y1s2 (ay23/24) module review

mugged twice as hard for y1s2 than y1s1... was eventually rewarded! 

modules taken: DMA1401L01, DTK1234, GEI1001, HSA1000, HSS1000, PL2131, PL3105

(taken on HSA1000 field trip!)

DMA1401L01: Spoken Cantonese 
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 1/5
difficulty: 1/5

BEST MODULE EVERY SUCH A UNIQUE EXPERIENCE. this is a DYOC module so it's already pass fail so u dont need to spend an SU on it. and CLEAR 4MC OF UE AND LEARN SOMETHING FUN AND COOL AT THE SAME TIME????? LIFE CAN BE DREAM ~

expected & actual grade: CS

DTK1234: Design Thinking
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 5/5
difficulty: 1/5

heresay everyone goes into this module with the intention to S/U because it's just not worth the time. to that, i would largely agree that yes it is quite time-consuming, but i personally found this module quite enjoyable because the graded components were generally just self-documentation and reflections which were easily smokeable (maybe it's just a FASS thing to thrive under these circumstances)

tutorials were held fortnightly and consisted of pretty hands-on activities which were quite engaging to perform. honestly, not a difficult module by any means, but i possibly could have lucked out with my tutor because he was great. for those not as lucky, i can empathise as to why this mod might be hellish. 

expected grade: A
actual grade: A

GEI1001: Computational Reasoning
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 4/5
difficulty: 2/5

this is a module which fulfils the "digital literacy" pillar of the CHS common curriculum. despite it's name sounding relatively chim, this is quite a pragmatic module. the content taught was mainly on how algorithms work, which translated to us learning VBA in excel. agree to disagree but i think that forcing students to learn VBA is quite a good thing as it has practical uses for FASS undergrads seeking research internships etc.

the workload for this module was quite much as there were weekly graded quizzes. plus, the lecture videos that one had to sit through were engaging at first, but soon became stale and boring.

however, the most differentiating part of this module was the final project which accounted for 30% of the grade. for this, we had to create a video which aimed to justify why our chosen algorithm for some proxy measure was viable. if you thought that the previous sentence sounded pretentious and filled with buzzwords, you would be right — the mod wads quite fluffy. but fluffy is not always a bad thing, especially when you come away with a basic excel skillset. 

expected grade: A-
actual grade: A

HSA1000: Asian Interconnections
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 2/5

i didn't retain much content from this mod but it did change my perspective on how we should view our world today. no joke, i did not watch a single lecture throughout the 13 weeks because it was mostly just content which i didn't find to be helpful in completing any of my assignments. however, the tutorials were pretty interesting and i did actively engage in all of them.

to sum this module up briefly, it just talks about how we should be cognisant of our roots and history, be it familial or the surroundings. one of the assignments literally asks you to document some landscape and then talk about its history and the deeper meaning of its architecture blah blah blah. okay i'm not doing this mod's content any justice but trust me, it was really quite eye-opening. 

for CHS people, it's not like you can don't take this module as it's once again compulsory under the CHS common curriculum hahaha. but hopefully you come away with some new worldview and approach it with curiosity rather than skepticism and cynicism. 

expected grade: A
actual grade: A+

HSS000: Understanding Social Complexity
enjoyability: 2/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 2/5

it seems to be quite a common trend for my mod reviews but most of the time i don't really know what i'm learning, supposed to be learning, or have learnt in the end. and even more so by the time i write the review i would have forgotten 99% of the content so i can only go by the vibes of what the mod left on me. but for HSS, i couldn't even give you a vibe right now because it was so bland and nondescript. but the rough idea for the module was to give a little taste-test of each social science major (econs, polsci, psych, soci, etc) as the topic for each week's lecture. while the idea was well-intentioned, it inevitably led to the content for each week being fairly surface-level, which could explain why this module is feeling so ghostly to me right now. 

oh, all i remember is that we had to reply to forum posts every week based on the week's lecture, which was very cumbersome to do. and we had to write an essay on a topic of our choice based on the lectures. i mean once again, this is a compulsory module for CHS people, so bopes la hor hahahah

expected grade: A
actual grade: A

PL2131: Research and Statistical Methods I
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 2/5

one thing that psych majors cannot escape is statistics, which is why this introductory module about statistics for psychological research is a core mod as a psych major. however, this module is only part one of two psych stats modules that we have to take, with this one functioning as a foundational course.

the stats content itself really isn't hard. i mean at one point, we were even learning about "mean", "median" and "mode" during tutorial sessions. but obviously we learnt more than just that as the weeks progressed. also, we were introduced to JASP which is a free alternative to SPSS, a popular statistical analysis software for psych research.

there were two takehome assignments which required both knowledge of statistics taught as well as JASP, and were both manageable. lastly, there was only one finals and hence i left my studying till right before it — and thankfully it all worked out.

expected grade: A-
actual grade: A

PL3105: Social Psychology 
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 2/5

i overloaded this sem with a 3k mod as a y1, which i have come to realise is a fairly common thing to do. going into this however, i expected to get destroyed because i had only taken one psych mod thus far and was jumping straight to a 3k module. thankfully though, i would say PL3105 was even easier than Pl1101E. 

the nature of social psych is that it is quite intuitive. be it with friends, family, observing the surrounding crowd, or even observing yourself through introspection, the content taught is readily applicable outside of the classroom in daily life, which in some way allows you to actively retrieve these concepts from your brain as they are being played out in front of you in real life. or maybe i'm the only one that does that hahaha. 

prof jia was also instrumental in making this module super enjoyable for me as his style of teaching was engaging, funny and clear. his lectures are the first which i had looked forward in going every week. 

midterms and finals were set pretty fairly with a number of tricky questions, and even more so because social psych seems pretty simple at times, many of the options do sound plausible which does leave you wondering in the exam hall. overall a really fun module and super ideal to overload with in y1s2 should you want to overload with a 3k. (ALSO, very useful content-wise if you're looking to take PL2132 the following semester — more on that in another post!)

expected grade: A-
actual grade: A+