As many of you know, NUS has recently announced the merging of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and the Faculty of Science (FoS)
to form a new college (College of Humanities and Sciences, or CHS) alongside a brand new curriculum.
I have recently completed my first semester under that curriculum, and I thought it would be helpful to share my own thoughts on the program for all you incoming freshmen who are considering CHS. But as always, please be mindful that this is my own opinion, and while you can take it into account when considering CHS, it is also very possible that your experience results in a different opinion.
And without further ado, here is the good, the bad, and the in-betweens of the CHS curriculum!
The Good
Regardless of the many complaints from students, CHS does have some good points.
Firstly, it does achieve some form of interdisciplinary education, which is positive in itself. Given the increased competition in the job market and the global trends in education, interdisciplinary education in particular has been shown to be highly valued by employers. This is because interdisciplinary education often teaches students foundational skills that are required, regardless of the job.
For example, under the CHS curriculum, they have a module (FAS1101) that teaches students how to plan essays and write academically. This can help students to develop critical writing and communication skills. It also helps students to develop some form of critical thinking, as proper academic articles require considering both perspectives and rebutting arguments. These skills are valued in the workforce, and are additional advantages when applying for jobs.
CHS also provides modules that are doable for both science and humanities students. I believe the professors are fully aware that students who select sciences tend to dislike humanities subjects, and can feel anxious about being graded on humanities modules (and vice versa of humanities students for science mods). However, from my experience the professors are fully aware of this, and are doing their best to ensure that the curriculum is not too difficult for everyone.
For example, in the Human Condition module (HSH1000), the professors and teaching assistants are always doing their best to reassure students who feel anxious, and are humble enough to request feedback for the module overall so that they can adjust. They are also more than happy to stay back after class to clarify any questions you might have about the concepts, and will do their best to explain it to you in a way that you can understand.
CHS has also managed to tailor certain modules to certain faculties. For example, under the ‘Digital Literacy’ requirement, students taking a science major are required to read a specific module based on their major. So, for example, students majoring in chemistry are required to take CM3267 – a computational module specifically for chemistry. Meanwhile, students majoring in life sciences are going to take LSM2302. Both modules fulfill the ‘digital literacy’ requirement, but are tailored to the specific major. FASS students are given a different list of modules that fulfill the requirement, but the modules are tailored to be less mathematical in nature and more suited for humanities students who are cautious about taking any ‘science’ or ‘math’ mods.
Finally, CHS is also willing to accept feedback – they are aware that this curriculum is rather new, and so they often send out feedback forms for students to fill in. Although, it must be said that the forms are for the modules themselves instead of CHS as a whole. But regardless, at least the professors in the modules are kind enough to take the time and read the feedback, and address the feedback after each round. From my experience, they truly do want to improve, and a lot of them do their best to make the module better for us students.
Having said that, there are many things that can be improved on the whole.
The Bad
As with any system, there are always negatives that come along with the positives. The first main negative is the fact that the program is relatively disorganized. It is a very new program, and they are testing it out on my cohort, and so I can understand and give a little leeway for it. However, it makes planning rather difficult. Most university students plan for the three or four years of study, and have strategized which module they want to take in which semester. Unfortunately, with CHS, planning has become rather difficult. We are supposed to take thirteen common curriculum modules, but some of those modules have not been planned yet.
This hinders some of my planning, particularly for a SEP (Student Exchange Programme). Most students tend to go on exchange in year three, but I am unsure whether the two interdisciplinary modules will be pre-allocated. I am also unsure whether I should take Scientific Inquiry II in semester one or two, as the module I am interested in isn’t up on NUS Mods.
Another negative aspect is the modules in itself. I personally feel that some of the modules are not the most strategic in terms of the content. Although the modules are created with the intent of instilling critical and important skills to students, some of the modules do not translate that well. Some of the modules feel as though they are too ‘shallow’ or ‘superficial’, while others result in negative student sentiment towards the module in general.
Furthermore, students from science often feel as if they should be doing science instead of humanities (and vice versa). This combines with the negative sentiments towards the modules, and can often result in a lack of cooperation in group projects and discussions. There are typical scenarios of group members turning off their microphones and cameras during discussions, or refusing to do any work in a group project because they plan to S/U the module due to intense dislike.
The In-Between: What CHS Can Do To Improve
I personally think CHS could consider increasing the number of S/Us students have. There are students who tend to find them ‘irrelevant’ and ‘a waste of time’, and are often not too passionate about it. This harms students two-fold: firstly, students don’t want to study that module, and so the grades decrease; secondly, students don’t put effort into group projects because they don’t care about the module, so they affect those who are actually trying.
Although the university has tried to counter this by allowing students to S/U a D instead of a C and allowing students to S/U all modules in semester two, I personally argue that it is still not enough, especially given the difficulties that come with common curriculum modules.
Furthermore, in terms of the module planning, I personally think that CHS could reconsider some of the modules in the core curriculum. For example, they could have chosen politics or international relations as a common core module. Regardless of what subject one does, it is always important to be aware of current affairs, and to be able to analyze the world around us. It also develops important critical thinking and communication skills.
Overall, CHS does show potential as a curriculum: it is undeniable that interdisciplinary education is advantageous, both in forwarding the talent of Singapore and equipping students with skills to face the future. However, it is still in the (very) early stages, and improvements can be made to the system.
But of course, this is just my personal opinion. Feel free to share your own experiences!
This has got to be the most popular myth that virtually everyone believes.
Somehow, we feel that by being occupied throughout the entire day, we are accomplishing many things and moving one step closer to our end goal.
However, I’m sure you would have realised that while there were days where your schedule was packed to the brim, you might not have cleared much important work at all.
Tim Ferriss, the author of “The 4-Hour Workweek”, once said in his book that “being perpetually busy is a kind of laziness” and I couldn’t agree more.
This is because it takes much more effort to sit down and identify what is the most efficient way to complete your tasks and what tasks should be cleared first (i.e. the most important tasks) compared to just trying to do a bunch of random things with no real strategy throughout the day.
So what is the lesson here? One, we should focus on working smart before working hard so that our efforts will get us the most bang for our buck. If you’re a student, working smart could mean things like replacing passive study techniques with active ones!
Two, we should carefully dictate our priorities for the day, the tasks that will, upon completion, move us much closer to our end goal. We can utilise certain frameworks like the Eisenhower Decision Matrix to help us with this decision-making process.
The Eisenhower Decision Matrix. Photo by 
If you’re like me and you enjoy watching “A Productive Day In The Life Of…” YouTube videos, you would soon come to realise that many YouTubers advocate waking up early to seize the day, some even waking up at 330AM!
Hence, it is can be easy to be led to believe that waking up early is the KEY to productivity and success.
However, that couldn’t be further from the truth!
According to this 
Many of us may think of taking a break as taking one step back.
But let me offer another imagery instead. It is more accurate to say that taking a break is like taking a momentary step back so that we can move three steps forward later, instead of taking one step forward.
Research gathered by 
Believe it or not, they would be your greatest saviours when you are stuck on a difficult tutorial question or assignment question. They make tough days manageable. They keep you accountable on days when you just don’t feel like getting out of bed and go for physical lectures and tutorials. They are people you hop by the café with after class ends.
Make sure to make tons of friends from your own major and CCAs. They are the people that help you get through life.
Ask for the telegram handle of the kid who sits next to you in your lecture or tutorial. Form groups to discuss tutorial or assignment questions together!
Get friends to keep yourself accountable!
Planning out your days by putting in the lecture and tutorial timings, along with your external commitments will help you be much more productive.
As a university student, time is everything.
You only have four years, eight semesters to accomplish whatever you want to in your university life. Make sure to spend each and every semester wisely.
Go out with your friends often, even those not from your course, faculty or university. It’s always good to get out of the study zone and get some fresh air when you need it.
Taking a break once in a while is crucial in giving you the strength to move farther in your university journey. So don’t feel guilty when you rest. Your body needs it.
May all NUS kids have a great winter and a fresh start to Semester 2! All the best in beating the bell curves and making friends!
We feel ashamed that we could not make it work.
As teenagers and adults, we often feel that we should have everything in check. We often assume that we should have everything figured out, just like how others seem like they have everything figured out. We feel a sense of uneasiness. We are afraid of seeking help—it makes us feel weak and inadequate—but this often makes us feel more isolated. Humans are innately social creatures. We crave affection. We crave attention. We crave social contact. Losing contact with friends just goes against all of the things we want.
Self-love does not just mean eating a chocolate chip cookie or taking a bubble bath. Self-love means radically changing your relationship with yourself. It means calming anxious thoughts, healing depressed minds, and decreasing eating disorder behaviours. It means being kind, and being consistent in swiping away our inner “mean girl”.
The critical parts of ourselves, our inner “mean girl” are meant to help us survive. They are aspects of ourselves that created strategies for our safety and survival. They function as an advanced neural network of a computer system that is built for purely two reasons—connection and safety.
When distressing events or traumatic scenarios occur, our brains create an understanding or belief of how the world works. And these beliefs or expectations are merely reinforced as we grow up, though they are often outdated and sometimes even get in the way of our successes and happiness. These memories and images are permanently stored in our hard drive, with the only solution being befriending ourselves, even the critique, wounded and protective parts.
When you buy crypto on an exchange, the exchange will charge you trading fees. The fees charged vary from exchange to exchange. Thus, fees are one big factor you should consider when selecting the crypto exchange you use as some fees can be hefty. I use the ActiveTrader interface on the Gemini exchange because the fees average about 0.25% to 0.35%, which is currently one of the lowest rates out there.
Besides trading fees, you should also consider currency exchange rates. Many crypto exchanges require you to convert Singapore Dollars (SGD) into United States Dollars (USD) before you can purchase crypto. Many people use their bank services to convert the money.
Lastly, you should take note of gas fees. Gas fees are incurred when you execute transactions on the blockchain. This means that you have to pay gas fees when you want to transfer the crypto from your exchange to your wallet. Ethereum is notorious for high gas fees. You are able to determine how fast you want your transaction to go through, though. The higher the speed, the higher the fee.
Be very careful when sending your crypto to your wallet. Make sure you choose the right token to get the right address. Each token has its own address. Sending Bitcoin to an Ethereum address would cause you to be unable to retrieve it.
One suggestion that’s commonly given to beginners is to send a small amount as a test sum. This is the smart thing to do if you’ve never tried to send crypto to that particular wallet address. After all, there is no way to reverse a transaction so it’s best to play safe when it comes to crypto.
A word of advice is to split your crypto between two wallets or more just in case a wallet app goes into maintenance right when you want to withdraw your crypto to sell it. It is also good to have two or more exchanges you can use at any one time for the same reason—should one of them go under maintenance, you can still buy or sell crypto.