Sunday, January 28, 2007  

[A different type of stress...]

This is my 5th semester in NUS. I have, in the past, claimed that the current semester was the toughest ever, blah blah blah. I was stressed, sure. But I could handle it, because the stress was from the amount of work and not from not-knowing how to get it done.

This time, it's different.

I'm stressed not because of the amount of work I have to complete, but because I don't know how to get it done. My HYP, for one, has a lot of question-marks yet to be erased. If that wasn't enough, I was assigned my last choice for my TMT module. Unlike others who have to teach a lower level module, all I had to do was to do assignment-related stuff for a networking module. I'm supposed to try out the assignment to make sure it's do-able, grade those that are rejected by the course-marker (for whatever reason), and offer consultation hours for students facing problems in their assignments.

Here's the kicker. The first assignment is out. Students were supposed to write a HTTP POST method (or something like that). Yes, it's a networking module. And no, I don't see the link. It's the same networking module that gave me a hard time in my first semester (and me, from a networking concentration in Poly), mainly because 80% of the material really had nothing to do with real-world networking. We didn't touch a single piece of networking equipment back then, and I'm sure the current students won't neither.

What has programming (or in this case, re-inventing the wheel since HTTP POST has already been written) got to do with a networking module? You tell me. So here I am, assigned to "help out" in a module I hated, and I'm supposed to be good at something I know totally nothing about. I could probably teach some of the other lower level modules with an eye closed, but instead they gave me one which wanted me to "teach" things that I knew nothing about. I got "A"s and "A-"s for some of the modules in my preferred list, but yet they assigned me one which I got a "B+" in.

So to sum it up. Problems with HYP and TMT. And also possibly problems with my IT outsourcing module. Mostly because the project 95% exactly like a HYP.

Great.

^^^ by Locksley @ 9:19 PM. 3 comments.
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[Comments]

I'm guessing your HYP is the final year project. Don't worry about it. I was in the same situation as you. My advice is to take a step back, focus on the big picture. Take one question at a time. Before you knew it, a path will be laid out for u!!! :)
networking was a pain for me too, all thanks to Prof P***
I wasn't taught by him, but I've heard the stories. :P

I think that the problem is that they are using the wrong book for the module. The textbook they are using is great for academic/research(?) purposes, but not at all good for real-world application.
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