NTU Year 1 Semester 1

Introduction

Being a freshmen, I heavily relied on module reviews online to help me make my decision in choosing my modules. Now, I will like to contribute back my own module reviews, and I hope I can help others like you too! I planned for this blog to be a throwaway one solely for my module reviews, so do not expect any speedy replies. This might change in the future though if this picks up traffic.

Context

• I'm currently a Year 1 student at NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communications and Information.
• I took these mods in AY2018/2019 Semester 1

Let's head on to the reviews now!

Y1S1 module reviews

CS0201 Foundation of Communication Studies (GER-CORE)

Assessment: Class participation (10%), Panel participation (10%), Online participation (10%), Midterm exam 1 (20%), Midterm exam 2 (30%), Group project (20%).

Lessons: No tutorials, 2x 1.5hours lecture

Review: 

This module is taught by Prof Nuri Kim. We are her first batch so it was a little rough for everyone trying to figure out what is going on. She is also VERY soft even with the microphone so it will help to sit nearer to the front. Content-wise, this module is about the theories of communications and it's super dry. I didn't enjoy it at all. It is a must to study the readings to do well, as the lectures are not meant to cover content, but to make you understand it better.  

Notice how 30% of the grades go into "participation". Let me break it down. There are 2 lectures, one is the normal lecture and the other is the 'panel' lecture. Attendance is marked with assigned seating and that goes to class participation (10%). Every student has to be part of a 'panel' ONCE in the entire semester, which will take place during the 'panel' lecture. You will be required to participate in the panel discussion about your week's topic to earn panel participation (10%). For your panel week, you are also required to discuss online on Blackboard about your week's topic. Sometimes she will require all students to discuss online too for some of the weeks. These constitutes online participation (10%). There are NO recorded lectures, so I was always forced to attend lectures that I don't learn much from just for participation marks. 

Both midterms (20% + 30%) are all MCQs, so it was good for me since I didn't like writing essays. This means the bell curve will be steep though. About 95% of the content is covered in the readings and lecture materials. The other 5% she will throw in something that she mentioned or discussed in the lectures, to make sure that you actually attend them. The group project (20%) was puzzling to say the least. It lasted almost the entire semester and we had to work in groups of 5 to make an academic style e-poster about the problems of communication and how to solve it. It felt like the mini version of Project Work that I took back in JC. It took us alot of effort for just 20% of the module, so that was really funky for me. Overall, it wasn't an awful mod but it isn't special or good in any way either. This module made me feel like I was studying back in JC again. Didn't enjoy this module at all. 

Overall Grade: B

CS0204 Basic Media Writing (GER-CORE)

Assessment: Individual assignment (25%), Group assignment (25%), Class participation and tutorial work (20%), Finals (30%)

Lessons: 1x 1.5hours tutorial, 1x 1.5hours lecture

Review:

This module is taught by Prof Andrew Duffy. I feel that he is a great and funny professor, and if you get him for your tutorial also then it's a bonus. There are many tutorial slots and the other slots are covered by either Prof Ang Peng Hwa and Prof Jimmy Yap. The content of the module is about teaching students the basics of different styles of writing, such as promotional writing and journalistic writing, and it has a fair share of practical and theoretical assessment. 

Lecture attendance is not marked, but tutorials are. Lectures are NOT recorded. During lectures he will go through the lecture materials and it's a good experience to go there and listen to him teach but I felt I didn't learn much from the lectures. The tutorials will expand on the lecture, so at the very least read up the lecture notes, don't go there mind blank, he won't be very pleased. During tutorials he will usually give out worksheets for us to do in pairs and then discuss with the class, other times there will be some class activity. I felt that tutorial was pretty fun and enjoyable. All these make up class participation and tutorial work (20%).

The very first individual writing assignment (25%) is about writing a journalistic article. When I first knew this I was so SHOOK like wtf he's just throwing us into the deep end of the pool?!?! But thinking back now, it was quite manageable as he was easily contactable for any consultation in his office, and he let us submit a practice assignment which he gave us feedback very promptly. We were given roughly 2 to 3 weeks to finish this so we had to think hard about a real newsworthy event to write about, and how to craft the story. I learnt alot from this practical experience, especially how awful I was at interviewing people and how I really needed to be better prepared. But nonetheless I managed to get all my required interviewee accounts and finish the story. This really took me out of my comfort zone and made me realise how difficult it is to interview people and write news articles.

The second group writing assignment (25%) is about creating a promotional website. I had so much trouble with this assignment, because I realised promotional writing is alot harder than I expected. We are also given roughly 2 to 3 weeks for this assignment, and we had to come up with a NEW product or service and promote it on our website. We will be graded only based on our writing, so website noobs like me no need to be scared. I learnt how difficult it is to word your product to promote it effectively, and it opened my eyes to how successful companies do it so well to appeal to consumers like me that I don't notice that it's a blatant promotion. Newfound appreciation for our mega-corporation overlords.

The finals (30%) is like a normal JC style paper. 2 hours to finish 2 out of 4 essay styled questions. Content for finals is in the readings, which came as a rude shock for many of us since we never touched the readings at all the entire semester. I can't comment much more about this, this one is a pure standard mugfest. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this module, I've learnt alot from it and Prof Duffy really makes the lessons fun and interesting. It involves SO MUCH writing though (DUH ITS A WRITING MOD), so I was quite discouraged initially.

Overall Grade: A

CS0209 Media Law, Ethics and Policy (CORE)

Assessment: Weekly quizzes (10%), Midterms 1 (45%), Midterms 2 (45%)

Lessons: No tutorials, 1x 3hours lecture

Review:

This module is taught by Prof Mark Cenite. I feel that he is a very amazing and experienced prof, and the way he structures this module is very special and to me, very fair. This is a pure MCQ module, every gradable thing is MCQ. Which also means the bell curve is super duper steep. The content is about media law in Singapore, and comparisons are made with US and UK. Super dry content, but he does make it more entertaining and interesting.

Lectures are recorded. Good lord a module that has recorded lectures in WKW are as rare as a blue moon. Attendance is technically not recorded, but you have to be present in at least the first 10 minutes of the lecture to take the weekly quizzes (10%). These quizzes happen every week at the start of the lecture, so don't be late. The previous week content will be tested, and there are 5 MCQ questions. They are also COLLABORATIVE and OPEN-BOOKED. So you can discuss the question with people around you and flip through your lecture notes. This is a really unique method as I find myself actually learning more from discussing the answers to these quizzes, and also having to recap content from last week's lecture. Big plus right here, it's a pretty stress-free quiz. You are also allowed to drop your 2 lowest quizzes from your grades, so if you are absent or you screwed up for a week you don't have to worry about it adversely affecting your grades.

The 2 midterms (45% + 45%) on the other hand are SUPER stressful. To be fair he provides us with a huge question bank for every topic so we can practice to our hearts content. However, the difficulty of the midterms are alot harder than the question banks, so you really do need to know your content very well. It's not a mugfest, you need to know how to apply what concepts to which situations and the questions are really tricky too. 

Overall, I really enjoyed this module too and I gained an insight about copyright and libel laws, really super interesting. My only gripes are that it's easy to mess up your grades from the 2 midterms and that the 3hours straight lecture is honestly super torturous. He gives a break after every hour but after the first hour my mind is already snoozing and spacing out.

Overall Grade: A-

CS2005 Speech & Argumentation (CORE)

Assessment: Impromptu speech (20%), Written speech (20%), Theory test (20%), Persuasive speech (30%), Class participation (10%)

Lessons: 1x 1.5hour tutorial, 1x 1.5hour lecture

Review:

This module is taught by Ms Shobi Pereira. I have very mixed feelings about this module. On one hand, it is the most fun module I took in the semester, but on the other, I feel the assessment is very arbitrary. The content for this module is about teaching students on how to be a better speaker. 

Lectures are not recorded, even lecture slides are not uploaded every week. No lecture attendance but there is for tutorial. This makes up class participation (10%) Lecture covers the theory side of crafting a good speech, tutorials are more practical and you get to practice giving a speech. I'm awful at public speaking so this module was a nightmare for me initially, my first few assignments were also poorly scored too. 

Impromptu speech (20%) involves giving a 2 minute speech about a topic that you will choose at random from a pile of cards. You have 30 seconds to prepare your speech upon picking the card. This was really difficult for me as i'm not good at improvising, but I managed to deliver something coherent. We did get 2 lessons of mock practice prior to the actual test, so improvement is also a 'grading factor'. However, I think she emphasised heavily on pronunciation for this test, as those that did not pronounce well were quite heavily penalised. Not sure how much % are for the content, which is why I mentioned it feels very arbitrary.

Written speech (20%) involves crafting a 1000 word speech about a student-centric and controversial topic. She will be open for consultation to discuss about your choice of topics, which is highly recommended. You will be taught about the theories of crafting a good persuasive speech during the lectures. Not sure how this is graded too, not much feedback is also given.

Persuasive speech (30%) involves delivering a persuasive speech in front of your tutorial class. The 3 minute speech will be about a student-centric and controversial topic. Again, consultation is highly recommended. Better to be safe than sorry. This is where you put all your skills you've learnt so far in this module all together. You will be given 4 weeks of mock practice and it will be recorded for you to view, so you can improve on your body language, positioning and pronunciation.

Overall, this module was alot of fun. I feel much more confident speaking now and learnt alot about my tutorial mates since we usually shared our life experiences for our practice speeches. However, the grading felt very arbitrary. Some students I felt were better speakers but they scored worse than others, and vice versa.

Overall Grade: B+

EE8086 Astronomy, Stars, Galaxies and Cosmology (GERPE-STS)

Assessment: Midterm 1 (20%), Midterm 2 (20%), Finals (60%)

Lessons: No tutorials, 1x 3hour lecture

Review:

This module has 2 professors, one for the first 6 weeks and another for the last 6. Can't remember their names since I rarely went for the lectures. Honestly they are really awful at teaching. I went for one lecture for each of the professors and I didn't understand what they were teaching at all. The content for this module is about astronomy... pretty self-explanatory. This module is PURE MCQ. The content is SUPER HEAVY. The bell curve will be super steep. Be warned. You really need consistent effort to keep up with the content. That being said, it is not very hard to understand even for me so it's not for science or engineering students only.

There is no attendance marking at all. The lectures are very barren anyways because the lectures ARE recorded. That being said the recorded lectures aren't very useful either. My preferred way of studying is to watch Crash Course Astronomy on Youtube while looking at the lecture notes. I understand and remember the content SOOO MUCH BETTER. I wish I knew this earlier.

Overall, it's a mugging module. Astronomy stuff is pretty interesting too. My other gripe is that midterm 2 results will NOT be released, so you will only finish the semester knowing 20% of your grades. Quite hard to judge whether to S/U or not. I did not S/U in the end, since I was quite confident of my finals, but I didn't do too well for midterm 1. Regretted that decision.

Overall Grade: B-

HG8002 Story of English (GERPE-LA)

Assessment: Midterm 1 (25%), Midterm 2 (25%), Finals (50%)

Lessons: No tutorials, 1x 3hour lecture

Review:

This module is taught by Prof Guinevere Barlow. She is an okay lecturer that is funny at times, and she is very open to questions so you can email her if you don't understand anything about the module. The content is about the history of the English language, from Old English to Modern English we have today. Very interesting module but I didn't really grasp the concepts quite well, so I did pretty poorly. You either get it or you don't, you should see if this module is for you during Add/Drop.

Both midterms (25% + 25%) are ALL MCQ, and lecture content is tested. Bell curve is super steep. The finals (50%) have a little of everything, 1 section of MCQs, short-answer questions and essay questions EACH.

Overall I have mixed feelings about this module. The content and the professor are great and interesting, but I personally had trouble grasping the concepts. Also, there is only 1 lecture timing that is at an ungodly hour (4.30pm - 7.30pm), which meant I was really tired and couldn't focus after a whole day of lessons. A good thing is that she releases both midterm results of EVERYONE in a pdf, so you know EXACTLY where you stand. It is sorted by matriculation number so only you know your own grades, you wouldn't know what your friend scored unless you know their matriculation numbers. I realised I wasn't going to get a good grade so I S/U this module.

Overall Grade: S

Conclusion

That's all for this semester. Stay tuned for more! Hope I helped you in some way from this