Recess Week Update: A Quick Guide to NUS FASS & Module Review AY2019/2020 Y1S1

It has probably been about 2 months since I've entered National University of Singapore (NUS) as an undergraduate at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). NUS FASS works pretty differently from other faculties in NUS, in the sense that a majority of us enter the school on an "undeclared plan" i.e., we do not have a major at the point of admission. It is only after completing (and passing) the introductory module(s) of our intended major would we then be majoring in something. That being said, it actually gives us a lot of freedom and time in choosing our majors carefully. During FASS Orientation Talks, a lot of deans were telling us how some students went in intending to major in X, but after doing the introductory module of X, realised that they didn't like it and chose to major in Y instead. I think that this pretty common, as I've heard of people majoring in something else that wasn't their intended major.

Anyways, as a Y1 in FASS, you'll realised you will have quite a fair bit of modules being pre-allocated to you. Basically, here are the modules that will be pre-allocated to you in Y1 and Y2:
1. FAS1101 & FAS1102 - to be cleared in Y1. You will be allocated one in Semester 1 and the other in Semester 2.
2. GER1000 - to be cleared in Y1. You will be allocated it in either Semester 1 or Semester 2. This is the module that every Undergrad in NUS must take. Like it or not, you don't really have a choice.
3. GEQ1000 - to be allocated in either Y1S2, Y2S1 or Y2S2. Again, another compulsory Uni module that everyone has to take unless you are in Residential Colleges (RC).
4. GET1050 - to be allocated in either Y1S2, Y2S1 or Y2S2. This is a FASS compulsory module that fulfills your GET requirement.
5. CFG1002 - to be cleared in Y1. You will be allocated it in either Semester 1 or Semester 2.

In addition, we also have to take at 1 introductory module from each of the 3 baskets: Asian Studies, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Asian Studies: Chinese Language (actually, Chinese linguistics), Chinese Studies, South Asian Studies, Southeast Asian Studies, Malay Studies and Japanese Studies

Humanities: History, English  Language (actually, English linguistics), English Literature, Theatre Studies, Philosophy

Social Sciences: Economics, Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Social Work, Geography and Communications and New Media

Others: Global Studies (can be counted as clearing Humanities/Social Sciences basket), European Studies, PPE (Philosophy, Political Science and Economics - this is a new programme)

Besides this, all incoming FASS Y1 students had a chance to participate in the module preference exercise for the introductory modules that we want to take. Basically you are given 4 options and the school will try to pre-allocate your top 2 choices. I was confused by the whole exercise thing and only put down 1 option. Luckily, I actually managed to secure that 1 module.

Without further ado, let's dive into the module review on the modules I'm taking in AY2019/2020 Y1S1.

1. EC1101E - Introduction to Economic Analysis
No. of credits: 4 MCs
Can be counted as: To clear Social Sciences basket or as an UE. Popular module among FASS students to clear the Social Sciences basket.
Assessment breakdown:
Tutorial Participation (10%)
Pre-lecture Quizzes (6%)
Post-lecture Quizzes (9%)
Mid-terms (25%)
Finals (50%)
What it is: For now, we have already cleared the microeconomics part of the module. The concepts are pretty okay and most of the things were covered in JC H2 Economics. There were a few new things taught such as Coase Theorem (under Market Failure), Common Resources (under Market Failure) and Game Theory & Prisoners' Dilemma (under Market Structure). They actually cut down a lot of content in market structure so what you will learn is really nothing compared to what you had to endure in H2 Econs. 

Doing well for the pre-lecture and post-lecture quizzes should not be a problem. Discuss with your friends on the questions that you struggle with! That's the advice I can give to you. Also, the quizzes have a time limit so yeah do not leave it hanging.

Tutorial participation is also pretty okay. My TA split us into groups and as a group, we work together to discuss the problem set questions. Then we all take turns to present. So far, I have presented once in class. It can be a bit nerve wrecking to present. Also, participating in forum discussions is another way to get some tutorial points too. So try to participate in that! Another weird thing about tutorials is that they are all held at UTown instead of FASS. I think it's because there are many students taking this module (almost 500) and perhaps FASS don't have enough venues for everyone so it is all held at UTown. 

Mid-terms is after recess week. And it is all MCQs. And nope, there aren't past year papers you can refer to as they collect it and don't return it to you. But the Prof did upload 2 practice tests quizzes on LumiNUS for us to try. Just revise your problem sets and go through the pre and post lecture quizzes. Should be ok.

2. HY1101E - Asia and the Modern World
No. of credits: 4 MCs
Can be counted as: To clear Humanities basket or as an UE. Usually not a super popular module, but the enrollment for this semester was the highest that they have seen in a long while. I guess it's because this module has NO EXAMS. Then again, the syllabus for this module changes very frequently, depending on who's lecturing.
Assessment breakdown:
Tutorial Participation (20%) 
Pre-lecture and post-lecture quizzes (20%) 
Fictional Diary Entry/Report Assignment (10%) 
Media and History Assignment (20%)
Final Research Essay (30%)
What it is: Currently, I dislike this module a lot. Not because of the assignments that I have to do (essay writing is quite a norm for me since I did so much of it back in JC). But rather the lecture content? They were in my opinion, pretty boring since I never paid alot of attention during lectures. There's a new topic covered every lecture to give you a taste of what History is. But they don't really go into much detail. So it's more breadth than depth. Anyways, don't think the module is very representative of Uni History at all. I initially wanted to take a 2nd major/minor in History but after this module, I doubt I'm interested at all. Guess I wish just take some History modules for fun, but not majoring/minoring in it.

Advice for those wanting to major in History in NUS: Go take some other level 2000 modules before choosing to major in it. 

3. GES1008 - Ethnicity and Nation-Building: Singapore and Malaysia
No. of credits: 4 MCs
Can be counted as: To clear your GES (Singapore Studies pillar) requirement or as an UE.
Assessment breakdown:
Tutorial Participation (10%)
Group Presentation (20%)
Open-book Mid-terms (20%)
Open-book Finals (50%)
What it is: To me, it's a really interesting module! You will never look at race, ethnicity and nation-building issues in the same light after this. It's a module offered by the Department of Malay Studies but throughout the lectures, there are also sociology concepts brought up too, like Sociological Imagination. I'm so mind blown by the whole module itself and it has really challenged my beliefs so far.

As for the group presentation, if you have decent group members, it will go pretty fine. My group members were really good and we worked pretty hard on it 6 days before our presentation date. It was 6 days of working on the slides, discussion, Skyping to rehearse our presentation etc. My group is pretty diverse. Got 1 exchange student from USA, a Y4 Political Science student and 3 Y1s (including me). Also, this module has a lot of exchange students! My tutorial class has like A LOT of exchange students. Like literally at least half the class. 

Mid-terms next week and Prof said it's short essay questions. Like your response should be around half a page to 1 page long (if single-lined). There's 2 questions to do. Will update after I'm done with it. 

Fun fact: Prof teaches the most popular GES module called GES1035 (which is very popular as it is a Pass/Fail module). I didn't attempt to choose that module. There was like 3 vacancies in Round 2 of ModReg (Module Registration) and there were like almost 800 students trying to get it. 

4. FAS1101 - Writing Academically
No. of credits: 4 MCs
Can be counted as: Faculty Core requirements. All FASS students have to take it in Y1.
Assessment breakdown:
Tutorial Participation (15%)
Research Proposal (15%)
Overview Essay (25%)
Final Essay (45%)
What it is: Basically a module that teaches you how to write University academic essays. I did pretty average for the Research Proposal, based on the feedback given. I'm not very surprised since essay writing isn't my forte. We have to choose a topic from any of the content packages given. 
Content package topics:

1. Southeast Asian Studies (Supernaturalism) - My initial topic. After doing the readings, realised I didn't like it.
2. History (The 1919 Paris Peace Treaty)
3. CELC (The Moral Permissibility of the Death Penalty) - Most popular topic chosen by the students.
4. English Language and Literature (Sociolinguistics)  - The topic that I chose in the end. 
5. Sociology (The Sociology of Crime and Deviance)
6. English Language & Literature ( The Writing of Flannery O’Connor)
7. CELC (Law, Marriage and the Same-Sex Debate) - New topic. Pretty popular too.

Research proposal is basically like the introduction of your essay. Overview essay is like the introduction + body of your essay. Final Essay is just like what a complete essay should be. 

5. LAK1201 - Korean 1

No. of credits: 4 MCs

Can be counted as: UE. Or to clear Minor requirements if you chose to take up a minor in Language Studies (Korean), which essentially is still clearing UEs.

Assessment breakdown:

Participation (10%) - includes lecture participation & the vocab quizzes. And the eLearning lecture videos that you have to watch before each lesson.

Assignments (15%) - 3 assignments in total. 2 are writing ones and 1 is an oral one.

Oral tests (15%) - 2 oral tests

Midterms & Finals (60%) 

What it is: You will learn all the Hangul in the first few lessons and some basic grammar. Also, there's like new vocab every week. Please revise your content regularly! And good to make notes for this module because there's a lot going on every week. The workload for this module is heavier too. 2 2 hour lectures/tutorials (actually it's more of a seminar-style class) per week. ALSO THERE ARE ALSO FAKE NOOBS TAKING THIS MODULE SO THE BELL CURVE CAN BE PRETTY STEEP. As such, please do not slack and work hard for this module. But this module is also very fun and the only class that I have fun haha. Also my classmates are pretty hardworking too - some of them created Memrise decks to revise our vocab. So it has been a good time so far. 

Just to add, I'm in SEP-LPP (Student Exchange Programme - Language Preparation Programme) so I will be pre-allocated 1 Korean module per semester (until Y2S2). And I actually intend to go exchange in Korea so this was a good opportunity to learn Korean :)

P.S. Although in the first lesson, some girl decided to leave the class halfway by declaring that she is going to drop the module. So much drama LOL. Another complaint that I have is that my class is on the 6th floor of AS4 and the lifts in AS4 are upgrading, so it is 6 floors every week. 

6. CFG1002 - Career Catalyst

No. of credits: 2 MCs

Can be counted as: UE. It's a faculty requirement. So yup FASS students, you don't have a choice.

It's only worth half a semester. So you either clear it in Week 1-6 of the semester or Week 7-12 of the semester. Also, it's pre-allocated. Mine is in Week 7-12 of the semester. From what I have heard, it's kinda useless and the only thing you will learn is how to write a good resume. Also, out of 6 lectures, you only need to come for 4 of it as the other 2 are online lectures. Very chill module. Also it is a Pass/Fail module so don't worry yo.

With that, I have come to the end of my module review for the modules I'm taking this semester. Will update more once this semester finishes and when my exam results are out. (I AM EAGERLY WAITING) 

Feel free to leave comments! I'll try my best to answer them!

P.S. Longest blog post ever.