Y2S1 | AY2015-6 | Module Review: GL2102, HY2206, HY3243, GE3241, LAK2201

Popping by to work on my Y2S1 Module Review, which is also a reflection of sorts to conclude my Y2S1 stint. I literally finished finals today at 10.20 in the AM and am already working on this right now (for the record, it's early afternoon right now, since I don't know when I'll be done with this long-ass module review post) so yay for kicking procrastination in the ass.

I'll be posting my grades (the components that I know of) so you guys can get an overall gauge.

[edit 28/2/20: I will not be entertaining any more requests for notes.]

GL2102: Global Political Economy
(Prof Ince Onur Ulas; Jasnea (tutor))

After completing all GL2000 modules, I think I can safely conclude I will never find a GL core module easy. GL2101, GL2102, GL2103 were all marathons for me—the struggle to reach the finishing line was so real. But the upside is these core modules are not content-heavy. Application is key. Thankful for a brilliant prof who knew exactly what he was doing. Lectures are conducted with prof verbally lecturing—the minimal slides only came into play after feedback in the latter half of the semester. My recommendation is to concentrate very hard because prof talks quickly and there's just so much information to take down. And you better be damn sure to take down those notes because there are no webcasts and don't even bother with the slides if you're going to skip lectures cos without prof's in-class lectures, those are pretty useless.

Jasnea conducts tutorials differently from prof and I happened to be in her tutorial class of only ten students. Jasnea conducts tutorials based on readings so if you don't do them, you can't discuss and can't ask questions. Readings can be dense with theories, examples and content—prof uploads most readings into IVLE except readings from a book by O'brien and Williams (4th edition) in the RBR. Two analytical term papers to write in a span of two weeks each.

Finals was a rush—one long essays, three short essays in two hours. This was my only final paper till date that I did not leave early. There was literally no time; I was frantically writing till the last second. (TMI: I have a habit of finishing fast and leaving exam venues early.)

Tip: I took GL2102 with GL2103 on my friend's recommendation that these two go well together but I would like to say otherwise. I recommend taking GL2101 with GL2102 because these two complement and overlap each other, especially Industrial Revolution, era of colonialism and economic development towards a modern world. GL2103 focuses on modern global governance and not of the historical past. GL2102 would complement GL2101 better as the first half of the syllabus is based on historical development of the global political economy.

Tutorial participation: 15%
Analytic term paper 1: 25% - A-
Analytic term paper 2: 25% - A-
Finals: 35%

Final grade: A-
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HY2206: China's Imperial Past: History & Culture
(Prof Wang Jinping)

HY2206 is content-heavy but I had a fun time attending lectures and studying for finals because the content was interesting—I always find cramming for content-heavy subjects way easier if I'm learning new and easy-to-digest information. It helps that prof is such a fun and hilarious lecturer. Her mannerism is very womanly but girlish at the same time. I don't know how to put this across without sounding weird so just go take her modules—it's really worth it. Prof knows her content very well so that was impressionable. Each lecture focuses first on politics of that particular time period of imperial china, and the second half with a cultural focus so there is a balance. Prof also provides lecture notes to pinpoint the essentials tested in finals so that's very nice of her too.

Content tested in the short quizzes were not tested in the finals, so that helped to cut down the amount of content to memorize. The readings are literally based off the book The Open Empire for the entire semester so either buy a copy or locate it in the RBR. There is no need to read the entire book (I certainly didn't, though I had the materials with me.) since there is just too much information floating everywhere.

Each tutorial is based on historical sources from a philosophical, literature and economic approach respectively. The term paper was based on one out of three questions (along with historical sources pertaining to the respective questions) provided by prof. I'll leave the group project presentation for the last since there is something I absolutely need to mention and I don't want to end off this section on a negative note when there's so much to be thankful for.

The only thing I didn't like about this module is the way prof grades class participation and group project presentation. Each tutorial is compulsory, which is reasonable, but in a room that was way too cramp for the number of students, we were expected to compete to speak up with prof literally recording names accordingly right in front. I don't like it because tutorials tend to become very competitive as a result and people say stuff that are irrelevant while others get intimidated by such a direct approach. The group project presentation was graded via votes from the audience and many students voted for themselves in order to secure a good grade.

Okay now that that's out of the way, let me return to the group project presentation. I initially took this module because my friend wanted me to take it with her and since it was on the GL-recognized list under my region, I went for it. The thing that bothered me was the grading system (see above) and this group project presentation. Prof loves originality and surprises, which meant the usual slides/script presentation wouldn't get us anywhere, so we went for a skit. The problem was, it's really difficult for me to let go and make a spectacle of myself. But boy was I glad this whole project happened. I'm ever so thankful to have VJ friends as my team members and also Euphemia on exchange from China. This bunch of adorables really helped me tide across when I was having a difficult time and they were so cooperative and efficient like yaaaaassss y'all are the kinds of people I wanna work with in future—you guys are precious gems. Also, the unexpected happened. For once, I let myself go and stepped into the role of a courtesan in the Qing dynasty, histrionics and waving hanky and fake-crying and bimbotic and all. Like, oh. my. god. I actually did it. Without my face turning beet red and my heart pumping at the speed of death. I didn't think about how embarrassed I would be or how ugly I'd look I just slipped into character without thinking about it. I'm so proud of myself, and so thankful for my team for making this possible. And of course, glad that my brain spared me this once from overthinking and mentally blocking me from doing what I wanted to accomplish.

Tutorial participation: 15%
Quizzes: 10% - 17/20
Term paper: 20% - B+
Group project presentation: 15%
Finals: 40%

Final grade: B-
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HY3243: China & Southeast Asia: Past & Present
(Prof Yang Bin)

One word: CHILL.

This is by far the EASIEST module I've taken. As long as you pay attention in lectures and take down relevant notes (prof doesn't upload his slides) and do a fair amount of readings on your part, you're way more than ready for finals. Seriously. I was slightly taken aback when I read the questions during finals because every question was secondary school standard. I barely needed to do much analysis—I just regurgitated the stuff I memorized.

Prof is pretty chill about, well, everything in general. And I'm not even one bit joking. He was actually surprised the first time he took attendance at the first tutorial and found out it was full attendance. And proceeded to thank us. LOL. Previous batches of students must've scarred him. Tutorials are super chill—group discussions on questions assigned for about thirty minutes > break > class discussion.

[edit 14/1/16] I'm here because I heard from my friend (history major) that the history majors usually try to avoid taking this prof's classes because he doesn't have a positive reputation. Basically if he doesn't like the way you answer he's not going to put in the effort to continue reading and you'll get a shitty grade. Fellow module mates that scored well for midterm and term papers ended up getting Cs, to my surprise. I didn't know this was a possibility since I really thought prof was very lenient and gave everyone good grades. Might be the bell curve, might be the prof. In any case, this module might not give you a sure A like I thought you would, so take caution!

I would recommend disciplined full attendance for lectures and pay attention for lord's sake because that's how you get your content. Prof is... a maniac when it comes to readings because he assigns entire books and lengthy journal entries and even historical sources on trading commodities of sino-SEA. No kidding. I didn't read all of them and there is honestly NO NEED TO DO ALL THE ASSIGNED READINGS so please don't kill your brain cells and panic and die. Just choose wisely according to the lecture topics and their contents (this is another reason why I do weekly readings after lectures). That being said, this is not a green light for your no-need-to-do-readings bullshit. I believe in hardwork as much as time needed to chill. Oh yeah, readings are not provided in IVLE—search it up on NUS Libraries. Trust me, some of the readings located in RBR are worth your time if you wanna differentiate your final's answers from the rest.

The term paper was a bit of a headache for my classmates as people were worrying left and right about the seven academic/primary sources requirements. The academic sources are not a problem but historical primary sources aren't that easy to locate and use. I mean, what if your primary source is a tablet in chinese or sanskrit inscriptions and you can't decipher? I think I got really lucky as this term paper was actually really fun for me to write. I chose to write on Mongol horses in the Yuan dynasty in the three failed military campaigns into Dai Viet (modern Vietnam). The horse is one of my favorite animal so I guess that made it enjoyable. I literally started two days before submission and managed to not only locate a few primary sources but also piece together a coherent piece.

I would also like to make a recommendation to take HY3243 with HY2206 as both are on imperial China and complement each other very well—contents are somewhat overlapping but also differs slightly on different aspects of the particular imperial rule (e.g. Qin, Han, Song, Tang, Yuan, Ming, Qing). I didn't think these two modules would go together so well until I sat through thirteen weeks of both. Helps when you don't have to memorize loads of historical facts when you've already gotten that down partially by studying one or the other.

Tutorial Participation: 20%
Mid-Term: 20% - 82/100
Term Paper: 20% - A
Finals: 40%

Final Grade: A
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GE3241: Geographies of Social Life
(Prof Tracy Skelton; Dr. K.)

Note to self: take a deep breath before you begin and repeat after me: this will not evolve into a rant, this will not evolve into a rant, this will NOT evolve into a rant.

Okay. The first thing you need to know is that GE3241 is a mess of fluff. In my words. Which I think is pretty appropriate. As I was studying for finals and then finally (no pun intended) taking the final, I realized that it might not be as bad as it sounds. The 'fluff' part is because it's pretty much general knowledge in sociology (I know, I know. This is a geography module. I KNOW. But if you took SC1101E and a few other sociology modules, you're good to go.) coated with minimal geography theories. The 'mess' part is because lecture content seems to be all over the place without connection (yet strangely you just know there is, here and there, playing hide-and-seek). The reason is that there are two broad themes to this module: Identities and Scales. Each lecture pertains to each Identity and Scale; linkages between how the spatialities evolving in and from identities/scales really boils down to how well you know your stuff to draw your own connections and interpret accordingly. Profs do explain some linkages but they do not go in-depth. And now looking back (lol I know 'looking back' sounds so dramatic considering I just finished my GE3241 final today), I believe profs wanted us to make the connection ourselves. So there's that.

Lecture pace is fast but reasonable considering the number of slides (an average of forty slides per lecture) but you'll realize there actually isn't that much content. As per Prof Skelton's and Dr. K's practice, lecture webcast will only be uploaded during Recess and Reading weeks. The profs also take us for tutorials and as per their practice, there isn't tutorial participation grade because the profs don't believe in forcing students to speak if there is nothing substantial to share. WHICH IS A SENSIBLE DECISION. Tutorials are based on weekly readings—discussion, sharing our thoughts, linking it up with lectures. Readings are reasonable and are interesting reads—most are in geographical online journals, a few in RBR. Tip: Doreen Massey's works are going to be useful even though you have to visit the RBR.

Aaaaaaaaaaand now. Finally. The term assignments. Excuse me for a moment while I remind myself not to rant and to breathe and calm down. Ready? Yeah okay. The individual term assignment is interesting to work on since it's a fieldwork journal about spatiality in a location of your choice. I wrote mine on Changi Airport and had fun hanging out in the airport all day (like literally because I was there to send family off in the morning and only left at like 8 in the PM—had to collect data by observing people—I've got to admit, it was exhausting). The irritating part is the group term assignment, which took up 35%. It was a mapping project where we had to literally create a map, and not just any map but a critical cartography (if you're not familiar, just think unconventional map with 3D designs and info on it to evoke critical thinking when someone reads your map). BOTTOM LINE: A WASTE OF TIME. I acknowledge it was partially the group dynamics (a few of us were angst-ing about small details like color and alignment which tbh didn't really fucking matter what the heck were we thinking) but most of my irritation is really because I think this is a waste of time. Aesthetics was graded and somehow we ended up giving 80% of our attention to that instead of content. We slaved over the damn map like we were pirates out at sea clinging tightly to the only valuable item onboard, that is the treasure map. I even stayed in school till three in the morning (NEVER AGAIN) and we sacrificed so many hours of sleep for this. Though I did fieldwork and interviewed students (they were our target audience), all I've learned from this mapping project is that I've rediscovered my talent for cutting and pasting stuff. No kidding, I thought I was back attending art classes in elementary school. So glad the mapping project is over because that was just pure torture and a map of ridiculousness.

To not end this portion on a negative note since I think this module still deserves a good review overall, I just want to say Dr. K's sass is awesome. I love her sass.

Individual fieldwork journal: 15% - A-
Group mapping project: 35% - B
Finals: 50%

Final grade: B-

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LAK2201: Korean 2
(Ms Cho Jin-Hee)

I'm very tempted to redirect readers to my module review for LAK1201 Korean 1 just because I cba to do a review on this one. If you read (and remember) my review on Korean 1, you'd know I'm not a language person and I don't like learning languages. But I shall try.

Due to a change in syllabus, there was a cut in difficulty and amount of content this semester. At the beginning, it was a repetition of whatever we learned in Korean 1 and the slightly more tedious stuff came later in the semester. Tutorials were also scrapped and participation was graded in lectures. I've had Ms Cho Jin-Hee for Korean 1 and was so pleased to know she's taking me for Korean 2 too. She's a fun and caring teacher and it's really funny for me because I honestly think she treats us like little kids instead of university students. Like the usual, languages are all CA and Korean 2 comprises of two written assignments, oral, midterm and finals. I'm not cut out for language and I really don't like studying for language so I expect a really shitty grade (that I deserve for being so stubborn) but if you work hard and kill off those bitches screwing with the bell curve, you'll do good.

Note that the syllabus might change again since CLS seems to be undergoing some restructuring.

Class participation: 10%
Written assignments: 15%
Oral: 15%
Midterm: 30% - 81.5/100
Final: 30%

Final grade: B
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Reminder that module syllabus and structure can change without notice. Let me know if you need any other information that I might have missed out here.

Good luck,
fee.