Course + Year: NUS Bachelor of Engineering (Chemical Engineering) Y3
Scholarship: Yes (Sembcorp)
I was from the Poly track and studied chemical engineering at Temasek Poly. So, it was related to my university course in a way.
I did not really consider other courses for university because after completing my Poly studies, I was kind of sure I wanted to continue chemical engineering. As for Poly, I did consider a few other courses — biomedical engineering, biomedical science and environmental engineering.
I think I chose chemical engineering mainly because of the course itself. I thought chemical engineering would be very heavy on chemistry. I actually like chemistry compared to the other science-based modules or subjects, but when I entered chemical engineering, it’s not really about chemistry. There’s a lot to do with applied physics and mathematics. But after completing 3 years in poly, although it’s not very heavy in chemistry, I still think it’s very practical and very interesting. That’s why I continued to do chemical engineering.
I applied to both NUS and NTU, and I was awarded offers from these two universities. The reason why I chose NUS over NTU is because firstly, the department of chemical engineering in NUS is more established. Secondly, it’s because of the location. I think NUS is more accessible as compared to NTU. So, these 2 factors are the reasons why I chose NUS.
This pretty much depends on the students themselves because unlike poly or JC where you are given a fixed schedule or modules, we can choose the number of modules that we want. We are the ones who arrange our own timetable. It can range from 4 to 8-10 modules per week. Normally, we don’t refer to them as modules but as modular credits (MC). 1 module can range from 1-4 MCs. In a normal semester, the usual workload is at least 18-20 MCs and some people can overload up to 32 MCs (8-9 modules). This is for NUS.
For NTU, they call it an academic unit (AU). It’s something similar to MC. Their 1 module is equivalent to 3 AUs. NTU usually has more modules per semester, with at least 6-9 modules per semester.
Our modules are semester-based.
It ranges from 100% continuous assessment (CA) which is all project-based to some which have 40% CAs and 60% exams. This is the case for the Faculty of Engineering but for other faculties like Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, it really depends. Most of their modules are project-based rather than exams and some other faculties also have more practicals rather than exams. Engineering is more exam-heavy because it is more on testing your understanding and application of what you have learned.
For a normal semester, we have 2 terms. The first term is normally 6 weeks. After that, we have a 1 week term break to prepare for the mid-semester. Weeks 1-6 are the instructional weeks when the professors teach us, and we go for tutorials and lab sessions. When we come back in week 7, that’s when we have all the midterm assessment or submission, or it can even last to week 8. The second term is from weeks 7-13. After that, we have 1 reading week, followed by 2 weeks of exams. So, in 1 semester, we have 2 breaks — term break and reading week. This is for NUS.
For NTU, it’s different. I went for an exchange in NTU, so I can provide insights which might be useful. I think NTU has 7 weeks for the first term. After that, there is a term break, which is really a term break, unlike NUS where you have to study for midterms. After that, it’s the same.
The timetable is pretty much dependent on how we choose it to be. For NUS, the earliest class is 8 in the morning but normally I try to avoid that one so I choose the earliest to be 10 am. Classes last 2-3h and there are no breaks in between sometimes, so we have to sneak in lunch. It lasts to 6 or beyond. Some have night classes. I used to have a 6-10 pm night class. After all our classes, we’d try to do tutorials or complete assignments, or revise what we’ve learned. The day goes like that. I think everyday is something like that until the end of the semester.
Exams wise, before Covid, it was 100% offline for my course. It’s a combination of MCQ and structured. But I would say most of my courses have a structured-based exam where it can really test students’ understanding and ability to solve the questions. But now, during the Covid period, most of them are online but there are some that are offline. They’re also a combination of MCQ and structured. MCQ wise, there will be an online platform for us to fill up our answers. For structured questions, we write on a piece of paper to scan and submit.
Out of 10, I would rate a 9. My friend from another course said our course is one of the heaviest but I think it is quite okay if we arrange the timetable nicely such that we don’t overload ourselves.
I think you can definitely learn certain skills from those with free access such as Khan Academy, but those skills are more general compared to what you are learning in university. For those available on free access platforms, some of the skills are similar but there are skills you cannot obtain from these platforms. It depends on what you want to achieve eventually. If you want to achieve a more specific skill set, then university’s better. But if you’re okay with learning some basics and not going in depth, then the free access portals are always available for you to practise.
Recently, I just completed my final year design project where we apply all the skills and knowledge that we have learned in the 3-4 years. We use different concepts to design a chemical plant. Of course, this is not something that you would learn on the free access platforms because they only offer you individual skill sets, but they don’t have a specific module where they combine all the different skill sets and ask you to come up with something. I think university gives us the opportunity to do something like that.
They used to have different specialisations but they removed them. Now, we don’t call them specialisations but they’re different tracks. You can either choose to be a full-time engineer after you graduate or a research engineer, which is more on the research path. Some of the modules are common between these two tracks but there are also specific modules.
You choose your specialisation at the start of university, but you can change it over the duration of the course.
I’m in the full-time engineer track.
The professors of my course are really trained in teaching. They’re very good in terms of delivering the materials. I think one big difference between professors in university and teachers in poly is that the former are not spoon feeding you and they really encourage you to think critically on your own, which is a very good skill for us when we go out to work in future. They’re very approachable and some of them even reply to you at midnight. They really take extra measures for you to actually understand the concepts. When it comes to exams, they actually set very difficult questions but I think the purpose is to set the bell curve.
There’s a lecturer who taught me a few different modules. The reason why I think he’s very interesting is because his classes are normally really engaging. He uses a lot of third party platforms like Kahoot. As we go along in the lecture, he also encourages us to revise what we learned from the previous lectures. He’s very approachable and receives feedback, which he uses to improve on his teaching. When we ask questions, he will reply to us and encourage us at the same time. Actually, a few other professors have a similar teaching method as him.
There is the final year design project to design a chemical plant. I think it is very specific to our course because normally, other courses would do final year projects (FYP). But ours is a design project. The skill set is more on how we design and run the chemical plant. The 1-year thesis is optional for the students. For our course, the capstone is this design project itself which is required for all students.
I think my most favourite part is that there are a lot of modules that are not available back in poly but are available in university, and those modules are very useful. They really teach us what is in the industry and these skills are required for you to be prepared as a full-time engineer out there.
I would say my least favourite part is the exams. The weightage is really high — 60-70%, so the 30-40% are all our CAs which we put in so much effort for. But if we didn’t do well on our final exam, it would put us at the bottom portion of the bell curve and we wouldn’t score well. The exams are definitely not easy. Unlike poly where we do past year papers and the questions are pretty much the same, it’s completely different in university. We do past year papers only for us to understand rather than get the patterns of exam papers. In a sense, this trains us but it’s not easy.
I would say I wasn’t expecting the bell curve to be so unpredictable. I thought it would be fixed every semester but as students can choose their own timetable, we’re taking courses with a different batch of people every term. We would expect to score badly sometimes, but it turns out very good. And other times when we expect to score very well, it turns out the bell curve wrecked us. So, we may not get the grades that we have expected.
I would say it’s the professors. Before I entered university, I always heard from peers and seniors that the professors focus on research and are not that good at teaching. I’ve set low expectations in the learning and the delivery from professors. But after I entered and when I’ve actually been taught by them, I find that they’re really beyond good at teaching and I actually understand what they’re telling me.
It’s not about chemistry. For the people out there who want to choose chemical engineering because they think it’s chemistry, it is not. Of course, it still has some sprinkles of chemistry, but it would be mostly focused on applied physics, math, problem solving and critical thinking. You don’t really have to be good in chemistry to choose this course.
I would say no. Of course, we often joke among ourselves that we shouldn’t have chosen this course but I think I have enjoyed this course.
There’s not so much switching out in university. But after they graduate, a lot of them don’t pursue the engineer path. Some of them would go for consulting firms which may or may not be related to engineering. Some of them go to banking, marketing or economics. It is very common for students to do a second major, a minor or a double degree. Most of the options would be business or economics which explains why they’re very open to opportunities related to this field.
For our case, it wouldn’t be a 1 year kind of retention but there are instances of students failing the module, and having to retake it. But those are very extreme and not very common, unless you really do not submit anything or do not go for the exam. The professors have a reason to fail you. Otherwise, if you still submit but of poor quality, or your exam is not that good, you would get at least a D which is the lowest before an F. But it’s very uncommon for students to fail unless they really do not put in any effort.
I think someone with good analytical skills, problem solving and troubleshooting. I think it is a plus point if you are good at math. This course has a few modules that are quite heavy on the math side and requires calculus, and things like that. I think these are the few points you have to take note if you want to pursue along this course.
Chemical engineering is actually very versatile. You can continue along the oil and gas industry like ExxonMobil, Shell and SPC. There’s also paths in the pharmaceutical as well as semiconductor industries. There are different industries you can jump into. Of course, there’s also consulting and if you have other interests, you can go into business and economics.
I have currently secured a full time job at Sembcorp because I’m under their scholarship. I’ll probably be starting in July. I’m still waiting for them to process all the admin matters.
Yes in a way, because I am bonded to Sembcorp. It’s restricted that I have to pursue this path but after this bond period, I’m open to any opportunity for me to explore.
Yes, I was interning under an engineer back in poly. It was at Shell, an oil and gas company. In university, I did a research internship under the professors. I was assisting them for their research.
I will start from the application period. Actually, they are very conducive in terms of platform because there’s a platform for us to apply for internships, listings and openings. There are also various career advisors who advise us on our career and internship planning. Resource wise, there would be at least one professor attached to us who monitors our progress along the internship. We would have to report to the professor and they would provide us feedback. I think it’s very conducive overall.
No, I didn’t stay on campus.
Yeah, for Y1, I think the ratio of students staying on campus to those who don’t is about 1:1.
I think at first, I was expecting everyone to be very competitive and not talk to one another. But beyond my expectation, it’s pretty normal. We interact with one another and during group work, we would contribute to the project. I think everyone does not only focus on academics or at least for the social circle that I’m in. We’ve joined different CCAs and focus on them also. I think it’s a very fun student experience in NUS overall.
I think it shouldn’t be that difficult for you to adapt in terms of culture, especially if you’re from a local institution like poly or JC. Academic wise, I think you need to be prepared for the bell curve.
I was under the community service club, so I’ve been involved in various local and overseas community involvement projects. By right, we should have the plan of going overseas but we’re not able to because of restrictions. But for some projects, including the one I’m currently in, we try to do it remotely through Zoom or Teams. But usually, in the non-Covid period, these overseas service learning projects will have the students travel overseas and help the local communities in various aspects.
One very good thing that is offered in university is a lot of overseas exposure programs like summer exchange (5 weeks) or winter exchange (2-3 weeks), or even semester exchange (4-5 months). There are a lot of partner universities overseas that you can choose from. For myself, I’m under the poly track, so I only need 3 years to complete my course. That’s why I couldn’t go for semester exchange. But I opted in for summer exchange and I went to one of the universities in South Korea. I had a good time there. We get to experience what studying overseas at different universities is like and we’d get exposed to the culture there, and make new friends with people from different countries all around the world. I think it’s a very good experience that we can be offered when we are studying in university.
I would say if you are from poly, you would probably have an idea of what you want to do. If you’re from JC, it’s good if you have some seniors. I find this project very good because you’d interview some people and get a sense of what each course is about. You have a brief understanding which helps you to choose what course you want to be in. So, it’s good to read up a few websites and watch YouTube clips on what the courses are about as they can help you. Read up on some information. Even if you’re interested in CCAs, you can find a lot of information on websites also. A lot of CCAs have their own personal website or social media accounts like IG which you can refer to. You can find a lot of information there.
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