NUS Module Review Semester 2 AY 10/11

Im going to be doing a review on all 5 modules that I took this sem, for the benefit of whoever else may want to take the module too. They are

PL2132 (Research and Statistical Methods 2),

PL3232 (Biological Psychology),

SSB2216 (Employee Management in Singapore)

PL3235 (Social Psychology)

PH2110 (Logic) (Philosophy mod)

I'll answer 5+1 questions for each: What is it about? How's the workload? How difficult is it? Any miscellaneous tips? Should you take it? and a new question : "How did I do for it?"

If you want to see previous reviews for PL1101E, NM1101E, PH1102E, LAF1201, PL2131, click this link.

Do note that modules do vary across semesters, depending on which professor is taking it, so I will include the name of the professor for your benefit.

PL2132 - Research and Statistical Methods 2

Prof: Sim Teck Ngee

What is it about?

A continuation from PL2131, this teaches you that everything you have learn in PL2131 is useless and you should use what you learn in PL2132.

Ok fine, it teaches you more advanced statistical techniques besides the t-tests that you've been learning in PL2131.

How's the workload?

There is a whopping THREE textbooks for this module - however, I daresay you can clear this module without even touching any of them, IF you are taking it under Prof Sim.

In fact, this module was probably the one with one of the lowest workloads this semester, apart from PH2110. Read the next section for an elaboration.

There is one mid term exam (short answer), 2 small quizzes (MCQ), 1 final exam, and 1 experimental study (plan and design a simple experiment as a group, carry it out, and write an individual report).

It's not as much as it sounds, because the mid terms and finals are both open book, and the quizzes are short.

One 2h lecture per week and one 2h lab every week

How difficult is it?

After scaring you with the fact that there are 3 textbooks, I have to clarify something.

Firstly, one of the textbooks is written in a very readable, casual, humorous way (but is also the thickest) (andy fields), one of them has information that you should already know from PL2131 (black book), and the last one is probably the most important and small one, but also the most complicated one. (ANOVA)

Textbooks aside, the way Prof Sim conducts this module is that he focuses on UNDERSTANDING why we you are doing what you're doing, rather than becoming proficient at using all the complicated formula in ANOVA (there are alot which he didn't even touch).

Also, for him, the textbooks are supplementary, meaning he just tests whatever he teaches during lectures (and is in the lecture notes). Thus lectures are VERY important.

It also helps that he is a VERY good lecturer, in that he is very clear and deliberate in his explanations. If you can't understand when he lectures, you won't understand when anyone else does.

He also seems to pick out only what he deems important from the textbook and teaches them, so you don't have to read the entire textbook(s). When I compare with other years' exam papers, his are definitely the easiest ones. (which may or may not be a good thing)

As for the experiment, it's just designing a simple experiment that you will carry out on your own as a group. Of course, your design needs to be free of confounds, etc. The report is an individual assignment though - and I suggest you work on it properly.

Miscalleneous Tips

Study the lecture notes. Go for lectures. Study the lecture notes again. He only tests from his notes! (you need to understand the concepts well to answer the questions, so PERHAPS reading the textbook MAY help. -shrugs-.)

Should you take it?

If you have taken PL2131, I suppose you will have to do this module too. If you haven't, you can't do this module. So ... it's either you end up taking or you don't. It's not a choice. Haha. But yea it's pretty easy overall, assuming you're under Prof Sim. I don't know about other lecturers.

How did I do for it?

I screwed up the report for the experiment, probably because I didn't invest as much time in it as I should. I started on it early and ended early and never made continual improvements. Only got a C+ for it which was devastating, given my performance in the other areas have been stellar - I'm pretty sure I got A/A+ level marks for my quizzes + mid terms. (way above median score)

Finals was relatively easy, will post up all my grades in a separate post to be linked later.

Predicted score: B+

PL3232 - Biological Psychology

Prof: Travellia Tjokro

What is it about?

The main part of it is all about the brain - how different functions such as memory and emotions link to the brain. If you like learning biological stuff like how suprachiasmatic nuclei controls the circadian rhythms of the body, this is for you.

How's the workload?

One Biological Psych textbook, which to me is the same as two normal textbooks. Haha ok maybe i'm biased, I don't like bio much. But it's basically pure memory work.

1 mid terms, 1 finals, 2 presentations to do on 2 different journal articles (pair work).

one 2h lecture weekly, one 2hr tutorial fortnightly.
Tutorials are basically useless besides for you to do your presentations. You do nothing in weeks that you don't present besides sit there and listen to the other groups.
Lectures are.. more or less useless too. She just teaches stuff from the textbook so, and if i'm not wrong there's nothing from the notes that isn't in the textbook, apart from the occasional term here and there. You may want to have a look at her notes just to be safe. Totally ponnable imo.

How difficult is it?

I don't know, how good is your  memory?
I didn't feel like it tested my application much, just memorize and memorize. I mean, it's bio!

Miscalleneous Tips

Do read your textbook thoroughly - the finals' essay questions were EACH more or less asking you regurgitate 3 studies outlined in the textbook. So if you memorized the textbook you'll ace it.

Should you take it?

It's a core mod for Psych majors/minors so you have no choice. If you like Biology, why not. There's not alot on genes though, so if you want that, go try Genes and Society (Some GEK)How did I do for it?
Did only average for mid terms, I didn't memorize enough. I do selective memorizing so ... you need to memorize everything. :S And don't think my presentations were good. :( Finals was so-so. I could remember the 3 'empirical evidence' for the essay portion though so I guess it's good.
Predicted Grade - B

SSB2216 - Employee Management in Singapore
Lecturer - Hanoi Lok

What is it about?

A very theory-based module on the key aspects of employee management - such as training and development, performance appraisal/management, etc.
Don't expect to learn anything factual such as how Singapore companies do this this this etc, that's not what this mod is about.
It is very general and theoretical which I thought was quite dumb, since alot of it is common sense. For example, 'what is an employee like today as compared to in the past?'. You can probably smoke out something like 'oh more demanding, want flexi-hours, want work-life balance, etc'.

How's the workload?

1 group project which involves conducting an interview with an organization, a presentation, and a report.
No midterms, 1 open book final exam, which is basically GP style. 3 choose 2 essays.There is one textbook which is virtually useless.. I didn't touch it after the first 2 weeks because its contents are quite useless. Lectures are very important - the module only has one weekly 3hour lecture which is a small-group seminar style. There is class participation, so try to speak up.The project is manageable, provided your group doesn't suck. There is virtually no readings to be done, just ... listen in class and think.

How difficult is it?

What I really dislike about the module is that what you learn in lectures is not really assessed in the finals! Or rather, the format of the final exams doesn't adequately and accurately assess what you were taught.
The issues we were asked to think about during class are not really helpful to writing the essays in the finals.
The essays are really GP style, and you need to have alot of examples so that you can support it well. Of course, knowing the basic theory is necessary, so read your lecture notes.The lectures were quite interesting because Hanoi is a funny lecturer and shares alot of her personal experiences. However, as I said, it doesn't map onto the final exams, so I found this module more or less useless.

Miscallenous Tips

I don't know. Read newspapers and cut out articles? Learn how to write a good essay? Keeping up with current affairs regarding employee management will definitely help you write a better essay.

Should you take it?

No. Take another SS. Unless you're good at essay writing, then go for it.How did I do for it?
My group more or less screwed up the presentation, and more or less got a sub-par report, and I more or less smoked my way through the finals. I'm PRAYING for a C so I can S/U this mod. plsplspls.
Predicted Grade : C

PL3235 - Social Psychology
Prof: Dr Cha Yeow Siah 

What is it about?

Psychology with regards to social relationships and social situations. A lot of common sense theories and some theories that defy common sense. To give you a tease: brainstorming has been shown to result in a LOWER quality and quantity of ideas!

What is the workload?
1 standard textbook with about 1 chapter per week, 1 mid terms, 1 finals, 1 essay. Pretty standard and manageable.
Mid terms is 60 MCQ and 15 Fill-in-the-blanks.
Finals is 60 MCQ, 15 FOTB, 3 choose 2 short essay questions.

1 2h weekly lecture, 1 2 hr fortnightly tutorial. Both are a waste of time, tutorials are worse though. Prof Cha tries to make the lectures interesting with videos and stuff and he is mildly humorous, so it's not that bad, even though the lecture is more or less useless and you can just study the textbook.
Tutorials seem to be an afterthought - It's like because they can't NOT have tutorials, so they have them. Absolutely useless.

How difficult is it?

How well can you memorize? It's another memory module, though it helps if you understand the theories and concepts because you will have to apply them. For example, you learn what 'social facilitation theory' is, and an MCQ may then describe 4 scenarios and they ask you which is social facilitation theory.
You need to memorize the terms though, for the fill-in-the-blanks. Not just the definitions, but the terms.

Miscallenous Tips

You need to study lecture notes as well, because he tests stuff from there which he randomly puts in and is not in the textbook. Just the occasional terms.. So you need a friend to help you copy notes if you plan on ponning lectures.And remember to learn the TERMS not just the definition. So if I provide you with the desciption: "the tendency to not put in your full effort when working in a group" you should be able to respond "social loafing!"
This is exactly what the fill in the blanks tests. If you can recall terms by reading the definition/scenario.

Should you take it?

It is fairly interesting, learning about all the social phenomena and learning some stuff which may contradict conventional thinking. I liked it, just that the textbook that Prof Cha chose SUCKS BALLS. It's the worst textbook in the world - authors Baumeister and Bushman
Very disorganized, very random examples, random pictures, etc.How did I do for it?
For midterms, I neglected to memorize the terms and  thus i couldn't recall what the definitions. Hence my memory couldn't recall what the terms were when shown the definitions. So don't make this mistake!
Did well for the essay, average for the mid terms.. hope I do well for the finals :SPredicted Grade: B+

PH2110 - Logic
Prof: Dr Ben Blumson
What is it about?

Reasoning with logic. That's really the most apt description I can give you. Well, you learn how to tell if an argument form is valid via truth tables, trees, etc.

What is the workload?

1 mini textbook which is like damn tiny and little.
Fortnightly online quizzes - all MCQ. Not as easy as it sounds, but you can discuss with friends la.
Mid term exam + final exam.
1 weekly 2h lecture and 1 fortnightly 2h tutorial.
Lectures and relatively important though I find he can be done usually in 1h+ and he talks alot of crap as fillers. Tutorials are very important because you'll truly learn and understand the techniques and you can ask questions if you don't know.

How difficult is it?

The key is to understand the steps and the, erm, logic behind everything you're done. You will learn a few proofs here and there which you must try to internalize so that you can apply in the same way for the exams.
There is relatively little to read and it's more chim than it is heavy.  Once you get it, you should be all good.

Miscallenous Tips

Do the practice questions in the textbook! They're probably the only way you can practice trees and predicate logic and etcetc.
Try your best to understand and take down whatever he teaches during tutorials, they're always important and useful. You really need to UNDERSTAND the reasoning behind certain stuff, because the exam tests your ability to apply the deductive reasoning process.

Should you take it?

If you have a need for cognition and want something relatively light in terms of workload/readings, this is for you. It seems to be a popular GEM too, so be prepared to pay abit more for it if you're bidding as a GEM.How did I do for it?
Mid terms was decent, I prepared well for it and got a decent score (I think). For the online quizzes.. they're difficult as hell lol. Even with discussion with friends, I got 1/10 for one and 3/10 for another. So.. all the best for the quizzes :p
Finals was ok.. didn't seem THAT difficult. But I think my bad quizzes will pull me down.Predicted Grade: B+

~~~

Ok that's all I have, I will post up my results on 31st May so you can judge whether to trust my advice or not xD

UPDATE: Results here

Fly

Darn it, insomnia is coming back to me for some reason. I don't even feel stressed or anything. Why it is occurring? For the past 2 days I've been waking up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Not just once, but MANY times. By my estimate, about 4-5 times. It totally disrupts my sleep cycle and as a result I'm lethargic in the day.

Anyway, last night I had an awesome dream. It is probably the one most common dream among everyone in the world.

I dreamt that I could fly.

A more common occurrence in my dreams is that I can glide - When i jump off a great height, by lifting my legs I can somehow delay my freefall and continue gliding at that height. I can even kick off that height as if I'm pushing off some invisible springboard, and go to a greater height.

My dream last night, however, was of me flying. I don't remember the preceding events but it started with me being in the ocean.

I can't remember who I was with, but there were 1-2 other people with me. So we were just wading in the ocean when a big wave came in and swept me further out. I taunted the sea, saying 'Come on! You can bring me further than that!' (I've no idea why I wanted to be brought further out)  and it responded with 2 more subsequent waves which brought me waaaay out into the open of the ocean.

Then with a push upwards, I flew above the water and burst into the air. Soon I was rising high above the canopy of trees, soaring past the greenery, as if I was carrying a cameraman with me and we were shooting a scene for Survivor.

Then I don't know what happened, but it was like I let someone else take over the flying and I just hung on, and that person was a terrible flyer. He glided throughout the canopy and almost crashed against some branches once or twice.

We were heading to this island next to Singapore - a very distinct island which I've no idea what it was. But I knew we were headed there. So this other flyer was flying us towards that, and we were approaching my house area when he kept losing altitude until we eventually touched the ground.

I got frustrated, and I said 'Come on, I'll fly us there'. And with a burst - I rocketed high into the air and I could see my entire neighbourhood, as well as the island we were supposed to go. I flew towards it till we were vertically above, and I did some crazy stunt where I accelerated towards the ground at a speed so fast that within the next second we were at ground level and I braked instantly and landed smoothly. Super exciting!


Then we were at some Key Installation, something like the Airport or something that I was guarding during my stint in army. I can't remember what it was. But I saw this dude who did patrol with me, his name is Chris. I said hi to him and he asked me to go patrol with him. I said no of course, because I wasn't here to do duty. I was just... I've no idea what I was there for actually. But not to do patrol.

I noticed his uniform was a bit faded so I asked him if he was doing reservist, which he said yes. And so he left to do his patrol. Then i leaned over to the wall socket and pulled out my iPhone charger and checked my iPhone battery (?? I've no idea why it was there.. yes we are supposed to be on some other island. But that's how dreams are, totally random)

And I woke up shortly after that. Feeling exhilarated from the flying experience, but highly irritated that I had woken once again for no apparent reason in the middle of the night.

Dear

Dear ,

These past 2 months that we've been together have been nothing short of phenomenal. The fun we've had, the amount of time I've had my hands all over you. I really like getting you all charged up and then just play with you all day. I can almost hear you giggle as I run my finger over your face.



Yes , my dear iPhone, it's been a fun time. Being kept close by your invisible handcuffs, being able to access Twitter, Facebook, Words with Friends, WhatsApp, the WWW, just to name the most common ones I use, at all times. All the games that I have on you that I barely play but you always have them ready when I need them.

Even recently, when I jailbroke you, you did not complain, but only smiled with a skull instead of showing me your favourite apple as you used to. Ah, the vast possibilities that I've unlocked with that jailbreak - it turns you into a cool gadget into an AMAZING MONSTER.


However, recently I've been getting tired of a problem. A problem of your BATTERY. Why do you deplete so rapidly? Why does your energy trickle out even when I'm not doing anything? Why do you not last more than a day?
Please stop dropping faster than  a free falling man from a building.

Please stop falling like the leaves in the autumn. Please stop being the world's worst battery.

Love,
Me.

Why you should jailbreak your iPhone/iPod Touch

So, you have heard all about it. Your friends tell you to do it, but you have doubts. 

I'm here to convince you why you SHOULD jailbreak your device. In this post, I will tell you two general things:

a) Why you shouldn't be AFRAID to jailbreak
b) Why you should jailbreak <-- I'll focus more on this, talking about the functionality benefits that people don't mention enough.
and lastly I'll provide some sources which will teach you HOW to jailbreak and some important notes.


a) Why you shouldn't be AFRAID to jailbreak
The first thing many people think about is that it is illegal. However, it is NOT illegal. The only thing 'bad' is that your warranty becomes void with Apple. This is NOT a problem though, because assuming you are unlucky enough to have your phone actually break down and spoil somehow and you need to send it for repairs within your warranty period, you can simply 'unjailbreak' it via a simple iTunes restore:

"Plug in the iPhone and sync it to make sure you have a current backup. Then choose to restore (the firmware) it to factory settings from in iTunes. Then you can right click it and restore the backup (of thecontents) from the backup. The term restore is used for both actions, but they are two separate actions.
A backup of a jailbreaked phone can be restored onto a non-jailbreak firmware. That's not an issue (I did it when I upgraded to 2.1). All jailbreak apps and features will be gone, but all App Store apps, contacts, settings, etc, will be preserved."

(via http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=574128)

After which, you can just send it in to Apple and they won't know anything.

(Disclaimer - distribution of copyrighted material is still illegal, according to Singapore law. In other words, downloading  a cracked app (i.e. originally available on App Store) is as illegal as downloading a song from the Internet.)

The next thing people are worried about is that it will slow down their devices. This is also not true - I have been using my jailbroken device without any noticeable lag from the jailbreak. HOWEVER, that is because I don't use this thing called Winterboard, which I believe is the cause of lag.

In fact, many users do admit that jailbreaking does lag their device, which I noticed in the form of a 1s delay everytime i close/open apps, but I realized it was Winterboard causing this problem, so I just removed it.

Winterboard lets you customize your themes and icons like this. Notice how the default apps (e.g. Mail, Camera etc...) look different?

Winterboard is just for customizing themes and such, so if you don't mind the classy look of Apple, you can just not install it. (note - Winterboard has a ton of other uses too which I haven't really researched so if you don't mind abit of lag for some added customization, go ahead and use Winterboard :) )

There are TONNES of other useful stuff .

Ok enough of the grim stuff, on to why you SHOULD jailbreak your iPhone.

b) Why you SHOULD jailbreak your iPhone

1) FREE apps!!

This is the most obvious no-brainer reason - There are a ton of fun and cool apps on the App Store, but many of them are paid apps, and not all of us can afford or want to pay for those apps. With jailbreak, all these apps are FREE. 

WhatsApp @ USD 0.99 on the App Store and @ $0.00 when you Jailbreak!
For free SMSing, MMSing, and group conversations!

PES for free!

Final Fantasy 3 at USD 15 on the App store.. yes, they're mad. Totally ripping you off. FOR FREE WHEN YOU JAILBREAK.

Cut The Rope, one of the most fun games you can play, for FREE ONLY when you jailbreak!

And of course the all-time popular Angry Birds (now Rio!) for FREE!

Of course, this is just a very very small slice of all the available apps that you can get when you jailbreak. There are also many EXCLUSIVE apps that you can only have when you jailbreak!

2) Functionality
(blurry parts of screenshots are what I've edited out, not part of the jailbreak)

Non-JB users always overlook this point when they are considering whether to jailbreak their devices. After all, the allure of free apps is already quite big and unbelievable and the only reason why you should jailbreak right? WRONG.

What jailbreak does is bring you a whole new array of FUNCTIONALITY improvements that I don't know why Apple doesn't implement. Perhaps Apple will include a few in their iPhone 5. Who knows. I will start by listing these added functions:

Utilizing the Lock Screen

How would you describe the lock screen? Classy? Sleek? How about, USELESS? The screen shows close to nothing besides the time and date. When you have notifications, it'll only show if it's a missed call or a SMS - it does not show for other apps.
Other phones have RSS feeds, calendars, notifications on their lock screen. Why not the iPhone?

With jailbreak, this is what it can look like:

Accessing Settings

Let's say you are at home and want to use WiFi. How do you turn it on? Home button -> Settings -> Wifi

How about when your battery is running low and you want to turn off your 3G? Home button -> Settings -> Network -> 3G 

Ugh so many steps.

How about if your screen is too dim? Do you even know where the brightness function is? 

With jailbreak, everything is made easy:

Just swipe the top of the screen and...

VOILA!! This awesome function is called SBSettings, a jailbreak-exclusive app. Highly accessible settings, just swipe the top of the screen! You can also configure your bluetooth, data, etc, I removed those because I don't use those often. You can even configure how it looks by downloading additional themes!

Easy SMSing

Let's say you are playing your favourite game, Smurf Village. (Or whatever ridiculous lame game you play) Then you receive an SMS and it pops up on your screen. You want to reply it now. What happens? It tabs out of your game, opens your Messaging, and when you have completed the reply, you have to go back to your Home screen, and open the app again.

LONG WINDED YES?

With Quickreply (or biteSMS)...

.

.

This pops up instead.
And you can just hit 'Reply'...

Type your reply, hit 'Send'..

AND IT RETURNS TO YOUR APP IMMEDIATELY. You don't even leave the app!!
SO much more logical and awesome right!?

And even from your lock screen, if you receive an SMS, it looks like this:

You just have to double tap the text bubble to type a reply, and after you've sent, it just goes back to the lock screen!

Activator

This is in my opinion, one of the best reasons why you should jailbreak your iPhone. Before I explain what this does, I should share a concern I previously had - My Home button on my iPhone was always very slightly buggy, and I couldn't double-press it sometimes and sometimes it doesn't seem to respond on the first click.
Also, being just about the only button you use, it's bound to succumb to wear and tear!
So I was quite worried that over time, my Home button would become unusable and I would have to replace/fix it so I don't really like to press it too often.

With Activator, this concern is totally gone.

Activator is one of the basic jailbreak-only apps that you will most definitely get.

Basically what it does is create shortcuts via touch-screen gestures or button sequences. To make this clearer, I'll just give the example of my own current settings.

- When I'm using an app, I tap the Status Bar (the top of the screen with your battery, time, Singtel/Starhub/M1 sign) and swipe down and it goes back to the Home screen.

- Anywhere on my iPhone, I double tap the Status Bar and it brings up the multitasking function (which you otherwise have to double-press your Home button)

- When I'm at my Home screen, I can lock my phone by swiping down from the Status Bar.

-At the Lock Screen, double tapping my clock brings up my iPod controls

-Pressing Volume Up followed immediately by Volume Down opens my Messaging app from wherever I am.

No more over-pressing of the Home button!

You can basically open any app you want via a wide array of gestures such as Shake Device, Slide from Bottom, Slide from Bottom Left, Swipe Down from status bar, Swipe Left on status bar, combination of Volume button presses, etcetc..
You can also make these gestures perform other things like Lock your phone, simulate a press of the 'Home Button' (don't have to press it anymore!), Take Screenshot, etcetc.

The list is endless. It's up to YOU how you want to customize your phone to make it EVEN MORE convenient and handy to use!
This is such a simple function that Apple can implement and they'll be stupid not to add it to the iPhone5.




And while this is the end of this section, it is not the end of the functionality options available via Jailbreak. There are many other apps that I haven't discovered either, so go read up! You won't regret it!
.
.
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How To Jailbreak + Important information
There are 2 basic forms of a jailbreak - A tethered or an untethered jailbreak. A tethered jailbreak means that everytime you reboot your device, you will have to connect your iPhone to your computer. An untethered jailbreak means you can just.. use it as a normal iPhone even when rebooting. To put it simply, you should always get an untethered jailbreak if it's available.

I used http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSUr3S2Jm5c this link to do my (untethered) jailbreak (iOS 4.2.1), it's not a difficult process so just follow the instructions on the screen carefully.
However, at the time of this post, a tethered version of 4.3 is already out, and I would presume soon an untethered jailbreak for 4.3 will be out. So... you can just search youtube for another instructional video on how to do it for the newer version, though it'll probably be very similar.

And just to end off with some helpful notes:
* Backup your iPhone with iTunes before you jailbreak your device. Just connect it via iTunes and click Backup.
* You're going to need to Add Sources before you can get many of the useful customization apps from Cydia. Search Youtube for recommendations for top sources to add and HOW to add these sources.


Have any questions? Feel free to leave a comment or ask on the tagboard and I'll answer it asap :D

Starcraft 2 - Which race for a newbie?

Was doing some thinking and came to this conclusion - If you are a newbie starting off in Starcraft 2 and have absolutely no preference for race and just want to start playing the game, pick PROTOSS.

Let me explain why. (you can read on or just watch this video)
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8WnFMaoBEA]

A brief examination of the different races shows why Protoss is the easiest race for a new player to pick up. This is NOT the same as saying that Protoss is the easiest race to play - at the highest level, it's really quite different, and there are differing opinions as to which race is the so-called 'easiest' to play. But I'm talking about at the newbie level, at the basic level - Protoss is the easiest.

Let's first look at what I believe is the most difficult race : Zerg.

Why is Zerg the most difficult to pick up? In most scenarios, if you were to play a proper drawn out game (no cheese, all-ins), a Zerg player needs to go a fast -expand build to sustain his (weaker) army (weaker in terms of supply-wise - e.g. 200 vs 200 army) and economy. It is very macro heavy which may be hard for newbies to pick up.
In addition, getting a fast-expansion will mean learning HOW to defend it, which poses additional difficulties.
Most of all, it requires a delicate understanding of when to get Drones, and when to get an army. It also  has the most crucial 'economy mechanic' of Inject Larva - If you miss it too often, you can't get a good economy AND army up. (I'll explain why it's not so crucial for the other races below)
On top of a more difficult macro style to master, zerg engagements require good flanking and positioning, whereas the other 2 races generally can engage in a ball (of course, avoiding chokes etc, is impt)
Of course, this does not even include other mechanics like spreading Creep Tumors, when to get Overlords, etc (since it takes up larva too)


How about Terran? Well, as mentioned before, its economy mechanic of MULE/Scans are much easier to handle than Zerg - even if you miss a few MULEs, you can always drop 3-4 at once, or even use the energy for scans. It doesn't help you get more resources (just FASTER minerals) and is probably only crucial in clutch situations (perhaps after losing a base, and trying to catch up) so having some energy stocked up is good (for scanning cloaked units, for instance)
Why I deem it harder than Protoss is because it has much more different production buildings - 3 types in total for a typical game (e.g. a newbie friendly build like MMM), whereas Protoss typically only uses 2 (warpgates and  stargate/robo)
(Be clear that I'm talking for new players here - of course higher level players mix up their units more)

In addition, the whole 'queuing' up of units is something that new players will struggle with - It is common knowledge to more experienced players that you shouldn't queue up 2 many units at once, and while Toss don't face this problem with Warpgates, Terran have to handle multiple Barracks/Factories/Starports well.
Also, choice of addons? How many to get? Which addons? Protoss have no such headaches.

And while Terran armies generally can fight in a ball, there are many occasions where you'll WANT to spread out your army in an engagement, such as against Banelings, Colussus, etc, which are very very typical responses against a Terran army. This requires more micro and more skill and harder to learn too. (Which drives players to do a mech build which is newbie friendly but very gas intensive and needs multiple bases to handle, etc)


Now let's look at Protoss and their 'economy mechanic' of Chronoboost. You generally shouldn't miss too many chronoboosts in the early game even if you're new as there's nothing much happening- thus you will get your harvestors up and easily outnumber other races since you can produce them faster at the start.
As the game drags on, even if you  miss them it's ok, you can use them to chronoboost out units and upgrades! Which is what you WILL be using them for in the mid-late game anyway.

Production? Warpgates make production easy as pie. There's no need to even rally units, just warp warp warp warp. At the bronze-silver levels, I can easily win all games with just gateway-robo units. No problems at all.
Micro? Just move in a tight ball, and engage as such (of course general rules like Zealots in front, sentries away from fire, should be adhered to as much as possible, but this isn't that hard to manage) And with the gay unit Sentry, you can just spam Forcefields to cut the other army in half at chokes, etc. Not that hard to learn, but crazily effective.

It's so easy to play Protoss! Gosh. I still love my Zerg though.

Not convinced? Leave a comment below or a tag on the tagboard and I'll reply as soon as  I see it.

A M S 6 - Fire

Once upon a time, there lived a little boy named Timmy. He lived in the edge of the woods in a place far far away, all alone with his father. They relied on hunting to survive.

Timmy was only five, so he was naturally fascinated about everything. One day, his father decided to show him how to start a fire. After all, when you survive in the wilderness, fire is the most important thing you need to get by.

Dad: "It's simple Timmy, you first put a bunch of dry leaves and branches in a small pile. Then you just take this flint and strike it against this other metal piece. This generates sparks which if your bunch of dry stuff catches it, will immediately start a fire. Then you have to add in bigger pieces of wood to keep it going."

Timmy: "Wow Dad, that sounds like alot of work just for a little fire!"

Dad: "It may start little, but it can grow till REALLY really big! Don't underestimate fire!"

So Timmy's father let him try his hand at starting a fire. After numerous attempts, Timmy finally managed to get it going.

Timmy: "Wow!! Dad!! Look look! The fire is really strong!"

Dad: "That's right, when it first starts off, it's going to be really strong and big. But quick! Add more wood, or it will die off quickly!"

Timmy does as his father says, tossing it pieces of lumber. However, he tosses it a piece of wet one, and the fire sizzles.
PSSTTT.

Dad: "Careful Timmy!" and pulls back Timmy back as the sparks fly and the fire dances and threatens to go out. "Be careful what you throw into the fire Timmy! You throw the wrong thing and it will go out! Worst of all, you may get hurt!"

Timmy nods as his father steps in and quickly adds some pieces of dry wood to get the fire going.

Dad: "You may see the fire sputter and flicker, but that's just part of it. As long as you keep adding wood, it will keep going."

Timmy: "I really like the fire Dad!! It looks really nice!"

Dad: "That's right, fire is one of the most powerful things in nature. You must be careful with it though."

Timmy's father went off to do some hunting while Timmy stared and admired the fire. He also diligently added pieces of lumber to it, and if he forgot to, the fire would start simmering down and sputter and he immediately remembered.

After some time, Timmy's father came back with a dead deer for dinner, but found Timmy playing with stones instead.

Dad: "What's the matter Timmy? Don't like the fire anymore?"

Timmy: "Yea it got boring! After it burns for so long, it seems to be getting smaller too!"

Dad: "Yea, as the original source of lumber gets used up, the fire may become smaller. Weren't you very interested and excited about it earlier?"

Timmy: "Yes I was Dad, but now I don't seem to see why it was so fascinating anymore! It doesn't seem very interesting now..."

Dad: "Well Timmy, if you want it to go out, you can just stop adding firewood to it, and it will burn out rather quickly if noone adds anything to it. But remember, we NEED fire, especially to cook this deer!"

Timmy went off to fetch some water to boil the deer meat in, and when he came back, he noticed the fire was burning brighter than before.

Timmy: "Hey look Dad! It looks the same as when it started off now!! Wow!"

Dad: "So you like it now? " -scratches head-

Timmy: "Yea! It is dancing and flickering like when I first got it started! That's what got me excited in the first place! Can I add more firewood Dad?"

Dad: "Sure you can Timmy. Remember Timmy, don't neglect it, or it will die out."

Timmy: "Yes Dad! I will! But I hope it remains as cool as it is now!"

And Timmy learns the importance of fire, and grows up to be a fine huntsman, and they live happily ever after.
Until a fire one day burns down their house and they all die ktnxbai.