EE8092 Digital Lifestyle

EE8092 Digital Lifestyle
Taken in AY16/17 Sem 2

Course details

Offered in Sem 2
AUs: 3
Category: GER-PE (STS)/UE
Pass/Fail mod: No
No tutorial classes. Online recorded lectures available.

Syllabus (Copied from blackboard):

Home Entertainment Systems and Game Consoles	(9 hours)
Television Sets: CRT, Plasma, LCD.  SDTV/HDTV.  Hi-fi Systems.  VCD/DVD Players and Recorders.  Cable and IP TV.  Video on Demand.  Game Consoles.  Digital Projectors.
Digital Audio Systems	(6 hours)
Digital Audios.  Digital Audio Formats: MP3, WMA, AAC.  MP3 Players.  Speaker Systems.
Digital Cameras and Video Camcorders	(6 hours)
Digital Cameras and Digital Imaging.  Imaging Tools and Software.  Video Camcorders and Digital Videos.  Webcams and Video Streaming.  Professional and Spy Cameras.  Trends and Applications.
Personal Computers	(9 hours)
Personal Computers: Desktop, Laptop, and Tablets.  Processor.  Main Memory.  Display. Harddisk and External Storage.  DVD/CD Drives.  Pointing Devices.  Networking: LAN, WAN and Wi-fi.  Serial Port, USB and Firewire.
Mobile Phones and PDA	(9 hours)
Mobile Phones.  Personal Digital Assistant (PDA).  Wireless Communications: GPRS, 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi.  Push-Mail.  Wireless Messaging Services.  VoIP.

Assessment:
25% Quiz 1, 25% Quiz 2 (30 mcqs each, 1hr)
50% Final Exam (60 mcqs, 2hrs)

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My opinion

For me this was a pretty interesting course to take because I'm interested in all these techy stuff, in particular cameras. I've done photography using the DSLR so that whole topic on Digital Cameras was real easy for me. Therefore if you have prior knowledge on any of those technologies, it will be a breeze for you. If not, you'll be competing with those who do :')

Hell came for me at the second part, esp the part on Mobile Phones and PDA. You may think that, 'Well, everyone uses a smartphone nowadays' but the stuff they test is really detailed, because you gotta remember the numbers (eg, what country operates on what frequency band etc.) Same for the computers part. You must be able to understand and also memorise many of the minute details.

There were 2 lecturers, and both of them are very good. The first lecturer speaks very clearly and emphasises important points. He also tries to make the content friendly for the students who are not from EEE or SCSE. The second lecturer is more 'freestyle', so you have to catch the important details on your own but he is a funny and friendly lecturer and he also does a good job.

Quiz was relatively easy, I had deep regrets that I did not do well for my first quiz. If I've gotten at least 25, I think I would be able to get A- without a doubt. Quiz was held in LKC-LT and finals at Nanyang Audi.

Question-style wise, they have many of those 'Which of the following are not...' and 'Rank the things in order...' kind of questions. So it may become difficult to guess esp when the options have 'All of the above' or 'None of the above'.. Hahaha... I guess you guys get the drift.

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My results

Quiz 1: 22/30
Quiz 2: 25/30

Final grade: B+ (I wanted an A-, but I'll accept the B+ because my memory is bad hahaha. I still chose to take the risk not to SU tho.)

My friend who has gotten 27/30 for both quizzes got an A for their final grade. Therefore I think the curve is actually pretty steep. You really need to have the memory for many minute details.

CM8002 Forensic Science

CM8002 Forensic Science
Taken in AY16/17 Sem 1

Offered in Semester 1

Pass/Fail mod: No

Assessment:
20% CA (25 marks MCQ) - Week 9
80% Finals (40 marks scenario-based question, 40 marks MCQ)

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The lectures are split between live (guest lecturers) and online lectures.
The first week's lecture is live, just an intro lecture. From week 2 to recess week, the lectures are fully online and released weekly.
After recess week, there will be guest lecturers from HSA, SPF, etc, speaking about various topics of their specialties, like crime scenes, murders, drugs, etc.

Content is very broad. It won't get deep but some is quite dry, like some chemical stuff that people like me from EEE won't understand haha. But the case studies are interesting.

There were 8 weeks of lectures delivered through LAMS Sequences.

• Week 1-Introduction to Forensic Science
• Week 2- Chemical Analysis in Forensic Science
• Week 3- Time of Death; Blood
• Week 4- DNA in Forensics
• Week 5- Fingerprinting; Polymers & Fibers; Firearms
• Week 6- Narcotics
• Week 7- Toxicology
• Week 8- Case Studies

They explain many techniques on how they test for certain elements and compounds, blood, gun shot residue, drugs, poisons and so on. And many, many case studies accompanying them. You do not need prior chemistry or biological knowledge because they won't test you on those stuff. But I will tell you the important thing now: Many students focus on the wrong thing to study. They think that studying those theories and techniques are enough. But they miss out on studying the case studies cuz they think is just for knowing how to apply those techniques. The lecturer will ask in the mcq questions to the deepest detail. Like in a certain case study of the xxx brothers, what was the evidence that was NOT used against them? Or this photograph is doctored, in what way as it 'faked'? (A: Photoshopped, B: Shot in a studio, C: Superimposed 2 images D: This is a real picture.) So your memory has to be good.

As for the guest lectures part, the range of topics were very broad. I attended all of them. Most were very interesting, except 1 which I fell asleep in LOL. Not because the content was boring, but rather, the lecturer seemed like he was just displaying his portfolio of stuff and experience. I still recommend yall to go tho.

Furthermore, the lecturer will post many (MANY) articles on blackboard, some of which are marked with double star (**) beside the links. When he said to take these articles as part of the content, he was not kidding. Questions from the exam were not entirely from the online lectures, content from these links and guest lectures will be tested too.

The quiz is conducted in the auditorium. Everyone will be handed 1 OAS paper and the questions will be displayed on the screen using powerpoint. Each question will appear for 40 seconds. There will then be a second run through of the questions (30 seconds each) to allow you to check your answers. The question ranges from theory, to techniques, to case study questions. The average for the quiz was very average, I got quite a shitty mark of 13/25 but it was near the average haha.

For the exam, it is 2 hours. First half of the paper was the scenario-based qn, 2nd part was 40 mcqs. I went to do the 40 mcqs first and zoomed through it in half an hour. The format was similar to that of the quiz. I felt like I guessed through like half of them LOL. Then I went back to the scenario qn and thought for a very long time. I spent 1 hr 15 mins on that. They test your analytical skills, it was a very interesting question. It was an enjoyable question to do.

My memory is bad as hell, but I still decided not to SU. Regrets? I don't know, I just didn't feel like using my SU this sem ahaha. I just took it with the mentality I'll accept any grade I get.

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TL;DR: Not difficult but content heavy.
I will recommend if: Your memory is good. LOL
Because like what I have said above, they will ask you to the nitty-gritty details.

Quiz: 13/25
Final grade (under UE): A- (omg! Much better than I thought :D)