y1s1 (ay/23/24) module review
matriculated into NUS with lofty goals of 5.0 with minimal effort... was humbled real quick...
modules taken: FAS1101, GEA1000, HSH1000, HSI1000, PL1101E
(taken on HSI1000 field trip!)
FAS1101: Writing Academically, Arts and Social Sciences
enjoyability: 1/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 2/5
expected grade: A
actual grade: B+
GEA1000: Quantitative Reasoning with Data
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 2/5
let me start off by saying that throughout the 13 weeks leading up to the finals, i had basically no idea what was going on in this module. but as a psych major, i knew that i would have to learn most of these concepts one way or another so i forced myself to cram everything before finals.
GEA1000 is basically a very elementary statistics module where you’ll learn things like associations, correlations, hypothesis testing, basic probability etc. so the content itself, after review, wasn’t too bad. one painful part of this module was the project which was 30% of the grade. for it, we were given a very large dataset and had to write a report based on some guiding questions. thankfully my group consisted of people from SoC and they carried this component (thanks guys hahaha). but i am pretty sure that most groups scored roughly the same mark and this component was gruelling to complete but not very differentiating.
what is differentiating however was the finals (30%) which was a 20 MCQ paper on Examplify where one wrong answer seemed to bump you down one grade. it felt like they were testing you on staying careful rather than the content itself, as most questions were fairly straightforward but definitely tricky.
thankfully, i had slept well the previous night and was wide awake during the paper.
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A
HSH1000: The Human Condition
enjoyability: 1/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 4/5
expected grade: B+
actual grade: B+
HSI1000: How Science Works, Why Science Works
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 3/5
this module is one of two “scientific inquiry” modules that CHS undergraduates are required to take within the common curriculum. and to my fellow FASS undergrads, don’t let the “science” in the module’s name throw you off and approach it with an “S/U mentality”. just imagine a sec 2 science lab environment — that was genuinely what one of the lab sessions felt like as my groupmates and i toyed with pendulums.
for me, the only challenging part of this module was the climate change topics where i was really really lost. but because both midterms and finals were open book, i thought that i could wriggle my way out of a lack of knowledge.
i was mistaken — who would have thought that one would need actual knowledge for exams?
oh, and i forgot to mention that we were required to go on a field trip to observe nature and subsequently write a report (10%). going on the trip with my friends made it such a memorable experience that i forgot it was graded! overall i quite enjoyed this module because the components were genuinely fun, and perhaps not that i enjoyed what i was learning hahaha.
expected grade: B+
actual grade: A-
PL1101E: Introduction to Psychology
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 4/5
difficulty: 3/5
as a psych major, this introductory psych module is quite important — not so much because you NEED to do well in it or anything, but more of the fact that because the content is so broad, it lets you:
1. see what area of psych you may be particularly interested in
2. assess whether you even want to continue pursuing psych anymore …
being an introductory psych module, each week covers one “branch” of psych (biological, developmental, social, clinical, cognitive, personality etc). and something that some people may find relief in is the fact that it doesn’t touch on “psych statistics” at all, but is a nonetheless fundamental aspect of psychology as a whole. exams were both closed-book with midterms being 50 MCQs and finals (cumulative) being 50 MCQs and 2 Short Essay Questions.
also, the group project was to create a video which explained a particular psych concept with the target audience being the general public. personally, my group did the concept of “heuristics” and it a was very fun experience.
overall, a fairly content-heavy module and a reality-check if you want to continue pursuing this major for the next 4 years.
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
FAS1101: Writing Academically, Arts and Social Sciences
enjoyability: 1/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 2/5
expected grade: A
actual grade: B+
GEA1000: Quantitative Reasoning with Data
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 2/5
let me start off by saying that throughout the 13 weeks leading up to the finals, i had basically no idea what was going on in this module. but as a psych major, i knew that i would have to learn most of these concepts one way or another so i forced myself to cram everything before finals.
GEA1000 is basically a very elementary statistics module where you’ll learn things like associations, correlations, hypothesis testing, basic probability etc. so the content itself, after review, wasn’t too bad. one painful part of this module was the project which was 30% of the grade. for it, we were given a very large dataset and had to write a report based on some guiding questions. thankfully my group consisted of people from SoC and they carried this component (thanks guys hahaha). but i am pretty sure that most groups scored roughly the same mark and this component was gruelling to complete but not very differentiating.
what is differentiating however was the finals (30%) which was a 20 MCQ paper on Examplify where one wrong answer seemed to bump you down one grade. it felt like they were testing you on staying careful rather than the content itself, as most questions were fairly straightforward but definitely tricky.
thankfully, i had slept well the previous night and was wide awake during the paper.
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A
HSH1000: The Human Condition
enjoyability: 1/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 4/5
expected grade: B+
actual grade: B+
HSI1000: How Science Works, Why Science Works
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 3/5
this module is one of two “scientific inquiry” modules that CHS undergraduates are required to take within the common curriculum. and to my fellow FASS undergrads, don’t let the “science” in the module’s name throw you off and approach it with an “S/U mentality”. just imagine a sec 2 science lab environment — that was genuinely what one of the lab sessions felt like as my groupmates and i toyed with pendulums.
for me, the only challenging part of this module was the climate change topics where i was really really lost. but because both midterms and finals were open book, i thought that i could wriggle my way out of a lack of knowledge.
i was mistaken — who would have thought that one would need actual knowledge for exams?
oh, and i forgot to mention that we were required to go on a field trip to observe nature and subsequently write a report (10%). going on the trip with my friends made it such a memorable experience that i forgot it was graded! overall i quite enjoyed this module because the components were genuinely fun, and perhaps not that i enjoyed what i was learning hahaha.
expected grade: B+
actual grade: A-
PL1101E: Introduction to Psychology
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 4/5
difficulty: 3/5
as a psych major, this introductory psych module is quite important — not so much because you NEED to do well in it or anything, but more of the fact that because the content is so broad, it lets you:
1. see what area of psych you may be particularly interested in
2. assess whether you even want to continue pursuing psych anymore …
being an introductory psych module, each week covers one “branch” of psych (biological, developmental, social, clinical, cognitive, personality etc). and something that some people may find relief in is the fact that it doesn’t touch on “psych statistics” at all, but is a nonetheless fundamental aspect of psychology as a whole. exams were both closed-book with midterms being 50 MCQs and finals (cumulative) being 50 MCQs and 2 Short Essay Questions.
also, the group project was to create a video which explained a particular psych concept with the target audience being the general public. personally, my group did the concept of “heuristics” and it a was very fun experience.
overall, a fairly content-heavy module and a reality-check if you want to continue pursuing this major for the next 4 years.
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
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