Joanna's Singapore adventures

People often ask how university is different here to back home. In some ways it is quite alike but there are some noticeable differences.

The work load is similar back home in regards to the amount of reading to be done and length of essays to be written. The difference is that here the marks are curve graded so its not just a matter of doing well on your own merits but of doing well in relation to everyone else. Given how hard many people study here that is a bit unnerving. The other difference is what weighting is put on each piece of assessment. Back home the marks tend to be weighted towards essays (eg. 60% essays, 30% exam, 10% tutorial participation) whereas here the assessment puts a lot more weight on exams- i think the exams are worth 60-90% in my subjects. Some subjects have 2 or more exams spread through the semester. Like at home there is a big emphasis on tutorial participation. This is met with mixed success, sometimes everyone has more to say than there is time for, sometimes the tutors have to coax answers out of people.

The campus culture is quite different. Almost everywhere you look on campus here there is someone with a laptop or books out studying. I'm pretty sure there is no unauthorized political activism allowed on campus. Can't say i've missed being set upon by socialist activists every time i try to leave the campus centre. I think a few of the campus restaurants do serve alcohol but there certainly isn't any of the blatant public alcohol consumption that can be seen on many a lunch time back home. I think there is probably even more clubs, events and sports teams than back home. There seems to always be heaps of things happening here.