LSM Major AY17/18 Sem 2

HEYLOH FELLOW PEOPLE WHO ARE INTERESTED IN READING THIS MODULE REVIEW PAGE. IT IS CURRENTLY WEEK13 AND I HAVE A CA2 PAPER TOMORROW BUT AS USUAL, PROCRASTINATION STRIKES AGAIN AND HERE I AM. It's now study week (see i had some self-control)

THIS SEMESTER IS SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT, BECAUSE I HAPPILY RUSHED TO CLEAR ALL MY MODULES, I AM CURRENTLY LEFT WITH VERY FEW MODULES, ALLOWING ME TO ONLY TAKE 3 THIS SEMESTER CONCURRENTLY WITH MY FYP. BUT HECK, THESE MODULES WERE THE MOST EXPENSIVE ONES IN MY ENTIRE UNI LIFE, SO THANK GOODNESS I SAVED ENOUGH POINTS TO GET THEM.

YEAR 3 SEM 2
Modules : LSM4229 (1854 points, this is NOT a typo), LSM4214 (960 points, neither is this) & LAK1201 (500 points, this was actually cheap if you compared it to the bidding stats for non-protected bidders)

LSM4229 THERAPEUTIC AND DIAGNOSTIC AGENTS FROM ANIMAL TOXINS

to be very very honest, I HATED THIS MODULE. 1. the lectures were very boring. 2. hence they were hard to follow. 3. i didn't know what was expected for all the assignments. 4. i didn't know how to prepare for the exams (CA1 and CA2). 5. classes are at 8am TWICE A WEEK. 6. the prof is a bit anal when it comes to punctuality and noise level in class. 7. there's no webcast. Anyways, i think more reviews for this mod is needed for people who happen to be suffering from it in the future.

despite all the negativity, this module is really quite slack (which is good for Year 4 students who are doing their FYP concurrently). You will learn about ANIMAL toxins (snakes, scorpions, ticks etc) structure and role in diagnostic and therapeutics (... exactly what the module title claims). THE LECTURER IS REALLY BORING, PLEASE RECORD THE LECTURES IF YOU THINK YOU WILL FALL ASLEEP, otherwise, it'll be difficult to understand what's going on even if you read the notes - 50% pictures. You have to do 2 term papers (500 and 1.5k words) and a presentation (7mins) on a given topic (different for all 3 assignments) but you have the freedom of selecting any toxin you want as long as it fits the topic, so this was not difficult. Plus, you know your topics for all your assignment in week1, giving you all the time in the world to start early. The key is really to start early and read up about the toxins because they come on a first-come-first-serve basis, so if someone else chose the toxin you wanted to talk about and you're both doing on the same topic, chances are you will not be given that toxin (you're suppose to submit your toxin on a google survey which will be updated real-time displaying who submitting what toxin and what their topic is). For the assignments, i don't think it is hard to score well. The lecturer actually returned our first term paper to us and a lot of us did really well (9-10 /10) but there were no comments so we didn't know what about our paper was good. NEVERTHELESS, WE JUST ACCEPTED THE GOOD RESULTS LOL. He did mention that as long as you focus on a key point and go in-depth, he would appreciate it. Also, it has to flow logically and of course the content has to be accurate (since most of us have no idea what we're writing about, high chance for errors if we trust the wrong sources). For the presentation, he said he wants to see people PRESENTING and not reciting, so scripts were "banned" and he does grade you on your presentation style (confidence, eye contact, attire etc.), also, there is a penalty if you don't keep to time, so keep rehearsing for your presentation. QnA holds marks too, so its good to have friends around to give you questions to ask. FOR THE CA HORROR STORY. ok he (the only teaching staff in this mod) has a lot of pictures in his lecture slides and i didn't know what i was studying / learning (but it seemed like i was the only one). So how to be smart? the prof mentioned that he doesn't expect us to know EVERYTHING like experts so his questions open a lot of options (he will probably ask something like: describe the action of a toxin on ion channels; something broad) and you just need to prepare yourself to give 10mark answers; IMO study 2 toxins that you can write loads about (10mark worthy), then study the concepts like the protein chemistry topic and diagnostic topic. If you have time, it's best to study everything (cause i don't think the content is heavy) but if you're a lost sheep like me then just spot questions. since CA1 only has 2 qns and CA2 4 qns. ALL THE BEST.  Oh, all the presentations are examinable but fret not, just study 1 toxin from each topic and you should be safe. 

HOW TO DO WELL:
1. Prepare assignments early 
2. Spot questions for CA1 & 2 
3. Ask a lot of questions during the presentation sessions (attendance taken)
4. Record the lectures (audio is sufficient - but boring)

Workload: 1.5/5 
Expected Grade: A- or B+ (idk, this mod seemed ok but the bell curve may wreck me)
Overall Grade: B+ (sian i was really hoping for an A- at least)

LSM4214 CANCER PHARMACOLOGY

I do recommend this module because the content is interesting and it's quite a non-existent module during the semester despite being twice a week. I guess cause lectures and tutorials are done by week10 of the semester and they do take breaks in-between too. The tutorial sessions are simply student presentation sessions where you just need to ask a question each week (attendance taken). The presentation is a pair work assignment and you cannot choose your partner or topic. It should last around 15mins but the content is not that difficult because they are somewhat covered in lecture. The QnA is what you really need to prepare for cause the lecturers will just ask you whatever (depending on who takes your tutorial class). The lecturers for this modules are quite good (clear teaching / entertaining) other than the one towards the end (he spoke too quickly and he was slightly boring but he wasn't too bad). You will learn about the different treatment approaches for cancer (e.g. chemo, mAbs, a bit on genetics, signalling pathways - module content) CA1 was manageable (5 short qns + 1 long qns) but i only started the night before and couldn't remember much so i died. (25/35 landed me a spot in the bottom 25%, sian). There's negative marking in the finals but only for the MCQ part which is really just a True / False section (like LSM3211) and the negative marks don't carry forward so they stay at 0 within the question YAY. Finals have 10"MCQ" qns + 4 structured qns. (1 MCQ = 4 T/F qns)
-CURRENTLY STUDYING FOR FINALS-
OH YEAH IM DONE WITH THE SEMESTER HAHAHAHA THE PAPER WAS DO-ABLE IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH BRAIN SPACE TO PUT EVERYTHING IN. anyway, they collected the MCQ after the 1st hour so they will make sure you do that first. you can leave the T/F blank if you're not sure of the answer since its only 0.25 marks each and there's negative marking sian. i didn't really know how to do some of the questions and some successfully tricked me but whatever, the bulk of the marks come from the structured qns (10 marks each) and i managed to do all of them because they came out as promised by the lecturers. SEE!! THEY DON'T LIE, SO BE SUPER ATTENTIVE IN CLASS TO CATCH THE HINTS. (they will cover excess information but the structured is going to come from one of those starred parts). Anyway, hoping for the best cause this paper was really a miracle. The fact that i could even attempt the questions was a miracle since i died studying for it.

HOW TO DO WELL:
1. FOLLOW THE CLUES DROPPED DURING THE LECTURES (they don't lie)
2. Start early cause its quite content heavy
3. Spot the structured qns to really give yourself more brain space for important information
4. Record the lectures (audio is sufficient) if you must since there's no webcast and they can be a little fast

Workload: 1/5 (only cause of the presentation)
Expected Grade: A- (bell curve T.T please...)
Overall Grade: B+ (sian i was really hoping for an A- , WHY BELL CURVE WHYYY?)

LAK1201 KOREAN 1

안녕하세요!!! 한국어가 재미있었어요! Yes, this module was fun for me cause i love korean music (not just kpop, but k-indie and k-rap, idk its just pleasing to the ears since the words rhyme well). Well, i can't say i started from ground zero, but other than knowing how to read certain characters and recognising some phrases (from songs and dramas), i didnt know anything else. Besides, everyone was supposed to be able to read all the characters by the first tutorial because it was the content covered in e-lecture 1. So the way the module is taught is that there will an e-lecture every week which you are supposed to view, understand and memorise the vocab / grammar before coming to the physical classes held twice weekly. So its like receiving lesson thrice a week. rather intense and fast paced but we're at the basic level so it's manageable as long as you practice. There's a textbook and workbook so you have to do homework weekly (it's like going back to primary school chinese / mother tongue). Other than paying 40$ for the books, competing against the steep bell curve (all them cheating Korean pros that don't declare) and paying a lot of bid points, i would recommend this module. (ok im bias). The thing is, i feel that if you want to take a language mod, other than Bahasa, Korean would be the next easiest (i mean the words are just circles, squares and lines unlike Arabic, and there are few characters unlike Japanese. Although its a language class that's fast paced and intense, its not that time consuming if you're a fast learner. 
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN: basic korean vocabulary and grammar, knowing how to convert a root word into informal polite, past tense, question, respectful formal and "negative" form(?) like "i ate" and "i didn't eat" it's hard to explain. and then there's 2 different numbering system used for different things. like the numbers for counting people is different from counting money.
% BREAKDOWN: 60% for written CA1 + CA2 - not hard to score but the bell curve is terrible), 15% for oral (voice recording of a given script + a mini skit presented during tutorial with a partner), 15% for homework and assignments (3 homework that you just need to submit, 2 written assignments that are graded by quality, one of which is the script for the skit), lastly, 10% for class participation (doing e-lectures, coming to class on time, actively participating and showing interest). FUNNY STORY (ok it's not funny), but i just rested on the table for like 10seconds and the teacher came to me and told me not to do that and that she will have to deduct my participation marks... (ok..... sure..... we were doing a practice activity which my partner and I had already finished #smh). for the CA format, there will be a mini "quiz" section as part of the review lesson in week 6 and week12 before the CAs which will give you an idea on what the actual paper will be like - but the actual CA will have way more qns and an intense listening session #GODSPEED) Note that you have to register yourself for the CAs so make sure to do that since there's limited vacancy per time slot. 

HOW TO DO WELL:
1. Memorise your vocab (make a list since they will be all over the place by the end of the semester)
2. Know your grammar well************
3. Reduce spelling errors i.e. 아 VS 어, 우 VS 오, ㅈ VS ㅊ

Workload: 2/5 (homework, revision, skit)
Expected Grade: A or A- 
Overall Grade: B+ (OK ITS OFFICIAL, THIS SEM IS REALLY NOT MY SEM EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SUPER SLACK...)

FYP UPDATES
~.~.~.~.~.~.~ still manageable but awkward since this lab has so many people but you hardly interact properly with any of them so there's like 100000 awkward encounters in a day ~.~.~.~.~.~.~ i feel like im once again losted because i haven't done much reading on my project and the direction that im heading towards for the project is still only in my mentor's head (so no one else knows where we're going)