AY 2018/19 NTU SPMS CBC Y3S2

I'm procrastinating so much nowadays...but I'll try to finish the review today HAHA. Sorry for being so infrequent in updating :0 I took so many mods this semester cos I wanted have a very slack sem in year 4 so I almost died xD

Oh let me tell you a joke, I exceeded my ue requirements since I took so many courses, but I still had 3AU of gerpe to clear in year 4 HAHAHA. Its not funny but sighs I'm a bad planner. And I had to file for ue overload in order to match a course I took during summer exchange HAHA THIS IS THE FUNNY PART (or not) I sound really crazy idc year 4 alr

CM3021 | ORGANOMETALLIC CHEMISTRY | 3 AU | CORE
This course is split into 2 parts with different lecturers before and after recess week. For the lessons before recess week, the lecturer usually only spent 1 hour on monday instead of the stipulated 2 hours. However, we had to watch some pre-lecture videos and attempt a quiz before the lecture, and the quiz is graded. The lecture is quite interactive as there is plenty of clicker questions so it's less boring HAHA.
Then, there is a weekly compulsory tutorial in the middle of the week where we had to complete tutorial questions before going to class, and new questions would be given for us to discuss.
On fridays, there are graded reflection activity to be completed, you get full marks as long as you did the reflection, which is usually about the content taught during the week.
The best thing about this course is that the first mid term is open book, open internet, meaning that we can use phones during mid term yayyyyy.

For the lessons after recess week, things went back to 2 hour lecture on mondays, a tutorial on wednesday and a one hour lecture on friday. I feel like the second part of the course is more content heavy but the lecturer was very patient to guide us during tutorials. The mid term was open book too I think that really saved my grades a little ^_^ The final exam was also open book, but remember to bring a periodic table!!! I forgot to bring and had to guess my way through some questions x_x.


CM3031 | ORGANIC REACTION MECHANISMS AND SYNTHESIS | 3 AU | CORE
Arghhhh can't do organic chem. Even though all the exams are open book, I just can't do it. Maybe its also cos I didn't attend the lectures :(
Ok this is really due to my laziness and trying to smoke my way through
But it didn't work, so everyone please attend all the lectures and tutorials in this course. There are two mid terms and tutorials are graded, but I skipped them to go earn money. $.$
I'm just glad that this is over phew
Finals was also open book, but it feels like there is no use when I didn't understand the notes in the first place. I'm just stupid and lazy hahaha.



CM3061 | CHEMISTRY AND BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY 3 | 3 AU | CORE
LAST LAB YAY
This is an organic lab course like CM2061, but the lab sessions are less scary and usually ends early. Sounds good right? NOPE, the lab reports are much more difficult to finish than CM2061, and there are some group work too. This time the senior's reports are less helpful cos some of the experiments are different from the past, so there is nothing to copy from. :( I remembered using Shlenk line for quite a few times and I had to keep switching fumehood with other people. Finals tested on the chemical structures appeared in the lab manual, and also the names of apparatus. Some of the questions were quite similar to the finals questions inside the seniors' report so take note of them~

Sometimes I question my degree choice since I have disliked labs since secondary school. But yay no more labs~~~


CM4011 | ADVANCED ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY | 3 AU | MPE
This course is also split into two parts, with different lecturers before and after mid terms.
HAHAHA I prepared something for this blog since last sem, its not much but here it goes
For the first mid term, which is all MCQs, I noted down the number of questions from each topic
Quality Assurance - 5
PSI - 3
Electrolytic - 10
Voltammetry - 4
EPR - 8
So you'll know which topics to focus on. The EPR topic is taught online so make sure to know how to do the questions~

For the second mid term, it is mostly focused on mass spectrometry. The questions are quite similar to what the lecturer went through during lessons so there should be no problem if you pay attention in class, or attempt all the practice questions.

For the finals, all topics are tested and the format is like the past year exams. Generally an okay course, even though it may look like there are a lot to study, the questions are not as difficult to do.


CM4014 | NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY | 3 AU | MPE
Ehehe interesting course, but quite content heavy x_x. There is only one mid term after the recess week which is worth 25%. Then another 20% from the clicker questions during lectures. There is a lot to remember, but still I feel like it was quite a fun learning experience. Oh and it turned out that the two courses I took in Year 4 also touched on nanoparticles wheeeee~ I did badly for the mid term cos I had to prepare for a concert which is right at the end of recess week, and also cos I was lazy to study during any available free time lol.
So I tried to study harder for the final exam which is 55% of the grades. I think there is an improvement (??). I spent most of the time before finals to study for this HAHA. Oh ya another joke is that the final exam venue was at north hill, and I only found one handicapped toilet. I had to 💩 so badly that I rushed into the toilet but didn't lock the door properly. Then a guy opened the door and I had to scream HAHAHA.

HW0228 | SCIENTIFIC COMMUNICATION 2 | 3 AU | GER-CORE
I don't remember much about this course just had the impression that it was really stressful. There is a critique assignment where you have to use the skills learnt in class to comment on the strengths and weaknesses of the assigned research paper. Oh the tutor said that the research paper for us to critique was chosen as it has many flaws, so if you are unsure if something in the paper is wrong, it probably is. 😬
The group project is the stressful part as we have to conduct a research on a topic that we chose ourselves, write a report that is like a real research paper, and do a presentation  on our research findings. x_x

AED06A | SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION AND INCLUSION | 3 AU | UE
Finally a UE yayyyyy
The weekly tutorials are 3 hour long and they are at NIE, and then I had a tutorial right after this lesson. So I had to run from NIE to the hive for lesson every week and would still be late lol. Overall the lessons are really chill, and we learnt mainly about how to be inclusive, and what steps could be taken to help students with special needs to learn better. The course really changed my perspectives so I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in special needs education.
A highlight of this course is that we visited a vocational school for students with special needs during recess week, and enjoyed a huge buffet prepared by the students. We also had a tour around the school and learnt abou the efforts the staff put in to prepare students for work.
The only tiring part in this course is that there are 3 essays to be completed throughout the semester, and one group work. Overall I like this course a lot. <3

Woohoooo I found my internship yayyyy graduating soon