y3s1 (ay25/26) module review
one last grind before exchange!
(taken on HS2933 field trip!)
HS2933: The Social Lives of Plants in Southeast Asia
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 1/5
difficulty: 2/5
frankly, i chose this module just because the name sounded quite funny. initially i wanted to take HS2924 but there were no more vacancies, so i chose this instead to fulfil my second requirement of the CHS interdisciplinary pillar.
and honestly no regrets whatsoever. this is the first iteration of the module and going into it i was not expecting much because it was so new, but i was overall quite satisfied with this module. im p sure i lucked out with prof faizah being my tutor as well, because she made tutorials really engaging and something i began looking forward to as the sem progressed.
workload wise, pretty chill. it was a garden design assignment (25%), a mindmap (25%), a video about a plant (30%) and class participation (20%). really really chill and eye-opening module, even for someone that knows nothing more about plants than a pri sch kid.
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A
PL3231: Independent Research Project (IRP)
enjoyability: 6/5
workload: 5/5
difficulty: 4/5
having completed UROP last semester, completing an irp first started as something cool i could do as a follow-up to my UROP topic. and honestly i also wanted to siam the psych lab modules because laze to work in a group and completing an IRP would fulfil that same lab requirement.
i put workload as 5/5 because there is truly so much to do for an irp. to me, irp is basically a honours thesis but instead of getting 2 sems to work on it, you only get 1. so it's super not stonks. thankfully, my preparation for irp began months in advance, like probably even up till the sem before when i was still doing UROP.
there's so many things to do: you need to get ethics approval, you need to create materials for your study, you need to pilot test the study to see if there's anything you need to fix, you need to do various administrative tasks when collecting data (RP setup and reimbursement, advertising, coordination of slots). and this is all not to mention even brainstorming and researching your topic which is probably pretty cumbersome in itself. AND even more so this has not yet included data analysis AND writing the 5k words report for submission.
but with all that being said, why did i still love IRP so much? because the final product was fully mine: my topic, my research and my intellectual curiosity being satiated.
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
PL3257: Introduction to Clinical Psychology
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 2/5
this is the second "clin psych" related module i have undertaken in NUS thus far, with the first being PL3106 (Mental health and distress). for PL3106, the focus was more on the disorders themselves, whereas PL3257 honed in more on the artistry of the clinical psychology practice itself. we were taught the different types of clients one would come across, and how a skilled clinician would approach these various demographics, with which appropriate treatment modality.
dr matthew lim is genuinely one of the best psych profs in NUS and i was so lucky to take this module under him. he is warm, approachable and very intelligent. having him as a tutor was also such a blessing as well. tutorials were very fun because we had therapist-client roleplays with classmates so that we could practise the soft skills taught (reflection, empathy, validation, etc).
my only gripe with this mod is that there was for some reason one midterm in week 7, one midterm in week 13, AND finals. that's one too many exams man. but other than that, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED module for aspiring clinicians!
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A
PL4201: Psychometrics and Psychological Testing
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 4/5
difficulty: 7/5
this module fulfils the capstone pillar of the psych major and tldr, i think this is easily the most difficult psychology module one can take in nus.
i mean it it ticks all the boxes for a stressful experience:
1. content — VERY VERY HARD, especially for psych majors who are largely adverse to anything math. this mod requires you to perform derivations and meddle with fairly complicated-looking formulas. have not done this much math stuff since h2 math.
2. exams — NUMEROUS. try one quiz at the start of every tutorial (30%), graded homework submissions (20%), and oh did i mention a 100 marks closed-book finals (50%)?
3. "muggability" — PRETTY LITTLE... to knowledge i believe there's no test banks for this mod because the professor keeps it quite under wraps. so it's quite hard to practise the content...
hence why i gave this a 7/5 on the difficulty scale because this module has single-handedly caused me the most stress this sem LOL. and it's not like i didn't know that it would be an uphill battle going into it, this module is notorious for being a very difficult one, and few people typically take it out of pure interest.
finals was also no joke and im pretty sure i flunked it quite badly, despite trying my absolute best to mug for this mod... probably out of 100 i got a raw score of 60 or something...
expected grade: B+
actual grade: A-
PL4237: Evidence-Based Treatments for Trauma
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 3/5
i took this module to fulfil the abnormal/social group of the psych major pillar and honestly it was a pretty good experience! the lecturer was ms fiona tan and she was nothing short of passionate and engaging, which consequently made me look forward to attend the weekly seminars!
my only gripe with this mod is that the grading is not really clear and stuff is not really that differentiating so the bell curve is pretty steep for this i would say. and i messed up my first 30% assignment so im not really looking forward to receiving the grade back on this one.
but i guess overall it's still a really interesting mod to take!
expected grade: B+
actual grade: A-
OTHER MODULES...
CFG3001: Career Advancement (2MC)
enjoyability: 2/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 1/5
can be completed pretty quickly i think. just need to allocate one day to grind all the stuff out. but i there is one part where they only give you access like about halfway into the sem so maybe allocate your one day to finish this mod somewhere during week 7.
expected & actual grade: CS
PLS8002: Cultivating the Self (1MC)
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 1/5
just need to attend 2 tutorials in the sem and do some homework and u can pass. quite an eye-opening module, and coincidentally this module was taught by my prof from another mod. nice little 1mc module to take! (just beware multiple long announcements on canvas hahaha)
expected & actual grade: CS
PLS8005: Elevating Interpersonal Communication (1MC)
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 1/5
difficulty: 1/5
this was quite a fun 1mc module to take. it requires group discussion every seminar (3 times in a sem) but honestly time passed kinda fast cause it was fun. special shoutout to the lecturer Shan because this guy is the GOAT of charisma. if somehow the teaching thing doesn't work out, you should be a standup comedian because this guy is a natural performer in the best way possible!
expected & actual grade: CS
HS2933: The Social Lives of Plants in Southeast Asia
enjoyability: 3/5
workload: 1/5
difficulty: 2/5
frankly, i chose this module just because the name sounded quite funny. initially i wanted to take HS2924 but there were no more vacancies, so i chose this instead to fulfil my second requirement of the CHS interdisciplinary pillar.
and honestly no regrets whatsoever. this is the first iteration of the module and going into it i was not expecting much because it was so new, but i was overall quite satisfied with this module. im p sure i lucked out with prof faizah being my tutor as well, because she made tutorials really engaging and something i began looking forward to as the sem progressed.
workload wise, pretty chill. it was a garden design assignment (25%), a mindmap (25%), a video about a plant (30%) and class participation (20%). really really chill and eye-opening module, even for someone that knows nothing more about plants than a pri sch kid.
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A
PL3231: Independent Research Project (IRP)
enjoyability: 6/5
workload: 5/5
difficulty: 4/5
having completed UROP last semester, completing an irp first started as something cool i could do as a follow-up to my UROP topic. and honestly i also wanted to siam the psych lab modules because laze to work in a group and completing an IRP would fulfil that same lab requirement.
i put workload as 5/5 because there is truly so much to do for an irp. to me, irp is basically a honours thesis but instead of getting 2 sems to work on it, you only get 1. so it's super not stonks. thankfully, my preparation for irp began months in advance, like probably even up till the sem before when i was still doing UROP.
there's so many things to do: you need to get ethics approval, you need to create materials for your study, you need to pilot test the study to see if there's anything you need to fix, you need to do various administrative tasks when collecting data (RP setup and reimbursement, advertising, coordination of slots). and this is all not to mention even brainstorming and researching your topic which is probably pretty cumbersome in itself. AND even more so this has not yet included data analysis AND writing the 5k words report for submission.
but with all that being said, why did i still love IRP so much? because the final product was fully mine: my topic, my research and my intellectual curiosity being satiated.
expected grade: A
actual grade: A
PL3257: Introduction to Clinical Psychology
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 2/5
this is the second "clin psych" related module i have undertaken in NUS thus far, with the first being PL3106 (Mental health and distress). for PL3106, the focus was more on the disorders themselves, whereas PL3257 honed in more on the artistry of the clinical psychology practice itself. we were taught the different types of clients one would come across, and how a skilled clinician would approach these various demographics, with which appropriate treatment modality.
dr matthew lim is genuinely one of the best psych profs in NUS and i was so lucky to take this module under him. he is warm, approachable and very intelligent. having him as a tutor was also such a blessing as well. tutorials were very fun because we had therapist-client roleplays with classmates so that we could practise the soft skills taught (reflection, empathy, validation, etc).
my only gripe with this mod is that there was for some reason one midterm in week 7, one midterm in week 13, AND finals. that's one too many exams man. but other than that, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED module for aspiring clinicians!
expected grade: A-
actual grade: A
PL4201: Psychometrics and Psychological Testing
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 4/5
difficulty: 7/5
this module fulfils the capstone pillar of the psych major and tldr, i think this is easily the most difficult psychology module one can take in nus.
i mean it it ticks all the boxes for a stressful experience:
1. content — VERY VERY HARD, especially for psych majors who are largely adverse to anything math. this mod requires you to perform derivations and meddle with fairly complicated-looking formulas. have not done this much math stuff since h2 math.
2. exams — NUMEROUS. try one quiz at the start of every tutorial (30%), graded homework submissions (20%), and oh did i mention a 100 marks closed-book finals (50%)?
3. "muggability" — PRETTY LITTLE... to knowledge i believe there's no test banks for this mod because the professor keeps it quite under wraps. so it's quite hard to practise the content...
hence why i gave this a 7/5 on the difficulty scale because this module has single-handedly caused me the most stress this sem LOL. and it's not like i didn't know that it would be an uphill battle going into it, this module is notorious for being a very difficult one, and few people typically take it out of pure interest.
finals was also no joke and im pretty sure i flunked it quite badly, despite trying my absolute best to mug for this mod... probably out of 100 i got a raw score of 60 or something...
expected grade: B+
actual grade: A-
PL4237: Evidence-Based Treatments for Trauma
enjoyability: 4/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 3/5
i took this module to fulfil the abnormal/social group of the psych major pillar and honestly it was a pretty good experience! the lecturer was ms fiona tan and she was nothing short of passionate and engaging, which consequently made me look forward to attend the weekly seminars!
my only gripe with this mod is that the grading is not really clear and stuff is not really that differentiating so the bell curve is pretty steep for this i would say. and i messed up my first 30% assignment so im not really looking forward to receiving the grade back on this one.
but i guess overall it's still a really interesting mod to take!
expected grade: B+
actual grade: A-
OTHER MODULES...
CFG3001: Career Advancement (2MC)
enjoyability: 2/5
workload: 2/5
difficulty: 1/5
can be completed pretty quickly i think. just need to allocate one day to grind all the stuff out. but i there is one part where they only give you access like about halfway into the sem so maybe allocate your one day to finish this mod somewhere during week 7.
expected & actual grade: CS
PLS8002: Cultivating the Self (1MC)
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 3/5
difficulty: 1/5
just need to attend 2 tutorials in the sem and do some homework and u can pass. quite an eye-opening module, and coincidentally this module was taught by my prof from another mod. nice little 1mc module to take! (just beware multiple long announcements on canvas hahaha)
expected & actual grade: CS
PLS8005: Elevating Interpersonal Communication (1MC)
enjoyability: 5/5
workload: 1/5
difficulty: 1/5
this was quite a fun 1mc module to take. it requires group discussion every seminar (3 times in a sem) but honestly time passed kinda fast cause it was fun. special shoutout to the lecturer Shan because this guy is the GOAT of charisma. if somehow the teaching thing doesn't work out, you should be a standup comedian because this guy is a natural performer in the best way possible!
expected & actual grade: CS
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