Tuesday, September 29, 2009
The stress of being a Chemical Engineering student can only be understood if you are one.
EXAMPLE #1: I took a Mid-term paper in a particular Chemical Engineering module yesterday, and on that night itself, comments and rants had surfaced on the forum:
Some examples:
"To put it crudely, the entire format suck! The page number system to differentiate different sets of answers is baffling at first sight. Are we tested for our ability to read the professor's mind? I know Prof. ** explained it midway through the test, but my mind was occupied by all the numbers and the confusing answering system. I couldn't figure out how it work until after I got out of the exam hall."
"And yes I think I flunk the test. I didn't have enough time for two questions so I tikam them. And I heard from a friend who heard from a friend who heard from another friend that one person tabulated the whole table and gave the average value as the answer. Yeah laugh if you want but this could have happened to anybody and it is entirely preventable. "
"......Utterly ridiculous in hindsight but exam stress f*cks with you in the worst ways possible and the format of the paper certainly did not help. The only consolation I can possibly find is that many other people and[sic] in the same screwed-up boat as us, so ironically the bell curve may come to our rescue. Or it could just make the gap even more substantial..."
"I think the test was not administered right. I thought all those values on table is a set of experimental data. And I set up silly equations based on those values and use algebra to eliminate and isolate variable. This exam did NOT reflect my ability on doing the paper at all. I was severely disappointed with the situation and frustrated that all of those tiresome algebras have given me nothing. "
And the result of all that? A possible make-up quiz.
"Apparently there will be a make-up quiz,because of this incident as well as for those 9 students who were not present on monday morning due to several reasons.Whether it is for everyone I am not sure"
I say: I must say that I agree to a certain extent on the poor organisation of the paper. Perhaps I'm lucky to be seated in front and could thus hear some important instructions. But still, the HIGHLY COMPETITIVE nature of Chem Eng students can be seen easily from this paper that accounts no more than 10% of the grade.
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EXAMPLE #2: In the same module as above, there's a component that accounts for another 10% of the grade, and that comes in the form of 'Surprise Quizzes' during tutorials.
As you would have guessed, it's complaints galore on that too.
Why? Reason: Some people have their tutorial slot on an earlier day of the week, compared to others, and that's where 'Unfairness' comes in. Like, doing the quiz on Monday VS doing the quiz on Friday.
That's really not the main problem, because, given the HIGHLY COMPETITIVE nature of Chem Eng students, perhaps not many are willing to share the questions with their peers. But of course, I may not be totally right here, as there are exceptions. =)
The main complaint was that, because there are 2 different tutors, so they gave a different period of time for students to answer the Surprise quiz question. Like say, 30 minutes for one tutor VS 40 minutes for another. And so it's the same old 'Unfairness' issue.
And the result of all that? The first Surprise Quiz was VOID. VOID, VOID!!
I say: Each Surprise Quiz carries just 5% of the grade. Ok, to the HIGHLY COMPETITIVE nature of Chem Eng students, 5% is enough to differentiate an A and a A-. I'm sure those who complained probably just didnt get to write the last few lines of the answers, which probably wouldn't worth a percentage or 2. Does it really matter?
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EXAMPLE #3: In another Chemical Engineering Module I'm taking this semester, there's a 10% component that comes in the form of a presentation. I wouldn't name it a presentation actually, cos it's merely explaining one tutorial question to the rest of the class.
And then the rest of the class can give online comments on that presentation, in the form of a survey online.
Here's a feedback from a very concerned student: "It is unfair to ask the students to grade each other when we are essentially in competition with each other to get the higher grade. It may be unfair to grade everyone on a equal platform because the difficulty of the tutorial questions differ every week. "
I say: The lecturer didn't explicitly mention that the online feedback by students on students would lead to the determination of that 10%, so what's the worry? Even if it does count towards the grade, does that show that the commenter would grade the peers lowly, since "we are essentially in competition with each other"?
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EXAMPLE #4: In another core module, there are lab experiments to be carried out. According to my ex-classmate, MH, who's a Teaching Assistant(TA) at one of the labs, the stark contrast between us and other Science students taking the same module, is the 'Kiasuism' displayed.
A typical Science student will carry out the experiment, collect results, and submit the lab report.
A typical Chemical Engineering student, (or sometimes any Engineering student), will carry out the experiment, collect results, ask TA if it is correct, ask TA whether the report will be marked-down if the results are not-so-correct, then manipulate the results to make it 'more correct' and be more in line with the majority, and submit the lab report, which usually contains more pages than necessary.
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EXAMPLE #5: In yet another Core Module I'm taking this semester, there's a 15% MCQ Assignment.
The typical Chemical Engineering student will attempt the questions as soon as the assignment is released, then double-check with another, then triple-check with another, then quadruple-check with another, then multiple-check with many others. And although the assignment was done looooong before the deadline, the Chemical Engineering student will wait until the last day before they submit it, in case some very Smart ones suddenly realise that certain questions are ambiguous and so answers ought to be changed/reconsidered.
This in fact happened, and guess what, private emails were sent by some to the professor/lecturer about the ambiguity. The result: both answers were accepted, and virtually everyone in the cohort got full marks for that assignment.
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I'm just here to shed some light on how competitive this course is.
-Unfair competition? Complain about it.
-Think you didn't do too well for an assignment/test? Complain about it, and have it void.
And that's why assignments/Mid-term tests/presentations/lab experiments/quizzes etc, don't really matter, since everyone will get about the same marks.
So that's why the final examinations at the end of the semester matter so much. That's because there's no chance for anyone to complain about them by the time the results are released. Hence the final exams are essentially what differentiate the grades under the HIGHLY COMPETITIVE and arguable 'Bell curve' system that NUS adopts...
人生是黑白的.
3:50 PM <3
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