  All experiments would require you to work in groups of 3-4 people, but the lab reports/proformas are individual work.  Most labs end early!!  The longest lab would end at about 2pm, while the shortest lab only took an hour hahah.  What was super time-consuming are the lab reports... I spent about 6-7 hours spread out on several days to complete 1 lab report.  What I would do before lab: read lab manual, answer any pre-lab questions and see if I can complete the introduction and post-lab questions part of my lab report leaving only the data collection and analysis part blank.  What I would do after lab: finish up whatever was empty and proofread the whole report.  Also, there are now 3 pre-lab risk assessment (RA) and 3 post-lab RA, you have got to crack your brain for the post-lab RA hahah.

Due to Covid-19, some of the experiments became virtual experiments where we will be provided with the data but still required to do full lab reports.  The presentation and finals became a 20% term paper, where we had to choose any instrument used within or out of 2062 lab and write about how it works, what it does and why it is essential, etc.  We had to look for information from research papers online ourselves from places like SciFinder, WebOfScience, etc.  The most work I have ever need to do just for 20% wow but I guess my hard work paid off.

P.S. Have fun in this lab, it is nothing like 2061 which was really such a nightmare 😐 Also, just want to add that I am really proud of my term paper hehe ✌🏻 Oh one more thing, they will probably upload the lab manual early.  Since there is usually no lab in week 1, use that time to read through and do all the pre-lab questions (either write it down or type it in your computer) for the respective experiments, it would save you time when the semester starts proper lol that's what I did.  So to prep before each lab, you would just need to read through the experiment (for the second time so it is easier), and do as much of the lab report/pro forma as you can.

PS8001 - Defence Science | GER-CORE | 3AU | P

Online midterm (100%): 40/40 → 100/100

This is an online pass/fail module.  You will learn stuff like what causes heat stroke/exhaustion, chemical & biological warfare, cryptography, etc.  The assessment criteria is a 40% midterm online and 60% finals (which was cancelled).  We were allowed unlimited tries for the online midterm and only the last submission will be graded.

HY0001 - Ethics & Moral Reasoning | GER-CORE | 1AU | P

LAMS Videos (15%)

LAMS Quizzes (70%)

Discussion Question (10%): 10/10

Peer Review (5%): 5/5

This is yet another online pass/fail module.  You will be randomly assigned to be in Group 1 or 2.  The difference is just that you will have to write your response to the discussion question based on different videos & concepts.  The discussion question requires a response of at least 300 words and the peer review requires a response of at least 100 words.  It is very easy to scores full marks, as long as you do not plagiarise, fulfil the word count and answer the question.  Do not try to lengthen your answer by repeating the question many times as that was what cost some students their full marks, according to the prof.

CM9102 - Food Analysis & Safety | UE | 3AU | S

4 Lab Reports (30%): Grade A for all

Midterm CA1 (40%): 30.5/40

Review Paper (30%)

Took this elective as I was aiming to get the food chemistry concentration but it would depend on whether I get the other elective next sem.  Anyway, this was the best and most fun module this entire sem.  The people & TA I met through this mod was super fun and they entertain my nonsense which made lab sessions really enjoyable.  The prof teaches in a way that makes the content fun too so I was rather sad when physical lectures were converted to online videos.

This module is conducted mostly physically with a few easy topics to be delivered online.  There are ungraded quizzes after each LAMS video. Your score does not matter, what matters is your completion which will earn you bonus marks if you complete it before the physical lecture that week.  The lab sessions are conducted once every two weeks depending on which group you are allocated.  The proformas are very straightforward, the answers to the questions can be found in your notes/online.  Some graphs need to be plotted using excel but nothing too difficult.  The experiments are to be conducted in groups of 3-4 and mostly end early, except for the first experiment.  There were supposed to be 5 experiments but the last one (the most fun one) was cancelled due to Covid-19.  

There were supposed to be two midterms in which the better score will make up 20% of your grade.  But because only one midterm was carried out and finals were cancelled, the weightage had to be changed to 40%.  We also had to do a review paper which required us to choose 1 out of 5 research papers to review.  The instructions on what had to be included were very limited and so I was unsure if I would be able to do well for it which was why I S/U-ed this in the end.  Also, the average for the midterm was not made known to us.

P.S. There is some waiting time in between the experiment which you can use to bond with your group mates lol.  I remember the lab being very quiet with people just focussing on the experiment, but only my grp was very noisy, talking and laughing away hahah but maybe that's only because the people in my grp are very easy-going.

EM9101 - Environmental Quality | UE | 3AU | A+

Infographic (100%)

Only took this elective because I lost star wars (electives) sigh.  The first 2 lectures were stuff I learnt before so it was quite easy.  But the subsequent lectures were dry and very content heavy, at least for me.  There was so much content that I did not know if I had to memorise everything for the finals (as it is supposedly short answer questions, not MCQ).  Assessment criteria were supposed to be 2 MCQ midterms (20% each) and finals (60%).  There are a lot of examples given in the lectures but in my opinion, you don't have to memorise them as only the concepts and minimal calculations will be tested.

Due to Covid-19, the alternative arrangement was 100% infographic (concept/case study/design) on any topic related to environmental protection/management which is well-known in your discipline (for me, chemistry).  It can be done individually or in groups of up to 4.  The smaller the group, the higher the score each member would get.  I chose to work with my friend and did it as a pair.

Without the alternative arrangement, I would have definitely S/U-ed this module hahah.  That was my plan since the start of the sem as the content was really too much to handle and not interesting to me.  A lot of my friends took this as they are trying to get a minor.  So if you are not planning to get a minor, I would not recommend this elective.

I kind of regretted not SU-ing CM2031 and CM2041 when we had the option to.  Because my cGPA could have improved much more 🙃 but it's okay as my friend said the more graded AUs we have, the less impact our future grades will have on our cGPA.  Just a short rant, this year's STARs was horrible, there were fewer vacancies for CORE mods than our cohort size which does not make sense.  They should be taken into account that some students might choose to take more COREs and fewer electives and our seniors might need to re-mod certain courses.  And since their course registration date is earlier than ours, we are at a disadvantage.  I was lucky to be able to get the CORE modules of my choice after trying until the very last minute (unlike a lot of others I know) so I am thankful for that, I really hope this does not happen again.