Previously, I have never worked long hours until university forced us to get working experience through internships with various companies. Now, it is compulsory for us to do a minimum 24 weeks industrial attachment in order to graduate from NUS. Initially, I thought that work will not be that bad. I will get used to it. What is more, I will be able to earn some money and use that money to invest for my future retirement (or even bring forward my retirement). However, after going through it, I realised that the working hours are too long. It might seem like I am just another one from the strawberry generation that is unable to take hardship (might be true), but I feel that with the long hours, it is really hard to find time after work to do something meaningful such as learning new skills or even to read a book. My mind is usually quite dead and I will be too tired to do anything once I reach home. Given such long working hours, it is close to impossible to upgrade ourselves with new skills other than using weekends. Hence, I salute those people who are able to either work 2 jobs or learn new skills like coding and so on while they are doing full time work.
Now I wonder, if in the future I am able to find a job and work comfortably, isn't it easy to be retrenched when we are not needed and we do not have new skills? Those thoughts will be able to keep me on my toes for a while but I feel that too many work have to be done in the office. If only there will be more work-life balance or even more work from home sessions.
Time spent on a typical work day:
Sleep: 8h
Travelling: 3h (To and fro, depends on MRT CONDITION ALSO)
Work: 8h + 1h lunch
Time left: 4h (What lies)
These calculations do not include the time needed to prepare for work, breakfast, dinner and so on. Also, it assumes that you arrive and leave on the dot.
Wake up: 7am
Leave House: 7.30am
Work: 9am - 6pm
Lunch: 12.30pm - 1.30pm
Reach home: 7.30pm
Finish dinner: 8pm
Slack time: 8pm - 11pm (seems a lot right? 3h worth, assuming no overtime work)
What I thought is, if there is more flexible arrangement where more work can be done at home, the travelling time can be cut short and we will be freer by an average of 3h everyday! Now that is the idealistic case to work towards to. If only work can be brought home... However, it does has its demerits such as unconsciously doing work past office hours. However, aren't we all guilty of that, but I think we should take small steps and flexible working hours is the way to go, especially working from home.
Saturday 29 July 2017
Sunday 16 July 2017
New Apps By DanbooruWorks
DanbooruWorks is a team that is making new android apps to help improve the lives of people. As of now, the team has made 2 relatively similar apps that are based on online shopping website price comparison. They are only available in Google Play Store. Personally, I feel that due to their lack of budget, it is very hard to market to the masses or even get people to download and try. I guess I will use this blog post to try marketing to the people and if the apps sound interesting to you, please do try them. If you are interested, you can view DanbooruWork's blog to know more about them. The 2 apps are:
This is online shopping, rethinked. Just enter your search term once to search all your favorite websites. Supported websites include Aliexpress, Lazada, Ebay, Amazon, Carousell, Qoo10 & more.
Save time from opening new tabs and repeating your searches. We do all that for you. Make bookmarks and compare products from any supported website. Bookmarked products show up all in one screen, making price comparison easy. Purchases are handled by the original website so transactions are seamless.
Supercharge your shopping by making yourself an informed consumer. Only make your purchase after you're sure that you have gotten the best price.
Even better, Prix contains zero irritating popups or notifications. Non-intrusive advertisements are present to fund the development of this app. Take control of your shopping and shop only when you want to. Currently, Singapore is the only officially supported region in Prix. More shopping websites will be added in time as we expand to other regions.
Countries
✔ Singapore / SG
MAIN FEATURES
✔ Search up to 3 shopping sites with just one tap
✔ Bookmark products from any supported shopping site
✔ Compare prices of bookmarked products with ease
✔ Non-intrusive ads
✔ No irritating notifications
PREMIUM FEATURES
✔ Zero advertisements
✔ Search more than 3 shopping sites at once
✔ Real-time currency conversion (coming soon)
✔ Email support by developer
More features are planned for both versions!
SUPPORTED SHOPPING WEBSITES
✔ AliExpress
✔ Amazon
✔ Carousell
✔ Ebay
✔ Lazada
✔ Qoo10
✔ Shopee
✔ Taobao
AND
Do try them out. If you have any questions, direct them to DanbooruWorks and hopefully they will get back to you.
PriceText is a floating application that allows you to search and compare the prices of the things you want to buy at that moment. Just select and copy the text! No longer switch screens to check prices and compare the price of the things you want! Search many different sites at once! Look and compare the average prices of the items listed before diving into the website!
Search in 3 easy steps!
1. Read any text in the browser of your choice anywhere on your phone
2. Highlight and copy the item’s name that caught your eye
3. Click on the popup that appears!
OR
1. Type any text in the app
2. Click search
3. Scroll through the shopping sites and enjoy!
Features:
- Simple and easy to use!
- Only have to search once on multiple sites!
- Quick searches at some of the major shopping sites such as Amazon, Ebay and AliExpress!
- Region selection is available!
- Convert the currency to the native one you use!
Current websites:
- AliExpress
- Amazon
- Ebay
More features to come!
- Search suggestions for items!
- Desktop integration through google chrome extension
Future shopping sites to come!
- Best Buy
- Flipkart
- Lazada
- Walmart
- And many more!
Saturday 15 July 2017
Module Reviews For Year 2, Semester 2 (AY2015/2016)
I am finally covering what I did previously but I forgot some of the module grading breakdown as some were too complicated and I knew that I just had to do them. That is especially true for the General Elective Modules (GEM). Overall, this semester, my GEM modules did much better than my core modules. Sometimes I wonder if I am supposed to be studying Mechanical Engineering.
Check out my other reviews:
Year 1 Sem 1
Year 1 Sem 2
Year 2 Sem 1
Year 3 Sem 1
ME2114 - Mechanics of Materials 2
Difficulty - 10/10
This module is something like part 3 where part 1 is EG1109M, part 2 is ME2113 and part 3 is ME2114. Surprisingly, my grade has been increasing since part 1 and it might be due to me getting used to the concepts that are taught (I prefer to think of it this way).
Lecture
Lectures are normal. Just that the prof for part 2 seems to be more interesting than part 2. Hence, you should make full use of the quiz to revise the concepts for part 1.
Tutorial
As usual, this is the best place to learn as you will learn through examples and sometimes things that you missed out in lectures will be picked up here. Tutors are important so try to find good ones.
Lab
The lab sessions are like ME2113 where the experiment can be finished quite quickly and the report can be submitted the next day by 5pm.
Quiz
Until now i still have no idea which of my 3 questions was wrong as it was not shown. However, I feel that there is ample time (1h for 3 questions). Do make use of this chance to learn and be sure of your answers when you do the quiz since it is open book.
Exam
The paper is difficult but it is still easier than ME2135.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 10%
Lab: 20%
Exam: 70%
ME2135 - Fluid Mechanics 2
Difficulty - 10/10
This module is very content heavy and you will need to spend more time on it. Luckily, I took 2 GEM modules this sem and dropped 2 core modules. I wonder how my peers who took 5 core modules fare. Good luck to them.
Lecture
Part 1 prof seems to be more engaging and you will be able to learn better but the content is quite heavy. It will take some time to learn. However for part 2, it will be harder to understand as you will not know the focus of the lectures and some bad reviews was heard from my friends about the prof and I will not elaborate here. You can find out on your own.
Tutorial
This is the best place to learn if you do not understand the lectures. However, based on what I heard, best is to choose your tutorial time slots carefully, meaning go for those which people say the tutors are not bad. You do not have to stick to your tutorial time slot unless there is no space in the tutorial room.
Lab
As usual for fluid mechanics lab, you will have to finish the lab report when the session ends and you will have to prepare before hand.
Quiz
We had 2 quizzes 1 for part 1 and another for part 2. Both were open book. Part 1 quiz was very difficult as the MCQ questions were very tricky and really tested your understanding. However, quiz 2 was relatively manageable but that only serves as an illusion to what comes next.
Exam
Finals was CRAZY. Part 1 of the paper will more manageable, but part 2 was totally unexpected. As we were not very sure about what the lecturer was teaching, we could only depend on what was taught in tutorials and the quiz. However, the exam questions that came out were totally unrelated and not doable for the unprepared (ie. me). I was unprepared for the questions as I wrote my cheat sheet to suit the tutorials and the quiz and I did not revise sufficiently. In conclusion, half of the paper killed me.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 10%
Lab: 20%
Exam: 70%
I forgot the breakdown for this
ME2101 - Fundamentals of Mechanical Design
Difficulty - 7/10 (The project part is hard)
Lecture
Part 1 lecture was quite confusing and only chapter 3 and 4 was tested. This caused many people to either no listen or just not go to the lecture which I am guilty of the former regrettably. However, what was taught was to help you in understanding the requirements of design. The parts that were tested are more confusing as the concepts are not taught before and there will be no tutorials to help. The only way to learn is through the lecture notes or to self learn on the internet. As for part 2, a textbook was required but the prof has helped us
Tutorial
Only part 2 has tutorial but I did not go as I managed to do the questions and the answers were given.
Project
This allows you to choose from 10 topics given by the prof. You will have to design (draw or CAD) out your product and write a report on it. The hardest part of this project is to find something that you are interested in and thinking of a new design or a new way to do it so as to be more creative. My group took some time to eliminate the different options that we wanted to do. Thus, choose your group mates (2-3 in a group) carefully and make sure you can work well with them.
Exam
Open book exam. Do remember to bring the correct notes and print the parts of the textbooks are required. I would recommend bringing parts of the textbook as it is easier for you to refer to during exam. Even though this is a bad practice but we usually do it for the grade sadly. The paper for part 1 was pretty standard assuming you did your revision but you will have to read the question carefully in order not to make careless mistakes. As for part 2, the questions are also quite standard and if you have the textbook to refer to or did preparations, you should not do too badly if you do not make any careless mistakes. Needless to say, given such paper, the bell curve was very steep and any slight careless mistake will be costly.
Module Breakdown
Project: 30%
Exam: 70%
GEH1027/GEK1508 - Einstein's University & Quantum Weirdness
Difficulty - 6/10 (Did better than I expected)
This is one of the few modules that I enjoyed taking during the whole of my university life. It may be that it is not calculation heavy (am I in the right course?). I liked the content of this module quite much as the prof focus on the way of thinking rather than the hardcore calculations known in physics. According a friend, most mechanical engineering that took this module did relatively well.
Lecture
No webcast sorry. However, the prof will repeat the concepts quite often and it will be easy to know what is taught and required for the module. For part 1, relativity seemed to be easier to understand but for part 2, I have no idea what was going on and was quite dependent on the lecture notes during exam.
Tutorial
Tutorial is compulsory if you want to get the marks for the assignment that has to be done during the tutorial as you will have to do and submit on the spot. Otherwise, the tutorial is quite useful in my opinion as the tutor taught us somethings which were left out of the lecture for our better understanding.
Project
Group project of 2-3 people of different majors. You can choose to do a book review, a short 2-3min video or write a story. The prof encouraged us to write a book review for books that are less than 6 months old and if it is good, he might be enticed to read them and you will do better. However, it is recommended that you compare with at least another book. I will not recommend this route unless you are very sure of your concepts. We tried reading a few books but it is either we do not understand or there is nothing to dispute. Hence, we scrape the idea and decided to write a story.
Mid Term
Open book 35 MCQ questions with a few bonus short answer questions that can be tried if you have more time and will give bonus marks if you get them correct. The overall difficulty was more towards easy as I have sufficient time to flip through my notes to find the answers. This part test relativity and I found it doable.
Exam
Similarly, it is an open book 35 MCQ test with a few bonus short answer questions. The paper was manageable. Hence, a steep bell curve is to be expected. The test for this is quantum mechanics and this is the part where I do not understand, but I was able to find most of the answers in the lecture notes.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 30%
Mid term: 20%
Exam: 30%
Star gazing: 5% (Attend 2 friday star gazing, go to the overseas one or go to the Art Science Museum display)
Assignment: 5% (1 every tutorial)
Forum participation: 10% (Have at least 10 posts)
I cannot remember the exact breakdown but it is roughly there
GES1021/SSS1207 - Natural Heritage of Singapore
Difficulty - 8/10 (But I did better than I expected)
This module made me interested in the nature of Singapore as I was exposed to the biodiversity that is present in Singapore. I guess the module has achieved its goal of getting students to be interested. Like most people, we thought that Singapore being a highly urbanised country, should not have much wild animals left. However, with the module forcing us to go out to take photographs, I found out how Singapore is still full of biodiversity, less than last time but there are still many out there waiting to be discovered. Do try to visit the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum on a guided tour as I did not and questions came out during exam asking about things that relate to it.
Lecture
No webcast, and every lecture is a new chapter with guest lectures and so on in between. The lecture notes are quite brief and you will have to jot down the things that both lecturers say as they WILL be tested. Best is to get the textbook also as you will get a better understanding reading it. If possible, borrow from your friends, which I did (saved me money). Thank you my friend
Project
Group of 5-7 people. Come up with a poster with a specific habitat and with 3 native plants and animals each. This project is fun as we are forced to go out on a field trip to take photographs of wild lives. It is through this trip, I found out about many of the different crabs and mudskippers. I usually do not go out and explore the nature as I thought Singapore is so hot and there is nothing to explore. After this experience, I realised even those smaller wild lands can be explored to find some plants and animals.
Mid Term
Open book. Do make notes or summary so that you can flip to the required pages in your lecture notes or textbook quickly. I made the mistake of not printing the lecture notes and writing down the things that were mentioned in lecture and I only had the textbook to depend on. In the end those that cannot be found have to be guessed and it was a bad experience.
Exam
Open book. The same thing as mentioned for the Mid Term. However, this time, all the topics will be tested so it will be even harder to find. As you will be competing with Life Science students, you will have to be familiar with the content or at least have good book/lecture notes flipping skills in order to stand a chance.
Module Breakdown
Poster: 35%
Forum participation: 5%
Mid Term: 30%
Exam: 30%
I will like to promote my friend's app from DanbooruWorks as the downloads are quite pathetic. The apps are:
Prix - CompareFirst is not just another shopping app!
PriceText – Price searching and comparing made easier
Please do try them and if they are good, do support by using them more often!
Check out my other reviews:
Year 1 Sem 1
Year 1 Sem 2
Year 2 Sem 1
Year 3 Sem 1
ME2114 - Mechanics of Materials 2
Difficulty - 10/10
This module is something like part 3 where part 1 is EG1109M, part 2 is ME2113 and part 3 is ME2114. Surprisingly, my grade has been increasing since part 1 and it might be due to me getting used to the concepts that are taught (I prefer to think of it this way).
Lecture
Lectures are normal. Just that the prof for part 2 seems to be more interesting than part 2. Hence, you should make full use of the quiz to revise the concepts for part 1.
Tutorial
As usual, this is the best place to learn as you will learn through examples and sometimes things that you missed out in lectures will be picked up here. Tutors are important so try to find good ones.
Lab
The lab sessions are like ME2113 where the experiment can be finished quite quickly and the report can be submitted the next day by 5pm.
Quiz
Until now i still have no idea which of my 3 questions was wrong as it was not shown. However, I feel that there is ample time (1h for 3 questions). Do make use of this chance to learn and be sure of your answers when you do the quiz since it is open book.
Exam
The paper is difficult but it is still easier than ME2135.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 10%
Lab: 20%
Exam: 70%
ME2135 - Fluid Mechanics 2
Difficulty - 10/10
This module is very content heavy and you will need to spend more time on it. Luckily, I took 2 GEM modules this sem and dropped 2 core modules. I wonder how my peers who took 5 core modules fare. Good luck to them.
Lecture
Part 1 prof seems to be more engaging and you will be able to learn better but the content is quite heavy. It will take some time to learn. However for part 2, it will be harder to understand as you will not know the focus of the lectures and some bad reviews was heard from my friends about the prof and I will not elaborate here. You can find out on your own.
Tutorial
This is the best place to learn if you do not understand the lectures. However, based on what I heard, best is to choose your tutorial time slots carefully, meaning go for those which people say the tutors are not bad. You do not have to stick to your tutorial time slot unless there is no space in the tutorial room.
Lab
As usual for fluid mechanics lab, you will have to finish the lab report when the session ends and you will have to prepare before hand.
Quiz
We had 2 quizzes 1 for part 1 and another for part 2. Both were open book. Part 1 quiz was very difficult as the MCQ questions were very tricky and really tested your understanding. However, quiz 2 was relatively manageable but that only serves as an illusion to what comes next.
Exam
Finals was CRAZY. Part 1 of the paper will more manageable, but part 2 was totally unexpected. As we were not very sure about what the lecturer was teaching, we could only depend on what was taught in tutorials and the quiz. However, the exam questions that came out were totally unrelated and not doable for the unprepared (ie. me). I was unprepared for the questions as I wrote my cheat sheet to suit the tutorials and the quiz and I did not revise sufficiently. In conclusion, half of the paper killed me.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 10%
Lab: 20%
Exam: 70%
I forgot the breakdown for this
ME2101 - Fundamentals of Mechanical Design
Difficulty - 7/10 (The project part is hard)
Lecture
Part 1 lecture was quite confusing and only chapter 3 and 4 was tested. This caused many people to either no listen or just not go to the lecture which I am guilty of the former regrettably. However, what was taught was to help you in understanding the requirements of design. The parts that were tested are more confusing as the concepts are not taught before and there will be no tutorials to help. The only way to learn is through the lecture notes or to self learn on the internet. As for part 2, a textbook was required but the prof has helped us
Tutorial
Only part 2 has tutorial but I did not go as I managed to do the questions and the answers were given.
Project
This allows you to choose from 10 topics given by the prof. You will have to design (draw or CAD) out your product and write a report on it. The hardest part of this project is to find something that you are interested in and thinking of a new design or a new way to do it so as to be more creative. My group took some time to eliminate the different options that we wanted to do. Thus, choose your group mates (2-3 in a group) carefully and make sure you can work well with them.
Exam
Open book exam. Do remember to bring the correct notes and print the parts of the textbooks are required. I would recommend bringing parts of the textbook as it is easier for you to refer to during exam. Even though this is a bad practice but we usually do it for the grade sadly. The paper for part 1 was pretty standard assuming you did your revision but you will have to read the question carefully in order not to make careless mistakes. As for part 2, the questions are also quite standard and if you have the textbook to refer to or did preparations, you should not do too badly if you do not make any careless mistakes. Needless to say, given such paper, the bell curve was very steep and any slight careless mistake will be costly.
Module Breakdown
Project: 30%
Exam: 70%
GEH1027/GEK1508 - Einstein's University & Quantum Weirdness
Difficulty - 6/10 (Did better than I expected)
This is one of the few modules that I enjoyed taking during the whole of my university life. It may be that it is not calculation heavy (am I in the right course?). I liked the content of this module quite much as the prof focus on the way of thinking rather than the hardcore calculations known in physics. According a friend, most mechanical engineering that took this module did relatively well.
Lecture
No webcast sorry. However, the prof will repeat the concepts quite often and it will be easy to know what is taught and required for the module. For part 1, relativity seemed to be easier to understand but for part 2, I have no idea what was going on and was quite dependent on the lecture notes during exam.
Tutorial
Tutorial is compulsory if you want to get the marks for the assignment that has to be done during the tutorial as you will have to do and submit on the spot. Otherwise, the tutorial is quite useful in my opinion as the tutor taught us somethings which were left out of the lecture for our better understanding.
Project
Group project of 2-3 people of different majors. You can choose to do a book review, a short 2-3min video or write a story. The prof encouraged us to write a book review for books that are less than 6 months old and if it is good, he might be enticed to read them and you will do better. However, it is recommended that you compare with at least another book. I will not recommend this route unless you are very sure of your concepts. We tried reading a few books but it is either we do not understand or there is nothing to dispute. Hence, we scrape the idea and decided to write a story.
Mid Term
Open book 35 MCQ questions with a few bonus short answer questions that can be tried if you have more time and will give bonus marks if you get them correct. The overall difficulty was more towards easy as I have sufficient time to flip through my notes to find the answers. This part test relativity and I found it doable.
Exam
Similarly, it is an open book 35 MCQ test with a few bonus short answer questions. The paper was manageable. Hence, a steep bell curve is to be expected. The test for this is quantum mechanics and this is the part where I do not understand, but I was able to find most of the answers in the lecture notes.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 30%
Mid term: 20%
Exam: 30%
Star gazing: 5% (Attend 2 friday star gazing, go to the overseas one or go to the Art Science Museum display)
Assignment: 5% (1 every tutorial)
Forum participation: 10% (Have at least 10 posts)
I cannot remember the exact breakdown but it is roughly there
GES1021/SSS1207 - Natural Heritage of Singapore
Difficulty - 8/10 (But I did better than I expected)
This module made me interested in the nature of Singapore as I was exposed to the biodiversity that is present in Singapore. I guess the module has achieved its goal of getting students to be interested. Like most people, we thought that Singapore being a highly urbanised country, should not have much wild animals left. However, with the module forcing us to go out to take photographs, I found out how Singapore is still full of biodiversity, less than last time but there are still many out there waiting to be discovered. Do try to visit the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum on a guided tour as I did not and questions came out during exam asking about things that relate to it.
Lecture
No webcast, and every lecture is a new chapter with guest lectures and so on in between. The lecture notes are quite brief and you will have to jot down the things that both lecturers say as they WILL be tested. Best is to get the textbook also as you will get a better understanding reading it. If possible, borrow from your friends, which I did (saved me money). Thank you my friend
Project
Group of 5-7 people. Come up with a poster with a specific habitat and with 3 native plants and animals each. This project is fun as we are forced to go out on a field trip to take photographs of wild lives. It is through this trip, I found out about many of the different crabs and mudskippers. I usually do not go out and explore the nature as I thought Singapore is so hot and there is nothing to explore. After this experience, I realised even those smaller wild lands can be explored to find some plants and animals.
Mid Term
Open book. Do make notes or summary so that you can flip to the required pages in your lecture notes or textbook quickly. I made the mistake of not printing the lecture notes and writing down the things that were mentioned in lecture and I only had the textbook to depend on. In the end those that cannot be found have to be guessed and it was a bad experience.
Exam
Open book. The same thing as mentioned for the Mid Term. However, this time, all the topics will be tested so it will be even harder to find. As you will be competing with Life Science students, you will have to be familiar with the content or at least have good book/lecture notes flipping skills in order to stand a chance.
Module Breakdown
Poster: 35%
Forum participation: 5%
Mid Term: 30%
Exam: 30%
I will like to promote my friend's app from DanbooruWorks as the downloads are quite pathetic. The apps are:
Prix - CompareFirst is not just another shopping app!
PriceText – Price searching and comparing made easier
Please do try them and if they are good, do support by using them more often!
Friday 14 July 2017
People Change, Including Me
In the past, I seemed to have big dreams, dreams of making things, like maybe gundams. Then, slowly it evolved to something that seems more doable like weapons as I find them very cool. I think I slowly become more aware of my own capabilities and reality. The idea before the latest one was to build a robot maid, but I have degenerated further. Now all I want is just to slack at home, to slack until I feel sick of slacking at home and go out and do something meaningful. How to achieve this? Based on my calculations, I will need a min of about $500 a month.
The expenditure breakdown:
Ignoring the need to rent or buy a house (assuming my parents don't kick me out)
- Food:
-> $5 per meal for 2 meals a day
= $ 300 a month
- Electricity and water bills:
= $50
- Internet and phone bills:
= $100
- Additional $50 in case any of them exceed budget
Therefore I will need at least $500 a month to survive and live on this lifestyle. However, that is based on my current self without any girlfriend or external commitments that I will have in the future. Based on current projections, I think this plan will not change in the foreseeable future. In the case where I have a girlfriend, my guess is that this plan will certainly fail and I will have to come up with a new plan, but that will only concern me when it happens.
So how to achieve this $500 a month plan? Given my current debt of 52.2k, and based on investment dividends of about 3% a year, I will need 200k + my debt which is about 252.2k. This means I will not be able to slack until I am able to achieve these amount in my savings. Assuming I am able to save and invest $1k a month without accounting for inflation and compound interest rate, I will need about 21 to about 22 years to retire and slack. This translate to me working from the age of 25 to about 46 or 47 years old. How old.
If only there are easier ways to earn money and retire. There is no need for luxurious food or travel, all I want is to be able to slack and do whatever I want until I am sick of that lifestyle. I guess I am what people call the "strawberry generation". Sorry peers, I am part of the problem.
The expenditure breakdown:
Ignoring the need to rent or buy a house (assuming my parents don't kick me out)
- Food:
-> $5 per meal for 2 meals a day
= $ 300 a month
- Electricity and water bills:
= $50
- Internet and phone bills:
= $100
- Additional $50 in case any of them exceed budget
Therefore I will need at least $500 a month to survive and live on this lifestyle. However, that is based on my current self without any girlfriend or external commitments that I will have in the future. Based on current projections, I think this plan will not change in the foreseeable future. In the case where I have a girlfriend, my guess is that this plan will certainly fail and I will have to come up with a new plan, but that will only concern me when it happens.
So how to achieve this $500 a month plan? Given my current debt of 52.2k, and based on investment dividends of about 3% a year, I will need 200k + my debt which is about 252.2k. This means I will not be able to slack until I am able to achieve these amount in my savings. Assuming I am able to save and invest $1k a month without accounting for inflation and compound interest rate, I will need about 21 to about 22 years to retire and slack. This translate to me working from the age of 25 to about 46 or 47 years old. How old.
If only there are easier ways to earn money and retire. There is no need for luxurious food or travel, all I want is to be able to slack and do whatever I want until I am sick of that lifestyle. I guess I am what people call the "strawberry generation". Sorry peers, I am part of the problem.
Sunday 9 July 2017
Module Reviews For Year 2, Semester 1 (AY2015/2016)
Although I am rushing out the module reviews, but I believe the quality of the post should not drop too much. This is still basically dependent on my hindsight. As usual, I will try my best to recall and give as much details as I remember. I remember in Year 2 onwards, I hardly did any tutorials and was mostly going to tutorials to learn and do the tutorials before exams.
Check out my other module reviews:
Year 1 Sem 1
Year 1 Sem 2
Year 2 Sem 2
Year 3 Sem 1
ME2121 - Engineering Thermodynamics
Difficulty - 10/10 (I don't understand what was going on)
This module was a disaster as part 1, I was even sure what was being taught. The lecture notes seemed to be quite comprehensive but I was not sure what was taught. Part 2's notes were more brief and maybe too brief that if you do not pay attention, you will have to rewatch the webcast to know what was going on. Part 2 was mainly all the different thermodynamic cycles and yeah no idea what was going on. We learnt to use the Steam Table frequently and it is not what we were used to in JC.
Lecture
As I mentioned, the lectures were quite confusing and it is better if you do some self study before and after the lecture to understand what was going on.
Tutorial
Never do as I did not understand. However, I felt that going to tutorials to listen helped me greatly as you will start to understand how what was taught is being applied and it allowed me to understand better.
Lab
We did some aircon lab and it has to be submitted on the spot, by the end of the lesson. This was challenging and it meant that you will have to read up and prepare before the lab session. As I did not prepare and read up, I could not answer the discussion question.
Mid Term
The quiz was seemingly easy but easy to make careless mistakes. Overall, I did well for this part.
Exam
I cannot remember what happened during exams but I only remembered it was difficult. Can't remember how many questions I could not do. However, as my seniors say, usually when you cannot do, most people also cannot do. So you should be safe, unless it is easy and you did not study.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 20%
Lab: 10%
Exam: 70%
ME2134 - Fluid Mechanics 1
Difficulty - 10/10
Lecture
Part 1 was quite confusing and I didn't know what was exactly being taught. Part 2 was more focus.
Tutorial
Usual thing, never do and learn on the spot
Lab
Have to submit by the end of the lab session and it was very stressful. You have to prepare before hand and make sure you know how to answer the discussion questions.
Mid Term
Can't remember if we have this
Exam
1 cheat sheet is allowed. However, the paper was quite off topic as we were tested on global warming and some other non conventional questions that are related to fluid mechanics but somehow not what we expect. This caught many of us off guard and died.
Module Breakdown
Lab: 20%
Exam: 80%
ME2151 - Principles of Mechanical Engineering Materials
Difficulty - 5/10 (Maybe I liked a bit of chemistry in secondary school)
Lecture
One of the few female professors of Mechanical Engineering Department and she taught this module. She goes quite slow but I felt that I understood well. Since the pace was slow, the content that was taught was not a lot every lecture and can be absorbed.
Tutorial
As usual, never do and learn in tutorial
Lab
The lab was not very interesting but you get bring the lab report home to do, which is nice.
Exam
I felt that the paper was doable but many people beg to differ. So I might be bias on this. From what I heard, the paper seemed to be marked based on keywords, a bit similar to how "A" Levels was done (is it? actually I forgot).
Module Breakdown
Lab: 20%
Exam: 80%
ME3162 - Manufacturing Processes
Difficulty - 4/10
Lecture
Very interesting, one of the few that will not cause you to be sleepy. You can tell from the number of people who attend the lecture for part 1. Part 2 was a lot dryer as it involves cutting angle and etc which was very dry.
Tutorial
Tutorial was quite chill where you do on the spot and the professor will be there to teach you how to do for part 1. Part 2 tutorial is mainly on how to draw the circle.
Lab
Groups of 4 people will take turn to learn how to do milling and drilling. NO LAB REPORT WOOHOO. That is the best thing about this lab. However, it is really dependent on your skills on how you fabricate the parts
Exam
IT IS OPEN BOOK. However, part 1 of the paper was pretty manageable and part 2 was harder as we have to draw circles and etc. You need your protractor and compass for this. In the end, I thought the paper was doable and I think most people thought so too. Hence the bell curve was very steep, any careless mistake will cost you severely.
Module Breakdown
Lab: 20%
Exam: 80%
ME2113 - Mechanics of Materials 1
Difficulty - 8/10 (Not strong in this subject)
Lecture
Was quite interesting and I think we were the only batch that has 3 lecturers. I went for all the lectures and I felt that it was ok(?)
Tutorial
As usual, never do as I was too tired throughout the week but this is where I learn most, from learning in class.
Lab
The lab is tedious but doable and can be finished fast. However, the report is more time consuming but can be submitted the following day 5pm.
Quiz
This quiz consist of 3 MCQ questions online and you have 1h. It is manageable as it is open book and as long as you are not careless, should be able to do
Exam
My friends told me some of the questions that look similar to past year questions came out and that were the ones that I did not know how to do. However, the paper was not easy and I guess it might just be me.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 10%
Lab: 20%
Exam: 70%
CP3108B - Individual Work Project
Difficulty - TOO HIGH (for someone who has no coding experience)
I took this module called Orbital and is part of School of Computing. What was required from what I remember was to make something that is software related. It can be an app, website, game, etc. It is to be done over the summer holiday and in pairs. How I joined was due to some friend who just happened to feel like doing and required a partner so I agreed as it was worth 4mc and it will be a good learning experience to try my hand on some code.
Even though I only went through CS1010E, I just went ahead with my friend and decided to make an android game as he was familiar with android development. However, we met a lot of problems during the execution and the app was buggy where we could not fit. In the end, we still presented out app and got the 4mc worth of credit and it was certainly worth the effort even though most of the work was done by my friend and I was the burden.
University is tiring. Even though people say they enjoyed their university life, I wonder if I am enjoying mine. However, work is not any better. It sort of kills your brain after work and you will be too tired to study or think after that.
I will like to promote my friend's app from DanbooruWorks as the downloads are quite pathetic. The apps are:
Prix - CompareFirst is not just another shopping app!
PriceText – Price searching and comparing made easier
Please do try them and if they are good, do support by using them more often!
Check out my other module reviews:
Year 1 Sem 1
Year 1 Sem 2
Year 2 Sem 2
Year 3 Sem 1
ME2121 - Engineering Thermodynamics
Difficulty - 10/10 (I don't understand what was going on)
This module was a disaster as part 1, I was even sure what was being taught. The lecture notes seemed to be quite comprehensive but I was not sure what was taught. Part 2's notes were more brief and maybe too brief that if you do not pay attention, you will have to rewatch the webcast to know what was going on. Part 2 was mainly all the different thermodynamic cycles and yeah no idea what was going on. We learnt to use the Steam Table frequently and it is not what we were used to in JC.
Lecture
As I mentioned, the lectures were quite confusing and it is better if you do some self study before and after the lecture to understand what was going on.
Tutorial
Never do as I did not understand. However, I felt that going to tutorials to listen helped me greatly as you will start to understand how what was taught is being applied and it allowed me to understand better.
Lab
We did some aircon lab and it has to be submitted on the spot, by the end of the lesson. This was challenging and it meant that you will have to read up and prepare before the lab session. As I did not prepare and read up, I could not answer the discussion question.
Mid Term
The quiz was seemingly easy but easy to make careless mistakes. Overall, I did well for this part.
Exam
I cannot remember what happened during exams but I only remembered it was difficult. Can't remember how many questions I could not do. However, as my seniors say, usually when you cannot do, most people also cannot do. So you should be safe, unless it is easy and you did not study.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 20%
Lab: 10%
Exam: 70%
ME2134 - Fluid Mechanics 1
Difficulty - 10/10
Lecture
Part 1 was quite confusing and I didn't know what was exactly being taught. Part 2 was more focus.
Tutorial
Usual thing, never do and learn on the spot
Lab
Have to submit by the end of the lab session and it was very stressful. You have to prepare before hand and make sure you know how to answer the discussion questions.
Mid Term
Can't remember if we have this
Exam
1 cheat sheet is allowed. However, the paper was quite off topic as we were tested on global warming and some other non conventional questions that are related to fluid mechanics but somehow not what we expect. This caught many of us off guard and died.
Module Breakdown
Lab: 20%
Exam: 80%
ME2151 - Principles of Mechanical Engineering Materials
Difficulty - 5/10 (Maybe I liked a bit of chemistry in secondary school)
Lecture
One of the few female professors of Mechanical Engineering Department and she taught this module. She goes quite slow but I felt that I understood well. Since the pace was slow, the content that was taught was not a lot every lecture and can be absorbed.
Tutorial
As usual, never do and learn in tutorial
Lab
The lab was not very interesting but you get bring the lab report home to do, which is nice.
Exam
I felt that the paper was doable but many people beg to differ. So I might be bias on this. From what I heard, the paper seemed to be marked based on keywords, a bit similar to how "A" Levels was done (is it? actually I forgot).
Module Breakdown
Lab: 20%
Exam: 80%
ME3162 - Manufacturing Processes
Difficulty - 4/10
Lecture
Very interesting, one of the few that will not cause you to be sleepy. You can tell from the number of people who attend the lecture for part 1. Part 2 was a lot dryer as it involves cutting angle and etc which was very dry.
Tutorial
Tutorial was quite chill where you do on the spot and the professor will be there to teach you how to do for part 1. Part 2 tutorial is mainly on how to draw the circle.
Lab
Groups of 4 people will take turn to learn how to do milling and drilling. NO LAB REPORT WOOHOO. That is the best thing about this lab. However, it is really dependent on your skills on how you fabricate the parts
Exam
IT IS OPEN BOOK. However, part 1 of the paper was pretty manageable and part 2 was harder as we have to draw circles and etc. You need your protractor and compass for this. In the end, I thought the paper was doable and I think most people thought so too. Hence the bell curve was very steep, any careless mistake will cost you severely.
Module Breakdown
Lab: 20%
Exam: 80%
ME2113 - Mechanics of Materials 1
Difficulty - 8/10 (Not strong in this subject)
Lecture
Was quite interesting and I think we were the only batch that has 3 lecturers. I went for all the lectures and I felt that it was ok(?)
Tutorial
As usual, never do as I was too tired throughout the week but this is where I learn most, from learning in class.
Lab
The lab is tedious but doable and can be finished fast. However, the report is more time consuming but can be submitted the following day 5pm.
Quiz
This quiz consist of 3 MCQ questions online and you have 1h. It is manageable as it is open book and as long as you are not careless, should be able to do
Exam
My friends told me some of the questions that look similar to past year questions came out and that were the ones that I did not know how to do. However, the paper was not easy and I guess it might just be me.
Module Breakdown
Quiz: 10%
Lab: 20%
Exam: 70%
CP3108B - Individual Work Project
Difficulty - TOO HIGH (for someone who has no coding experience)
I took this module called Orbital and is part of School of Computing. What was required from what I remember was to make something that is software related. It can be an app, website, game, etc. It is to be done over the summer holiday and in pairs. How I joined was due to some friend who just happened to feel like doing and required a partner so I agreed as it was worth 4mc and it will be a good learning experience to try my hand on some code.
Even though I only went through CS1010E, I just went ahead with my friend and decided to make an android game as he was familiar with android development. However, we met a lot of problems during the execution and the app was buggy where we could not fit. In the end, we still presented out app and got the 4mc worth of credit and it was certainly worth the effort even though most of the work was done by my friend and I was the burden.
University is tiring. Even though people say they enjoyed their university life, I wonder if I am enjoying mine. However, work is not any better. It sort of kills your brain after work and you will be too tired to study or think after that.
I will like to promote my friend's app from DanbooruWorks as the downloads are quite pathetic. The apps are:
Prix - CompareFirst is not just another shopping app!
PriceText – Price searching and comparing made easier
Please do try them and if they are good, do support by using them more often!
Module Reviews For Year 1, Semester 2 (AY2015/2016)
After this long while, it is time to do a module review for my Year 1 Semester 2. This is all based on what I remember and it might not be as very accurate but I guess I hope it will give you a glimpse on what it is like.
GET1021 - Critical Thinking and Writing
Difficulty: 8/10 (Quite tough)
I had a great difficulty in understanding what was taught and what to look out for throughout the whole semester until before finals. I guess you will have to understand what was taught and what and how to evaluate articles and so on. Without that understanding and trying blindly will be quite detrimental. Do try to ask for clarification or ask your tutor to help before it is too late.
Tutorials:
The lessons were quite interesting, cannot remember what else happened. My tutor was good just that I thought I understood but I didn't know exactly what was required of me.
Exam
After not writing for a long time, the need to write fast and so on is terrifying and painful. Do train your fingers to get used to it before the examination. Also, the examination format will be similar to your assignment 1 where it is an individual work.
Tutorials:
The lessons were quite interesting, cannot remember what else happened. My tutor was good just that I thought I understood but I didn't know exactly what was required of me.
Exam
After not writing for a long time, the need to write fast and so on is terrifying and painful. Do train your fingers to get used to it before the examination. Also, the examination format will be similar to your assignment 1 where it is an individual work.
Module Breakdown
Assignment 1: 30% (Individual Work)
Assignment 2: 30% (Group Work)
Final Examination: 30%
I forgot about this part
EG1108 - Electrical Engineering
Difficulty: 3/10 (subjective)
From what I heard from my friends, this module was very difficult, but to me it was relatively easy. I have no idea why also but I felt that part 2 of the module seemed more manageable and had the time to spend more time on just the first part. From what I heard, this module seemed to combine 2 electrical engineering module but is more introductory hence less in-depth.
Lectures
It was hard to understand the first part as we were not exposed to much of it before. However, for part 2 of the lectures, I think many people were grumbling that they were unable to comprehend the accent of the professor but I thought it was ok. Hence, it is subjective.
Tutorials
I forgot
Labs
As this was an introductory module, the labs were more manageable. However, I was quite lost during both labs and I will like to thank those who helped me with the lab session. It was quite confusing and if the results do not make sense, it is quite intimidating. Do make friends with the people in the lab session so that you can help one another.
Exam
The paper was surprisingly manageable for me but some people felt that it was difficult.
Lectures
It was hard to understand the first part as we were not exposed to much of it before. However, for part 2 of the lectures, I think many people were grumbling that they were unable to comprehend the accent of the professor but I thought it was ok. Hence, it is subjective.
Tutorials
I forgot
Labs
As this was an introductory module, the labs were more manageable. However, I was quite lost during both labs and I will like to thank those who helped me with the lab session. It was quite confusing and if the results do not make sense, it is quite intimidating. Do make friends with the people in the lab session so that you can help one another.
Exam
The paper was surprisingly manageable for me but some people felt that it was difficult.
Module Breakdown
Labs: 20%
Final Examination: 80%
EG1310 - Exploratory Satellite Design
Difficulty: 10/10 (Large amount of time to be spent here)
For this module, you need to be prepared to work with people that you do not know to design a balloon satellite. In order to do so, you will be taught some basics and you can use your seniors' work as reference as to how to proceed. To do a decent job, you have to put in a lot of hours outside of your module in so as to design and test your satellite. Many challenges will surface but if you put in effort and not be afraid of asking for help, you should be able to do okay.
Lectures
The lectures were mainly introductory to what is out there and a lot of things were not going to be tested so we were able to use google to know more about those. However, I am not sure about the electrical side as I did not attend their lectures.
Lab sessions
This is the time where you spend time trying to assemble your satellite together and debug. Time is short. Make full use of it and most likely you will have to put in time outside of these sessions
FLY
Watching the balloon satellite fly up high and slowly releasing it and controlling the balloon was fun as it is hard to get such opportunities outside. Even though we do not get the chance to let our satellite fly up to outer space, seeing how strong the wind was and the shaking of our satellite, it was quite scary also.
Lectures
The lectures were mainly introductory to what is out there and a lot of things were not going to be tested so we were able to use google to know more about those. However, I am not sure about the electrical side as I did not attend their lectures.
Lab sessions
This is the time where you spend time trying to assemble your satellite together and debug. Time is short. Make full use of it and most likely you will have to put in time outside of these sessions
FLY
Watching the balloon satellite fly up high and slowly releasing it and controlling the balloon was fun as it is hard to get such opportunities outside. Even though we do not get the chance to let our satellite fly up to outer space, seeing how strong the wind was and the shaking of our satellite, it was quite scary also.
Module Breakdown
I forgot, there are some assignments to do, poster, report and presentation.
ME2103 - Engineering Visualisation and Modelling
Difficulty: 5/10
This module is manageable where it teaches us some basic skills on how to read engineering drawings, modelling using Solidworks and so on. To me, the hard part is not the practical sessions where your finally computer aided design (CAD) assembly is graded. The hard part is the examination where they grade you based on the CAD model that you come up with. Given a limited amount of time and a 2D drawing with some parts, you will have to CAD those out and assemble them. I died badly for this as I was unable to visualise the 2D view and hence not being able to CAD out and assemble. In addition, the open book 50 questions online quiz with a time duration of 25 minutes killed me off. I employed the wrong strategy of checking my answers just to be sure that I was right. That kiasuness made me complete barely more than half of the questions while others just rushed through the questions, randomly selecting if they were unsure. Needless to say, I did not do very well for this module but overall I think that it is manageable.
Lectures
The lectures were quite interesting and relevant until the part where it was not tested and everyone disappeared. I did not disappear but I didn't pay much attention to it too as, I was not at that stage where I was able to use SolidWorks well enough.
Tutorial
You can prepare for the tutorial sessions at home by doing the tutorials at home first and going back to the lab and do it. Doing so will reduce your CADDING time.
Exam
50 questions 25 minutes. You can only do and not think and flip your notes for answers. You do not have time. Trust me. I flipped and I died.
Lectures
The lectures were quite interesting and relevant until the part where it was not tested and everyone disappeared. I did not disappear but I didn't pay much attention to it too as, I was not at that stage where I was able to use SolidWorks well enough.
Tutorial
You can prepare for the tutorial sessions at home by doing the tutorials at home first and going back to the lab and do it. Doing so will reduce your CADDING time.
Exam
50 questions 25 minutes. You can only do and not think and flip your notes for answers. You do not have time. Trust me. I flipped and I died.
Module Breakdown
I forgot also, I only remember the lab sessions are graded based on your CAD drawings. There is a online quiz to do in the lecture theatre with 50 questions and only 25 minutes. Lastly, the practical examination is graded based on your CAD assembly.
MA1506 - Mathematics 2
Difficulty: 8/10 (sometimes I wonder why I take engineering when my math is bad)
This module is easier than MA1505 - Mathematics 1 but it is still difficult. I forgot what was taught already and I cannot comment on it. This shows how much I have learnt and remembered.
Lecture
In year 1, I was still obediently going for most of the lectures, however I was too tired at this point and after the mid terms, I started to skip lectures and watch the webcast nearer to exams. As I was sleeping through at least half of the lectures, there was no point in going for the lectures anyway.
Tutorial
I didn't go for any as I didn't know how to do the tutorials and it was always too difficult to understand during the tutorials anyway. So I did not do and go.
Exam
I can't really remember this part but I only remember I left less blanks than MA1505 and that should the reason why my grade was higher.
Module Breakdown
Mid Term Examination: 20%
Final Examination: 80%
ES2331 - Communicating Engineering
Difficulty: 10/10
If you can speak well, this module will be easy for you as they grade you based on class participation, and etc. As the name suggest, the motive of the module is to encourage engineering students to speak up more and be confident in presenting ideas. Since, I am the stereotypical engineering student which cannot speak and write very fluently, I died for this module. The only good thing of this module is that there is no bell curve so the whole class should help each other out to all do well (I didn't know of this while doing this module). Also, you have to be well prepared for your panel discussion and presentation so that the examiners will not be able to give you a question that you cannot answer. That is what happened to me and you can guess what happened. Overall, it is a good module to force me to present to a large crowd rather than just talking to a small group of people.
Tutorial
Overall some of the things that were taught, I cannot remember but I know that due to the lack of sleep, I could not think in class and hence I did not contribute much to the class participation. However, if you can think, please do try to answer and ask questions during class to get marks. I am not sure how they grade but still try.
Panel Discussion
BE PREPARED FOR ALL THE TOPICS. I was not prepared for the topic that was given and could not answer 1 of the question. During the question and answer, I got cut off by a teammate and didn't get a chance to answer much. Also, try to speak for all the issues raised as sometimes people will speak very long and you need someone to try and reduce that time and try to cover all issues so that everyone will get higher marks.
Presentation
You are supposed to present with a engineering product or something that is technical where normal layman will not be able to present. BE PREPARED FOR THE POTENTIAL QUESTIONS. I could not answer 1 of the question posed by the examiner and I think I suffered. I was not prepared with some of the statistics and did not have the skills to smoke well. Also, a word of advice, do not make your presentation too technical as the examiners are not with engineering backgrounds and at the end of the day, they are still grading you. If they do not understand, you die. Simple as that.
Module Breakdown
Panel Discussion
Presentation
Class Participation
Reflections
I realise my module reviews are not particularly useful but I guess it helps to give you a general sense of the difficulty of the modules and go in prepared.
I will like to promote my friend's app from DanbooruWorks as the downloads are quite pathetic. The apps are:
Please do try them and if they are good, do support by using them more often!
Saturday 8 July 2017
Blog Dead For More Than A Year
Due to the hectic lifestyle of a university student, I realised that I have not blogged for more than a year and I hope maybe I can keep up with the pace and start updating soon. I believe I should be doing some module reviews but now it is more of a hindsight thing so sometimes some views might be lost. Also, with the curriculum of NUS Mechanical Engineering changing, I will just spend more time in the future talking about the modules that are still relevant in the future. Some modules might have been removed or merged for the new generation.
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