Dear Readers,
I decided to do a post which targets tertiary students still contemplating if Economics is really what you want to pursue in University! Many of my guy friends entering Uni this year actually started texting to ask me what exactly Economics is about at the University level.
I believe, many of you A levels and Poly graduates out there might be wondering, is Economics like in the A levels where it is all about drawing demand and supply curves, identifying deadweight losses in market failure graphs and writing and explaining policies essays after essays?
Unfortunately not, my dear readers! Economics at the Uni level is not about essay writing. Yes, it might have been an Arts subject at the A levels but in Uni, it is very mathematical and it is a social science subject, although in the Arts and Social Sciences Faculty. However, you will need to draw SS and DD curves too, especially in Macroeconomics, but there will be a lot of other graphs you will need to know and learn about too!
What do I mean by Economics being a very mathematical subject? It involves data analysis, many regressions and knowing how to interpret coefficients of the regression results. Integration and differentiation do come into picture for certain modules, so if you're thinking you can escape all that math, then you should reconsider. Also, microeconomics covers quite a bit on Game Theory, so if you enjoy topics like the Prisoner's Dilemma, you might enjoy Economics quite a bit.
Economics is actually one of the biggest major cohort in NUS FASS. What does this imply? Very competitive when it comes to grading of the modules. Since it is all about math and application, many math geniuses out there including Chinese scholars excel in Economics modules.
Sometimes, these geniuses even scores full marks for their midterms, when the mean is 70-75 out of 100. Try to aim and get at least the Average or Median score to secure a decent grade.
Also, some tips on selecting what modules to take in the first semester:
1. Try to clear all your compulsory FASS baskets first (especially the Asian Studies basket)
2. For EC majors who are more or less cfm on EC as their major, take EC2104 and EC1101E together (Make full use of your S/Us)
3. Do something you think you might not be able to score well, and don't want to risk getting B- and below.
Some tips for potential Economics Majors before concluding on this post:
1. Read your textbook! They are very important sources of information and practice questions.
2. Attempt the questions and exercises in the Textbook (especially if the Prof even issues which questions to attempt in his/her lecture notes)
3. Read your lecture notes and remember key details (some Prof enjoy torturing students by testing specific contents in the lecture notes)
4. Most importantly, DO CONSTANT REVISION!!
I think these tips are general for all students, not necessarily Econs majors.
Hope you guys make the right decision to pursue something you enjoy doing, and feel free to drop me a comment if you guys need to clarify anything about Econs.
I might not be the best person to answer your doubts, but I will try my best to help (which is also my purpose of setting up a blog in the first place)
Love,
Rachel
Showing posts with label ec2104. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ec2104. Show all posts
Monday, 4 April 2016
Friday, 25 September 2015
[School] NUS AY14/15 Year 1 Semester 1 Module Review: EC2104
Hi all,
Back with module reviews again!
Many people are asking me if EC2104 should be taken in Y1S1 or Y1S2. My stand is to take it in Y1S1. When I took it in AY14/15 Y1S1, I took it without knowing what it was about. It sounded a little tough from the module description and my Econs senior was telling me that Roy Chen is a good lecturer, which was why I decided to take it in Sem 1 to make full use of my free S/Us! (Thank god for gradeless first semester!)
EC2104
Lecturer: Roy Chen, the Asian guy with really strong American accent. He was a decent lecturer, I wouldn't say he was a perfect lecturer (seriously, define perfect..)
Workload: Decent. Just the usual take home and discuss in class: problem sets. Presentation in tutorial is a must to get your participation marks. Try to discuss with your friends the answers, cos correct answers definitely help in presentation scores (although the profs always says that accuracy isn't important, its the effort that counts...)
Difficulty: Not that difficult. It might seem a little confusing if you do not read your lecturers before classes, but I usually read through beforehand to roughly know what that lecture is about. And then read through it again after lecture. Everything will make much more sense if you choose to study that way. It worked well for me.
Tutor: I forgot his name, But I felt like he totally rolled out of bed to attend tutorials. Dressed in slippers and bermudas, not that appropriate an attire for a Teaching Assistant (given the amount of pay they earn)
Textbook: Essential Economics textbook which I did not touch at all although Roy kept telling the class that the textbook has important information. My friend went for one-on-one consultation with Roy and told me that he said the textbook isn't important. Focus on lecture slides, which I have always believe is the best resource for revision.
Exams: Not that tough for midterms since it was 15 MCQs and the average was about 9/15? I got 12/15 although that was totally unexpected. If you read through the lecture slides, redo your tutorials and attempted the past midterm papers, the midterm shouldnt be a problem for most, unless you were careless.
Finals was nerve-wrecking because I only knew how to do 2 complete questions. There was this theorem in the last few parts of the lecture (which I obviously don't remember its name) which I did not understand completely, and which I was praying will not come out. Ended up, almost all questions involved the use of that formula/ theorem ): I just attempted all the questions to the best of my ability, and at least not submit an empty, non-attempted question paper although I had no idea how to use the formula/theorem.
Thankfully, I did decently well for this module and did not need to S/U it. It is a fairly manageable module and I personally feel you should take this module in Y1S1 with your economics intro module. Once you have taken this module, the later modules like EC2102 and EC2101 will have some overlapping content(:
Cheers,
Rachel
Back with module reviews again!
Many people are asking me if EC2104 should be taken in Y1S1 or Y1S2. My stand is to take it in Y1S1. When I took it in AY14/15 Y1S1, I took it without knowing what it was about. It sounded a little tough from the module description and my Econs senior was telling me that Roy Chen is a good lecturer, which was why I decided to take it in Sem 1 to make full use of my free S/Us! (Thank god for gradeless first semester!)
EC2104
Lecturer: Roy Chen, the Asian guy with really strong American accent. He was a decent lecturer, I wouldn't say he was a perfect lecturer (seriously, define perfect..)
Workload: Decent. Just the usual take home and discuss in class: problem sets. Presentation in tutorial is a must to get your participation marks. Try to discuss with your friends the answers, cos correct answers definitely help in presentation scores (although the profs always says that accuracy isn't important, its the effort that counts...)
Difficulty: Not that difficult. It might seem a little confusing if you do not read your lecturers before classes, but I usually read through beforehand to roughly know what that lecture is about. And then read through it again after lecture. Everything will make much more sense if you choose to study that way. It worked well for me.
Tutor: I forgot his name, But I felt like he totally rolled out of bed to attend tutorials. Dressed in slippers and bermudas, not that appropriate an attire for a Teaching Assistant (given the amount of pay they earn)
Textbook: Essential Economics textbook which I did not touch at all although Roy kept telling the class that the textbook has important information. My friend went for one-on-one consultation with Roy and told me that he said the textbook isn't important. Focus on lecture slides, which I have always believe is the best resource for revision.
Exams: Not that tough for midterms since it was 15 MCQs and the average was about 9/15? I got 12/15 although that was totally unexpected. If you read through the lecture slides, redo your tutorials and attempted the past midterm papers, the midterm shouldnt be a problem for most, unless you were careless.
Finals was nerve-wrecking because I only knew how to do 2 complete questions. There was this theorem in the last few parts of the lecture (which I obviously don't remember its name) which I did not understand completely, and which I was praying will not come out. Ended up, almost all questions involved the use of that formula/ theorem ): I just attempted all the questions to the best of my ability, and at least not submit an empty, non-attempted question paper although I had no idea how to use the formula/theorem.
Thankfully, I did decently well for this module and did not need to S/U it. It is a fairly manageable module and I personally feel you should take this module in Y1S1 with your economics intro module. Once you have taken this module, the later modules like EC2102 and EC2101 will have some overlapping content(:
Cheers,
Rachel
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