AY14/15 Semester 1 Module Review (Unknown 3)

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!

AY14/15 Semester 1 Module Review (Unknown 2)

Hey everyone!

So, we started this blog because we really received much advice from other module reviews and I hope putting my two cents worth to the modules I've taken would give you readers a brief idea of what to expect when you bid for the mods.

EC1101E: Introduction to Economic Analysis

Lecturers: 

Ong Ee Cheng (1st half until Mid Terms) 

Chan Kok Hoe (next half)

Module Components: 

10% Attendance

10% Tutorial Participation

30% Mid Terms

50% Finals 

(note: honestly, I've forgotten the exact percentages assigned to each component, but usually for Econs modules, these are the standard components. No essays nor research papers to write, basically the main difference from other Arts majors)

Webcast: I think have, though I've never watched a single one because I attended all the lectures. Mugger much, I know lol.

Difficulty Level: 2/5 Okay, honestly on hindsight, it really isn't that difficult. (though the competition is extremely stiff, don't say I didn't warn ya) 

Textbook: Principles of Economics (Mankiw, Quah, Wilson) (still available!)

Comments: First half is all on micro topics (demand and supply, market failure, market structure etc) Basically they squeezed a year's work in JC into 6 weeks, so be prepared to revise and know your stuff because EVERYONE knows it already. (or most people, there are some who have never taken Econs before in JC but take note, these are the minority and I know of one person who dropped the mod halfway through) So for those without any Economics background and are thinking of clearing this mod as a Breadth or what, I don't recommend you to do so. Instead you can check out EC1301, this mod is for the non-Arts majors so you might not be as disadvantaged. Dr Cheng loves to give you examples to practice on, she'll give you time to do so and she'll walk around to check. Not sure why, but she likes to get response from the ground before she moves on otherwise the lecture will end late. So... idk, be responsive? Lol. Second half of the mod is on macro. My memory of it is quite fuzzy, but what I can remember is that JC knowledge isn't THAT applicable here because you learn new topics like money with all the weird bank reserve ratio etc. Totally struggled with that topic, but the rest were quite manageable. AD-AS diagram is slightly different, it'll be the last chapter so do take note. Of course, you need to know that Economics in university is extremely different from JC. The key difference? Heavy application and usage of Mathematics to explain Economics. So if you're someone who hates calculus, numbers or just simply dislike Math, do think twice if you want to major in Econs. For those who have already decided, this is a core mod which you have to pass in order to declare your major. Oh, and a word of advice, after you finished your semester, remember to do the Module Preference Exercise (MPE) if you're dead-sure you wanna major in Econs. Econs mods are heavily subscribed, so this MPE can save your life. Nah just kidding, it'll save (a hell lot of) your bid points. 

SC1101E: Making Sense of Society

Lecturers:

Tan Ern Ser

Kevin Low

Well, they kinda mix the weeks they lecture, so there's no specific first half and second half which they lecture respectively. 

Module Components:

15% Short Assignment (500 words)

25% Mid Terms

10% Class Participation

50% Finals

Webcast: Yes

Difficulty Level: 4/5

Textbook: Brym and Lie (sold mine already) 

Comments: Okay, disclaimer first, I myself don't understand soci thus I found it difficult. The irony? Didn't hesitate to not SU this mod (which means I did quite well ^_^) Not sure what happened, but maybe my finals saved me even though I still couldn't understand soci up to that point. I took this mod because I wanted to clear my faculty requirements social science basket. Quite a huge mistake honestly, I didn't like it at all. There are many theories and schools of thought, like Symbolic Interaction or Marxist etc (okay, I really don't remember the rest) You'll learn topics like Gender and Sexuality, Family, Deviance, to name a few. Some are rather interesting, especially the case studies. But you need to understand the entire mod as a whole, that society is basically a social construct and nothing is natural. The lecturers are nice, although Dr Kevin is much more interesting. Maybe it's the topics he lecture, idk. Since there's webcast, and the notes are mostly quite self explanatory, many don't come for lectures, I only skipped 1. Lol. But of course, it's good to attend because the lecturers do value add to the notes. (duh) For those intending to major in soci, sorry you need to find someone else for advice. For those who want to take this to clear your faculty requirement, you need to ponder over whether you're good at writing essays and being able to fluff your way through. Otherwise, you can just take this in the first semester and SU it man. No harm done and you clear your basket. Just take note, there's quite a bit of readings (2 per week?) which are really quite hard to digest because they are too boring for me :( I only read till Week 5, lol. But I honestly don't think they're really that helpful, in my opinion. 

JS1101E: Introduction to Japanese Studies

Lecturers: Chris McMorran and Dr Amos
They lecture for various weeks on different aspects of Japan, but take note, some semesters might have different lecturers.

Module Components:
10% Class Participation
10% Individual Assignment
40% Group Assignment
40% Final Exam
Okay, percentages might be wrong because I really don't remember them already. Individual assignment is a 500 word essay, and includes two short responses to others' essays (which are all uploaded on IVLE Forum). Group assignment is 1000 words per member, you can choose any topic regarding Japan, ranging from food to history to gender inequality etc. Deadline is the last week, so technically, you have 11-12 weeks to do this but don't rush it towards the end, they are quite strict on the marking I think.

Webcast: No

Difficulty Level: 3/5

Textbook: NIL

Comments: This module isn't about anime or manga, no such thing mentioned here. It delves into Japan's history and geography (yes you need to memorise Japan's geography on the map for finals) It's an interesting module which gives you insight towards Japan's various aspects. They would upload quite a number of Japanese movies or short films onto IVLE that are worth a watch if you find yourself too slack in the first semester haha. Many chose to take Southeast Asia studies to clear their faculty basket, but you can consider taking Japanese Studies too. It's not THAT daunting because the finals are very different from the other Asian baskets. 50 MCQs woohoo! But of course, you'll have to deal with the group assignment (which includes dealing with your group members for more than 10 weeks.) To me, that's the only trade-off, apart from the final exam not being easy at all. Questions do come out from the readings, and there are 5 options each. You'll find yourself stuck at choosing among 2-3 options, so good luck with that. Many left after the first hour mark, I didn't lol. But then agian, no amount of brain power's gonna help, it ain't Economics sadly :( The lecturers are very passionate in their areas of expertise, though I admit I tend to doze off here and there during lectures oops. No knowledge of Japanese is required. Overall, this module can be both relaxing and taxing, because tutorials are usually just discussions (don't need much preparation for mine) and exams are MCQ, but the content is very heavy and there are readings to be done. Some readings were really interesting, especially the ones on World War II. If you're planning to major in Japanese Studies, if I'm not wrong, they do give priority to JS majors who intend to go to Japan for exchange.

LAJ1201: Japanese 1

Lecturers: Kazuko Morita and Osamu Amazaki

Module Components:
70% Continuous Assessment (includes vocabulary quizzes, listening quizzes, homework, class participation, Mid Terms)
30% Finals

Webcast: Yes

Difficulty Level: 4//5
Gave a 4 because the grade wasn't reflective of the effort I put in, which perhaps gives you a glimpse of how steep the bell curve is, although they have placement tests for those with prior knowledge of Japanese. Do take note of that, they're quite strict about it.

Textbook: Minna No Ninhongo (Japanese for Everybody??)
They'll ask you to buy, no worries. It's around $80 I think, the CD is optional though I got it for both Jap 1 and 2 because I think it's useful in introducing the topics to you before lecture, and also helps with the intonation.

Comments: Very heavy module, you need to be extremely consistent in your work. There's preparation to do from the textbook, every lesson, every week, no running away from that. Your sensei will test your understanding in class, but if you did your work at home, there's no need to worry about it. There'll be homework as well, but they are manageable and can be done quite quickly if you know your stuff. For those who are entirely new to Japanese, I would suggest for you to learn the Japanese characters before the semester begins, aka Hiragana and Katakana. It will help tremendously. One lecturer will follow you throughout the sem, and there's 2 lecturers because there's 2 different timeslots. Mine was Morita Sensei, she likes to pass the mike around the class and ask questions, so be prepared. Not sure how Amazaki Sensei lectures though. Oh, and if you did not already know, there are 3 tutorials every week, so you need to commit 7 hours per week (including lecture), excluding the time spent on preparation work. That's the catch. But it's worth it for me, because I really learnt a lot and made new friends from Japanese classes. Also, tutorials are really fun, you don't feel like you're attending class at all! But of course, make life easy for yourself and the sensei by doing your work in advance. The things you learn in Jap 1 is considerably way easier than Jap 2, since they are the basics. Will give my two cents on Jap 2 for my next review. (fyi, I'm most likely not gonna follow up to Jap 3, it's too time-consuming.)

GL1101E: Global Issues

Lecturer: Dr Kim

Module Components:
10% Class Participation
20% Group Work
30% Term Paper (individual)
40% Finals

Webcast: No

Difficulty Level: 2/5
Of course, that's my opinion and do take it with a pinch (or bucket) of salt. I love the topics Dr Kim lectures, hence this fuels my interest in this module. I also enjoy writing essays on these global issues, thus this might not be a good indication for those who hate writing papers.

Textbook: NIL

Comments: Plenty of readings. That's one of the two main drawbacks of this module. You need to be able to summarise readings (which can be 40-50 pages long each) and sometimes you have 3-4 readings per week so you can do the math yourself. For finals, I summarised them and I'm open to selling my notes (just comment if you're interested) Another drawback of this module is the group project. I hate the way it's being graded, where group members have different grades based on the amount of work they put in. I know some are worried about those who slack off, but a mini rant here: I had to delete a lot of my parts just to stick to the word limit as I edited the final draft and my group had more members than others, with the same word limit. So again, do the math. Scored the worst in my group for the project, and achieved the best grade for my individual term paper. My overall grade came as a surprise, but it also shows that even if you didn't do well in your group project (I got a B- btw), you can still own the individual term paper and finals. It feels damnnnn good. Maybe this doesn't apply to all the modules in NUS, you need to see the distribution of the module components to get a clearer picture. Regarding lecture content, you'll learn about Embedded Liberalism, Transnational Corporations, global problems like child labour and GMF, interesting insights into food politics and copyright/patent laws which doesn't really enhance innovation. (whaaat?) In my opinion, this is the module to take if you want to clear the Humanities/Social Sciences basket (yes it can clear either) and you are interested in global affairs. Dr Kim gives really interesting views and I thoroughly enjoyed her lectures. Of course, majoring in Global Studies is another issue altogether. I chose not to do it despite loving the intro mod because 1) you need to take a language all the way to level 4 and 2) it's a relatively new major so I'm afraid it won't be recognised or what. But if you wish to take it as an intro mod, by all means, go ahead. Fyi, group project was to research into one TNC and the issues revolving around it. Learnt so much from this project, yet my grade sucked. Oh wells, life works in amazing ways.

That's all, shall upload the next review for this semester once my results are out. *cross fingers*

2014/2015 Sem 1 Module Review (Unknown1)

NM1101E 

Professor Lonce

Assessment:

10% - Individual Assignment (Interview skills)

10% - Group Assignment (Design)

10% - Group Assignment (Campaign)

10% - Class participation

20% - Midterms (MCQ)

40% - Finals (MCQ)

Omygosh, how I hated this module. The dreadful lectures, the lazy professor that spends the first ~10min of each lecture reading newspapers to us.. Urgh. However, if you are someone who puts in a moderate amount of effort and wants to find an 'easy' mod to score in, NM1101E is the mod for you. In addition to lecture slides prepared by the prof, we also had to do compulsory readings which are available in ebook format (purchasable at COOP). Prof Lonce doesnt really go through the readings in detail during lectures, but it is important to read them as quite a fair bit of content is tested for midterms and finals.

The 3 assignments were rather heavy, in my opinion. The amount of work required for each assignment was definitely disproportionate to its weightage in the final grade. However, they aren't difficult. The theme for my module was 'Citizen Science' so our first two assignments were structured around that theme, while the last assignment was on designing a campaign strategy for wildlife conservation in Singapore (or something along that line). ANYWAY, just hope that you get responsible group members cos sadly, the groups are pre-assigned by the tutors. 

Content wise, the lectures were relatively easy to digest and the readings can seem quite 'common-sensical' at times, but it is important to read them to memorise the technical terms. Although i didn't really enjoy the module, I did learn something.. I guess. Haha. Also, this turned out to be my highest-scoring module (A+). Just needa mug!

PS1101E

Professor Yoshi

Assessment:

20% - Class participation

40% - Term paper

40% - Finals

A compulsory module for me as I am a PS major. No complaints regarding Prof Yoshi's teaching style, so far I don't know of anyone who didn't like his lectures. His powerpoint slides are informative, but as he doesn't upload them onto IVLE until after the lecture, I usually take notes during lecture. However, he mostly reads off the slides and does not mention any extra information so I guess it's possible to skip lectures and just read the slides. However, Prof Yoshi is pretty funny so do go for lectures, they are enjoyable and easy to understand. 

Like other PS mods, this module only has 4 tutorials (each lasting 2h) in total. As class participation is counted into the final grade, please don't skip tutorials! I can't say that I learnt much during tutorials - 8am class plus annoying classmates that liked to act smart by regurgitating the lecture slides-, but my tutor was pretty cool. I was pretty worried for my participation grade though because I hardly spoke in class, but my final grade turned out fine, phew.

Prof Yoshi released the list of questions (many, many questions to choose from) for the term paper 1 or 2 weeks after recess week (sorry I can't remember), and the essay was due ~Week 12/13. As it's an exposure module, not much research had to be done and in Prof's words, it's more of a 'think' paper than a research paper. The word count was 1500-2000.

Besides lecture slides, Prof Yoshi will also upload the compulsory readings for each week onto IVLE. Although he does a pretty good job summarising each reading during his lecture, I would advise you to do the readings to get a more comprehensive understanding of the topic. Although the readings might seem quite tough, you can read them after the lecture so that you already have some sort of basic understanding of the topic, which will allow you to grasp the readings more easily. Prof also gives hints for the final exam during his last lecture (reallllly good hints) so do go! Final exam comprises of 5 (i think) definition questions -just pure memory- and 1 essay.

JS1101E

Chris Mcmorran and Dr. Amos

Assesment:

10% - Class participation

10% - IVLE posting (1 original post and 2 replies to other posts)

30% - 5000 word group paper

50% - Finals (MCQ)

I absolutely loved this module. Super content heavy, but worth it, assuming you have an interest in Japan. There are two lecturers for this mod, Dr Amos lectures on Japanese history while Mcmorran (he's a geographer) does everything else. We also had two guest lecturers, one was Professor Fujiwara from University of Tokyo, while the other one was more of a talk by a Kabuki Onnagata. You don't have to know the japanese language to take this module!

This module does not cover Japanese anime, pop culture..etc, but mostly looks at Japan from historical, sociological, geographical, and anthropological points of view. Tutorial sessions each lasting 1h are conducted weekly. As 1h is really way too short, not much discussion was done. During your first tutorial, you will have to form groups for the group paper, so choose your seat wisely because you'll most likely end up forming a group with the people around you. Thankfully, my group members were rather nice and pulled their weight for the group paper which is disgustingly, 5000 words long (5 members, 5000 words, 4 members,4000 words etc). There's no fixed topic, so it's up to you and your group to decide as long as it is something related to Japan. The deadline is near the end of the semester (week12/13). 

Besides the group project, we also had to do up an individual IVLE forum post (anything about Japan) ~750 words and also reply to 2 other forum posts. The amount of work needed to be done for the individual post is disproportionate to its weightage in the final grade, but it won't be that much of a problem if you enjoy reading and writing about Japan.

Lectures were always very informative and super enjoyable. Dr. Amos is such a nice guy and so is Mcmorran. One thing to note is that Dr Amos's slides are super duper informative (information overload) while Mcmorran's slides are just the opposite, so be prepared to take notes for Mcmorran's lectures cos he tends to value add to the slides. However, this also means that there's ALOT of content to mug for the final paper. So try not to do last minute revision because there is really alot of information to cover. The MCQ finals were not super tough but not easy either even for someone who studied, so if you wanna get a decent grade, do study. Many people say that JS1101E is the hardest module in the Asian Studies basket, I don't know how true is that but I would not recommend this module for people who hate memorising, hate group projects, or has no interest in Japan. 

LAJ1201

Ms Kazuko Morita and Mr Osamu Amazaki

Assessment:

75% - Continual Assessment (lecture quiz, class quiz, midterms, oral, listening tests, class participation)

25% - Finals

Alot, alot, alot of work. Not for the lazy. I had to do so much preparation for this module ontop of the 7h of contact time weekly (2h lecture, 2h tutorial A, 2h tutorial B, 1h tutorial C) that my friends were joking that I was a Japanese language major. However, it was the most fun I had and classes were always so enjoyable with passionate and responsible tutors. My lecturer was Morita sensei who has been teaching this class for many years so she knows how to put across the content in an easy way to understand! However, one downside was that there were alot of cheaterbugs who already had background knowledge in the language and did not take the placement test (which is required for people with prior knowledge), so that could be kinda annoying since NUS works on a bellcurve and they have an advantage. BUT, if you study hard for it and practise consistently, I think a B+ is definitely attainable. 

We learnt all sorts of grammar patterns, basic vocabulary and kanji during the lessons. Compulsory resources for this module include the Minna no nihongo textbooks and workbook, and the course packet, all of which can be purchased during the first lecture so bring enough money! Bring around 80bucks? Should be enough (cant rmb the exact price).

At least once weekly, there would be vocabulary quizzes which are scored out of 10, and all of them contribute towards the mysterious CA component. No one knows the actual breakdown of the CA part so it's a must to perform consistently if you wish to score a good grade for this module. Tutorial A and B is mostly about going through new grammar patterns and vocabulary, while Tutorial C is where we get to role play a dialogue that we had to memorise before class. Jap classes are always super fun and it's where you can make friends (hehe I made friends with Unknown 2 and 3). Jap classmates are also the only classmates I still wave to outside of tutorial classes even long after the module has ended haha.

Finals were quite easy, in my opinion. However, that also meant that the bellcurve would have been steeper. So double check your answers and don't make careless mistakes! All in all, the Japanese department in NUS is amazingggg and super dedicated. If you want to pick up a language and have an interest in Japanese, PLEASE TAKE THIS IT IS WORTH IT! :)