My last exam has recently ended last Wednesday (2 Dec), and now that I have had some time to cool off and reflect, it is time to write about my experiences this past semester.
I came into this semester straight after completing a very intense internship with Prof. Ben Leong - CVWO (Computing for Voluntary Welfare Organisations). Hence, I was rather tired and thought I would take some easier modules so as to avoid burnout. I only took 5 modules this semester, 1 less than the usual 6 that most year 2 students take. The modules were:
- Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (CS3243)
- Computer Organisation (CS2100)
- Probability (ST2131)
- Software Engineering (CS2103T)
- Effective Communication for Computing Professionals (CS2101)
In addition to these 5 modules, I was also a Teaching Assistant (TA) for Discrete Structures (CS1231S), an introductory math module all CS students must take. I was in charge of 1 tutorial group and we had lessons every Thursday from 4pm to 6pm.
Well, I thought that since I was only taking 5 modules, the workload would be lighter than usual. However, what I did not know just yet was that I had severely underestimated the workload and difficulty of several of these modules as well as my TA responsibilities. Here is what a standard week looked like during my semester:
By itself, this is not that heavy. However, each of these modules had a far higher workload than I expected. CS3243 had weekly assignments and scribes, all of which were graded. CS2100 had weekly labs and tutorials, of which the labs were graded. ST2131 was extremely challenging and I had to work doubly hard throughout the module to ensure I did not fall behind. CS2103T had weekly quizzes and group meetings, and is well-known for being a very heavy module in NUS. CS2101 was supposed to be easy, but turned out to be rather intensive, requiring us to write reflections almost every 2 weeks. Furthermore, I also had to spend 2-3 hours a week preparing for my tutorial on Thursday. All these todos resulted in me having extremely packed days for most of the semester. Needless to say, I was tired.
In fact, during some of the weeks (especially the weeks when deadlines were due), I almost burnt out and gave up. This was a new experience for me because I had never felt this way before in my life. Thankfully, I grit my teeth and I managed to complete the semester. I believe I did reasonably well for my finals, I write another blog post once my grades are out.
Looking back, I am really glad the semester is over. However, I also know that the road enough is only going to get tougher and more challenging, it seems daunting and probably is. However, that is why this holiday is so important - it will give me the necessary time to recuperate and evaluate how to do better next semester.
Some lessons I learnt this semster:
- Create opportunities for human interaction (especially with Covid19, staying home all day long can be really bad for your mental health)
- There will always be someone better than you at something, so don’t be too affected by it, and don’t constantly compare yourself with others
- You must expect to work your ass off and still get unsatisfactory results, it is just how life works
- Learn to rationalise and put bad days behind you, the more you push yourself the higher your expectations become so the you must exepect to be disappointed more often
It has been a difficult semester, time to chill out for a bit and explore some other interests.