The year is 2020

Greetings

It's been a good 4 years since my last post. Yet to-date people are still commenting and asking me questions. I'm sorry if I havn't responded to any in a while... But hey if you've enjoyed this blog, drop me a comment or ask me a question. I'd be happy to chat.

Just an update, if you will. I've been working in corporate banking after graduation (still am, as of writing). Work is.. a totally different ball game from studying, but rewarding in a different sense.

What about you?

R3

GEK1900/GEH1049 Public Health in Action Module Review

Hello!

I heard a lot of good things about this module and I had one Breadth module left to take so I decided to go with this.

Firstly, beware if you’re from the AY14/15 batch or earlier where the new GE system doesn’t apply for you. They don’t offer it under GEK1900 anymore!!! I had to appeal to get it. I was so upset because it’s like hello, we still exist. But I guess it’s fine because we will soon graduate and be gone from this school forever and you who are reading this are probably from the later batch.

Module Content

It’s a 3 hour seminar slot every week and I had the Monday 9am one……… amazingly I survived haha. It’s 1 hour lecture, break for group work, then come back to the lecture hall again. Every week, there would be a new lecturer to speak about a different topic in public health. That kept things interesting so we’d get like a broad overview of different issues. I thought that was quite nice. I do find public health interesting in and of itself and so I enjoyed the lectures. Some were really interesting like work and health, HIV; others were less interesting like global health architecture (say what?) or antibiotic resistance (come again?).

Grading

1.       Every week there’ll be a quiz at the first 5-10 mins of lecture (which means you cannot be late. But Monday 9am D: ) they will test on the readings which you are supposed to read beforehand. You’re supposed to SMS the answers to the given number. So… as the weeks went by, the lecture hall got more and more empty and everyone just asked their friends for the answers so they can SMS in the comfort of their homes lol.

2.       Group work every week. You were supposed to submit by the end of 45 mins each week, so nothing too heavy was expected. Not so in depth. Realistically, how good a piece can you write in 45 mins? Anyway, the groups were formed by the lecturers at the start so you should pray hard that you get year 2s and above in your group who know how to cite references properly because they’re quite particular about it.

3.       2 individual assignments, one due about week 5 and one at the end of the sem. No finals!!!

Reflections

I enjoyed listening to the lectures. As the weeks went by, you can see less and less people typing away on their laptops to take notes and more and more people sleeping in lecture lol! But honestly you don’t have to take notes because there’s no finals! And the individual assignments don’t really have much to do with the lectures. So just enjoy the learning process! You are here to learn, right? I don’t really get why people come into lecture to sleep/talk to their friends – but I guess there are always 2 kinds of people and this is a story for another day. 

See you soon,

L

PL4229 Psychological Therapies Module Review

Hello!

I was really looking forward to this module by Dr Sharon Lu, and I wasn’t disappointed. I took this in AY16/17 Sem 1. Previously, I had taken PL3257 introduction to clinical psychology under her, so I know her style of teaching.

Let me start off by saying, if you intend to pursue clinical psychology, this is definitely the module to take. She tries to put in more hands-on components like role plays, and allows you to really see what’s it like to do therapy. I guess if you don’t intend to pursue, you can still take! If you’re interested.

Module Content

The focus of the module is on CBT (no prizes for guessing). But she introduced other therapies which I found interesting and appealing as well – narrative therapy, emotion-focused, psychoanalytic and family systems. What was most helpful was learning the therapeutic techniques so you actually get to see how to carry out the session. Other topics included case formulation.

Grading Components

1.       Individual assignment (2000 words) – apply CBT to yourself for a (minor) problem/issue eg wanting to wake earlier.

2.       Group presentation – this is not the usual presentation, but a role play where Dr Lu is the client and your group is the therapist. There’ll be a set of criteria she wants you to cover, just follow. You’ll also need to prepare materials like a handout, homework etc.

3.       Final exam – there were no compulsory readings, i.e. not tested on the readings. the last few seminars were the group presentations, so not tested. She also didn’t test psychoanalytic and family systems therapy. There was one seminar that there were no lecture notes, so that wasn’t tested. So you’re probably reading this and thinking, what is tested? AND THAT’S THE QUESTION I ASKED MYSELF TOO. There were 6 or less lectures tested for the final exam lol. IS THIS THE REAL LIFE. Best module ever? I THINK SO.

Reflections

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Dr Lu is quite experienced and told us many stories of her own clients. Other than that, the module was really very chill. I guess cos she believes in letting us pursue this out of our own interest, rather than say forcing us to read the readings and becoming all stressed. Good for us I guess haha.

Signing off,

L 

Turn of the tides

Greetings,

As some of you might have realised, the main author of this site has since graduated from NUS. He remains (relatively) active on the site and critically examines the posts of newer writers.

He also enjoys writing in the third person.

But really, there is one announcement that I would like to make.

Check out my new blog that documents life after uni here:
www.iamafreshgrad.wordpress.com

As much as I hope that this (current) blog has served you well, I hope that this (new) blog will serve as a guide for all you fresh grads and about-to-graduates just as well.

Cheers and peace out
Rift Raft Rob

PL4880F Addictive Behaviours Module Review

Hello!

I did PL4880F Addictive Behaviours in the sem that just passed (AY16/17 Sem 1), under Prof Catherine Tang.

I’ll be honest. This wasn’t my first choice of module to read. Especially since there are many more interesting psych modules to take and so few that I can take (because I’m doing honours thesis as well). The only reason why I took this was because I had no points in my P account lol and this was only 100+ points. I guess I didn’t have much expectations of it… Anyway, here goes a module review:

Module Content

The first six seminars (before recess week) consisted of learning theories about addictive behaviours – psychoanalytic, family models, cognitive, behavioural, sociocultural etc. This was quite interesting (although as you can guess, somewhat repetitive – eg. going through cognitive behavioural concepts that you have learnt since PL1101E all over again).

The second half of the module consisted of learning individual addictive behaviours – sex addiction, exercise addiction, internet addiction etc. These addictions are precisely those that have yet to be classified under DSM, thus the module will focus on the question of whether such behaviours should be formally diagnosed.

Grading

Project work weighed quite heavily for this module. There were 6 groups, each taking charge of an addiction. The group component included:

1.       Video preparation (10%) – find a 25 min video on the addiction, not create one yourselves) and discussion questions, to be presented on the seminar in which the topic is taught

2.       Group presentation of a specific topic within your addiction (25%), to be presented on the last seminar – guidelines were to be creative and engaging

3.       Critical literature review paper of that specific topic (20%) (25-30 pages) – YES 30 YOU DIDN’T READ THAT WRONGLY. At first I thought this was CRAZY but it turned out we hit the word count pretty easily – it wasn’t that bad when you have a group to write it together

For (2) and (3), you weren’t supposed to present a topic that was a mere summary of the critical literature review paper. The tricky part was choosing a topic within your addiction that was specific enough, but not too specific such that you can’t find papers on it. In the first place there may not be many papers on the topic because the addiction hasn’t even been formally diagnosed yet.

The other grading components were:

4.       Attendance (10%)

5.       Final exam (35%) – closed book, 3 essay questions with different parts. She’ll ask you to write about an addiction that is not your group topic. Honestly, you just need to study the first half of the module (theory part) and look through past year papers because she repeats questions.

Reflections

Prof Tang likes to tell stories. It was quite funny listening to all her stories and personal experiences of these addictive behaviours.

The thing I didn’t like about this module was that she didn’t give any feedback about the grading components. Okay, she did give feedback about the group presentation but these were so generic? Like “very interesting”. So we literally went into the exam hall not knowing anything about where our grades stood. Final exam was not too bad.

I guess overall this module was not too bad. Oh. I got an A in the end. Really wasn’t expecting it because as I said we all had no clue. I guess the best tip would be, don’t screw up at the final exam J

Cheers!

L

Commencement Ceremony

Greetings!

My commencement was sometime last month (July '16). It was a rather joyous occasion where I got to celebrate the completion of 4 years of education with my peers. Imagine my surprise when I got a special ticket for the occasion. My A+ in risk and insurance (back in year 3 sem 1), which garnered me a ntuc income prize that same year was again reflected in the graduation ceremony. My family got VIP tickets as a result and I got mentioned as a prize winner lol. Good old second upper got bumped up the ceremony thanks to this award.

FYI, VIP tickets essentially mean you get to sit at the front section of the stall seats right in front of the stage. 

While the ceremony itself can feel draggy, it is worth noting that all the graduates sitting alongside you have also persevered hard and are deserving at least your respect. There is a certain air around that can be felt. Partly one of excitement, one of nostalgia. For most of these people you may not have seen them frequently over the course of the 4 years because of scheduling. The best part of the whole occasion was probably after the ceremony itself when everyone was spamming pictures haha! 

What's next then?

If you are reading this blog and have graduated and aren't doing much now, cheer up! If you are trying to find a job but haven't found one, keep going! 

If you have yet to graduate... Now then perhaps I might impart some knowledge (in the form of experience) to you.

• Don't wait till after you graduate to decide what you want to do or where you want to go.. To be honest I don't have an inkling where I'll be in 5 years. But I know what I want to expose myself to. 

• If you are year 3, that is the prime to research. Find out when all the deadlines for application for full time jobs are (assuming that's where you want to be). Banks (for example) have their deadlines in December for the July/August intake the next year. Don't be caught because you missed the deadlines. Monitor Biz Career services email blast for opportunities. Their service is really incredible. I don't believe our other friendly unis have such an email service. To be frank, applying through their portal isn't ideal. BUT it does open your eyes to the types of jobs available in the market. If you don't intend to go into banking, there are really many options around. Read up, ask around, attend career talks and fairs. Grab as many free pens as you can. Just kidding. It gets very tiring balancing 1) applications, 2) career fairs, 3) school work. I choinged like mad during y4s1, though nothing much came out of it. Still, keep your goal in mind!
• Even if at the end of the day, you can't get into that prestigious investment banking job you really wanted (pui just kidding. Who wants to slog 100 hour weeks anyway.) Be flexible. If you have multiple offers of jobs, good on you! I would say choose one that gives you the most exposure and future growth opportunities. If you do not have a gazillion offers (like me), don't give up. Explore different options - say for example start-ups. You get thrown into do everything (quite literally), low job security, but the amount of learning you get is enormous. On this topic of start-ups. If you really are interested in it, I suggest checking out whatever stuff NUS has on it beforehand. I only recently found out NUS has some "facebook-style" office cum innovation lab thingy in the building at the carpark opposite kent ridge hall. It's very hip sia. I only knew about it 2 months before graduating. What a waste. 

That's all the stuff that comes to mind. If you have other questions, feel free to post below. I might dedicate a blog post if there are ones that are interesting to write about.

Have a great week ahead!

RRR

 

Readership

Greetings!

I happened to check out the stats for this blog and I am proud to say that for the month of July, this blog has garnered over 700 views. I sincerely hope that those 700 of you who browsed through this humble blog have gleaned some insights along the way.

It's quite a cyclical thing, really. I am excited to see what July 2017 will bring (haha).

Cheers!
RRR