Memories...
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
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FOR HONOURS AND GLORY?
Well, I promised myself earlier to blog about Honours year..so here goes.
On your left is a picture of only 80% (I repeat, only 80%) of the readings for one (just one) of my level4 modules, The Study of War. And this is already excluding some of the supplementary readings.
I m sure many of us, as we rose through the ranks from year 1 to year 3 in the past, have often heard from past year 4 seniors of how tough honours year was, but you dun really stop and think much about it.
Woa, but it really hits you when u reach honours year yourself. The jump from level 3 to level 4 modules is really really huge. And its not funny man.
For a start, the smaller seminar class (instead of lecture style) means that almost everybody ll come under the microscope of your Professor, which in turn means that you cant skip any single lesson at all. (Confirm ll be detected). And its not as if anyone will attempt to skip lessons anyway (unlike from year1 to year3), for tutorial participation weighs a seriously high percentage, at least 20 - 30% for almost all my four level4 modules.
Moreover, your Professors expect that you come to class having ALREADY read all the necessary readings and ready to discuss, share your opinions, and even teach the rest of the classmates. Mutual learning, so to speak. Not finish class oredi then go and do your readings.
And its 3 hours long each time, making it really tiring and draining at times.
Considering that tutorial participation constitutes such a high percentage as I pointed out earlier, the challenge comes in making yourself heard and presenting sensible views or arguments. Let's not forget that the honours class contains some of the best and brightest students from each cohort, meaning to say that you are effectively pitting your wits and intellect with potential 1st class and 2nd upper students. In other words, if you talk crap, bullshit or attempt to smoke your way through, you run a very high chance of being flamed, ridiculed, or blown away by your classmates. Its not like level 1000 - 3000 modules where its painstakingly obvious that most people do not do their readings when they come to tutorials and all just try to play the bluff game together.
So the point is that even when you speak in class, you have to be very very mindful of what you say, and make sure that what you say make sense.
Moving on, most level4 modules do not have lecture notes prepared by the Profs. So again, you are pretty much expected to prepare and jot down whatever you can by yourself. For the readings, it is also very much DIY. And the truth is that a lot of us year4s spend a lot a lot of time researching and zapping stuff man. The urgency of getting the required readings early also means that most honours students ll be hunting down the same essential books and it can be difficult to get hold of what you need esp when the book is not in RBR.
In terms of content, needless to say, level4 mods are also much more cheem and deep. Often, there are no real answers to questions but only what you see, what you believe in, and what you argue for.
Finally, each essay for each hons mod requires approximately 5, 000 words. Meaning to say with four level4 mods this sem, I have 20, 000 words waiting for me haha. And essay weightage this time is also relatively higher, ranging from 30% to 40%. Furthermore, lecturers ll be expecting deeper analysis and sounder arguments from an honours essay, and definitely, much much more effort needs to put into essays compared to level1-3 essays.
So as you can see, the above reasons are sound explanations for why dear Hocky has been inside the library on just the 2nd day of school last week!! Breaking my own personal record! Duh. And why Leonie and Chongz were oredi inside the lib on the 1st dae haha. And why for the 1st time in my NUS career, i have oredi started readings in the 1st week of school. Wah piang eh mai xiao xiao leh.
And as I was telling some other Honours brothers-in-arms like Jianwu, Chongz, Leonie and Alvin, the realization suddenly hit you that being diligent, hardworking and doing yr readings on time (note that i am trying to code the phrase being a mugger) means that aspects of your social life will really be affected for the year ahead as well. There ll be less time for playing or fooling around, and more weekends are going to be spent catching up on readings quietly. The library ll also inevitably become a more popular and hip place heh.
Not all is gloom and doom though. Let us now explore some of the more optimistic aspects of life as an Honours student:
1st, there is no bell curve. You will supposedly deservedly reap what you sow.
2nd, honours class being much smaller in cohort, you ll finally get to noe 1 another much better, and see much much more familiar faces in class, and make new friends from the same batch. =)
3rd, I believe one ll learn how to speed read and QC much more efficiently and effectively.
4th, we get to enjoy the new Arts Canteen for 1 more year!
5th, we get more time to polish up our resumes, attend more recruitment talks, and really think and prepare in advance for the careers which we wish to pursue.
6th, it does feel good and cool (i think) being the oldest students walking around campus haha!
7th, for those who are hoping to get attached before they graduate, there is still 1 more year to work on it! n_n
8th, when seminar discussions go really deep and intensive, sometimes you really get an unexplainable satisfaction of intellectual stimulation. Your mind continues to be sharpened and active.
9th, you get one last chance to attend FOP (which a lot of us oredi have). But hey! I m oredi looking foward to forming a team for Arts Open 07 and Bike Quest 08 haha. On a personal note, i m glad i ll have the chance to see a 5th Management Committee in action. Have seen 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, and coming to 28th MC heh.
10th, I ll have 1 more year to spend a lot of time with my beloved 26th MC friends, and in a way, i m really looking foward to graduating and commencement with some of them. n_n
Finally, I feel that being able to survive honours year in itself is oredi a great achievement, and it is a challenge i m really relishing, esp in my drive for 2nd Upper. Really determined to push myself academically and do the best i can. But at the same time, I am mindful of the fact that at the end of the day, results are only a passport to that job interview, and its important not to become overly obsessed with results and neglect other important things in life.
