NTU

Courses taken

• CZ4015 - Simulation and Modeling (C+)

  The course introduces different types of simulation, input modelling, output analysis and is a good refresher on statistics. Throughout the course every student was working on a simulation project. My project can be found here (the project was graded A-).

• CZ4013 - Distributed Systems (B)

  The course gives an introduction to distributed systems by introducing it's characteristics and challenges. It introduces client-server and peer-to-peer models and algorithms used in these models. We learned about clock synchronization, java RMI and few distributed algorithms. We learned how these algorithms work, but we almost never proved their correctness. At the end of the course students were required to create a distributed flight information system in a groups of up to three people. My project can be found here.

• CZ3007 - Compiler Techniques (B+)

  The course gives an understanding of compilers and the techniques involved in programming language translation (analysis and synthesis). The course focuses too much on Java specific techniques, but still gives a good overview. During the semester we were given tasks to implementing different parts of Java compiler. Most of the code was already written and we were simply following the instructions of the task, which didn't give us the full understanding of how compilers work.

• BU8201 - Business Finance (B+)

  The course starts by examining the importance of interest rates, time value of money, and the linkage between risk and return, lays the foundation for evaluating the price of bonds and stocks. Students learn the principles of capital budgeting (calculating the profitability of various projects) and capital structure (financing approved projects by issuing shares or bonds, or using retained earnings). The course requires you to complete online lectures every week, which include multiple choice and open-ended questions. At the beginning of the course we were assigned to groups of 4-5 people and every group made a presentation.

• LC9001 - Chinese language level 1 (B+)

  In this course we learned Pinyin systems, memorised 100 Chinese characters, practised our tone hearing and speaking. The course required us to prepare every week and it was the most time consuming course I had (even more than business finance). The overall grade was calculated based on two exams (writing and hearing), one 2 minute oral presentation and a video project. My video project can be found here. The course wasn't easy especially for someone who isn't exposed to Chinese language often, but our teacher Liow Shi Suen and my classmates made the course very fun.

Overview

Every course has lectures available online which is great. Most lecturers assume that students prepare for the tutorials and lectures in advance. The exam questions aren't hard and are straightforward, but it's very difficult to finish all the questions in time. The more you know, the less questions you will be able to answer fully. This sadly makes students prone to prepare for the exam rather than to learn the subject. Four out of five courses I have taken included group homework/project.

Grades discussion

Getting great grades can be a challenge, especially if you spend 16 days of semester travelling to surrounding countries like me. I have also explored Singapore and pursued other activities (making youtube videos, swimming etc). Travelling improved my understanding of other cultures, changed the way I see the world and created memories I wouldn't change for perfect grades.

Comparison with FIT CTU

The difficulty of study is comparable to Faculty of Information Technology, Czech Technical University in Prague. However, there are differences. Overall students from NTU prepare more for lectures and tutorials during the semester and they also stress more about the exams. They stress more about the exams, because they have only one exam date for each course. That said, the students pay high tuition and the university doesn't want to fail too many students. Therefore, students who show some understanding of the subject pass the exams. This is in contrasts with FIT CTU, where students fail exams constantly. At FIT CTU, you have multiple (up to 3) exam attempts for each course and if the professor believes your understanding is only so-so he/she is not afraid to fail you and you need to try again. I believe the way the exams are set up at FIT CTU leads to better understanding of the subject as there are less students who understand it only a little and pass.

Another difference is in assessment criteria. At FIT CTU you know more about how the projects/exams are evaluated in advance, which makes it easier for students who just started at the university. Additionally, students at NTU have to wait weeks before they know the examination results, whereas at CTU you know the results in a few days (sometimes even the same day). At NTU, students can choose not to have their courses graded if it's an elective course. This practice should in theory lead to students choosing subjects they are interested in even if they are difficult. Despite this option, students at NTU optimize for good marks way more than students at FIT CTU and prefer to choose subjects that improve their GPA. Lastly, I have to mention the love FIT CTU has for Linux and open-source projects, which is not the case for NTU.

Tips

• Take a sweater or a hoodie to lecture room (the air-con makes it always too cold)
• You can borrow a calculator at the college of engineering for your exams
• For SCSE, MAE and mathematics students, you can buy past papers with answers (by students) at northspine printing place.
• Exams are time intensive, you need to optimize and chose questions that have high points/(time it takes to answer) ratio.
• For food I can recommend:
  • Indian food at hall 9
  • Korean food, Indian food and Ma La hotpot at tamarind hall
  • Ramen at hall 16
  • Chicken rice at hall 2
  • Waffles at hall 11.
  • Duck Rice/Duck Noodle at North Spine