NUS modules - to take or not to take

I think this is a very relevant question that many students will eventually end up asking themselves.

First, let's go through the NUS High policy on taking NUS modules. There are four ways you can be nominated to take NUS modules.

A point to note: You will be nominated to take NUS modules in a particular subject area only. That means, if you got nominated for physics, you can only sign up for physics modules, any others you apply for will be denied.

1. You are a Year 6 and taking honours for a particular subject. Sem 2 is coming up, the workload is getting less since you've already finished your graduation research project. The HOD nominates you and a couple of your honours classmates to take modules. The number of people nominated varies from subject to subject. As far as I know, physics and chem nominated nearly all their honours students. Math nominated roughly half (mostly the track 4 students I believe). Bio nominated a handful, less than a quarter of those taking honours.

2. You are in Year 5 and have been doing particularly well in a subject and have been showing interest in learning more. The HOD nominates you to take NUS modules in Year 6 Sem 1, or Year 5 Sem 2. The number of students nominated for this is a fair bit smaller than situation 1, mainly because in Year 5, you are still doing your research project, and in Year 6, you have APs to prepare for.

3. You are in Einstein+ and have either expressed interest in taking NUS modules or your Einstein+ mentor thinks you are ready, can handle it and has nominated you.

3a. You are especially gifted in a particular subject area. These are famous people like Goh Jun Le, Carmen Cheh, Darryl Foo, Ian Seet; who all took NUS modules as early as Year 3/4. These people would definitely be in Einstein+, so I have grouped them under situation 3.

4. You go up to a HOD and tell him/her that you are really interested in taking NUS modules. Then you see how negotiations go.

If you are in situation number 1, my personal advice is to consider whether you're really interested, and whether you're going into NUS in future. If you're not that interested, you're wasting your time and you'll have this huge grudge at always having to make your way to lectures/tutorials/labs. If you're going into NUS in future, your grade for this module will not count into your NUS CAP. Neither will it be counted into your graduation CAP. It'll just be reflected on your transcript, and you can use it to accelerate that module in NUS in future.

Hence, if you plan on attending NUS, you may as well take a difficult but interesting module you'll do reasonably well in, say, B+ or A-. If you take NUS modules you must do average at the very least, or it will reflect badly on the school and NUS may end up offering fewer and fewer places each semester. I personally feel this is a win-win solution. You take something you're interested in, and it doesn't jeopardise your grade. If you do well, great, you have something nice on your transcript. If you don't do that well, it still looks respectable on your transcript and you won't have something weighing down on your future NUS CAP.

It's true that there's no point taking a module you know you will ace, if you are going to NUS in future, because it's more beneficial for you to wait til you're in university and then take that module, and boost your university CAP. As I said earlier, these NUS grades do not count into your graduation CAP, they just make it look prettier.

In situation 2, it's necessary to consider if you can manage skipping school to attend NUS lectures. For the Year 6s, in Sem 2, classes are crammed into two days to allow students to do other things in the remaining three days, one of which is NUS modules.

However there is no such thing for everyone else. If you need to attend a lecture at NUS and it clashes, you either skip school or skip the lecture. The teachers are not obliged to conduct a make-up class for you. I mean, most of them are pretty nice, and they'll conduct short consultations where they'll teach you the stuff you missed in summary, but teachers do not have all the time in the world, too.

If you are in Year 5 you have the added bonus of trying to cram your research schedule around NUS modules.

From personal experience I can say, it is really difficult trying to balance normal school, NUS modules and research. This sem, I took NUS modules and ended up essentially self-studying the bio module.

However, one thing good about NUS modules is that you don't actually have to attend the lectures or tutorials. You only have to attend the lab sesions, and of course, the tests. So if you find yourself struggling a little in school (as I did), and you think you can handle the NUS module content, you can just skip the lecture and stay in school instead. For me, this became much more prevalent in term 2, partly because I felt my school studies were more important, and partly because I was getting very sick of NUS and constantly travelling back and forth.

In the end I did very well in school and quite well in NUS this semester, although I think I could've studied more for the NUS modules (yes I didn't really put effort because frankly I was getting sort of burnt out after school and APs to be really bothered about something less consequential).

Also another thing to consider when in situation 2: Will this module lead anywhere? Can you follow it up with a higher-level module in future? Or is this purely based on interest? Will it help you in your course in university and in your future career? And the key question: If I take this module, can I handle the extra work? The problem is that we all end up weighing our interest in the module, and possible benefits from it, against skipping lectures in school.

If you can't make a decision, stick with the safe side: don't take the module, and focus on your school activities instead. There is plenty of time to take the module and further your interests later. If you really want, you can probably ask a friend who is taking the module (assuming there is one) to send you the notes and you can self-study it on the side.

For situations 3 and 4, if you get nominated, you might as well just take it, because obviously the teachers think you can handle it. These nominations are probably rarer than for situations 1 and 2. For Einstein+ members, the benefits of increasing knowledge at a younger age (Year 5 Sem 1 and before) is probably worth all the trouble you take to keep your CAP past the minimum 4.00. For situation 4, since you went through all the trouble to try to get that nomination, I don't think you'd give it up lightly.

Just fyi, the process for taking NUS modules goes like this:

1. You get an email, or emails, saying you're nominated for which subject area(s), yes you can get nominated for two subject areas and then you'd get two emails. There'll be a link to the online application site, plus some documentation on what modules you can take, and the How-To guide for the online application. You are also given the rules and regulations regarding taking NUS modules (including what documents you need to submit physically), and the deadlines.

2. You submit your online application, and you deliver your paper documents to the admin office who will then forward it to NUS. Besides all your personal identification stuff, you will also need this letter of recommendation by a teacher of the relevant department, endorsed by the HOD. You must ask a teacher for this, it is not automatic, and the teacher has all right to decline. Usually this won't happen unless you ask impolitely, or you ask a recommendation for a module you were not nominated for (this is how they regulate which subject area you can take modules in, despite the common application system).

3. Admin forwards application package to NUS. NUS receives the package and your online application, and sends you an email confirming that your application has been received and is currently being processed.

4. NUS makes you a letter of offer. In it will come the official letter and a few accompanying documents, which you will have to mail to NUS by a certain deadline, in order to confirm your acceptance of the modules. This is assuming you don't suddenly decline. This is highly discouraged, because by offering you a place, NUS is declining one of its own students a place; and that student probably needs that module more than you do. So think carefully before you send in your application. If NUS keeps getting declined they may offer fewer places in future, so think about your juniors' opportunities too.

5. NUS receives your confirmation documents. You head down to NUS on a special matriculation day for non-graduating students, register, collect your matriculation card and PIN, get issued your student ID and password, and get your welcome package, which conveniently includes a thermometer.

6. Once the billing system opens early in the semester, you pay for your modules either via credit card, or cheque mailed to somewhere, or... I can't remember all the billing options. You print out the receipt and keep it so that you can claim money back from the school. The school sponsors $440 out of the $500 per module, up to a limit of 2 modules. If you want to take more modules you will have to pay the full price.

7. You email the people in charge of your modules and settle your tutorial and lab timeslots. Once done, you email your complete NUS timetable to Ms Celestine in the admin office so the school knows when you will be out, and which days you won't attend morning assembly (this happens if your lecture is at 8am).

8. You attend your classes, do all your assignments, and get your final NUS transcript about two months after the NUS exams.

Meanwhile you can do many things online with your student ID such as using NUS IVLE (something like our Espace). You can use your matriculation card to enter NUS libraries, and get student discounts from shops around NUS, including food and co-op outlets. The student ID will also give you access to all the journals that NUS is subscribing to, which in my opinion is really useful. You'll notice that while both IDs are on the domain NUSSTU, the school one starting with 'h' won't get you anywhere whereas with the NUS student ID, which will start with 's' (the code for special students, versus high school), you essentially have full access to all of NUS' resources.

Cool, eh? But remember, no matter what, your grades at NUS High School are still your top priority, because it's your various CAPs - graduation, subject, honours - that universities will first look at.