Finally...

Yay. End of semester 1. Time really flies but yupz, I guess it would be good to reflect a bit about the modules I have taken this semester.

MA1505 Mathematics I
Ok this is a relatively simple module refreshing knowledge from A level Math plus a bit more.. provided your not a careless person (like me..=( ). But the lecturer Prof Koh is the best lecturer I've ever seen. He's really interesting with all the funny comments and illustrations, and these are the things that help you remember math. His lectures are mostly full house, but because of the weird lecture timing, I ponned most of the lectures. Oops. =X Both midterms and finals are of decent difficulty, but you really need to do them really fast! Oh and the cheat sheet didn't really help me though.

IT1005 Introduction to Programming with Matlab
For me, this module's an absolute nightmare. The labs are incredibly demanding and you have to hand in one lab each week. I'm not a computing person so I pretty much struggled with the module (and also because I didn't like it, so I didn't bother revising much..). The midterms are incredibly tough but the finals was not as bad (thank goodness..).The lecturers are ok. Dr Steven teaches all the super technical computing stuff, which is hell for me, while Dr Saif teaches the CHE applications of Matlab. One thing to highlight - Dr Saif's drawing is DAMN GOOD. Hahaha. Oh and the test/exam are open book, so no need to memorise all the syntax, etc.

EC1301: Principles of Economics
Supposedly a give away for peeps would took A levels economics. The first lecturer Dr Mondial teaches microeconomics, but is really monotonous so I pretty much skipped all his lectures. The second lecturer Dr Seeveratnam taught macroeconomics. She is really interesting so I diligently turned up for her lectures. The midterms are incredibly easy but i didn't know where I went wrong at coz they didn't return the papers. Finals was way harder, and I barely had time left after completing the MCQs. Everything's MCQs so that saves a lot of memory space for me.

WP2201H: Eating Right(s): The Politics of Food
This module is pretty slack. There's no lectures so lessons are carried out in a seminar style. The groups are really small (~9) so you get as much attention from the lecturer as you want. Haha. Basically I go to class and just talk about anything food related. The readings are pretty interesting, but they really long. For an engineering student, reading those articles can be quite a nightmare. Haha. The lecturer Dr Anu is really good and encouraging, giving us a lot of feedback for the essays we submit. And its an assignment based module so there's no exams! =D But the 3 essay assignments are very long and time-consuming. But since I liked the topic so it was pretty interesting module for me.

CN2121: Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics
This module is one of my 2 favourite modules this semester. Dr Jiang teaches all the thermodynamic laws, heat systems, while Dr Yung teaches all the phase equilibria and chemical reaction equilibria. Overall, both lecturers are really good, especially during tutorials. This module is pretty much Math, with lots of derivation and stuff. Concepts are very interesting, especially Dr Yung's part on equilibria. Loved it. I screwed my midterms up very badly coz I thought too hard for something so simple, and because it was so simple that many people did very well. Finals was way harder, but I could pretty much complete it. So hopefully I don't get too bad a grade for a module that I enjoyed so much.

CN2122: Fluid Mechanics
The controversial module that saw me pit myself against the department. Oh whatever. I LOVED this module. This is the other module that I enjoyed the most this semester. The concepts seem so daunting at first, with such rigorous use of math. However, do tutorials diligently and everything becomes really standard. The lecturers are ok. Dr Ti teaches all the integral forms while Prof Chen taught all the differential forms of the equations. Tutorials are... zzZZ (coz I got the other TA). There are random pop quizes along the way which are pretty decent as long as you understand your concepts. Midterms and finals are equally super duper tough, partially because there are so many high weightage MCQs (I suspect the lecturers are very lazy people.. Oops). Do or die. Haha. And this module taught me the art of open book exams. The moment you frantically open your book to refer to, you are pretty much in trouble le. Haha.

Overall, although I took 6 modules this semester, the workload is surprisingly manageable! I may consider taking a bit more next semester, but that all depends of results =X Anyway exams are finally over so its about time I give myself a break and enjoy the many better things in life!

Yesterday I attended the Keppel CEO talk after my exams before going off to celebrate Bernard's birthday. Haha. Really tiring day but I really enjoyed it.

Today woke up early (and really sleep-deprived) to get to school to settle the OCIP stuff. YAY, I'm leaving for Indonesia on Monday! Hahaha. So exciting. My first OCIP trip and I really hope that it would be a really fun and meaningful trip. Gotta start packing my stuff! Haha.

So that's about it for now. Will be back on the 21st! (Exam results day!!! =X)