Module reviews for the following:
LAJ1201
PS1101E
SC1101E
SC2205
JS1101E
LAJ1201
Lecturers: Morita sensei! (Tutorial teachers vary across quite a few)
I studied Japanese for about a month before entering NUS, but since it was self-study, I started with the first module for the language (it has 6 modules/ levels). Most of the things we learnt in class, I already knew, though I was caught up in the nuances of which I did not really study for until finals. What came up as a result was a below average midterms, which I think pulled me down a lot because of the bellcurve. I think language module intros have lots of people, so a few marks here and there will affect your final grade greatly. The stress wasn't that huge however, because I could have easily s/u-ed it. I guess the stress level largely depends on how much you give a shit to this module relative to your other modules that semester? The workload was okay for me because I had background knowledge, but the actual writing and doing took up quite some time, especially since there was homework like 3 times a week. Being the extremely conscientious student I am, obviously I started doing the work while on the bus to school for the lesson(s) (which is a realllllly bad habit I have even till now, highly not recommended). But yeah, you get the point - lots of routine language work, you've probably been through enough grammar exercises in primary school to understand this right?
For the lecturers, it was slow for me, but generally for true beginners it's at a learning pace - that is, it's not too comfortable till you can just forget about your notes, but it's not that hard that you can't keep up in class (of course, assuming you follow through every class.... so....) Each tutorial builds up on the previous one, so it is strongly recommended that you attend each of them for best results! The teachers are really cute and you can tell they enjoy teaching the lessons themselves. They always ensure to call out the entire class so that no one gets to hide from them if they aren't working hard. Of course they don't flame you like in secondary school, and that's the best part - you make mistakes in class, you get corrected, and it has a larger impact on your long-term memory. So it's all good!
BUT if you don't have strong interest, this module is not recommended.
tl;dr
pros: consistency, reinforcement, actual learning, interactive, almost guaranteed to hit the standard set for the module, really passionate and enthusiastic teachers
cons: relatively heavy workload, steep bellcurve
PS1101E
Lecturer: Prof Yoshi
The professor was great, really sarcastic with reference to the infamous people examples in his slides (understandably so), so most students who take this mod usually do come for the lectures. Also, the lectures are jam-packed with information (I didn't even finish 1/4 of my readings I think) and the last lecture was just hints. Basically a list of things you need to memorise and study for, what you get for your finals is basically how much of the list you decided to cover. The professor also summarises most of the readings to help you digest them properly, which I think was helpful because it reinforces concepts and clears misunderstandings. His lecture notes are also quite organised so finding information is easy + you have all your points together in the same powerpoints. He uploads his slides after lectures though, that's one thing to note maybe?
No midterms but a paper which was due towards the end of the module. You get a list of questions to choose from. I did not do well for this because of the lack of research and flimsy arguments all around (I always did my papers last minute, and I swear this sentence will not appear again, but only from Yr 2 Sem 1 onwards because I did the same for Yr 1 Sem 2 fml?) If you spend sufficient time on it however, given the large number of people who take this mod (as it is an intro mod), you should be able to score quite okay. My tutor was really nice, and tried his best to facilitate classroom discussions, but there was always never enough time to finish everything. Oh yeah, the tutorials are like 2 hours every 2 weeks.
Content wise it was really interesting, like you gain a consciousness and an awareness of the reality you live in, especially given the nature of it. It will be a very enriching module for you which will see you start to consider matters from a political point of view, then realise that many things you had thought to be apolitical actually aren't so. I really enjoyed the module!
Highly recommended~ Unless of course you aren't into essay-writing. But even then, you can just S/U it.
tl;dr
pros: humorous lecturer, interesting as hell content, manageable workload!
cons: bellcurve, plus essay-heavy
SC1101E
Lecturers: Tan Ern Ser and Kevin Low
I took this with a friend (Unknown B) so it was fun; it's good to have a partner next to you to discuss what you learn in lectures, you get more examples and have deeper impressions of your lectures. Especially so for this module because it's really super interesting and everyone knows what the lecture's about because it is about us, about society, so yup! Tutorials were also quite fun, even though sometimes the discussion topics become really focused and narrow and you are actually forced to think in a very linear and concise way, something I grapple with because I like working with broad ideas. Also because so many things overlap with one another it's quite hard to draw the boundaries as to what should be written as topic A and what as topic B, it really just depends on how you write. Had one do at home essay, had one midterm essay, both were relatively easy to deal with if you follow lectures and tutorials~ You will get the hang of it by the time finals arrive so~
Not gonna do a tldr for this because I didn't write a lot for this.
SC2205
Lecturers: A/P Paulin Straughan and Dr Rose Liang
Tutor: Mindy
I took this with my senior and even though it was interesting, it was pretty technical, which I guess is pretty typical of 2000 level mods. Not sure why I decided to take this in my first semester but I did. I did shit for my first assignment and okay for my research one, but I expected those grades so. Lots of readings, some were quite interesting so it's okay; was very useful for me because I used some of those readings for my assignment in SC1101E hehe. It got boring towards the end because I was honestly only interested in one part out of many parts of the module so I guess I did regret taking it in the end. But oh well! At least had a glimpse of 2000 level work load so there were some rewards. The lecturers were really nice and knowledgeable (A/P Paulin Straughan was very sweet like think kind grandma level but that's why it could get pretty boring; Dr Liang came across as a very straightforward person, but she also seems to always talk as if she's in a debate, very passionate). I guess it can get really boring to do a 2000 level mod that's not your major so I would not recommend it to non-Sociology majors. If you do take sociology though, I think it would be a good choice.
Oh! For tutorials, we got this really pretty and cute TA who just came from the States and is a PhD student I think? She was really earnest and patient with us; she knew the direction in which she wanted the discussions to advance towards so I feel the tutorials were quite manageable and useful. Also, it was very fun to gain intimate insights on your classmates' familial life, given the nature of the course, I mean you can hardly get it anywhere else right? Seeing as you do not know any of them. Quite interesting.
tl;dr
pros: good if you are gonna major in sociology, good lecturers and tutor
cons: do not take it if you're not gonna, can get quite technical
JS1101E
Lecturers: Dr McMorran and Dr Amos
I had 2 lecturers and both were really cute and passionate about their work. Dr McMorran was more concise (well his content allowed him this) because I think he went through the more sociological side of Japanese studies. Dr Amos went through the more historical side so given that I do not like memorising stuff his slides were kinda off for me. Attending lectures and tutorials really do help though like for someone who doesn't really read notes and rely a lot on auditory recollection. Tutorials were really fast like 50 minutes? and you still have discussion aka super a lot of time taken up. Really fun, really useful when it comes to reiterating important stuff (and sometimes mundane facts) so attend it! About 2/3 forum components in which you write like. maybe 300~400 words of response to a topic that you choose yourself? Scored pretty decently for these with just a few hours of work so pretty chill imo! The project really sucked though.......... the project members matter A WHOLE damn lot. So...... pray hope. Be careful with the topic you choose because it will really determine the flow and pace of the project. My topic sucked because it was a very intangible topic. And nobody accepted my suggestion to change the topic so oooooh well. Almost failed it at like 17 or 16 out 30 and got like a B in the end, I think I s/u-ed it so... swore to never do anymore projects if I can help it because of this. Finals was mcq, studied about 2 hours before it, it was okay, memorise the positions of each of Japan's islands and just everything in general even the films shown. They will not screen a movie for you for leisure let's be real. Oh! Another tip is Japan is super similar to Singapore so they basically face the same developed country issues. Just remember that.
tl;dr
pros: really interesting content, really fun lecturers and some tutors, take it!
cons: history and mcq finals so bellcurve probably really steep
ALL THE BEST everyone!
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