Advices Needed: Uni CAP Calculation

dkcx SG

Hi people,

Thanks a lot for your replies! Really appreciate it! =)

I'm actually a Science student majoring in Life Sciences and I'm from JC. My friends from poly were telling me they used up their S/U options in their first semester. But like what MaNyZeR had said, they have less S/U-able modules and hence, can afford to do so. After doing some calculation of MCs, I have around 12 S/U-able modules to take in total (inclusive of the 2 GEMS, 2 Breadths and 1 SS modules). And out of these 12, I can only choose to S/U three of them. Thus, I'm not sure if I should really exercise my S/U options right now.

Personally, I find that it's really difficult to even get an A-, let alone an A or A+. The cohort is very competitive, I would say. And because NUS goes by the bell curve system, I find myself at a disadvantage when the cohort is really good. For example, one of my CAs, my raw score was around 40/50 but I was awarded with a C grade as there were just too many people scoring full marks, 49 and 48.

And like what many have said, we can pull up the CAP over semesters. But it gets increasingly difficult to pull up as time goes by because the modules will definitely get tougher and the impact of the results in our later years on our CAP seems to decrease over time as well since we are taking on more and more MCs. So is it true to say that the starting CAP we have is important? And thus, we should try to get a CAP as high as possible in our starting semesters?

The deadline for S/U option is tomorrow and I'm still very much caught in this delimma.

A higher CAP now or later has the same effect since yr 1-3 modules all have the same weightage and count the same to your overall CAP. Why alot of people think that later yr modules dun affect their CAP much is simply because your CAP is the overall of ALL your modules and when you have 5 modules and when you have 20 modules, obvious the effect on the 5 modules is alot more than the 20 modules.

It would be best for you to try to roughly plan what are the 12 modules you plan to take that are SUable and see whether any of them you feel might be challenging for you. I have any peers who spent their SUs very quickly in 1st yr when they feel the content is tough and regret in later yrs cos the same module taken in senior yrs might be harder to score not because the module is more difficult but because the latter yrs core modules get tougher and more time is spent on them which reduce the amount of time and effort you have to spent on electives.

mdfjami SG

I'm actually a Science student majoring in Life Sciences and I'm from JC. My friends from poly were telling me they used up their S/U options in their first semester. But like what MaNyZeR had said, they have less S/U-able modules and hence, can afford to do so. After doing some calculation of MCs, I have around 12 S/U-able modules to take in total (inclusive of the 2 GEMS, 2 Breadths and 1 SS modules). And out of these 12, I can only choose to S/U three of them. Thus, I'm not sure if I should really exercise my S/U options right now.

Personally, I find that it's really difficult to even get an A-, let alone an A or A+. The cohort is very competitive, I would say. And because NUS goes by the bell curve system, I find myself at a disadvantage when the cohort happens to be really good. For example, for one of my core module CAs, my raw score was around 40/50 but I was awarded with a C grade as there were just too many people scoring full marks, 49 and 48. Then again, I couldn't S/U that module if I did too badly because it's one of my core modules and thus, not S/U-able.

I just graduated from Life Sciences.

Haha, anything about modules wise you can ask me.

LSM1102 gave me a shock because that was the first time in my life I got a D for a CA which I prepared for exhaustively.

Really have to warn you, year 2 will be extremely challenging. LSM 2101 2102 and 2103 are very hard core. :p

I can understand the sentiment of A- being very difficult to obtain..

Seriously buck up and study like mad. Not meant as an discouragement but as a challenge to you. It only starts to get "easier" in year 3. And much more fun, IMO.

And year 4 is very interesting, challenging and fun. If you take the modules what you really enjoy..

Again, encourage you to S/U now. I never understood the rationale of holding back S/Us. Or CORs bidding points. Its not as if you can cash out $1 for each point you have in your general account. but a lot of my life sci friends have thousand over points in their general account when they grad, and only bid the minimum required to get elective modules.

What core are you taking next sem? What electives are you considering.

eagle SG

I only used my S/Us in my 4th year...

and I took 183 MCs in total out of 4 years...

Lame Reason: I have the S/Us left, but haven't take modules, so take extra to make use of the S/Us lor...

Actual Reason: Cuz I really wanted to take extra. Since I'm not an arts students, my electives were all foreign language classes, namely German 1-5, Jap 1-2

onigiri SG

Yup, I get your point regarding the CAP being the same overall regardless of whether I've S/U-ed in earlier years or later years. I've roughly planned out what are the 12 S/U-able modules which I can take but I can't say for sure if I will do well in them, because like what you've said, as we move on to latter years, we will have less time and effort to spend on these non-core modules.

That's why I don't know if I should use the S/U on this B- or wait till there's a C and exercise it.

Thanks for the fab replies nonetheless! =)

onigiri SG

I just graduated from Life Sciences.

Haha, anything about modules wise you can ask me.

LSM1102 gave me a shock because that was the first time in my life I got a D for a CA which I prepared for exhaustively.

Really have to warn you, year 2 will be extremely challenging. LSM 2101 2102 and 2103 are very hard core. :p

I can understand the sentiment of A- being very difficult to obtain..

Seriously buck up and study like mad. Not meant as an discouragement but as a challenge to you. It only starts to get "easier" in year 3. And much more fun, IMO.

And year 4 is very interesting, challenging and fun. If you take the modules what you really enjoy..

What core are you taking next sem? What electives are you considering.

I think next semester I will be taking 1102 and 1103 and probably the chem module 1401 as my core modules. My peers were telling me 1102 and chem 1401 are really tough modules so I'm actually quite worried for the next semester.

As for electives, I'm thinking of taking up a freshmen seminar module (since it's 4 MCs, no exam and goes by the S/U grading without having to use up any of my S/U options) and japanese 2 module (since I thought I did pretty okay for japanese 1).

I loved 1104 and enjoyed the lectures tremendously. Though I mugged hard for it, the results weren't what I desired despite the fact that the exam is in MCQ format. The competition is really stiff.

Anyway, I've just withdrawn from my second major programme today so that the module which I got B- in can be S/U-ed if I want to do so.

So, in your opinion, I should just go ahead with the S/U-ing?

onigiri SG

if you are willing to spend extra money, one cunning way is to take more than the recommended number of modules... and do it by taking them in special semesters... Study extremely hard to get As for these modules to pull up your grades

I have a friend who did that but only manage to get a B at the end because the pace was way too fast. Is it true?
And anyway, $600 plus for one module in special sem is really... expensive man. LOL.

mdfjami SG

Oh, yr taking Jap. No wonder. I took Jap too. Very demanding in terms of workload haha. But I enjoyed it very much. If you perservere to Jap 5 or 6, I think yr command of Japanese will be very amazing. Haha. Which sensei is teaching Jap 2?

(tell you a harsh truth, studying for Japanese might pull down yr major's CAP due to the long hours required.. but I still can remember the kaiwas I had to "perform" from Jap 1, so many years from now haha.)

If the old prof is still teaching bacterial plasmids for 1102, study hard for that. Because the scope he teaches is very little, the questions he can set are very limited. Ie draw and label the plasmid etc. That was 4 years ago though so I donno whether this advice is relavant.

(My time, 1103 was closed book essay qn. So there were people who actually failed biodiversity. lol. but not relavant to your concerns so nvm.)

Glad that you are mugging hard. Yes full marks is obtainable and many students do perform excellently, so the competition every year is tough. Level 1 is tough because its easy.. quite a paradox.

I'd say, choose your GEM and SS modules very wisely so it doesn't interfere with the language and core module studies. S/U the B- and vow to do better. Might want to consider saving the S/Us for Jap 3 and above though. Since year 2 will be as crazy as hell.

You might want to consider JS1101. Easy, and quite fun. But must find good project kakis. Morita sensei, if she's teaching, is also a very nice person.

onigiri SG

(My time, 1103 was closed book essay qn. So there were people who actually failed biodiversity. lol. but not relavant to your concerns so nvm.)

Glad that you are mugging hard. Yes full marks is obtainable and many students do perform excellently, so the competition every year is tough. Level 1 is tough because its easy.. quite a paradox.

You might want to consider JS1101. Easy, and quite fun. But must find good project kakis. Morita sensei, if she's teaching, is also a very nice person.

Oh I see. How did you do for both Jap modules? I've gotten a B+ for Jap 1. So I don't know if I should continue on with Jap 2. And you are right about the workload. Have to really spend lotsa time and effort on it. Kaiwas are still all right I think. Quizzes are really frequent but ultimately, it's the listening comprehension quizzes that really kill! They are talking at the speed of Shinkansen! =S

I love the module as it's really interesting and it's something which I like. However, doing well in it is a totally different story. (T.T)

In fact, there's a lot of modules which I find interesting and would like to take but because of this CAP system, I need to consider if they will eventually bring up or jeopardise my CAP before taking them. Sigh.

dkcx SG

The SU system was meant for people to take modules they are interested in so they can take it without worrying about how it would affect their CAP

mdfjami SG

Took until Jap 3. B+/B/S

Yeah, its interesting and fun. I always felt year 1 is the best time to take Japanese, because the workload is still relatively light. Quite easy to make friends there too, compared to science classes, lol.

Yeah, not easy to do well for it. I spent much more time on my japanese modules than my core modules, but I wouldn't recommend that to any LS major. One of my friends took the Japanese modules planning to S/U it, because he liked japanese but didn't want to neglect his LS modules.

Both of us eventually took Japanese lessons outside, did our JLPTs etc.

Another one of my LS seniors, studied until Jap 3, took the overseas summer intensive course at Akita, came back and took Jap 6. (I think they write essays with thousands of words or something. No joke o.o ) I think he's worked as an interpretor for a while then moved to Japan for further studies or something. But he's really passionate about Japanese and japanese culture. So he graduated with a B.Sc and a strong command of Japanese.

Since you are interested in Japanese, why don't you take for one more sem and see how it goes? As the above poster mentioned, S/U is actually meant for these kind of subjects.

onigiri SG

Took until Jap 3. B+/B/S

Both of us eventually took Japanese lessons outside, did our JLPTs etc.

Since you are interested in Japanese, why don't you take for one more sem and see how it goes? As the above poster mentioned, S/U is actually meant for these kind of subjects.

I see. So I should just go ahead with the S/U-ing?

Considering that I have 12 S/U-able modules to take, and now that I've only cleared 2 out of the 12. It won't be too risky to use my S/U-options right now, in my very first semester?

mdfjami SG

I see. So I should just go ahead with the S/U-ing?

Considering that I have 12 S/U-able modules to take, and now that I've only cleared 2 out of the 12. It won't be too risky to use my S/U-options right now, in my very first semester?

S/U and study harder OR

Don't S/U and study harder.

The second part is more important ultimately.

I'd S/U if I were you, but eventually it's your subsequent results that determine your honors class, not whether you S/U a B- or not.

onigiri SG

Thanks for all the advices! They were a great help! =)

Shotgun SG

That's not true. 0.175 is a lot in CAP terms. I have a friend who missed 2nd upper just by 0.05.

First year, first sem, 0.175 is not worth it.

Give another semester and it will be worth trying to pull that 0.175. Like i said, the real CAP pulling starts when you can bag 3-4 A-'s and 1 S/U option. That will pull CAP much more effectively.

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