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%


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