NUS AY 13/14 Sem 1 Module Review

First posted on: 19 Jan 2016

GL1101E: Global Issues

Lecture (2h) every week (not webcasted); Tutorials (1.5h) odd/even week

Individual Assessment: Tutorial participation & attendance. Two journal entries. Term paper.

Group Presentation & Paper: Presentation and group paper on a TNC of your choice

No midterms. Finals (short-answer and essay)

Lecturer: Dr Kim

I felt that lectures were interesting, and lecture notes were kept to a minimal i.e you needed to take notes during her lectures. Dr Kim incorporates her personal anecdotes into lectures and gives it a more personal touch in a way. I still remember her sharing on the introduction and reception of Macdonalds in South Korea when she was a teenager and such stories make lectures less mundane. The module focused quite a bit on Transnational Corporations, which made me think a lot about their influences and also impacts on society (environmental etc). Of all the introductory modules I've taken, I can say that this module really broadened my perspective towards many issues and made me analyse and rethink certain pre-existing ideas I had.

The journal entries required research on global issues which allowed me to acquire a deeper understanding towards certain global issues that I was passionate about. The lecturer and tutor were also very helpful as they were willing to provide feedback and suggestions to improve the second journal entry and also the group paper. The readings for this module were particularly heavy - I felt that it was the heaviest amongst all the modules I had taken in this semester. Granted, certain readings were really good and provided new insights and arguments towards topics I were both familiar and unfamiliar with. However, it was quite heavy and hard to remember many of them if you try to cram them at the last minute. I didn't know that the essay questions during the finals would test on selected readings (you couldn't choose the questions) - so I was unable to construct a solid, coherent argument and answer the question well.

Overall, while the module is more heavy in terms of readings as well as assessments, I recommend it to anyone who wants to challenge themselves and broaden their knowledge on global issues.

SC1101E: Making Sense of Society

Lecture (2h) every week (I think it was webcasted); Tutorials (1.5h) odd/even week

Individual Assessment: Tutorial participation & attendance. One individual paper on a newspaper article.

Midterms (essay). Finals (essay).

Lecturers: Dr Tan Ern Ser and Saroja

This module is relatively lighter compared to GL1101e. Readings were not as heavy as GL1101e either. Examining society using the 'sociological imagination' didn't come very naturally to me. There were different theories (i.e Marx, Weber) that were taught and applied to different areas of interest, such as Family, Culture, Deviance, Power, Religion. Some topics were easier to understand from the sociological point of view, while others were more difficult. It was interesting, nonetheless, to study theories that were formulated to explain how societies (and humans) functioned. Saroja is quite interesting and funny; she has a good sense of humor and the entire LT can be cracking up from laughter from time to time. Dr Tan's lectures were more serious.

EC1101E: Introduction to Economic Analysis

Lecture (2h) every week; Tutorials (1h) every week

Midterms (MCQ). Finals.

Lecturers: Ong Ee Cheng (Microecons), Ho Kong Weng (Macroecons)

As a H1 economics student, the content was manageable. There were definitely gaps that had to be filled and learnt, but it was relatively okay. The microecons lecturer was pretty good in my opinion as I found her explanations to be quite clear. Macroecons was harder than microecons for me, as I had to learn more things that were not taught under H1 econs. The bell curve was pretty steep.

* Prof Ho is no longer lecturing at NUS

SE1101E: Southeast Asia: A Changing Region

Lecture (2h) every week; Tutorials (2h) even/odd week

Group project: Group essay, group presentation during tutorial

Midterms (essay). Finals (essay)

Lecturers: Professor Irving Johnson

This was one of my favourite modules as a freshmen. Professor Johnson conducts his lectures in an interesting manner that keeps me awake. Topics that were taught covered the history of SEA (briefly) and then it went on to address issues such as Power, Gender & Sexuality, Food, Migration, Religion etc. I learnt more about how these issues developed and came about in different areas of Southeast Asia. It was quite eye-opening in a sense, especially the Gender lecture on how certain parts of Southeast Asia were already open to other genders even before colonisation (iirc).

I also enjoyed the tutorials. The atmosphere was pretty chill - we watched quite a number of videos and had interesting discussions. Overall, it was quite a slack module compared to SC1101e and GL1101e. I still remember one finals question was for students to imagine themselves as a migrant worker in Southeast Asia and to write something along the lines of a journal (incorporating whatever issues we had learnt).

GEK1000/EN1101E: An Introduction to Literary Studies

Lecture (2h) every week; Tutorials (1h) every week

Individual assignment: Essay on one of the books

Midterms (essay). Finals (essay)

Lecturer: Dr Barnard Turner

Warning: Each semester is taught by different lecturers, so the books covered will be completely different. However, I think Dr Turner usually takes the first semester and the books will be the same under him. (I feel that the books in the first semester are more interesting!)

These were the books that were taught under Dr Turner: Northanger Abbey, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Volpone, Raisin in the Sun (play). Among the four books, Volpone was the hardest to understand, because there were many underlying knowledge that the playwright assumed the audience to have. If you thought that Shakespeare was hard (actually his plays were already tailored to ensure that audiences from all classes understood his plays), Volpone takes things to a whole new level. I struggled to understand Volpone, but once you overcome the steep learning curve, it's actually not as bad as it seems. I liked Raisin in the Sun the most, followed by Breakfast at Tiffany's, then Northanger Abbey and Volpone. Raisin in the Sun is interesting as it is a Black play that touches on many issues, such as racism in the U.S as well as the American Dream during that period of time. The ending was somewhat ambiguous, and gives audiences the room to ponder and grapple with the lingering issues afterwards.

The lecture pace was pretty fast; I think one lecture was used to cover one book and we moved on to the next text the following week. The first few lectures were dedicated to poetry and prose, going through iambic pentameter etc. Speaking of lecture pace, it is definitely much faster compared to JC standards. In JC, we had about 1.5 years to cover both poetry and 4 books but everything is covered in 13 weeks....so it is crucial to practice good time management and ensure a consistent studying pace.