Wrapping up.

Just like that, 4 years have passed. 

I'm glad i have this space to record the academic part of my semesters :) And i hope that it is somewhat useful for you too! I'll still be replying to comments :)

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Uni is truly the best period of your life to try new things. I've taken away a few life lessons throughout the years and i'll be sharing it from my perspective and opinions. I don't expect anything from you if you're reading this and if you have a different opinion from me, i respect that :) we're all on our own journey of life! this ain't gonna be some motivational post whatsoever haha, it's really just me sharing my thoughts about my years in uni. i will also be sharing about some stuff about God, and if it makes you feel uncomfortable, please just skip this! it is never my intention to offend anyone, i just wish to jot down my thoughts :)

Through the years i've learnt to really grasp the fact that grades do not define me. sure it seemed as if it's the end of the world getting 25th percentile or a less than ideal grade i was hoping for. My CAP wasn't ideal either, but this doesn't change who I am! my identity is not based on my intelligence or the number of my CAP. i guess everything felt so real and scary at that moment because in my life stage now, society deems CAP to be the very thing that defines my future. but when i took a step back and looked at the whole picture, CAP and grades are just a small part of my entire life. a 25th percentile for 1 module's 1 quiz is just a tiny tiny bump in this road of life. just a tiny bump that won't cause an accident with a permanent damage. i knew that grades weren't everything since year 1, but i was never truly convicted of it. deep down i'd still fear failure and worry so much about my grades. but as the years passed, as i grew in my walk with God too, i learnt that grades are just a small part of my life that God has planned for me. my identity isn't in how high my CAP is, my identity is in God. that regardless of the grade i got, i thanked God for it because He either planned it or allowed it or blessed me with it. if i felt that i didn't study enough and still did well, it's because of God's grace; if i tried my best and still got 25th percentile, i know that God's grace will still carry me through. it doesn't change how much He loves me or the plans He already has in mind for me. overall, it is God's blessings and grace that carried me through. and whatever CAP i'm gonna graduate with, i want to give thanks and all glory to the King :) what's more important is my well-being, my walk with God and what i have done for Him in response to His unconditional love. 

So although i am still jobless even after applying for SO many jobs, i know that somewhere out there is a job waiting for me. i know that God has a job in mind for me and i just need to continue seeking Him for directions. He hears my desires and I want to follow in His will for me too, so i hope God will soon show me which job to take :) my hope is in God, the One who provides for me. isn't it great, to know that the responsibility of your future isn't 100% on you (the burden is too great to bear eeks), and that you can place your hope in something, someone perfect and certain? :) i dont know, it just blows my mind that my future rests in someone greater than i am, and this someone cares and loves me unconditionally and will give me the best. 

I also realized that uni is truly the time to try new things. it's a safe environment to step out of my comfort zone. i'm glad i took up dance, performed, joined a committee, and tried out NUS ambassadors twice. uni, or at least my psych timetable, allows me to have pockets of time to pursue my passion or things i like. i really enjoyed trying new things although i was terrified of it. i'm blessed with a community who is so welcoming and loving. i also enjoyed meeting new people, especially cross-faculties because it's interesting to know what they study, how differently they think and just get to know new people :) sure the acquaintanceship hardly lasts, but it's the 'thrill' of talking to new people that i kinda enjoyed? hahaha. but i understand that this isn't for everyone. regardless, i'd still strongly encourage you to join a club or a cca or just an event! plus, classes in uni is much more affordable than classes outside. i thought some dance classes in uni is expensive, but i took that back when i tried an external dance studio's lessons haha. so make full use of your school fees and go for all the activities! 

making coursemate-friends was tough. it took me 6 sems to familiarize myself with my coursemates cos there are so many of them! it was in my last year when i really got to be more comfortable with my coursemates and say hi to them around school or at least acknowledge each other. i wish i had more time or more opportunities to interact with different coursemates. i'm thankful for church friends who take the same modules as me. working with friends in project groups has its pros and cons. it certainly comforted me to know that i can turn to them for support and not need to worry too much about sitting alone in lecture. although i do admit that i wish i had put myself out there more to group with other people in projects, to make new friends :) nonetheless, thank God for coursemate-friends in uni :") 

another 'source' of friends was from my cca. although we all studied at different faculties and are at different years, we kinda managed to take UE / GEMs together! it was q fun attending classes with cca friends :) i'll certainly miss spending evenings in the studio practicing dance routines, and the lovely mass dinners we have together at food clique or at YIH. these moments really bonded my friends and i. i've learnt that when one is really passionate about something, one will make time for it. no matter how packed my timetable was, i'd squeeze time to meet friends or go for dance. anything that can get my head out of academics! i used to be the go-home-straight-after-school girl in JC and secondary school, but uni was different. 

i spent fridays at cell in school. i'm thankful for a cell that is specially for arts students. somehow it's easier to talk to each other and we see one another along the corridors more often too. i used to have free fridays throughout year 1 to 3, but coming all the way back to school to meet this community of supportive and loving friends was totally worth it. 

it was definitely so hard to choose between dance and church-related activities. both are my passion! i have missed so many events that fell on friday nights, i have rejected performance opportunities just because most of the practice fell on friday nights. yet i also made it clear to my dance friends that if we had pracs on friday nights, i wouldn't be able to make it. making it clear where your priorities are is so important, especially for christians. i often asked God how i can be a testimony for Him in school and a small way was to let people know that my friday nights are blocked out for cell. it was intimidating and i was embarrassed about it at first. but as i grew and i saw the value of gathering as a community, i because less ashamed of mentioning about my activities in cell. 

if you are a fellow christian out there too, trust me when i encourage you to put God first in all that you do and invest your time and energy into His kingdom purposes. of course, i'm definitely not asking to devote all 5 days to church-related activities oh no. my personal conviction is that one can play all they want from mon till thurs, but if there is a time set apart for cell and church service, let it remain a sacred time for God. and in the decisions you make, always pray and seek after God's will for you! He hears your prayers and answers them in His perfect timing. as you honor Him in uni, He will honor you too! God desires to bless you out of His unfailing love for you :)

Isaiah 55:8-9 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

yup, so these are just a few things i wanna wrap up uni with. i'm definitely terrified of entering the working world but i want to trust that God will protect me and provide for me through it all :) 

so alas, go! try new things, step out of your comfort zone, have fun. you never know what wonderful memories you can make when you do so :) uni is more than just grades, it's about personal growth and discovery too! 

till next time, take care!

ps, if you have some questions about God or you are interested to know more about who this God is, leave a comment and i'll gladly share with you more! there are no silly questions :) 

Year 4, Semester 2

ahh, can't believe that this is the last module review post i'll be doing :(( it's so bittersweet. 

PL4228 Criminal Forensic Psychology

Lecturer: Prof Chu Chi Meng

Prof Chu is actually from MSF! so he has many stories to tell. He's a pretty chill lecturer haha. we only got him for a couple of weeks because the other weeks were taught either by Jen (another MSF officer) or invited speakers. His slides are very neat and concise, easy to digest. 

Seminar:

The seminars were interesting because there is a different speaker almost every other week! it's nice to hear stories by people from the ground itself, it makes it all much more realistic and applicable. Seminars were mostly just us listening and taking down notes. there were minimal discussion times. But the readings were not mentioned during the seminars and sometimes it doesn't even follow the schedule :o 

Workload: 4.5/5

This module's workload is manageable if you're consistent. There are SO many readings, 1 week can easily have 6 readings of more than 10 pages each! Madness. Most of my time spent on this module was clearing the weekly readings. but tbh if you don't read it you aren't missing out on much because it isn't mentioned or linked during class time. yet, it'll be a mistake to neglect it and leave it till the end because there is simply too many readings to take note of! 

Grading:

40% Essay

Prof released the essay instructions during the first few weeks of the sem and it's due towards the end of the sem. of course, most of us would leave it till the last minute to do it haha. the essay was about comparing the pros and cons of 2 different treatment frameworks. as simple as that sounds, it isn't! so much research had to be done and we had to craft our own opinions into it too so it was a challenge. there was strictly no extension of deadline for us and there were no marking rubrics given either. 

10% Attendance

Attendance is taken every seminar but i don't think class participation is counted. my class was super quiet, we hardly asked questions haha. 

10% Presentation

Prof let us choose our own groups and a theory to present on. He gave us the space for creativity on how to present it. some groups recorded a drawing video and narrated it, some acted it out, my group simply presented it haha. my biggest regret for this mod was not thinking out of the box for our presentation

40% Finals

There is no mid-term for this module, just an essay due. 

Finals was 50MCQ over 13 weeks of content and readings. The content is not too heavy and it was interesting too, so it wasn't too painful to study for it. Prof asks really detailed questions like which section of the law was this from. or he'd test the subpoints that he mentions in class instead of the main points. he does test the readings too and minute details like what population was used LOL. that really caught me off guard. i think the bell curve is gonna be quite steep..

I'm really glad that i took this mod because i've always wanted to take it since i started majoring in psych. although i learnt that i don't want to be a forensic psychologist, the content i learnt is something i won't get anywhere else. it was a really eye opening experience. I'd recommend to take this module because it's an eye-opening experience to hear about a side of Singapore that is hardly talked about. :) 

PL4236 Autism Spectrum and its Related Disorders

Lecturer: Prof Iliana Magiati

Prof Iliana is the most pro-active prof i've had. She is so passionate and knowledgable about her field of expertise. she's from greece and she has v nice eye color hahaha. She was very flexible with the assignment deadlines. she actually changed our deadlines to accommodate to those taking thesis so that the deadlines wouldn't clash with thesis, how thoughtful of her! she'd always ask for our feedback and opinion and she really takes into account what we feedback to her. apparently this sem's workload is lesser than last sems but tbh it's still q heavy haha. 

Seminar:

There is a significant amount of time spent for discussions and sharing. it's nice to have a vocal class and peers who had working experience with children with autism. there's a lot of pair sharing during class. although i dreaded it because who wants to talk at 8am, it was good because it made me recall what i've learnt and apply it to real-life questions. Prof would walk around and give us her opinions too. it was a relaxed and comfortable learning environment. i really enjoyed this class because it's so light-hearted.

This module is a blended classroom one, so we had weekly pre-class activities to do, on top of our assignments and readings.. but the pre-class activities were okay because we just had to watch some videos and answer some simple questions. nothing too difficult. 

Workload: 5/5

The workload is the heaviest of them all! There are so many grading components for this module that i was constantly doing work for this mod. After finishing the first case report, I had to quickly prep for mid terms. and after that quickly start on the second case report while prepping the group project as well. and after that it's prepping for the final quiz. It was rather hectic and there was no time to breathe. But writing the case reports helped consolidate what we have learnt so in a sense we were revising on the way. Readings were manageable, about 2-3 per week only and there were short ones phew! the readings were enjoyable too, not too technical or difficult to understand. There were pre-class activity worksheets to be completed too, that took up some time.  

Grading:

15% Case Report 1

The 2 case reports were based on the movie Temple Grandin. So we had to treat her as if a client and write an analysis about her symptoms and diagnosis. It was SUPER time consuming because case report is a new thing for most of us. we had to watch the movie ourselves and take down notes on the way. and then figure out how to structure our essay and how to report it within a limited word count. madness it took me 3 weeks to do this essay. Prof was very nice, she gave us specific and useful guidelines and rubrics to follow for all of the assignments, so as to check our progress. She's very meticulous in her marking too, she'd even edit my essay to help me phrase it better lol. 

25% Quiz 1

It was a short mid term quiz in class, consisting of MCQ and SAQ and fill in the blanks. There is so much content to remember since the first few weeks were about symptoms and diagnoses so the quiz really tested our memory on that. 

20% Group Poster + Presentation

This was extremely time consuming as well, mostly because my friend and i volunteered to design the poster while the rest find the information to be put into the poster. i thought creating a scientific infographic is easy, IT IS SO TOUGH. to squeeze so much content into an A1 paper is tougher than i thought! My group didn't do as well as other groups because our poster was too scarce lol. but we were just following the prof's guidelines of a clean and concise poster :(( The presentation time limit was 5 min so it was quite mad during the presentation. Thankfully, i had a pro-active and cooperative group who was quite on the ball for this project. it was enjoyable working with them :)

25% Case Report 2

This report was a follow up of the first one, where we had to analyze Temple's environment and how it contributed to her diagnosis. It was also quite time consuming. 

15% Quiz 2

This quiz was held on w13 online, so we could do it otot with our notes! i thought we'd score well for it but turned out my friends and i got 25th percentile and we were SHOCKED. like how even??? honestly it is still quite discouraging.. shows how steep the bellcurve is. the test consisted of MCQ and SAQ. but each MCQ was worth 5 marks, crazy!! 

Overall, this module was quite enjoyable too :) i learnt so much and it gave me a new desire to want to reach out to people with autism. the only down side i can say is that it's really time consuming.. so take it if you're interested in the content otherwise it'll be so hard!

PL4239 Social Psychology of the Unconscious

Lecturer: Dr Jia Lile

Prof Jia is really nice! he replies emails really quickly too haha. He is approachable and gives good feedback. He's pretty chill in class and his slides are clean enough. He shows us videos to illustrate concepts and occasionally has in-class activities to engage us. Also, he memorized every one's names, i'm shocked! he personally returned us our mid term papers by going around class himself. i'm really shocked hahaha. 

Seminar:

The usual routine for class is that prof will open the class with his teaching, and then it'll be student presentations that is part of his content for the day, and then he will end the class with his teaching. it was interesting to see how prof incorporated student presentations into the weekly content, instead of just having the presentation and then the end. ya gets? hahaha. All discussion times come during the group presentation time. My class was quite quiet so there weren't many questions asked either. 

Workload: 3.5/5

i'd say that the workload is the lightest among all the modules this sem. there are about 2 readings weekly, all scientific papers. the readings were not too hard to understand and were quite interesting too. my group was the first one to present over the entire sem so that huge hurdle was done by w4, which was great! so it was just prepping the readings beforehand for each class. 

Grading:

10% Participation

Prof was understanding, he knew that not every one is vocal in class so he opened up a forum on IVLE to let us voice our opinions weekly. this is a really great strategy because i don't dare to speak up in class and writing in the forum gives me more time to think about the content that i want to share. it was definitely less intimidating and pressurizing. 

30% Mid-term

mid term was open book but there was so little time to refer. Prof tested somewhat similar concepts but it was more of extending the knowledge we have learnt or combining several topics together. honestly it was quite tough..

20% Group Presentation

We just had to present one of the readings in 10ish minutes, the usual :) prof didn't ask us too difficult questions. in fact, we were the ones asking him questions instead haha. he emphasized on class engagement so different groups came up with different ways to engage the class during the discussion portion. i had a pleasant discussion time with my class because my groupmates and i facilitated a two-way discussion instead of just letting the class discuss among themselves. 

40% Final Paper

There is no exam for this module, but our finals was a written scientific paper. we had to come up with our own topic (anything!), craft an intro, method, results and discussion section for our hypothetical study. it was honestly quite tough for me because i've never written a scientific paper by myself before. so much time was put into this, i hope it pays off :o it was so tough brainstorming for a topic. but prof jia is super thoughtful, he gave us an optional submission of a draft of our proposed idea and he will 'verify' it. and he also allowed us to send in drafts during reading week and he would give us comments. it was really helpful, i appreciated it so much. 

i guess this module was the least interesting of all because it's not as applicable irl compared to the other 2 mods. as in, it's not thattt practical. honestly i took it because there was no exam haha. the content was a bittt confusing but it isn't too hard to grasp. it was slightly familiar because some of the key terms were learnt during pl1101 or pl3235. i'd say, take this module if you're interested in it :) 

//

Overall, this sem is chill yet hectic. chill in the sense i am hardly in school, twice a week only! but hectic because there's a constant flow of work daily. be it readings or doing essays or prepping group work. it certainly wasn't a relaxing last sem haha. I enjoyed what i learnt this sem and it saddens me to know that i will no longer be around to take more interesting modules :( thankfully i had a constant friend throughout my 3 modules and it was really nice being able to bounce ideas off each other and accompany one another during our break times. ironically, not being in school so often made it harder for me to meet friends, since they're mostly in school haha. but thankfully i got to meet and spend time with the people i love :) 

This sem has been so different. everything feels more precious than ever, every moment is cherished and enjoyed. studying for exams wasn't too bad because it was my last time doing so. year 4 has been good. I tried as many new things as possible and it was pretty fun! i'm really gonna miss going for classes and learning new things :") cherish every moment you have in uni!!

perhaps i'll write a separate post about my thoughts about uni :) till then, have a wonderful summer holiday and just enjoyyyy yourself! 

God bless!

Year 4 Sem 2 Week 1

remember, the most important person at any moment is YOU. 

self care is important! it is okay to say no, it is okay to be absent for awhile to find yourself, so that you can truly be present.

can't believe it's my last semester, my second last post. i have mixed feelings towards the semester ahead. while i am happy that i am taking modules that i enjoy and want, i am sad that the end is near. i want to make full use of the sem, i want to try new things. i hope i will accomplish that. 

i am taking 3 modules this sem only bcos i was able to clear 1 4k in y3s2. it makes such a big difference! this sem's timetable is the best ever. 

PL4228 Criminal Forensic Psychology

i am thrilled to take this module! i remember the first time i saw this module in y1 and told myself that i HAVE to take this mod before i grad. and here i am. my year 1 self is very happy. 

the prof so far is nice, and i really enjoy the content! it's so interesting, something that's out of the blue and will never be taught outside school. 

tho it's only week 2, i am already lagging behind in readings lol there is just SO much readings with SO many pages. but no complaints haha, no more readings after this sem.

PL4236 Autism Spectrum and its Related Conditions

i wanted to take this module because i wanted to understand autism better. i have extended family members who have autism and i want to better understand what's going on and how i can better help and support them. 

almost 70% of the class have experience with children with autism. i am not one of them. and i kinda regret because it is the essential exposure i needed and i wonder why i didn't go for it last time. nonetheless, i'm glad i'm learning about it now. keeping my options open for my first job. if this really goes well, perhaps youth for autism first? :) 

the lecturer is super lovely, my favourite this sem. i am really looking forward to her classes although it's at 8am on fridays.

PL4239 Social Psychology of the Unconscoius

this is the toughest module for me so far, and the most technical one. i'm not sure if i made the right decision to take this module.. it was a recap of the things we have learnt in 3k mods.. but i guess i havent done a social psych related mod in a long time so this is a good refresher. it was either this or Patient and Health Care. i decided to from PHC in the end because the content was more straight forward and commonsensical.. hopefully this was the right choice.

i am most worried for this module because it's not my forte. but there's group presentation and i hope that that will pull up my grades haha. 

--

i'm finally at the stage where i recognize most of my batchmates. it's comforting to see familiar faces and smiling at each other although we don't know one another's name. i wish i arrived at this stage earlier. finally making some more new friends but i'm graduating soon. 

i hope that this semester will be great, i wonder what i will have to say about it in May. i hope that your semester will be a great one too! remember, grades do not define you. go and try new things, be adventurous! keep your friends close to you, and you family closer. you never know what you have until you're gonna lose it. i'm treasuring every single day with my friends and family now before work starts and all. 

jiayou everyone!

cheerios!

Year 4, Semester 1

PL4219 Advanced Abnormal Psychology
Lecturer: Dr Gwee Kenji
Best! Lecturer! Ever! Seriously, if you see Dr Gwee taking any modules, JUST DO IT! He is very engaging and his classes are so interactive! Dr Gwee is a clinical psychologist at IMH so he normally shares very interesting stories from work. That’s great because it brings our content to life. He is funny and always happy and laughing, he is not afraid to curse in class looool. He’s very honest and he’s open to our endless questions.

Seminar
3 hours of this module is too short. Dr Gwee’s style is very unique because he teaches minimally from the slides that are already very clean with few words, and he encourages us to ask questions instead. So the class is actually ran by the students who keep asking and asking and asking questions. It was stressful but it was good because it made me think about the content and think of questions to ask Dr Gwee. He’d use videos to illustrate the concepts or therapies, which is very useful for understanding.

Workload: 4/5
We learnt a mixture of disorders and therapies and psychological tools, it was a good breath with some dept. There were at least 2 readings each week, there was a week with 6 crazy readings! But they weren’t so bad. It was just time consuming but some readings are interesting so it was not that much of a pain. But just don’t delay your readings till the final MCQ because there’ll be too many to catch up with by then. So just take it easy and do your weekly readings diligently and you’ll be fine.

Grading:
25% Attendance & Participation
30% Essay
15% Group Presentation
30% Quiz
Participation was so stressful! Because everyone is SO vocal, so it’ll stress you out and also push you to think of something to ask. i have never been in such a vocal and enthusiastic class. Attendance wasn’t a problem at all because the module is SO engaging and interesting, you’d be a fool to miss it!
The essay was due in the middle of the sem, so we were given a lot of time to do it. Being the kiasu student, i started the essay really early so it was okay for me. Thank God for blessing me with a really good grade too! It was educational to write about my topic because it was a disorder that i’ve never heard of before and I learnt so much from it. Start early and you’ll be okay :)
Group presentation was held in week 3/4 which was great! It was good to just get it over and done with. The topic was free for all and we could choose what disorder or therapy to present about. Our groups were huge like 8 people, so not everyone needed to present. The groups were all really creative with their presentation style like a talk show or a game show. Note to self to make presentations more engaging haha.
There were no finals for this module, so the final MCQ quiz was held in week 12. We had MCQ questions about the content and 2 case studies MCQ. The bell curve for the paper was mad steep and i didn’t do well.. study very hard and carefully because his MCQ options are SUPER tricky like a. I, ii, iii. B. I, ii, iii, iv. LOL.

Overall, i really enjoyed this module! It's so interesting to learn about the different therapies and think about how you can actually use it in real life with friends lol. Not sure as to how i will fare for this module because my final quiz grade was terrible.. but it’s okay, it’s the knowledge that counts haha. Take this module if you’re interested in venturing into the clinical field or you are interested in different therapies! It’s a good module not to be missed.



PL4221 Early Language Development
Lecturer: Prof Leher Singh
Prof Singh is very nice and gentle. Her slides are basically the summary of the textbook chapter of the week haha so it was really good revision after reading the textbook. She talks pretty fast tho so typing is easier than writing haha. she opened up office hours for post midterm consultation and i appreciated that she was willing to help me with my feedback :)

Seminar
This seminar was the least stressful one because it was just 3 hours of Prof Singh reading off the slides haha! She has many slides every week, an average of 60+. She did ask questions and encouraged the class to engage in a discussion but i guess our class was really shy and quiet so there were many Long awkward moments of silence between silences haha. Sometimes Prof Singh would tell us stories a bout her 2 sons and how language development milestones were seen in her sons. That was pretty interesting as it also helped us understand the content better.

Workload: 3.5/5
The workload was manageable to me in my opinion because it just needed us to prep for mid terms and finals, as per usual. And just read 1 chapter from the textbook weekly. The textbook was relatively easy to read. We used Erika Hoff’s Language Development textbook. I'm selling the e-book so if you would like a copy, leave a comment below :) Yes, the essay definitely took up time but if started early, it is not as stressful and there is more time to do research and check through. The workload for this module is really manageable actually, since there is no group presentation and the essay could be started way in advance.  

Grading:

30% Mid-term Exam

15% Short report

15% Attendance and class engagement

40% Final Exam
Mid terms and finals were just 40 MCQ! Best testing format ever haha. And they were non-cumulative, which is great because there is just SO much content. she mainly tested on our conceptual understanding. so memorize your definitions! The short report was a critique of a research paper. Prof released a set of research papers on different topics and we could choose which article we wanted to review on. It was quite manageable as well because the limit was 5 pages? If you start early, you’ll be okay :) kinda worried about class engagement grading because none of us asked questions Nor answered them,i t was the quietest class ever lol.  

although this wasnt my first choice module, i dont regret taking it. it was very insightful and when i watched baby videos of my cousins, it made senseeee haha! it is good general knowledge to have a proper term to a child's development. take this module if you're interested in young children's development and if you want a relatively chill mod haha. the content was heavy as a whole but because exams were non-cumulative, it was manageable. 

PL4223 Introduction to Clinical Neuropsychology
Lecturer: Prof Simon Lowes Collinson
Sadly, this sem was his last class in NUS bcos he is leaving :( but he was not bad, knowledgable and pretty chill. He’d share with us his clinical cases some times too.

Seminar:
The seminar is pretty chill! The first hour is normally the prof going through the slides. His slides were pretty clean and informative too. Then the remaining 2 hours were spent on rotating group presentations. It can be q boring and sleepy sometimes especially when things get too technical and you dont know what’s going on. honestly i'm not too sure if i took away anything because most of the info gained from the seminar are from student presentations so it wasn't as concrete as the prof's explanations? wished he taught more and simplified whatever we were presenting.

Workload: 3.5/5
The workload was light for me because i didn't have to prepare weekly slides and only needed to prepare the speech. we hardly had readings and there was no textbook! so it was pretty chill. there wasn't any written essay assignment either so it was mainly the presentation portion and the end of sem quiz.

Grading:
40% Core Knowledge MCQ
20% Class Presentation
10% Attendance
30% Final Exam
The core knowledge MCQ was on week 4 or smth, testing only the first 3 weeks’ content such as brain areas and clinical neuroscience info. The MCQ was online so we just did it in class, it was pretty chill. But the weightage is so high.
We were assigned into 5 groups by Prof and all of us had to present on an aspect of a clinically ‘famous’ disorder or debates. There is a routine, where different group will present on the epidemiology, introduction, neuropsychology, neuropathology and treatment of a chosen topic by the prof weekly. We did topics like dementia, stroke, schizo etc. Our groups were so big, so we came up a system where each of us will prepare weekly slides and there are 2 permanent Presenters haha so i was the permanent presenter. Pros and cons because i didn’t have to do slides but i just had to prepare my speech. It was good presentation practice and confidence practice haha.
This module doesnt have finals so we had an online OTOT test on week 13. Prof gave us an article to prepare for on w12 and on w13 he said we could do this test at home, we only needed to upload our answers on IVLE. The best thing is that we can do this with our friends! Hehe so my friends and i gathered in class and did the test together, it was the least stressful test ever haha every test should be like this!

overall, it was an okay module. i remember telling myself that i will never study neuropsych again after last sem's neuropsych mod but here i was haha. not sure what i took away from it to be very honest.. but if anything, i think the weekly presentations have trained my confidence and pushed me to present without a script. also, after learning how vulnerable and important our brain is, i've started to wear my seat belt in every car i sit in because we learnt of the effects of a car accident and how even the mildest damage to the brain leads to a life long inconvenience. kudos to caregivers who dedicate their lives to take care of their loved one who suffers from a brain injury. it really takes so much patience and love :'(



PL4880K Parenting and Child Development
Lecturer: Dr Qin Lili
Dr Qin has a very soft and high pitched voice haha. it is so gentle and feminine it's hard to be mad at her. her grading is pretty strict tho and she is quite particular wrt feedback style. but she gives the most constructive feedback ever. she shared w me how to improve my essay, how to make my presentation better, how to carry myself, how to be engaging, how to think critically. i have never received such useful feedback from any other lecturers in my past 4 years. they always say "think critically" and then i get sucky grades for my essays because i dont know how to think critically. but prof qin brings us through the process of thinking critically and gives us pointers on how to do so. i wish someone told me this in year 1, i could have done better in my modules!

Seminar:
Seminars had different routines. some weeks we had 2 groups presenting and that takes up the entire 3 hours. some weeks we have 1 group presenting followed by the prof's teaching.

Workload: 5/5
i'd say that the workload for this module is the heaviest for the semester. there were 2 weekly readings and that was time consuming enough. we also had to do our weekly forum posts to get our participation grade haha. and it isn't just a random forum post, we are graded according to the quality of our contributions too. that was stressful. we had 1 essay as well and we had to watch a 1.5 hour movie plus evaluate it so i guess that's time consuming too haha.

Grading:
15% Group Presentation
10% Class Participation
20% Term Paper
20% Midterm
35% Final Exam
We had 1 group presentation each. groups were assigned to us and so was the paper that we had to present. i guess it was a relatively easier presentation as it was just presenting about the paper. but Prof Qin was very particular with our presentation content, design, talking, posture, everything!! she also said that our presentation grade is a mixture of peer sms grading and her grade. but i must say that her feedback is very constructive and the most useful feedback i've ever received in my 4 years in uni.
Prof Qin knew that most of us are shy to speak up in class, so she made class participation into 2 portions - in class and weekly forum post. we are given the opportunity to post a question about the 2  weekly readings. not many of us spoke up in class but SO many of us contributed to the forum post.
The term paper is a report about any parenting related issue from I Not Stupid Too! it was interesting to watch a familiar movie with an academic mindset haha.
Finals were in a similar format to our mid term. she mainly tested on results and discussion portions of our readings. it was quite manageable actually!

overall, i really enjoyed this module! the content was very applicable and relatable to life and it reminded me of my childhood and how my parents parent haha. the content is very interesting so the journal articles that we read are quite engaging :) i looked forward to every lesson simply because of the content hahaha. take this module if you're interested in children and family!

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this sem passed WAY to quickly. i know i say this every sem but this sem is by far the fastest. although i only spend 3 days in school, i feel that i'm studying everyday because there is just so many readings to complete and understand o.o i kinda enjoy the seminar style of classes because it's more engaging and intimate haha. helps to pay attention too. it feels really long some times tho but they do give breaks in between. this sem has been enjoyable because i got to take part in church activities and school activities too. i joined kickboxing this sem haha it was a good work out for the week. as much as i'm a lazy bum, kickboxing actually makes me look forward to exercising heh. i did dance a bit this sem, i got to join some workshops and parties for my dance so wew. best of all worlds i guess? the sem started off pretty relaxing initially and i had time to meet people. but as the sem passed, i felt that i was kinda overwhelmed with readings and thus had lesser time to meet people sigh. but it was an enjoyable journey throughout. gotta tell myself that it's my second last sem and i'll just enjoy every moment of it, stressful or not :)

God has been my Rock this semester. He has blessed me with time this sem and i am so thankful for that. because of the timing of my lessons, i have more time in the morning to do my bible reading and pray. it really is a luxury of time to spend an hour basking in God's presence and just receiving from Him. i look forward to each morning because it was a chance to get away from studies and focus on something that makes me happy :') i was also able to meet more people because less time is spent in class during the week. and because there are no morning classes, there is no stress of waking up early to go to school and i actually got enough sleep this sem! amazing, thank God :)

i think the most memorable moment with Jesus this sem was when i got last in class for my quiz. i was d e v a s t a t e d and so angry because i studied so much. i kept asking God why. why did i get so low, why me when i put in a crapload of effort into my revision and i've been consistent w my work and i sacrificed social life to study etc. but the Holy Spirit checked my heart and asked me why am i focusing on myself? focus on God, who He is, what He has done for me. and what God has done for me over the years is that He sustains me, no matter how sucky my grades got. God never changes, He is far too powerful to let circumstances change Him. and this truth brought me so much peace and hope because it meant that even tho i got the lowest in class for my quiz with the potential of getting a poorer grade for my CAP, it doesn't change the fact that He has a good plan for me. it doesn't change the fact that He already has in mind my first job. it doesn't change my first job, it doesn't change my identity. i am just so amazed at how comforting it is to know that even tho i may not do well in school, i can place my hope in God who has a plan for me, who takes care of me, who loves me regardless of my grade. how beautiful it is to know the Lord, someone who loves me unconditionally and only wants the best for me :')

so to those who felt that they did not do well this semester, fear not. have hope! because there is a God out there who cares for you, who wants to meet your every need. He loves you regardless of what you have done in the past or will do in the future. He only wants the best for His precious child. even though if you feel worthless to people, you are never worthless in the eyes of God. even though you may feel that you are not good enough, you are whole in God. you are not defined by your grades. in God you will find wisdom, hope, joy, confidence, peace, love, and so much more, if only will you open up your heart to Him <3

i hope your semester has been good! treasure every day in school and join activities outside your comfort zone. it's a season of growth and of adventures! have a wonderful winter break, you deserve it! :)

God bless!

Year 3, Semester 2

Hello there! Apologies for not posting on the first week of school, it was a crazy semester! first 4k mod, most number of psych mods i've taken in a sem, dancing, church commitments, it was a very eventful and hectic sem but i enjoyed it so much! 

PL3252 Social Cognitive Perspective of Emotions

Lecturer: Prof Eddie Tong
Prof Eddie is super engaging! i've not dozed off in his class before haha. he has been teaching this module for about 10 years so he reuses his slides! his teaching style is different from what i'm used to. he briefly talks about a focused emotion for the first 20 minutes of the lecture, before going into the main topic of the day. he teaches through experiments! lesser content, more experimental results. Prof Eddie is humorous and he shares some jokes during class. he also plays snippets of movies that is related to the topic of the week, which is engaging! i really enjoyed his class, he is a good lecturer! slides are clean and neat. oh, and there was no webcast for this module.

Weightage: 
25% Midterm
50% Finals
10% Participation
15% Group presentation

i like how we did not have any individual report writing to do. but that also meant a higher finals weightage. there were weekly group presentations on the respective readings. presentations were pretty different to me because not only did we have to give a summary of the current reading, we had to come up with our own related experiment on the given emotion too. it was a good experience as we had the opportunity to craft our on hypothesised experiments! participation was intense because the tutor actively noted down who talked and who did not. so i had to crack my head for questions every week haha but it was a good stretch! 

Exam format: close book, MCQ, SAQ, essay
Mid terms was just 1 essay question worth 25 marks and we were only allowed to submit 1 piece of foolscap paper. it was pretty scary! prof did not tell us the average marks but he said that those who scored above 20 were safe and good.  

Finals was cumulative. Finals was stressful because the weightage is so high! it was relatively easier to study for it as there were more experiments and results to memorize than content itself. it was good to study the experiments as it was like the content coming to life, proving itself correct! mcq were funny and manageable and so were the SAQ (10m + 15m, 1 page each) for finals. there were no essays. i think the bell curve is going to be very steep because the finals paper was considerably manageable! 

Workload: 3/5
the workload is pretty light because we only had 1 reading per lecture and 1 reading per tutorial! the readings were manageable too, less than 12 pages on average. they were quite interesting to read too as it was very applicable to life and relatable! and best thing is that there is no textbook!! but given no textbook, there was no practice platform in preparation for mids and finals.. :( 

the group presentation did not take up too much time too, a week or two's worth of preparation is enough. 

Tutorial Format:

my tutors were yu zhaoliang & lim chun hui. they were pretty good! they did not talk much during tutorial because our tutorials were 35 minutes only and the presentation and Q&A took up all of the time. but zhaoliang has a unique kind of humor and chun hui is pretty chill. 

overall, i enjoyed the content of this module, probably the best content psych module i've ever taken! highly recommend you to take this module if you can, it's very relatable! i'm not sure how i'll do, i'm quite certain that the bell curve is steeeeep. we'll see! :)

PL3260 Moral Development

Lecturer: Dr Yu Rongjun
i think this was Dr Yu's first time lecturing moral development. his teaching style was similar to dr tong's as mentioned above. but he had fewer experiments. about 4 to 5 per lecture and we just had to remember the procedure and results. most of the content focused on young children and their development on fairness, altruism, social learning, etc. however, dr yu's accent is very strong and i have some difficulties understanding what he was saying. he also has many long pauses in between sentences which was a bit weird. but the best thing was that he had webcasts! so there were very very few people (less than 30) who turned up for lecture. his slides are clean and neat. apart from his accent, i feel that dr yu is not bad :) 

Weightage: 
15% Attendance & participation
25% Mid term
20% Critique paper
40% Finals
yes, participation is important! the tutor will really take note on how much you talk. it's not just about speaking up, but also how much and your quality..
mid term and finals were manageable and pretty straight forward. study hard and you're good to go!
the critique paper was tough for me because i'm a poor writer. we just had to write an evaluative paper on any moral development-related paper on the internet. he did give us some guidelines on how we can write and what we can write about, but it's was pretty vague. but better than nothing! 

Exam format: close book, MCQ, SAQ

mid term and finals were good, they were do-able. studying the content and memorizing the experiments were enough. the mcq was pretty straightforward, which makes the mean-median really high! know your content and results of the focused experiments and you should be safe :)

Workload: 3/5
apart from the period of writing the critique paper, the module is quite light as we did not have presentations. we had about 4-5 short readings per lecture, which were about the experiments that dr yu taught during class. so since it was previously taught, it was easier to read the readings after that. there was 1 reading per fortnight tutorial and it was just a regular journal article that is easy to read. another best thing is that there is no textbook here too! given that there was no textbook, there was no practice platform in preparation for mids and finals..

Tutorial Format:

my tutor was chai jing wen. he is super friendly, super bubbly and engaging! i appreciate that he made an effort to remember each and every student's name. he also encourages us to share our opinions during class in order to get the participation point.
tutorials were held fortnightly for 2 hours. during tutorials, jing wen would go through the past 2 week's worth of content in a nutshell and then go through the tutorial reading experiment. we had group discussion opportunities and that's where you earn your participation points as well! 

overall, i enjoyed this module too! surprisingly, i really enjoyed the content of moral development. it's interesting and very relatable to life as well. i'm glad that i took this module under dr yu :) i recommend you to take this module too! 

PL3283A Lab in Adolescent Psychology

Lecturer: Dr Lee Li Neng
i'm so happy that we got dr lee! he was my adol prof last semester and i really enjoy his classes. he is very friendly, open and approachable. he teaches well and is very knowledgable! if he is teaching any class for the semester, JUST TAKE IT HAHAHA. he makes the content enjoyable!

Weightage: 

20% Datacamp participation
25% Proposal
25% Group presentation
30% Individual report
data camp was an online statistic learning platform that we had access to. it's where we learnt R. there were many things taught like mediation, moderation, tests, etc. i was an interesting, interactive learning platform. i'm not sure how it'll help me in the future but it was an eye opening experience! it was very time consuming though, because we cannot get to the next level / stage if we don't get the answers correct. and we had to accumulate HP points to which will reflect our grade, i think :o
the proposal was group-based. it was almost the same thing as the adol module proposal (refer to year 3 semester 1 post!) so it was familiar work again. we had the freedom to come up with ANY experiment / project! and i appreciate that dr lee helped us through our planning. he helped us check if our project is unique, applicable and useful. my group did on the effect of mentorship on religiosity on church-going youths and i think dr lee liked it because he himself is a christian as well so he was able to understand our project! hehehe!
the group presentation was a group grade and not every had to present. we just had to present on our project / experiment, same thing as adol!
individual report was the WORST OF ALL. and probably the most time consuming! it was a huge challenge for me because i did not understand statistics and i didn't really know how to operate SPSS. we had to come up with our own secondary research question as well and it had to be unique from our group mates so that we aren't copying each other. given the unique secondary research question, it meant that i have to do my own data analysis which scared the heck out of me! but thank God thank God thankkkkk God that my group mates whom were experts at SPSS were very gracious and patient with me and guided me through my data analysis.
yes, speaking of data analysis, after collecting data for our project, my groupmates spent HOURS and probably a day cumulatively. they ran SO many tests!!! and it was tricky as we had many variables. but thank God that my groupmates were good at SPSS :)
so since i'm poor at results and therefore explaining it, i did not do as well for my individual report compared to my groupmates.. nevertheless, thank God for the marks i got, it could have been worse. :)

Workload: 4.5/5

the workload was not evenly spread out over the semester. it was super heavy when we had to brainstorm for project ideas and then write the proposal as we had to do literature review and i think we literally scoped the entire goggle scholar collectively haha. then when we were waiting for data collection, it was pretty chill and we did not have to meet. but once data collection was done, data analysis was intense and extremely time consuming! and even after that, writing our individual report was so stressful and thankfully dr lee was understanding and he gave us a 12 hour extension for my group. the days that i spent doing my individual report, i neglected everything else. it was THAT time consuming omgosh help. that's why i'm so thankful that the proposal was a group work!

Seminar Format:

we only had 4 compulsory seminar lessons where dr lee briefed us on the module and refreshed our memories on SPSS. the remaining 9 weeks were flexible. we were free to use the lab or just meet outside the lab for our projects. 

overall, this module was tramatizing for me to a small extent. haha if i had the choice, i will never do this again. unless i am good at it and actually did well in it haha if not nah. 

PL4206 Cognitive Neuroscience

Lecturer: Dr O'Dhaniel A. Mullette-Gillman

Dr o'dhaniel is a nice lecturer. easy to approach and easy to talk to. just thatttt, it's really hard to sit in his class because i don't understand what he is saying. he does not really get straight to the point and even if he does, he'd take back his sentences and say something else that is different from what he said initially. which made me really confused. he talks really fast too but his accent is easy to listen to. he has many many slides but it's not THAT messy. his slides has many diagrams. there is a very expensive textbook but i think there's an online version floating somewhere. the textbook was not very useful though it was compulsory to read it.. 

Weightage: 

5% Neuroanatomy quiz
20% Weekly in-class quiz
25% Presentation
20% Discussion & Participation
30% Finals
the neuroanatomy quiz was for our own good apparently haha so that we are familiar with the neuroanatomy terms. 
the weekly in-class quiz were based on the weekly readings that were about 4 readings on average. it included both textbook and journal articles. the first few weeks were really dry and boring and confusing because it was about dopamine, neural circuits etc of which i am really bad at. but the readings got more interesting towards the end when it was about moral judgment. the weekly in class quiz were 10 minutes only and mostly 5 mcq questions. they were upon 10 marks and on average all of us kinda failed.... there were some weeks that he gave us extra 2 points and i'm guessing it's because we all did so badly so it was pity points? hahaha idk. but yeah i did q badly for it. 
there were weekly presentations on 1 reading of the week. we just had to present on the paper and give a few critiques on it. it was relatively easier and easy-going. a week's worth of preparation should be enough. 
i have no idea where our discussion and participation points came from because we werent really given the opportunity to earn points? am quite unsure about this.. the class was pretty quiet haha. 
i'm so relieved that finals were 30% only because there was SO much content and i was still clueless about what i'm learning even by finals. 

Exam format: open book, MCQ, SAQ

THANK GOD THAT FINALS WERE OPENED BOOK! because there were TOO much to memorize. people brought THICK FILES into the exam hall. i have not brought so many things into an exam before hahaha. it was really handy because it made the mcq very manageable! the SAQ were tricky and i think i lost 18 marks because i did not know how to do 3 6m questions... i'm pretty doomed already, as you can see haha. 

Workload: 5/5
this is the heaviest module i've ever taken. even worse than PL3240 hahaha. the content is so heavy and so tough, that my friend also thinks it's a masters level. the prof also assumes you understand and have someee background knowledge lol. the readings were very time consuming because we had to find the reading, download the reading and print it out. on top of that, we had to read our textbook chapters which were so long and so wordy! some of the readings were full of graphs i dont understand, some were really technical and long and dry...
we had to do the readings since they were all tested for our weekly quizzes so that was an incentive to have consistent work for this module.
the readings were not easy to understand too. that's why i was pretty much clueless the entire semester and i just typed down what the prof said during class without fully understanding it.. and since i was the blur student, i took so much time to prepare for finals hence the heavy workload.

Seminar Format:

we spent the first 10 mins on the quiz and then about 30 mins for the presentations. after the presentations, prof would take over and teach the content of the week, which is normally going through the paper. sometimes we have breaks, sometimes we don't. it's an intense 3 hours haha..

overall, i just want to pass this module. i'd only recommend you to take this module if you enjoy bio and cognition. i don't at all and i suffered haha.. definitely will not take this module again and i hope that this is not the intensity of other 4k modules, otherwise i'd DIE. 

GEH1058 The Theatre Experience

Lecturer: Dr Graham Wolfe

Dr wolfe is really funny! he is very engaging and passionate about the theatre scene too. i thoroughly enjoyed going for his lectures! his first few lectures were extremely funny because he made a video of himself and he aired it, and he was talking to the video and the video 'responded' to him! super cool haha. he also includes videos during class. his slides are quite messy but the content was eye opening and interesting! different weeks had different themes with a specific play to focus on. this is what a real GEM module should be like- learning something you won't learn in everyday life, outside school, out of your major :) 

Weightage: 100% CA

20% Quizzes

25% Written analysis of a theatrical production in Singapore

15% Group presentation

20% Portfolio

20% Attendance & Participation

We had 2 quizzes, one before recess and one before reading week. the quizzes consisted of a mixture of MCQ and fill in the blanks. it's pretty tricky, take note of every detail in class! it was both closed book. 
the written analysis was very new and unfamiliar to me. i'm too used to writing scientific reports and this was the first time i had to write an art report haha. the style is so different! honestly i had to use thesaurus to find appropriate artsy words haha. i struggled a bit because the things to write about was not google-able, unlike psych papers. the analysis was about writing about the play you went to watch. my friends and i watched The Father by Pangdemonium. although we had to pay for the tickets ourselves, we were given student discounts. it was my first play and it was an extremely eye opening experience! very unique and unforgettable :) it's worth the price! it was so funny cos everyone at my section were from the module and we were all taking down notes haha! 
the group presentation was based on our choice of a play that was taught during class. preparing our slides were tricky becauase it was supposed to promote our portfolio, which was due after our presentation. so we actually had to come up with the content of our portfolio before doing the presentation. thank God i had a really cooperative and proactive group and we were on the ball already! 
our portfolio was extremely realistic! we had a casting page, budget page, location page, etc. it was eye opening (again) to do it! it was much fun finding actors and actresses to recommend. although it was time consuming, this is one of the projects i happily spend time doing :) 
the entire process of the written analysis, portfolio and group presentation was very hand-held. the instructions and guidelines were very clear and very detailed, it really helped those who were unfamiliar with theatre writing! i appreciate the help given :) dr wolfe was very reassuring as well that it's not very tough to write and present theatre stuff :)

Workload: 2.5/5

lightest module of the semester! although there were weekly readings that were supposedly compulsory, it was not really reflected in the quizzes. but it was good general knowledge! some of the readings were scripts of the play and it was like reading a story book. some weeks were just to watch the play online, which is really fun!
the only crunch time was during the weeks in-between the play and submission of the play analysis. other than that, if your group is on the roll and proactively does the project, the project is quite smooth! really thank God for a good mod :) 

Tutorial Format:

Sura was my tutor! although he is very friendly and approachable, turns out he is pretty strict in his grading for our analysis and portfolio :( he is pretty knowledgable about the theatre scene and is a nice tutor. 
tutorials were held fortnightly, with 1 presentation each time. 

overall, i enjoyed this module! it's my last UE to clear and i'm sad that i won't have anymore opportunity to take such cool modules. it was the best UE/GEM i've ever taken, something i'll never get to try once i graduate haha. take this module if you're interested in theatre but not want to act! hahaha. the content is really interesting and light :) don't worry if you're not an art student, this GEM is meant for students from all disciplines! and it's quite easy to understand too. 

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i can only give God all the glory and thanks for whatever that has happened this sem. i was able to spend the first half of the sem dancing and the second half serving in church :') i'm so glad that my good friends are back from exchange and we were able to spend the semester together! i was also able to spend most of my module time with my friend and i got to know her more. she's a really nice girl who is patient and so gracious towards the blur student in me :') so thankful for her! 

i really wanted to perform again, at least once this semester, and i was given the opportunity to! it was a different experience practicing and performing but a wonderful experience nonetheless. 
God has been doing amazing things in my cell and we have gone from a state of surviving to a state of thriving! He is so good and so real to all of us and i thank God for His unconditional love for us. Jesus loves you too! regardless what your CAP is, what you have done and who you are. it is by grace, through faith, that we can believe in Jesus and that we can be close to Him to experience His unfailing love <3 

i'm honestly really scared for y4 bcos i dont know how the 4k mods will be. i hope it won't be as bad as the one i took this sem. quite dreading it actually, but first let's focus on summer and results day hahaha. 

i hope your semester went well and that you had a fun time too! it's really the period in your life to try all types of (good and beneficial) things in uni like a sport you always wanted to try or dance or even modules! if you're still reading this, thank you for reading to the end hehe. if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment! :)

God bless!