[NUS Module Review] GES1028/SSA1201: Singapore Society

GES1028/SSA1201: Singapore Society

(INTRODUCTION)

So here's the last of the GE pillars that I need to clear. Welcome to GES1028/SSA1201! Before you take a step further, you need to know that this module is a sociology module that involves lots of essay writing. So if you are not open, or have zero interest in learning sociology, then this module is really not for you. If you hate writing essays or simply hate to argue your way through an uninteresting point, then this module is also not for you. Also, if you hate reading, then this module is not for you too. This module hinges on reading and writing for you to do well, so if you are not comfortable with either then my advice would be not to take this module. But do read below and make a decision for yourself okay? Heh :)

(LECTURERS)

We have only 1 lecturer this entire module; Dr Saroja Dorairajoo. She is super-duper knowledgeable when it comes to sociology, no kidding. If you ask her about anything, she will have an answer to it and even be willing to argue with you till you run dry of things to say. She could even quote from books and authors without referring to the authors. Her lectures are very fluid and even though her slides may seem very wordy, she will unpack her slides into small little details for you to understand better, keeping you awake for the 1.5 hours of lecture. Most students around me were frantically copying/typing down what she was saying throughout the lecture. So you are almost guaranteed a lecture where you won't sleep.

Other tutors are Dr Shane Pereira, who is super friendly, funny and caring, as well as Mr Chua Tiong Seng. Both are equally as good as Dr Saroja when it comes to knowledge of sociology and even provide you lots of various angles that you thought never existed. 

(EXPANSION OF TOPICS COVERED)

The topics covered include:

• History Of Singapore
• Housing
• Politics
• Class and Social Stratification
• Gender and Sexuality
• Race and Ethnicity
• Crime and Deviance

These topics may seem really boring, but trust me, Dr Saroja will unpack it into a story that will help you understand better. I wouldn't say one topic is more important than another topic though, because everyone of them is just as important as the other. But there are certainly some 'hot' topics that you would like to focus on.

(PASSING THE ASSESSMENT)

The grading for the assessments are much more evenly spread out in this module, as follows:

• Tutorial attendance and participation - 20%
• Presentation during the tutorials + QnA - 20%
• Mid-Term - 20%
• Finals - 40%

I would say that the tutorial attendance and participation are both easy to score. Simply attend the tutorials and perhaps ask/answer 1 question and you're good for the week. Presentations are done in a group so the score is pretty much dependent on the efforts of the group (Unless you free-ride the whole thing uh).

Mid-terms is probably something that you should aim on scoring. Reason being is that the questions for the mid-terms are very one-dimensional and so straightforward that if you did your readings, you can score very easily.

The key area that you should fear is finals, because students are expected to cross-link between topics and explain using various areas of what you're taught. One example would be:

"How does race, class, gender and the state create deviance in Singapore?"

This question comprises of a total of 5 lectures combined into a single question. So this is what you should expect come finals.

(EXPERIENCE AND FINAL GRADING)

To be honest, this was one of the modules which I really didn't pay too much attention throughout most of the semester. Reason being was that I had other more important core modules to focus on... Just kidding. Lemme tell you the real reason.

The real reason for me not to focus on this module so much was due to the readings. The quantity of the readings was hugeeee. You would have 2 readings per week and while that sounds like a piece of cake that can be completed in an hour, it really isn't. Being the optimistic person that I was in the beginning of the semester, I took the time to sit down, with a pen and highlighter to intensely scrutinize the readings, taking down important notes along the way and highlighting chunks of details that could be useful. One hour later, I had only read 4 pages out of the possible 17 pages and was just a minute away from falling asleep. That's when I knew I was screwed. 

Along the next few weeks, I tried to allocate some time to study those readings but it didn't happen. The readings started to pile higher and higher until it got to the point where it was impossible to read every single reading (I mean it was already impossible by the time it got to the week 2 readings but you get what I mean). The only thing that allowed me to catch up with the content taught was the lectures. I just kept recording down notes after notes and tried to absorb whatever I could during that time frame.

During tutorials. we were allowed to group ourselves into groups of 6-7 people and choose a certain topic to present. Our group did Meritocracy, and while I preferred to do Gender and Sexuality, our group was given a greater leniency because we presented first (because Meritocracy is the first topic) so it's all good. We cleared the presentation component very early into the semester (week 4/5 I think) and we could sorta sit back and relax for the semester during tutorials.

When it came to mid-terms (held in week 8/9), I just picked and chose whatever I felt like reading a few days before the test and just prayed that the topics I chose came out. I studied on Housing, Class and Gender and Sexuality. I knew Gender and Sexuality would somehow come out because it was and still is a hot topic in Singapore. And true enough, it was tested. Another topic that came out was Housing and in the end, I got a pretty decent grade for both essays, considering I only studied 3 days prior before the exams.

Finals were the same as the mid-terms, just way, way harder lol. This time, I studied everything I studied for mid-terms with the addition of Race, Crime and Deviance. Since the questions were cross-linked like the one mentioned above, there were some topics like 'the state' which I did not study. and hence I needed to really recall from what I jotted down during lecture to answer the question. I felt that the final paper was really hard. I occasionally felt that I was writing out of point, which I think I did in certain parts of my essay because I felt so lost midway and forgot what my argument was lmao.

Overall, the module is okay. I felt that the bell-curve was not in my favor for this one though, sadly. Since this module consist of almost close to 90% arts students, not to mention those already well-equip in sociology knowledge taking SSA1201, expect some stiff competition from your peers. Being a Science student doesn't help either. And since sociology is something pretty new to me, I would say this module is generally average for me.

(CONCLUSION AND TIPS)

If you're taking this module, the most important thing to note is to cite your sources. Meaning that if you happen to write an information coming from say Teo You Yenn on Gender, you need to write the author down in the essay itself. There will be people who do not write the author down and won't score as well as those who did.

Do not be intimidated with the readings. My suggestion is to pick readings that you are interested in/easy to understand and write during exams. Gender and Sexuality is a must to study; super hot topic and will always appear in exams. Race and Crime/Deviance are also equally hot topics.

Again, I would certainly recommend this module to arts students because you guys have a better flair for essay writing and interpreting questions than science students. For science students, my opinion is that unless you have a really strong forte in writing essays or sociology in general, DO NOT choose this module.

A lot of module reviews online would give positive feedback because they are majoring in arts, but here is an unbiased view from a student majoring in science. Chao!

Ratings out of 5⭐:

• Rigor - ⭐⭐⭐
• Degree of doability - ⭐⭐
• Bell Curve (to favour you) - ⭐