YEAR 1 SEM 1
(AY 20/21 Aug – Dec 2020)
Courses Taken:
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CZ1103: Introduction to Computational Thinking & Programming
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CZ1113: Physics for Computing
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ET0001: Entreprise & Innovation
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GC0001: Sustanability: Seeing Through the Haze
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HY0001: Ethics & Moral Reasoning
CZ1103: Introduction to Computational Thinking & Programming
Lecturer: Dr Li Fang, Dr Lin Shang Wei, Dr Nicholas Vun, Assoc Prof Hui Siu Cheung
Assessment & Grading:
Computational thinking and Python Programming (50%)
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Weekly LAMS Knowledge Check Questions (10%): 2,037.5/2,100.0
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Practical Hands-on Exercises Completion (5%): Completed
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Lecture content online MCQ Quiz (25%)
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Practical Hands-on Exercise MCQ Quiz (25%)
C programming (50%)
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2 * Assignment Question via APAS (25%): 200.0/200.0
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Lab Test (25%)
It is a quite manageable module to make students familiar with Python 3 and C language. The lab content for the first part - Python on Raspberry Pi is very interesting.
For tutorial we got Dr Li Fang! I like Dr Li a lot!! She is a very gentle person and her tutorials indulged in comprehensive discussion of tutorial questions and helped me have a deeper level of understanding on the concepts.
Since I have some programming experience before, it is relatively easy for me to understand all the content being taught and finish all exercises and tests without difficulties. It is worth mentioned some questions from LAMS or MCQ Quiz were tricky thus needed more carefulness.
CZ1105: Digital Logic
Lecturer: Assoc Prof Chan Syin, Assoc Prof Douglas Leslie Maskell
Assessment & Grading:
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Graded Online Tasks (10%): 1200.0/1200.0
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Closed-book Test 1 (25%): R5
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Graded Lab Quizzes (25%): 34/40
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Graded Lab Practical Assessments (15%): Completed
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Closed-book Test 2 (25%)
First of all, both of Prof Chan and Prof Douglas are great tutors and the pace of teaching is appropriate and manageable. This first half taught truth tables, logic gates etc and the second half taught how to implement these logics in a hardware description language – Verilog. I found this was an interesting module although it might be the hardest course I took in this semester.
Because of COVID-19, the assessment criteria changed a lot. The lab quizzes are 10 minutes each, testing on topics that were taught around one or two weeks ago. These online quizzes worried me a lot. Every time I submitted confidently but I did not get full scores and I did not know where I was wrong. This feeling was really frustrating. Not only should you think fast, but also read the instructions carefully!
In conclusion, if you learn pre-recorded lectures each week carefully, try all tutorial questions and make sure you understand each knowledge point, this course is easy actually. I did not spend a lot of time studying this course, nearly not attending tutorials, and seldom watching online lectures, but the overall grades still seems very reasonably, or rather, very logical.
MH1812: Discrete Mathematics
Lecturer: Assoc Prof Li Yi
Assessment & Grading:
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CA 1 (25%): 100/100
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CA 2 (25%): 95/100
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Final Exam (50%)
Mathematics, my favourite as always. Discrete Mathematics contains integers, logical statements, relations, graphs and so on – things we use a lot in programming. Weekly LAMS lessons took up very little time compared with other courses. It is worth noting that the course got harder after recess week for topics Relations and Functions. Also, the online lecture is really worth taking. It helped me have a broader and deeper understanding of concepts.
Overall, the content is informative and moderately difficult. However, the difficulty level of exam is extremely simple except for the final exam this term.
I was negligent and the difficulty level went far beyond my imagination. I was in a complete state of shock during the first hour of final exam. “How could MH1812 be so difficult?!” It seemed that each question was more difficult than the most difficult one in past year paper. I calmed down and made adjustment on time. Thank Goodness, finally I worked out all the questions. It was like riding a roller coaster and fortunately I landed safely.
Take any course and exam seriously, you will never know what’s in store for you during the exam!
MH1810: Mathematics I
Lecturer: Dr Tang Wee Kee
Assessment & Grading:
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6 * Online Assignments (16%): 107.0/108.0
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3 * Online Quizzes (24%): 530.0/560.0
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Take Home Test (10%): 10.0/10.0
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Final Exam (50%)
No doubt the easiest module in this semester since nearly all content is covered by Calculus I (MH1100) and Calculus II (MH1101), which I have taken during the bridging course. In detail, it consists Complex Numbers, Vectors, Matrices, Limits, Differentiation, and Integration. Moreover, it only requires students to grasp the application of those concepts and theorems. Since there is no need of proof, easy peasy!
MH1200: Linear Algebra I
Lecturer: Assoc Prof Andrew James Kricker
Assessment & Grading:
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Mid-semester Exam 1 (30%): 29.5/30.0
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Mid-semester Exam 2 (20%): 17.0/20.0
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Final Exam (50%):
The first 7 weeks of the course is quite easy, however, once recess week has ended, you see the topic ‘Bases, dimensions, ranks…’, it increases in difficulty. Even though the concept can be difficult, unfortunately this is a course which most people would skip the lectures. It must be admitted that teaching pace was very slow. I never attended the weekly live problem class and as for the recorded videos, it is better to watch at a speed of 1.5x or 2.0x. All that matters is doing notes for each topic in time. I could have done better if I finished weekly solution set seriously.
Prof Andrew, he focused more the understanding of definitions and theorems instead of doing lots of complex calculations, which was reflected in the exam papers. Thus, it is necessary to know how to prove those theorems behind topics fully.
Generally speaking, these three exams were moderately difficult. I drew some lessons from Midterm #2 - one must be very careful in answering easy questions. The basic calculation problem must be worked out perfectly while it is easier to get full marks for some hard proof problems if you write processes logical and clear. Detailly, I copied a wrong matrix at every beginning, then all the whole process of elementary operation went wrong. Also, mind the sign when calculating inverse via adjacent matrix. In terms of final exams, there were some proof problems of basic concepts in the final exam as expected. The type of questions is a little bit strange, but I did them with ease. LOL
HW0188: Effective Communication
Lecturer: Miss Pang Su Woon
Assessment & Grading:
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Assignment 1: Short Proposal (25%):
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Assignment 2: Short Evaluation Report (30%):
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Assignment 3: Oral Presentation on Proposal (30%)
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Class Participation (15%):
I always viewed this English model to pull my GPA down, so I put much effort for this course – attending tutorial seriously and interacting with tutor actively. Despite this module worried me a lot, it has certainly given me an insight into academic writing and what it is like to be working in a formal setting which most of us will do in the future.
Online Courses
GC0001: Sustainability: See Through the Haze
HY0001: Ethics & Moral Reasoning
ET0001: Enterprise & Innovation
MOOC1: Foundations of Policies
Professor Shapiro’s lecture is engaging and enjoyable. His explanation of concepts was excellent. Overall, it was a truly enlightening course, with very interesting analogies to simplify theoretical concepts. Nice course is worth the time I spent on it.
