Jason Phan | My SIM-UB Academic Journey

MUS 113 Music and Society

Instructor: Dr. Samuel Wong Shengmiao

This module comprises of 4 components:

Individual Presentation   20% Journal Logs (10 entries) 30% Final Exam 20% Attendance  30%

For this module, one day is allocated for lecture and the other for presentations. So for each week of the semester, students will have to do a short 5 minute presentation of any topic of their choice. You will only need to present once for the entire sem. After the presentations, Professor Wong will review each topic and teach the class based on what you have presented. Some of the topics presented were quite interesting, like music and vegetables! Professor Wong’s lectures are also very insightful and enjoyable! You basically just have to turn up for class, listen and take notes. The exam is based off his lectures, so as long as you turn up for all the lectures you’ll be able to easily answer all the questions on the exam. The exam comprises of 20 short answer questions of which the answers are mostly one word. As for the journal logs, you just have to write a one-page entry on anything that you have learned from class, either from the lectures or presentations!

Overall, very enjoyable mod. Professor Wong is great as well, he’s very likeable and has so many interesting things to share in class. If you are hesitant that this class is music theory based, I assure you it is nothing like that. Do try this module, it is manageable and there are many takeaways from it!

My grade for this course: A

MTH 115 Survey of Algebra and Trigonometry

Instructor: Arthur Cho

This module is fairly manageable with 3 exams (30% each) and 10% attendance. You will most likely be able to do decently in this module as most of the topics covered are concepts you have studied before in secondary school. For example, algebra, linear/quadratic equations, functions, logarithm and exponential functions. So essentially, a review! You will mostly be practising math questions in class with Arthur and that’s it. No extra assignments to do afterwards, just 3 main exams.

This module is compulsory for some first year majors (psychology) in their first sem but if you need a 4 credit free elective, this module is not bad given the light workload. The level of difficulty for this module is also not that hard. Arthur is also a very helpful instructor with a great personality really!

My grade for this course: A

PHI 101 Philosophy

Instructor: Jason Phan

There are 2 components in this module, three 700 word comments (95%) and participation (5%). Participation is necessary in this class, otherwise the highest grade you can achieve will only be A- definitely.

This module was enjoyable, however I would say it is challenging. Given it is Philosophy, so be prepared to think, and to think very hard. Topics covered in each semester vary, but for Fall we covered Wealth, Inequality, Emotions and Love as well as the Meaning of life. For each class, we usually discuss about these topics and share our reasoning in class. This may be daunting for those who are afraid to speak in class, but Jason will open each class with a google link for you to share your opinions or ask any questions as an alternative. You will have to participate regularly in order to receive participation grades, otherwise submitting your views online is not enough.

For this module, you only need to write a 700 word comment on any given topic. Jason has a blog set up for this module and will release a series of questions on each topic for you to comment on. You are to offer your opinion and insight on each. Fair warning, you’d have to think out of the box or offer an insight that is not predictable in order to score.

Many of the concepts taught in this class truly offered a different perspective and questioned many of my fundamental beliefs. We discussed things like marriage and whether or not it made sense as well as love, whether we truly loved a person or just their qualities. I learned the most in this class really and I realised that Philosophy is not what most of us think it is. In all honesty, this module is not easy at all but it is worth trying. There will also be an extra credit at the end, where you can write your takeaway from the sem. I found myself engaging a lot with my friends in this class as well. Jason is also very helpful, you can go through your blog comments with him before submission to receive feedback. Overall, challenging module but the stimulation you’d get with each discussion is very satisfying.

My grade for this course: A-

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