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.
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)
20% CA (25 marks MCQ) - Week 9
80% Finals (40 marks scenario-based question, 40 marks MCQ)
-----
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.
-----
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)
OMGGGGG A!!! Please advise some tips to study those links because I am someone who read really slow.....
ReplyDeleteStart reading early, it's difficult to cram everything into the brain last minute:)
DeleteDon't neglect the case studies examples because they come out in mcq and also the forensic methods for the case study question.
Good luck for exam!