Three Days to Freedom

Finally, I survived this week – or more appropriately, four consecutive days with a grand total of five papers. I am done with having to cope with morning examinations after late-at-night papers the previous nights, plus having to have three-or-four-hour sleeping session. Done with two-papers-at-the-same-day consecutively sandwiched between two other exams. I still have COM204 this Monday, but I know already that I am going to do somehow well with the theoretical questions and not so well for the newswriting based on press release.

Time to put some thoughts on how well I might do this semester.

Surprisingly, all the questions being asked are relatively easy compared to past year papers. Not that I am confident I am going to ace them, since there is normal distribution of Bell’s curve. But overall, they do not seem as bad as I thought they would be.

COM202 INFORMATION LITERACY AND INTERPRETATION

50% – Final examination
This course is so unpredictable and we never knew what they are really looking for. I think I explained my rationale well, although there are a few questions that I think I have not answered sufficient enough. I would say that I did relatively good, but whoever marks my paper might have other opinion.

20% – In-class quiz
This is why I said it is so unpredictable. I am terribly pissed with the result that I am getting. For all I know, I gave more points than he put on the solution slide. In one particular question, I got very low and the “explain how you are going to use the thesaurus” part is underlined. So I checked on the solution slide to see what I missed. And it is ”click on the explode button”. Seriously? I did mention to cover all the narrower terms under those particular terms, but to lose so many marks just because I did not mention them in a so damn explicit and obvious and literal way? What the hell! I never took the replacement quiz because I thought I would do okay for the first quiz, so I only have a big fat 60 now. I heard that the papers were actually marked by two different graders – one that give out 90-something and another one that give out 60-something - and that it will be readjusted for our final grade. But still, this damn thing turned me off.

20% – Group project
We (Maziah, Avril, me) did sufficiently for the wiki, but I think that we never really made it a “wow” page. And after I skim through some of the other groups’ pages, I am getting even more unsure about how well everyone is going to score. What a competitive class!

10% – Participation in the online discussion board in edveNTUre
Guess I am ahead of most people for this one - 24 out of 30 so far. The second-to-last forum has not been graded yet, so I might earn 24-27 out of 33 in total. In terms of quality, that is. As for quantity, as the instructor said that they are separately graded, I think I posted sufficiently.

COM204 BASIC MEDIA WRITING

60% – Writing assignments
B+ for newswriting, A- for broadcast script, A- for the whole advertising and PR thingy. I am not sure how other people are doing in this course, but I figure that my marks are good enough. Credit to Kevin for our teamwork on the third assignment.

30% – Final examination
To be executed this Monday. But as what I said before, I will probably do pretty well for theoretical questions and not well enough for the newswriting. I am not an efficient writer, plus I have bad handwriting.

10% – Class participation, attendance, and tutorial work
Never skipped any tutorials, although I was unable to attend one tutorial because I went to Jakarta. Told Jimmy already, but not sure if he has noted that down. Class participation not so bad, so is tutorial work. Contrary to what I would convince myself to believe, I am actually doing better at COM204 than COM205. Weird.

COM206 VISUAL LITERACY AND COMMUNICATION

30% – Final examination
Did pretty good, but so are everyone. As far as the Bell’s curve is concerned, I have no idea. But at least I did not screw up much to cost me anywhere below B.

28% – 1-minute video project and essay
B+ for the video (worth 21%) and A for the essay (worth 7%). And a not-so-warm reception for the video from coursemates during the screening date. Did it together with Jing Ting, Kai Jie, and Supei.

21% – Classroom participation
Includes 7% each for quizzes, attendance, and discussions. Never skipped any classes, aside from one-time late to the class for the third quiz. But the lecturer never took attendance for that one, anyway.

14% – Still images and presentation
Pretty satisfactory, for I get A-, A, A. Not sure which one is what, but the criteria are aesthetics, creativity, and clarity.

7% – Photomontage and presentation
Thought I would surpass most people, but my being too ambitious misfired and brought me a mediocre set of B+, B, B. Same criteria as above.

COM208 FUNDAMENTALS OF RESEARCH

50% – Final examination
Not so bad, not so good. It was okay.

24% - Homework assignments and exercises
Absolute mediocrity. Triple B+ for journal assessment, interview, and survey. The result for fourth assignment, experiment, is not out yet. Hope it is higher than B+.

7% – Quizzes
Got A- for the first quiz and B+ for the second quiz. As for the third quiz, the result is not out also.

5% - Tutorial assignments and active participation
Overall, I guess it is okay.

HE191 PRINCIPLES OF ECONOMICS

60% – Final examination
Did pretty well, but not sure if I get some of the answers right.

30% – Quiz
Made only one mistake for the multiple choice, out of 20 or 30 – I have forgotten.

10% – Class participation
The tutorial presentation is good enough, I believe. Never skipped any classes, but I fell asleep several times and I hope that the tutor never noticed.

MB106 FUNDAMENTALS OF MANAGEMENT

70% – Final examination
Crap a lot, but reasonable and logical crap. Forgotten that I was asked to mention about personal characteristics, so I never really answered that part of the question. Forgotten many of other criteria and characteristics as well, but perhaps my crap is good enough to get me decent marks.

20% – Group project
Worked with Jonathan, but I have no idea how well it might turn out to be.

10% – In class performance and assessment
I believe I did really well on this sector. Now, the problem is I do not think that the tutor remembers who is who.

There are so many uncertainties this time around. But I think that, overall, this semester is not that bad. I will post the course reviews as soon as possible.

Even though I have not yet decided on the CGPA, I have a feeling that one of my core modules will top The Full List, perhaps tied or even above MB103 (Principles of Marketing). At the same time, one of my core modules has secured the absolute bottom on the list – definitely below 3.00 for its CGPA, maybe below 2.00. Interestingly, both modules share the same word in the title.

One guess which module gets the bottom and the top, folks!