SSA2204: Nation building in Singapore

So I thought I'd do another module review before I leave for Korea. Shall review the SS module that I took. Don't really understand why people take more than one ss module. It's just a university requirement to me, so I guess the rest enjoy ss modules more.

So I took SSA2204: Nation building in Singapore. Took in Year 2011/2012 Sem 1.Bid points was quite high, I think 350 (round number, which means it probably was a year one who bidded this. I normally bid either 354 or 357), probably because of the year 1s bidding to fulfill this requirement in their first sem.

This is probably one of the more interesting ss modules, judging from its popularity. And it was really quite interesting as well. As the title suggests, it's a module about building a nation, which is almost similar to social studies in secondary school, with a lot more detail. There were two lecturers, Prof Albert Lau who covered the more history type of content such as colonial rule, merger with Malaya as well as independence, and Prof Sai Siew Min who covered the more thematic content such as housing and education. Luckily for me, both lecturers were quite interesting so it wasn't difficult to pay attention.

I enjoyed the lectures though it became a little boring sometimes. I enjoyed reading some of the readings as well. Some of them offered quite a fresh insight and perspective about the process of nation building itself as well as social immobility which I found to be quite insightful. But might I warn you first. There is really a lot of readings to read, which I think many didn't finish reading. I did read everything but I don't think it was very useful since the exam format is essays and you only show that you read the readings when you can quote the evidence from the readings and write them in, which sadly I didn't. I read so many but couldn't remember most of them. So I'd say just remember the significant ones and think of how you can structure them in your essays. And I would say giving a balanced viewpoint is very important, as always.

As for tutorials, it's once every fortnight, and it's going through of the essay question that we're supposed to prepare beforehand so that we can present to the class. But I was always lost and got terribly stressed after each tutorial session. It didn't really help that my tutor was not the type to provide model answers. Really don't know how I managed to study for the exams.

Assessment was 2 CAs, 10% each, 20% went to class participation and 60% for the final exam. The CAs didn't really matter because it's just 10% each. I didn't do very well for the CAs. Probably a B- and a B+ for each. Both CAs were rather source based because they gave us sources and asked some questions related to it. I wouldn't count on just the source alone because you need other information from the readings as well.

It would be better to participate during the tutorials to get that 20%. My tutor made us do a debate, so I think everyone got at least a little bit of marks. Final exam was 2 essays, one from each lecturer. During the exam, just write non-stop because there are a lot of arts students taking it as well and I'd think they are better at writing compared to me, a science student so I just gave many points and evidence. The essay writing format is really like O levels history. So it wasn't that hard. But I'd say I got lucky because the questions were quite straight forward in the sem I took it in. And I kind of expected those questions so I prepared for them beforehand. There are past year questions that you can refer to that can be downloaded from the library website so it'd be quite useful to prepare yourself for the type of questions they can ask. Personally I got quite a shock because the questions were really difficult (for the past year papers, that is).

So yep, I'd recommend this module to anyone who needs to fulfill the requirement. I learnt quite a bit from the readings and the lectures and not just the same old things from social studies. But the readings can pile up to quite a thick stack if you don't read them diligently every week because there really is a lot to read if you're not an arts student and prefer more factual and science-y content like me. But if you dislike social studies or writing essays(like me), maybe you can look for other modules that are MCQs like natural heritage sss1207 if I remember correctly!(: