MA1521: Calculus for Computing
Summary: A compulsory Math module for all computing students. Dr Wang Fei was my lecturer and also the tutor for ALL tutorial groups; he single-handedly teaches the module “whether you like it or not” (in his own words). I think he’s really a nice and passionate teacher, demonstrates mastery on the topics he teaches, and has good lecture notes. I wasn’t able to catch up with him for the first one or two lectures, but quickly became used to his style. Lectures are two-hour each and webcast-ed, twice a week. I don’t know if there’s a textbook for this module, but you won’t need it if there’s one. Topics covered include pre-calculus, limits, sequences/series, differentiation/integration, and ODE.
Workload was light. Tutorial attendance is 5%, though my lecturer said he had students who skipped his tutorials entirely and still managed an A. He also claimed that it doesn’t care whether you attend his lectures/tutorials as long as you can understand the concepts. Midterms was 20%, and I got like 70+/100 which was slightly above average. The three homework assignments (15%) consisted of merely harder tutorial-like questions. Do them with friends. Finals is 60%. The easy questions were tedious, whereas the difficult questions were, well, difficult. His papers usually follow a standard format; rejoice, spotters! As usual for Math modules, two A4-sized double-sided papers as cheat sheets, but to be honest they’re useless; didn’t get to use them again. My friend who’s majoring in Math concurs; she prepares cheat sheets but almost never uses them (the preparation of the cheat sheets itself does reinforce what you’ve learnt though).
TLDR: PRACTICE! Understand the core concepts, and spam past year papers
Grade: B+
CS2100: Computer Organisation
Summary: I’ve heard rumours about how difficult this module was in Sem 1, and methinks it is true; the difficulty of the past year papers between Sem 2 and Sem 1 were heaven and hell. Most of my friends whined about the module in Sem 1 and got like C+, yeah. I took this in Sem 2 and was taught by Aaron Tan and Dr Soo Yuen Jien in the first half and second half respectively. I think they’re both trying to make the content as easy to digest as possible. Don’t buy the textbook though. I personally clarified with Aaron Tan and he said it wasn’t necessary for the course, but my friend did and regretted. The concepts are actually relatively easy to comprehend, and the slides alone are sufficient for this module. Topics covered provided me with knowledge of the literal physical limitations of computing, and how people managed to work around these limitations through clever little ways. In my opinion, this is among the numerous CS modules which require students to understand the content, rather than simply memorizing via rote, and work out questions based on your understanding of the topics.
Workload was light. Tutorial attendance is 10%, so do attend them. We had 4 assignments (10%) and weekly labs (10%), but they were really straightforward and a marks-giveaway. There were two term tests however (15% each); a midterm and towards the end of the term. I made multiple careless mistakes and got 26/30 in total, while the median and mean were both around 20/30. Finals is 50%, and the questions were clearly crafted to test your understanding. We’re allowed two A4 double-sided pages of cheat sheet, but my cheat sheet was a quarter A4-size of stuff that I wasn’t confident of committing to memory, and I didn’t really use it other than for a calculation question which required one of the formulas.
TLDR: Understand the concepts, know the definitions, and do your tutorials
Grade: A
CS2105: Introduction to Computer Networking
Summary: A core module with relatively little content. My lecturer was Dr Zhou Lifeng, and it was his first time teaching this module. He’s quite a funny guy though; he often uses memes in his slides and examples, and most of the girls from China seem to like him. In one of the earlier lectures, he literally coded a simple Java UDP server and client from scratch live, which was quite cool. Again, the slides alone are sufficient, no need to buy book. Topics covered include delays, UDP, TCP, security, OSI layers, some easy math formulas and very basic networking concepts.
Workload was moderate. NO midterms yay! Tutorials were just plain straightforward, but tutorial attendance is 10%. I attended the lectures because my friends were there, but the slides are sufficient. The assignments contribute up to 30%. All of them were Java coding assignments which require you to implement basic networking/encryption between two programs. Most people obtained perfect scores, but I got 27/30 due to laziness on my part (which I regretted). They were admittedly time-consuming, and it’s always advisable to complete tedious coding assignments early. Finals (60%) was a mix of straightforward MCQs and concept-testing questions.
TLDR: Don’t be complacent just because the content is easy
Grade: A
CS2107: Introduction to Information Security
Summary: Similar to CS2105, the lecturer for this introductory module, Chang Ee-Chien, happens to be teaching this module for the first time. This module is a pre-requisite for CS students who want to specialize in information security. It aims to provide students with a broad overview on information security, and scratches the surface of concepts like encryption, hash, attacks/vulnerabilities, network security, and software security, never truly going in-depth for each of them. Easily a self-read module. No webcasts, but honestly the lectures weren’t very useful. Lecture slides are sufficient, although they’re somewhat minimalistic.
Workload was light. Midterms (15%) was conducted rather sloppily in the lecture hall; people were seated next to each other and copying from one another, resulting in most people getting full marks (I was below the 25th percentile). The hands-on assignments (20%) include analyzing network packets using WireShark, SQL injection and email-spoofing, which were interesting albeit simple. There’s also a 5% group presentation on selected topics, and most groups get 4% at least. Finals (60%) consists of leveled-up tutorial questions. Similar to CS2105, the lecture content was super easy, but finals were comparatively difficult. Don’t be fooled by the lecturers when they say “easy one la”!
TLDR: Understand the concepts and try them out!
Grade: B+
LSM1301: General Biology
Summary: A fulfillment to the science modules requirement for CS students, and a bridging module for students majoring in Life Sciences without ‘A’-levels Biology. This is basically a watered-down version ‘O’-levels Biology (I took ‘O’-levels Biology). I was taught by plant biologist Prof Loh Chiang Shiong in the first half, and Dr Wu Jinlu in the second. Both are truly passionate in teaching, but Dr Wu’s accent was often difficult to comprehend. Prof Loh’s a cute old guy who would bring interesting plant samples into his lectures. A couple of times I noticed him loitering around the plants outside the lecture theater a few minutes before lecture, looking for potential plant victims. Topics covered include ecology, biodiversity, plant and animal form and function, evolution, cell structure and function, DNA, heredity, chemistry of life, gene expression etc.
Workload, other than a group project work, was light. The group project’s deliverable include a video (4%), a report (4%) and a real-life 3D model of a cell (4%); a fun-filled chore. The rest of the assignments made up 28% of the remaining CA, and mostly consisted of simple questions. Finals (60%) was a set of 60 MCQs and open-book, covering everything taught in the semester. I printed out the entire set of notes and found that lecture notes were sufficient, no need for textbook. The questions were mostly really easy and straightforward, so bell-curve is expected to be steep. In Sem 2, the class was filled with students who were anything but Biology majors.
TLDR: Quite content-heavy; try to understand as much as possible
Grade: A-
GEK1901: Critical Thinking in the Information Age
Summary: (RANT) This is such a bullshitting module. GEK1901 is a newly introduced communications module from my batch onwards as a University Level Requirement GEM, because apparently computing students can’t think. I should have taken this in grade-less Sem 1, but I wonder why I didn’t. I felt as if I had learnt nothing at all from this module, and almost everything was common sense. The workbin in IVLE was horrendously messy, with duplicated files and poor organization.
Workload was non-existent in the first half of the semester, but in the latter half we were bombarded by graded assignments weekly, from panel discussion (5%) to essay writing (40%!) and multimedia presentation (40%!) etc. Your presentations will be videotaped “for grading and future references”, ughhh.
TLDR: Take this in Sem 1 and S/U
Grade: B (S/U-ed)
Total MCs: 40 (16+24)
SAP: 4.5 (4.33)
CAP: 4.67 (4.55)
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