This academic year 2019/2020 will be a very interesting year. This is because I will be left with 12 MCs or 3 modules of SUs to be used. I cannot afford to screw up any modules (B- and below) just like how in last two semesters. I need to study harder to stay ahead in the bell curve and also the content taught will be much harder too. In addition, I will be take 4 pure ME core modules, if you count my IDP module that would be 5 for this semester. Last two semesters did not give me a clear understanding on where I would roughly stand on the ME bell curve as the modules that I took are also taken by other people from other courses. In addition, this semester was more "xiong" as my IDP module was a total nightmare. It was a 4 MC module but it did not felt like a 4 MC module because the time spent on this module is much more required than a normal 4 MC module.
Modules taken: 6
1) ME 2112 Strength of materials 4 MCs
If you love forces and love drawing free body diagrams, this is a perfect module for you although civil engineering will be a more perfect major for you. If you do well for the forces question in PC 1431 or EG1111, you should be able to survive or do decently well for this module too. To be able to do decently well or at least pass this paper, you should be able to at least master the basic fundamentals like drawing a free body diagram, using your ruler for visualisation, drawing the shear force and bending moment diagram, knowing where to make free body diagrams and the sign conventions for different surfaces on each free body diagram. This module consist of three sections, 15 percent midterms, 15 percent lab and 70 percent finals. The labs are easy to do and complete just that it is extremely daunting and tiresome. The midterms on the other hand might be challenging, however the content tested will be the first few chapters in the modules which are relative easier too. If you practice enough, you should fare just fine too. The finals is not open book and a cheat-sheet is also not allowed into the exam. However a formula sheet will be given so in reality you probably only need to actually just memories a few formula. The finals will be challenging too because the time given are quite tight. 15 minutes to do one small part which most people will take much more time to complete during their tutorials. So if you wanna do well for the finals, practice your tutorials and past year papers under time constraints. I got an E for the midterms (exceptional probably around an A-) but only a B for the final which was disappointing for me cause i screw up one big question. One of the tip that was given is to focus on the method that you write and not necessarily the final answer cause given the limited time, it is better strategically to write more working marks rather than spend a huge chunk securing the right answer (which still might be wrong due to careless mistakes).
Expected grade: A-
Actual grade: B
2) ME 2134 Fluid Mechanics I 4 MCs
This module is one of the worst engineering student nightmare, be it if you are mechanical, civil or even chemical engineering, you will most likely still take a similar form of this module. This module is just like H2 physics on steroids, a lot of content and formulas to grasp. Try not to fall behind lessons if not it will be very hard to catch up especially when the content and questions take a super long time to grasp and master. Prof Teo will be teaching the first part of this module. He is quite entertaining but however he goes through the content quite detailed. This module is made up of 30 percent lab and 70 percent finals. The 30 percent lab is to help you pass this module, so please go for it and do well and you will probably pass this module. For the finals, it is not open book but a cheat-sheet, a double sided A4 size paper can be brought in. It is better to write down questions too on your cheat sheet and all the formulas possible because in exam, just like the ME 2112 finals, the time given which is 2 hours given is very little, especially if you want to go for accuracy. Just like the ME 2112, it is advisable to go for method marks for the open ended questions and try to get full marks for the Buckingham pi question. For the finals, the format might change every year and for my batch, it was 50 percent MCQs and 50 percent finals. What I did was spend more time on the open ended questions because I can copy as much stuff on my cheat-sheet to the exam booklet but for the MCQs, if I dont have much time I can just anyhow shade and method marks would not be awarded for MCQs. Besides, attempting each MCQs with accuracy also consume too much time and you might be still wrong in the end. Overall, I enjoyed this module, the content itself and especially Prof Teo lectures a lot even though the final was horrible.
Expected Grade: B-
Actual Grade: B+
3) ME 2151 Principle of Mechanical Engineering Materials 4 MCs
This module was actually meant to be very content heavy. However being the last module to be taught and required to be cleared for graduation, to allow everyone to pass easily, the new prof reduce tons of content from this module and make it super easy, even easier than H2 chemistry. He gave a lot of hints in all his of lectures of what might be tested. This module became super easy but however that also means that the bell curve would be very steep. It was 30 percent lab and 70 percent finals, so of course go for the labs and do well for it. Plus the lab is actually kinda fun cause you get to play with microscopes. For the finals, it was actually easy but i screw up a few true/false questions (its like 30 percent of the paper, 10 questions?!) and also the calculation and possibly one of the phase transformation questions. Prof Thian who taught this module was quite kind and also quite humorous in his lectures and he always use the word "huh" in his lectures. People even recorded how many "huhs" he said and it amount to over 300 for one lecture?!
Expected Grade: A-
Actual Grade: B+
4) ME 3162 Manufacturing Process 4 MCs
This module is very interesting. The first part consists of heavy content being taught by Prof Seah. He will get you to buy his textbook, which should cost around 16 bucks. Please do get it because everything will be tested from there in the finals and he will be going through everything in the textbook. The second part will be taught by Prof Woon. Most of the stuffs tested are mainly calculations, especially the Merchants' Circle. He is very passionate during his lectures, but if you really want to score for this module, since this final is open book, print everything available from the Grover textbook to the tutorials to the past year papers and extra tutorials etc. Also label everything properly so that you can properly flip to the required content without taking much time during the exam. For the calculations, it would also be easier as you can just refer straight away to your workings and just change the number. This module was 20 percent midterms, 20 percent lab and 60 percent finals. The midterms was super easy and many people score around 16 marks and above upon 20. The lab was super fun as we got to use machines used in workshop to shape metals.
Expected Grade: B+
Actual Grade: A-
5) EG 2301 Engineering Case Studies 4 MCs
This module is one of the IDP modules that I decided to choose. The components graded were not exactly revealed by Prof Kouen. This modules had a lot of mini essays, a major mid term essay and two projects presentation. Attendance for lectures and first few weeks for an Auto-desk Fusion class was also graded. If you really want to score, you will have to put in a lot of effort in the essays and especially the two projects. However, I was pretty salty as even though I did put in a lot of effort in this module, my grades did not reflect otherwise. This module was a pretty fluff module too, however instead of just a presentation slide like the previous module that I took last semester (EG 2201A), you might want to do a proper animation and draw-up using cadding softwares like Auto-desk Fusion that you just have learnt and also 3D printing or making the prototype just to score extra marks.
Expected Grade: B+
Actual Grade: B
6) GEQ Asking questions 1000 4 MCs
This module is also one of the 5 GE pillars and mandatory module that all NUS students (except law, med and dentistry) are required to take. It is an auto SU module, so most people will overload their semester while taking this module. The time required to be spent on this module just to pass it is actually quite little, as long you attend all your tutorials, do all your online quizzes and the forums and the assignments, you will still pass even if you never watch the online lectures. Usually if that semester if that semester is very heavy, it might be good to overload that semester with a GEQ in it. However I feel that the content being taught in GEQ is actually quite interesting, so if you might have some spare time maybe it would be good to to glance through the lectures.
In conclusion, I actually expected to score more for most of my grades, especially my IDP and ME 2112 module. However, I am still satisfied as I am still second upper even though it is very dangerous now. In addition, this would be one of my toughest semester and I was glad I did not screw up most of my modules.
Overall cap at the end: 4.05
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