y2s1 (ay 24/25) module review
the first time where the majority of my modules were not shielded by S/Us... scary feeling...
modules taken: GESS1003, HSI2013, PL2132, PL3104, PL3240
(taken on GESS1003 field trip!)
GESS1003: Everyday Life Of Chinese Singaporeans, Past and Present
enjoyability: 1/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 5/5
edit: JUST SAW MY RESULTS NVM I LOVE THIS MOD HAHAHAHA
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A+
HSI2013: The Science Of Music
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 1/5
difficulty: 2/5
this is the module i chose to undertake to fulfil the second portion of the "scientific inquiry" pillar of the CHS common curriculum (you have to finish HSI1000 first). some reviews may warn you to steer clear from this module because of the physics and music theory required, but take those with a pinch of salt, just like i did.
for context, my physics knowledge stops at olevel physics formulas and my musical knowledge stops at being able to read notes. conveniently enough, that is literally all that this module requires. they don't even make you memorise those formulas or musical notations, because both midterms and finals are completely open-book. what's more is that there are TONS of past year papers online for practice, and the teaching team seems to reuse the exact same format of these papers, with just numbers and slight wording changes. obviously this makes it easier to score well. but thanks to the infamous bellcurve, scoring "well" translates to being extra extra careful not to make any careless mistakes as that could disadvantage you greatly. i remember the mean for midterms and finals were around 22/25ish which is pretty steep!
the other components required us to write a concert review and to create a MIDI song — both of which were fairly enjoyable to complete!
i believe that this module has risen in popularity over the years as a HSI module largely due to word of mouth and i thank my lucky stars that i managed to bid for it (it was oversubscribed by about 100 slots). if you do get it though, do make the most out of it!
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
PL2132: Research and Statistical Methods II
enjoyability: 2/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 4/5
PL2132. where do i even begin. i have heard nothing short of horror stories about this module from psych seniors alike and i prepared for the worst going into it.
and yeah... it was quite bad. i procrastinated studying any of its content up till about week 10 before my alarm bells started ringing incessantly; only then was i forced to confront its content.
apparently there are two variations of PL2132. in the one i had taken, we were only taught the advanced statistics side of things, so think ANOVA, linear regression, multi-level modelling, etc. in the other version, it was everything mine had covered PLUS learning R programming. if i had taken that version instead, i would have been thoroughly cooked.
after reviewing all the content leading up to the finals, i had come to realise that PL2132 wasn't as bad as most had made it out to be. it was just tons of new statistics terminology and concepts that psych majors were naturally averse to by-design, myself included.
personally, i started to get a grip of what was going on when my group had to conduct our own mini-experiment in our tutorial classes and subsequently perform relevant data analyses. there i couldn't run anymore because i had to know what was going on in order to pull my weight in the group project. thankfully i had an amazing group and managed to make some great friends along the way too. also, i couldn't recommend taking PL3105 in y1s2 enough, because it really helped me with coming up with a topic for the group project component.
for PL2132 overall, i'd say that it's painful at first to learn, but by about week 10 or 11 you'd likely come to appreciate its relevance and importance in psychological research, which could inherently motivate you to study its content. or at least that's what happened for me.
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
PL3104: Developmental Psychology
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 4/5
this module was undoubtedly the toughest i have had so far. first off, the content itself i found pretty challenging because it was not as intuitive as something like social psych. next, on top of studying a thick textbook, we were also required to read 2 research papers every fortnight which were testable in both midterms and finals. and lastly the exams itself were the toughest i've had thus far as well as they were Multiple Response Questions (universally hated) and each option was so wordy i felt like i was going blind re-reading each of them.
but overall, still an interesting core psych module nonetheless.
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A+
PL3240: Group Dynamics
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 2/5
this module was my favourite this semester as this was quite literally PL3105 (or social psych) Part 2. maybe i'm just a social psych guy hahaha.
the content was fairly straightforward and intuitive (i mean, we're all in some sort of group, no?) and this module just delves deeper into the structure and dynamics of groups of people. midterms and finals were pretty okay, but the cohort did not fair as well as prof had hoped LOL
what i particularly enjoyed out of this module was the meta-aspect of the group project. for a module named "group dynamics", the group project literally required us to make a video of some activity, and then write an individual report of our own group's dynamics while creating that video. i had a solid team so this was super memorable and super fun to complete.
special shoutout to prof cha yeow siah, as his lectures were all very engaging with many real-life examples to help illustrate some concepts taught in class. his lecture slides were clean and clearcut too which made revision for exams a breeze.
actually, i am not too sure if i would have enjoyed this module as much as i had if it were not for him as the lecturer. but from what i've gleaned from other reviews, he seems to be the only one teaching it so that's great!
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
GESS1003: Everyday Life Of Chinese Singaporeans, Past and Present
enjoyability: 1/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 5/5
edit: JUST SAW MY RESULTS NVM I LOVE THIS MOD HAHAHAHA
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A+
HSI2013: The Science Of Music
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 1/5
difficulty: 2/5
this is the module i chose to undertake to fulfil the second portion of the "scientific inquiry" pillar of the CHS common curriculum (you have to finish HSI1000 first). some reviews may warn you to steer clear from this module because of the physics and music theory required, but take those with a pinch of salt, just like i did.
for context, my physics knowledge stops at olevel physics formulas and my musical knowledge stops at being able to read notes. conveniently enough, that is literally all that this module requires. they don't even make you memorise those formulas or musical notations, because both midterms and finals are completely open-book. what's more is that there are TONS of past year papers online for practice, and the teaching team seems to reuse the exact same format of these papers, with just numbers and slight wording changes. obviously this makes it easier to score well. but thanks to the infamous bellcurve, scoring "well" translates to being extra extra careful not to make any careless mistakes as that could disadvantage you greatly. i remember the mean for midterms and finals were around 22/25ish which is pretty steep!
the other components required us to write a concert review and to create a MIDI song — both of which were fairly enjoyable to complete!
i believe that this module has risen in popularity over the years as a HSI module largely due to word of mouth and i thank my lucky stars that i managed to bid for it (it was oversubscribed by about 100 slots). if you do get it though, do make the most out of it!
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
PL2132: Research and Statistical Methods II
enjoyability: 2/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 4/5
PL2132. where do i even begin. i have heard nothing short of horror stories about this module from psych seniors alike and i prepared for the worst going into it.
and yeah... it was quite bad. i procrastinated studying any of its content up till about week 10 before my alarm bells started ringing incessantly; only then was i forced to confront its content.
apparently there are two variations of PL2132. in the one i had taken, we were only taught the advanced statistics side of things, so think ANOVA, linear regression, multi-level modelling, etc. in the other version, it was everything mine had covered PLUS learning R programming. if i had taken that version instead, i would have been thoroughly cooked.
after reviewing all the content leading up to the finals, i had come to realise that PL2132 wasn't as bad as most had made it out to be. it was just tons of new statistics terminology and concepts that psych majors were naturally averse to by-design, myself included.
personally, i started to get a grip of what was going on when my group had to conduct our own mini-experiment in our tutorial classes and subsequently perform relevant data analyses. there i couldn't run anymore because i had to know what was going on in order to pull my weight in the group project. thankfully i had an amazing group and managed to make some great friends along the way too. also, i couldn't recommend taking PL3105 in y1s2 enough, because it really helped me with coming up with a topic for the group project component.
for PL2132 overall, i'd say that it's painful at first to learn, but by about week 10 or 11 you'd likely come to appreciate its relevance and importance in psychological research, which could inherently motivate you to study its content. or at least that's what happened for me.
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
PL3104: Developmental Psychology
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 4/5
this module was undoubtedly the toughest i have had so far. first off, the content itself i found pretty challenging because it was not as intuitive as something like social psych. next, on top of studying a thick textbook, we were also required to read 2 research papers every fortnight which were testable in both midterms and finals. and lastly the exams itself were the toughest i've had thus far as well as they were Multiple Response Questions (universally hated) and each option was so wordy i felt like i was going blind re-reading each of them.
but overall, still an interesting core psych module nonetheless.
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A+
PL3240: Group Dynamics
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 2/5
this module was my favourite this semester as this was quite literally PL3105 (or social psych) Part 2. maybe i'm just a social psych guy hahaha.
the content was fairly straightforward and intuitive (i mean, we're all in some sort of group, no?) and this module just delves deeper into the structure and dynamics of groups of people. midterms and finals were pretty okay, but the cohort did not fair as well as prof had hoped LOL
what i particularly enjoyed out of this module was the meta-aspect of the group project. for a module named "group dynamics", the group project literally required us to make a video of some activity, and then write an individual report of our own group's dynamics while creating that video. i had a solid team so this was super memorable and super fun to complete.
special shoutout to prof cha yeow siah, as his lectures were all very engaging with many real-life examples to help illustrate some concepts taught in class. his lecture slides were clean and clearcut too which made revision for exams a breeze.
actually, i am not too sure if i would have enjoyed this module as much as i had if it were not for him as the lecturer. but from what i've gleaned from other reviews, he seems to be the only one teaching it so that's great!
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
hello! I am a y1 psych major and have a few questions I'd would to ask u. would it be possible to contact u directly? (e.g. via reddit/telegram etc) :)
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