AY 21/22 Y4S1 Review

Took 4 MPEs this semester, with a total of 12 AUs only, which should be very manageable right, considering the fact that I took 21 AUs back in year 1, but omg, I don't know why it didn't feel any easier 🙃 Maybe it's because I'm getting older and my brain isn't as competent anymore or something HAHAH 

Side note: ended up writing quite a long review again this sem hahah & I can't seem to find good reviews for the mods I've taken this sem, so really hope my review helps! :)

CM4012 - Structural Determination | CORE | 3AU | B+

Part 1 (50%): 

4 Homeworks (5 marks each, 20%): 20/20

Quiz 1 (10%): 8/10

Quiz 2 (20%): 16/20

Part 2 (50%):

5 Online Quizzes (5%)

5 Pre-tutorials (10%)

5 Reflections (10%)

Midterm (25%): 39/60 [Average: ~36/60]

Part 1 was conducted via recorded PowerPoint slides which was quite annoying as you cannot speed it up.  Also, the prof only uploaded the slides without annotations (after a few weeks) as some students feedbacked to him, but I had already printed out the messily annotated slides so I didn't reprint.  I think he might upload the clean slides for subsequent batches after our batch raised it up, but if he doesn't, y'all can email him earlier.  He doesn't return our marked homework as I think he claims to not have any model answers and usually most students will get full marks unless you give a few lines kind of answers lol.  Homework due dates are about a week apart.  He uploads the recorded PowerPoint slides all at once, so you can binge-watch if you wish (I didn't, coz lazy LOL).  Quiz 1 & 2 were open book, not open internet & conducted online, which sucked because I'm pretty sure there were people who cheated 🙃 He did say he will conduct random checks & ask you to show your physical & desktop environment, but I don't think he did. Ok, maybe he did personally pm some students, but I have no idea.  His quizzes are manageable with some tricky questions (which I fell for).  I was quite complacent as the content seems easy & it was open-book, so my advice is don't be complacent. Topics taught were mostly stuff we learnt before: ¹H, ¹³C NMR, etc. Quizzes format was to assign chemical shifts to respective hydrogens/carbons.

Part 2 was conducted by the same prof as CM3021's first prof, so the format was the same (can just read CM3021 format if you don't remember).  Topics taught was more difficult: NMR & X-ray Crystallography.  NMR content was stuff that we haven't really encountered before.  The midterm format is open-ended, open-book, open-internet and conducted online.  Also, knowing the prof, he likes to test stuff that require further thinking & I think I didn't quite understand his content which was why I found his midterm super difficult and seriously thought I was going to fail very badly.  It was also a mad rush for time & he even expected us to google some info for certain questions, like we don't have enough time!! 

Overall, I do not expect a good grade for this module lol, don't fail can already 😂🤞🏻

CM4013 - Current Topics in Analytical Chemistry | CORE | 3AU | A-

Midterm (20%): 18/20 [Average: ~16.3/20]

Group Project (30%)

Finals (50%)

This was one of the more interesting mods I've taken this sem, the content was more relatable and often linked to real-life examples.  However, the content can be quite heavy and you'll need to memorize many definitions, the prof may or may not test but I think it will be good to memorize as many terms are very similar and it is easy to mix them up.  Course format: recorded videos + some LAMS uploaded each week.  There will be some LAMS questions, but they are not graded.  Bonus marks will be given if you finish watching the videos before the zoom lectures every 2 weeks.   Tip: the prof will verbally mention a lot of info in the videos that are not in the slides but she will test, so be sure to write them down yourself.  Midterm format: 16 MCQs (0.75 marks per question) & 2 open-ended questions (worth 8 marks). The format may change, but the prof will tell you the format, so nothing to worry about.  The MCQs will have many tricky options, so it is important to study the content well.  A lot of people finished the midterm really quickly, like I finished mine in ~15mins lol, we were given 1 hour.  

Group Project instructions were given after recess week.  Her suggestion was to start on the project only after all the content was taught, which was about wk12 and the due date was in wk14.  A lot of us felt that we won't have enough time, thus we asked her to release the content earlier.  The groups were pre-assigned, 5 in a group. We were tasked to come up with a novel chemical or biosensor using the content we learnt in the course and write a 1000-word report & make a narrated PowerPoint presentation (1min and 1slide each) which we will have to save as a video. Tip from the prof, which I agree, schedule a zoom session with the prof to ask if the sensor your group came up with makes sense or not, otherwise, I think you won't score well on it. Not sure about others, but this project stressed me out a lot lol.  So, good luck!  Hope you get your friends in your group hahah.

Finals were very standard, all open-ended questions, there will be true/false questions as well as some fill in the blanks.  It required more critical thinking and, again, tricky questions.  During the paper, I thought the paper was very manageable, and I could answer every question, so apart from some careless mistakes, I should be fine. BUT, upon discussing with my friends after the paper, I realised many questions I thought I was right, ended up wrong ._. That's why, you need to really read everything very carefully hahah.  Not expecting a good grade for this as well, but should be fine.

CM4053 - Pharmaceutical Chemistry | CORE | 3AU | B+

Paper Review (25%)

Midterm (25%): 85/100 [Average: ~78/100]

Finals (50%)

This was another one of the interesting mods this sem which I didn't dread studying for.  For those without any pharm background (like myself), this mod can be quite confusing in the beginning, but it gets easier and more interesting (at least to me).  The prof will share many real-life examples however, his accent and English might be a bit difficult to understand, but overall he teaches quite well.  This mod requires more understanding and application of content than memorization.  Also, the prof says since CM1051 is a pre-requisite, he may test some content from there 🙃 I think that's what cost me some marks, so those with strong bio background will have the advantage.  Course format: weekly zoom lectures, with 1wk of TEL (i.e. LAMS videos).

Paper review requires you to select a research paper from his list of 50 papers, or u can source for your own paper related to pharm chem, and write a minimum of 5-page review on it. You can exceed 5 pages but don't exceed by a lot.  The deadline is the Sunday of wk13.  The prof will share certain pointers/suggestions you may include in your review but the format is largely up to you.  I think this is not that difficult but he doesn't release how many marks we got, so I don't really know if what I wrote was what he wants lol.  He will advise you to start on the paper earlier, but I feel like if you don't know much of the course content yet, you won't be able to write a review on it.  So, perhaps you can start shortlisting some papers before recess week and start on it during recess week.  If you have prior pharm chem knowledge, you can of course start earlier or start last minute if you're confident hahah.

The midterm had quite straightforward application questions, maybe some tricky questions to sieve out the 'A' students, but nothing too difficult if you understand the content.  The prof is very lenient in his marking.  For example, there was a question asking if a certain sth is A/B/C/etc and explain, the answer is A, but I answered B and explained my answer.  My substantiation for B is correct but the answer should be A right and technically I should score 0, but I got 3/6 for that part ... Thus, don't really need to worry that much, maybe that's why the average is quite high too.

The finals though, it was crazily difficult!! The prof said the format for the finals will be the same as the midterm, so I thought the difficulty was going to be about the same, but it was like double or triple the difficulty of the midterm :')  There was even a 26 mark question, like ??? The highest mark allocation in the midterm was 16 marks only.  There were many questions whereby I didn't know what I was writing hahah, just whack only & hope for the best 😂 Not expecting a good grade for this either.

CM4062 - Polymer Chemistry | CORE | 3AU | A-

Paper Presentation (15%): 15/15 [7m from prof, 8m from peer evaluation]

Participation (10%): 7.5/10

Oral Midterm/Assignment 1 (15%): 30/30

Assignment 2&3 (10%): 10/10

Finals (50%)

1st half: This mod was not as interesting but quite easy to score (apart from the finals).  Topics taught was about different types of polymers in the industry & the organic side of it, like how to use organic chem knowledge to make the polymers.  Potential questions include asking you to synthesize a polymer from the given monomers or propose the synthesis of a given final polymer with any monomer(s) of your choice. There may also be definition questions on different types of polymers/polymerization methods.  The aforementioned are possible questions to be tested in the oral midterm.  The original plan was to have a physical oral midterm in a TR in small groups with the prof, where you will be randomly given 2 questions (can't choose) and have to present your answer on the whiteboard. You'll be given some time to prep your answers.  However, for my batch, the oral midterm was scheduled in wk8 (early Oct) where Covid cases were spiking so some students emailed the prof raising their concerns on a physical oral midterm.  As such, the prof was open to it and conducted a zoom session to discuss the alternatives.  One of the alternatives raised included a physical midterm like our standard exams in an exam hall.  However, I think many students do not want that as we have other midterms packed very close together, so someone suggested another alternative to have a homework/take-home assignment similar to CM3031 (since the same prof taught this mod).  The prof agreed however, she mentioned that the difficulty will be higher and she will be stricter in the marking, since it's open-book & we could discuss with our friends if we wanted to.  Everyone agreed with this arrangement hahah we would prefer anything other than exams 😂

Assignment 1 (3-part qn) was not easy in my opinion, you most probably will not be able to google for the answers, but it's not impossible.  What I did was to attempt it on my own then discuss the answers with my friend.  I think that's the best way to do better and not have careless mistakes.  

The paper presentation was such that, in our pre-assigned group of 3, we had to choose any research paper of our choice related to polymer chemistry (can be synthesis, industrial application, etc).  We then had to create presentation slides and come up with a 10-minute presentation and prepare for a 5-min Q&A in wk 6/7 (depending on when you are allocated).  The attendance for the presentation of other groups is not compulsory but you'll get participation marks if you attend & ask questions during the Q&A.  I'm not sure how many questions do we have to ask in order to get the full credit, I got 7.5m for attending all the sessions and asking 1 qn each session.  There is a peer evaluation section for your group mates to rate you.  I think the prof is very lenient in marking our presentations, my fren in another group & I all got full marks, not sure about other groups.

2nd half: The topics taught was more calculation-based with some definitions on how to characterise polymers based on certain parameters.  The prof would upload pre-recorded lectures and have weekly zoom Q&A sessions which won't be recorded (usually only a few students will join lol). You should join the last session though, where she goes through key points of her content, so you'll know what is more important to study and what you can forgo.  

Assignments 2 & 3 are not difficult, they're calculation type questions.  However, for our batch, there seem to be some errors in the questions, which some students emailed & she clarified with them to assume certain things, but she did not update the entire cohort so I feel she shouldn't mark the other students down.  

For the finals, maybe because many students scored well for the other components, so the finals was quite difficult or maybe I just wasn't prepared enough.  I left some questions blank ._. or scribbled nonsense and couldn't complete the question.  Because of that, I found the paper to be quite rushed too, no one left the exam hall early I think.  Thus, even though I did well for the other components, I screwed up the finals really badly.  And as you would have guessed, I don't expect a good grade HAHAH

Results have not been released yet, but being in my final sem (of studying), I kind of developed a 'heck care' attitude HAHAH 😂 Also, I'm finally done with all exams in uni as I'm going for an internship in my last sem and hope everything goes well for my job hunting, wish me luck!  Woohoo, peace out, thanks for reading my blog & hope it has helped you one way or another! :) Also, not sure if there are any juniors out there who are writing blog reviews for CBC too, if not, please consider writing a blog too ahahah 😂

Edit: Results were better than expected for an honestly quite shitty sem ahahah, I think the bell-curve helped yay :)