If you have any questions, email them to atqhteo@gmail.com, or leave a comment below (email preferred).
The courses covered in this post (people in US call it 'course' instead of 'module'):
PS234/NE234 - Psychology of Learning
PS251 - Psychology of Personality
PS354 - Psychology and Criminal Justice
PH221 - Philosophy of Sport
PS234/NE234 - Psychology of Learning
Prof: Dr Barak Caine
What is it about?
Basics of learning and conditioning - from classical conditioning to operant conditioning. You will learn things like Rescola-Wagner's model and Hull's Drive Theory - not in depth though, just very briefly, conceptually.
How is the workload?
Two 1.5h lectures a week, one weekly discussion section (sometimes cancelled). You are told to buy a textbook by Klein which I found absolutely useless. If I'm not wrong, virtually nothing from the textbook that wasn't in lectures/outlines were tested. Total waste of my money, lucky I rented it from Barnes & Nobles.
Assessment is two mid terms + one final exam, plus opportunity to score extra credit by
How difficult is it?
Not difficult at all. It was a joke really. Read the next section for tips on how to score well. Even the prof admits that the faculty scolds him for having too many As or something.
Miscallaneous tips?
In discussion section, you do practice quizzes, which are basically the same type of questions he's going to ask in the exams. Thus, try to remember the questions (jot down the answers or something) from the practice quizzes, and you'll find half the questions similar or identical.
For the other material, as long as you study his outlines (he makes them for you. PAMPERED.) and understand the material well you should have no problems. Oh, pay attention during lectures too, because some stuff will be asked about from what he talks about in class.
Should you take it?
I find Dr Caine to be a good lecturer, he explains concepts pretty well and tries to be interesting. He's also very encouraging to students, and never puts down a wrong answer and tries his best to make you feel smart whenever you speak in class.
On the down side, I found that he... talks... really... slowly. It's just his way of speaking of articulating very precisely for emphasis and stuff that I found a little off-putting, but it's not a big deal. He loves his drugs/neuroscience though and I found some parts of the lectures he will go off on a tangent talking about a particular drug experiment and spend way too much time on it.
Overall I would say it's a good course, so go ahead and take it!
What did I get for it?
I got an A... and so did 49% of the students in the course. And Dr Caine did NOT curve it.
PS251 - Psychology of Personality
Prof: Dr Andrea Mercurio
What is it about?
Basics of personality psychology, which covers a wide variety of things such as trait approach, basic personality assessment, psychoanalysis and personality and other aspects related to freud, humanistic psychology, cultural variation in personality.
Coverage is very basic and surface-level, nothing in-depth.
How is the workload?
Three 1-hr lectures a week, with weekly 1 hr discussion. 4 tests, the best 3 will be your final grade (i.e. you can skip finals if you want to). Textbook is a pretty useless book which has like maybe 2-3 questions from it each test (the other questions are all from lectures)
Any tips?
Pay attention during lectures, study your lecture notes well. For your textbook, just know the key concepts and the main examples used to illustrate them. Try to understand the material, the questions are all so surface-level that you can answer them if you understand the key concepts.
Should you take it?
Well, Prof Mercurio is a nice prof with a self-deprecating sense of humor, and she tries to make the tests as easy as possible (she aims for a 80+ average). The other prof that takes this module is Shim, who is 10x funnier and more interesting, but I heard that his tests are more difficult. And he moves at a quicker pace too.
Mercurio teaches more slowly, and takes time to explain concepts thoroughly, fielding questions often (sometimes a bit too much). This resulted in her not finishing the syllabus with one whole chapter not covered (hooray) (which she then removed... in NUS you will just be expected to study it on your own -_-)
It's a pretty interesting course, and I think both profs are not bad so go for it!
What did I get for it?
I got an A-, because I 'screwed up' my last test and only got a 4 point above average score. But oh well.
PS354 - Psychology and Criminal Justice
Professor : Dr Margaret Hagen
What is it about?
The interface of law and psychology. You'll learn about eyewitness testimony (and its (un)reliability), competency/insanity, children as criminals, etc.
Workload
There are just 2 tests (no finals), and one assignment which I have no idea if it was graded. Then there's an extra credit book review. And there are online quizzes which you have to finish before each test, and score a 100% for them. You should be doing them anyway, read tips below.
Lectures are twice a week, 1.5h each - first one she lectures, second one she plays a video (some content of the video may be tested), usually a documentary of sorts.
Any tips?
Memorize the online quizzes - for the tests, out of 100 MCQs, 50 of them are direct copies of the online quiz questions. So what I did was just sheer repetition - I probably did each chapter's online quiz over 10 times to the point the moment I saw the question I knew the answer.
Study her lecture notes (the textbook is useless dont' waste your money on it) ... and try to memorize everything. This is quite impossible, but do your best. One question I remember distinctly was 'which year was the DSM formulated?' which was just one small point in the lecture slides -_-
Should you take it?
Hell no. Well ok it's up to you. Some people may find this course easy, some find it a total waste of time. I belong to the latter.
Dr Hagen is an extremely cynical person with an odd sense of humor. The recurring message I got from all the lectures was 'the legal system is a joke' as she mocks the various aspects of it (with regards to psychology). Thus, you will become extremely cynical too. Basically, everything doesn't work (rehab, therapy, etc) lol.
What did I get for it?
I got an A-.
PH221 - Philosophy of Sport
Professor : Dr Victor Kestenbaum
What is it about?
What does sport mean? What's the difference between sport and games? What does it mean to compete or be a fan? You go through these issues and more.
Workload
Three 1 hour lectures each week. Only two papers to do, which make up 50% of your grade each. One optional mid term exam (which nobody took. It is NOT for extra credit - basically if you take the mid term, your grade is divided between the 2 papers AND the mid term. Made no sense to take it)
Any tips?
Lectures are entirely pointless. I really didn't see the purpose of it because the prof just asked 'deep' questions every week and kept harping on certain things trying to elicit a certain answer. I felt he didn't explain the main ideas well at all and instead tried to 'be philosophical' and ask us weird questions. If you are looking to learn, don't bother taking this. If you are looking to debate in class (for no purpose besides fun, since no marks for participation), you can take it.
The papers can be written without going for class at all. Personally I was playing with my iPhone every class and completely zoned out. It may be a good idea to consult the professor during his office hours to get some ideas for your paper, to make sure your paper has enough depth and the topic is relevant.
Should you take it?
If you are good at writing papers, go for it. If you are not and want to learn something, don't bother. You won't learn much you can't learn on your own.
What did I get for it?
I got an A-.
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