Regarding: Applying to Oxford, Tufts University and Subject Specialization

Hello! As this is the first time I'm writing for CollegeTalk, just a quick introduction - I'm Kylie, a Year 6 student at NUS High. The agenda of this post is up there^ in the title.

Firstly, please do revisit the previous post on Applying to Oxford, for some important edits regarding Oxford applications - namely that this year (may not be true for next year) there is no Oxford International Interview Application Form, and there is no other form to be filled up other than the UCAS form. Interviews will be done via Skype. However, if the department you are applying to requires additional documents to be sent, you will still have to send those. Cambridge applicants also have to pay more - 100 pounds as the interview fee, and 25 pounds for the processing of the COAF.

With that said, the complexity of the forms should in no way deter you from applying to a school that you are interested in. Neither should the additional fees for the COAF (although, unfortunately, if it is the case, do talk to someone about it!) We're mentioning it to give you a better picture of the application process. Do your own research, and find out which suits you best!

Secondly, Vio has posted on the talk by Tufts University's Assistant Director for Admissions. More information on Tufts - after the talk, I wrote to him for further elaboration on how Tufts encourages globalism, citizenship and interdisciplinary studies. Here's a brief summary of the information gained:

Three major themes were mentioned: globalism, citizenship, and interdisciplinary studies, and in each instance, there is an organization within Tufts tasked with promoting that ideal throughout the school. Globalism is the charge of the Institute for Global Leadership. Citizenship is the purview of the Tisch College of Citizenship. Interdisciplinary Studies is the work of the ExCollege (Experimental College). The ExCollege works to find the cracks between disciplines and fill those cracks. They bring in professional experts who teach full classes on subjects that don't fit into traditional academic majors, and also work to recognize where interdisciplinary opportunities already exist and build the bridges so that students and faculty can work together. Tufts' International Relations major began this way, as did Community Health, Environmental Science, Women's Studies and the majority of the other interdisciplinary programs. The ExCollege provides the space to experiment with possible programs, as well as acting as the advocate for these programs so that traditional departments and faculty buy in.

On to the last topic on the agenda - Subject Specialization. Firstly, let us clarify a common myth: your Graduation CAP is not the be-all and end-all of your education here at NUS High. Although your CAP is and will probably still be an important tool in gauging academic performance, and one's CAP should at least be at an acceptable level, it is also what you do beyond your CAP which defines you as a learned and intelligent individual.

Take for example, while US applications do have a baseline standard of academic performance, US admissions officers tend to focus more on who you are and what you do. Similarly, although the UK admissions process tends to emphasize grades more, the interviews for Oxbridge, and your resume are also essential to your application. At a certain point, grades don't matter so much, anymore.

Do not shy away from taking Honors in a subject that you are passionate about, merely because you want to preserve a high graduation CAP. A more valid question is whether you will be able to cope, or more precisely, how much you are willing to push yourself. Honors modules really do enable you to delve deeper into a subject you are interested in; if you're doing research, this knowledge can also help you in the future. Also, admissions officers also take into consideration your curriculum rigor - the standard of your education.

Don't just go with the crowd - if you're interested in Arts and the Humanities, don't discount that interest just because everyone around you is majoring is Maths and the Science.

I have a few opinions on the different Majors and Honours, and I will share them here - I took Majors with Honours in Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics. However, please note that I'm just speaking about my experience. Someone else may have a totally different opinion. I also regret that I can't share more about Majors in Arts and the Humanities. (Would anyone like to write about this topic?)

Firstly, Math Honours and Physics Honours are complimentary, in that, hey, Calculus-Based Mechanics/Electricity & Magnetism isn't called 'Calculus-Based' for nothing. Maths helps in Physics. Secondly, an option that some people in my year chose was to do Physics Honours up till Year 5 Sem 1, complete their AP Physics B, and thereafter drop to Physics Majors and avoid two semesters of Calculus-Based Physics. In Year 6 Sem 1, they did not do their AP Physics C, thereby avoiding two APs and allowing themselves more time to focus on other pursuits such as the other APs, research, volunteering, etc. However, this choice will also require you to take Practical Circuitry 1 and Practical Circuitry 2 (that's 2 modules) in Year 6 Sem 2. If you would like to keep your options open, this is possible as well.

Although the Maths specialization Tracks 1 to 4 have been changed to Majors/Majors with Honours, and so I don't know how much this will hold true in the coming years, I felt that Maths and Biology Honours were manageable, while Physics and Chemistry Honours were more challenging. Different people are talented in different areas, though, so what was true for me may not be the same for others! I'd just like to point out that the different between Biology Honours and Majors is only 2 modules, for people who are deliberating between the two.

In summary, Do not be afraid of hard work. The graduation CAP is not everything. Follow your passion. And all the best!

Specialization pdf by NUS High School (2007)

So some people were commenting in the tagboard that they can't find the pdf on the specialization of subjects anymore. I had a copy stored in my computer, so click here for that pdf google doc.

Honours grades

Since my little snippets in our chatbox aren't very well organised, let me restate my thoughts on the matter here:

Math has always been different from the other sciences in this school, mostly because it's a compulsory subject. This extends through to the honours curriculum.

In my year, batch of 09, all you had to do to qualify for math honours was to have a math CAP > 3.5, and get at least an A- in the Polar Coordinates module. Even if you didn't get the requisite A- grade, you could appeal as long as you had something "respectable", i.e. at least a B or B+. Most of those appeals went through.

Therefore, the weakest student in the current Year 5 math honours class is far, far stronger than the weakest student in the math honours class for the two graduated batches.

My main thread is that you should not worry yourself over statements that the average grade will be a B. Everyone who has been approved to take math honours under the revamped "appeal for honours" system will get a B in their honours modules -- if they continue coasting through. I believe that if you work hard and push yourself, an A is not impossible.

The math department will not allow you to take honours unless it is reasonably sure that you are capable of getting at least an A- if you apply yourself.

The same philosophy is applied to the science subjects -- if you are reading honours, you should be good enough to be getting straight As. In fact, this was the case for most honours students of the class of 09... at least for the science subjects.

Math may have gotten more Bs in proportion compared to the science subjects but keep in mind the "lower quality" of the students and the fact that there was no proper review system to judge if the student could cope with the honours modules.

I believe strongly that everyone reading honours this year will do well, not only because your teachers obviously think you are capable of doing so (their actions speak for themselves, no matter what they say), but also because you want to keep your CAP up. Talent and good motivation -- a potent combination.

How many majors, and how many honours is enough? (Part I)

For those who are Year 4s, or are the few lucky Year 5s who can still choose what subjects you want to major/honours in, do seriously think about which subjects you want to continue on in Years 5 and 6. For people who know me, they kind of think I'm half crazy to actually do 4 honors and 1 major. If you would count the total number of MCs you need to fulfill (79) and the level's average of 2 honors and 2 majors (59), then you probably might agree with them. But by far and large, the message I want to bring forth is: more is (almost) never better.

I will address the question that is on this post's title. How many do I need than do I consider it to be enough?

As many as you can without your grades suffering. Below are a few of the quotes I've extracted from some of the universities many of our students want to apply to:

MIT: Overall, you should try to take the most stimulating courses available to you. If your high school doesn't offer courses that challenge you, you may want to explore other options, such as local college extension or summer programs.

Stanford: The primary criterion for admission to Stanford is academic excellence. We look for your preparation and potential to succeed. We expect you to challenge yourself throughout high school and to do very well. The most important credential that enables us to evaluate your academic record is the high school transcript. Remember, however, that our evaluation of your application goes beyond any numerical formula. There is no minimum GPA or test score; nor is there any specific number of AP or honors courses you must have on your transcript that will secure your admission to Stanford.

Harvard: Our principal message is that you should choose the most academically demanding courses you can find. You and your family will of course take your individual situation into account. Just as each student has different talents and interests that need to be developed, schools vary considerably in their particular strengths.

The universities are looking for people who have shown to be able to stretch themselves. But stretching oneself does not equate to taking the most number of courses. It is simply pointless if you take too many courses and you don't do well enough. Save for the few who can excel and reach peaks in academia (ie. international science fairs/international olympiads), I would urge most to take academics as the primary activity, and do other activities to show your passion!

For me, the compelling reason for me to take the sciences and history was quite unique. I originally intended to drop biology and take up history. But a change of heart, driven primarily because I still somewhat enjoyed biology, caused me to take up biology again. Thankfully, the history classes were scheduled during the elective time slot, allowing me to take the course. The question then becomes, aren't you worried about the workload?

In some sense, yes. The coursework for the sciences (8 MC of math, 6 MC of physics, 3 MC of biology, 3 MC of chemistry) in the first semester was enough a workload. There doesn't seem to be enough time for history isn't it? However, do note that I was then staying in hostel, so somewhat thankfully, I saved the 2 hours of commuting to and from school daily. Workload wise, it was quite similar to that of year 4.

The main difference of course is that in year 4, humanities is compulsory, and in year 5/6, it isn't. I like history, which was the compelling reason for me to continue history. There are also several practical reasons I've come to realise(which I didn't consider actually):

1. History, or any humanities, is good to show that you have taken a diversity of subjects, rather than just sciences. There must be a reason why every JC student has to take a contrasting subject in A levels right?

2. It makes applying university easier. Because of the relatively small size of humanities classes, your humanities teacher will know you quite well. Why is it good? Because for the US application, they require teacher recommendations from a math/science teacher and also from a humanities teacher. Most people will ask their english teachers, but if you take humanities, you have one more to choose.

3. You get more general knowledge. It's both a big bonus for you be it conversation starters or scholarship applications.

Sorry if this post is quite a bit about why I took history. I'll talk a bit more in my next post specifically the workload and what implications you have if you take any of the honours/majors.

Possible majors and SATs

The official policy of the school is that the maximum number of majors you can specialise in is four. Therefore, the most demanding program would be 1 math + 3 sciences, all honours. However it is worth noting that the humanities majors are also extremely demanding, and so a student taking 1 math + 2 sci + 1 humanities/arts, with honours in all math and science subjects, will probably be equally as stressed.

The obvious exception to this rule is Zhongming. I am not sure if the school has officially approved his fifth major (history). I believe he will post about his experience taking five majors himself. But basically what he did was take 4 honours and just select the history elective modules. Technically, if he finishes all the history modules, the school cannot deny awarding him the history major.

He could take the extra modules on the side because humanities/arts modules are always scheduled separately, so they don't clash with languages/math/science modules (this is because these modules may be taken by people from different classes, so they have to make sure everyone can attend).

Realistically, the school will only approve the fifth major if you have consistently done well in your acads, like Zhongming.

Just for your info, here is a screenshot of the subject combinations of the graduated batch:

As for SATs I think Yingzhen has mentioned strategies for taking the SAT before, and some measure of its importance.

SATs, whether you are taking SAT Reasoning (new name for SAT 1) or SAT Subject Tests (new name for SAT 2), are entirely, truly optional. The school just functions as one of the many SAT test centers around Singapore.

A student might take SAT because:

1. He wants to apply to a US university. Almost all US universities require SAT 1 and 2 SAT 2s. Alternatively, he can take the ACT, which is an equally-recognised standardised test, but there are fewer ACT test dates and only one test center (Singapore American School in Woodlands).

2. He wants to apply for a scholarship that requires SAT scores, e.g. A*STAR.

3. He wants to attend a university that requires standard proof of English. The Reading component of SAT 1 is usually accepted as a measure of English ability. You need to get above a certain score which varies from university to university. Usually, studying in a Singapore school exempts you from this requirement (as you have studied in an English-medium school for the past few years), but there are still a few universities that may ask for standard proof.

4. He wants to study undergraduate Law in NUS, or any courses in SMU. SAT 1 scores are not a requirement but a high score can be an advantage.

When you sign up for SATs, the online registration will ask you to choose your preferred test center. If there are still spaces you will get that center. Besides NUS High, there are other centers such as Hwa Chong, ACS(I), and Singapore American School.

Because the test center allocation is on a first-come-first-serve basis, you will see non-NUSH-students in the exam hall on the day of the SAT. Similarly, even if you are a student in this school, if you choose to sign up at the last minute, you may have to settle for a test center somewhere else.

Majors and honours: Syllabus restructured

When applying to university, the subjects you are studying in the last two years are very important. For NUS High this means the majors and honours that you choose. The system has always changed from year to year, but recently there has been a complete overhaul for all math/science subjects, and the modules that form the major can get very complicated. It's absolutely necessary to be properly informed of the possibilities before choosing your subject combination.

If you have any questions, if anything I have presented is confusing, please leave a comment below and I will get back to you.

For this year’s Year 4 batch, the system has undergone a complete overhaul, which means what the Year 4s and below will be studying is different from what the current Year 5s and above are studying. I’m going to call them the NEW SYSTEM and the OLD SYSTEM respectively. We will approach this massive topic by subject.

A brief note on APs:

The math APs (for calculus) are Calculus AB and Calculus BC. BC is harder than AB. You cannot take them both in the same year, because they run at the same time.

Similarly, the physics APs are Physics B and Physics C. C is harder than B. You also cannot take them both in the same year.

For chemistry and biology there is only one AP each.

There is also AP statistics. This is strictly optional but most people choose to take it anyway.

MATHEMATICS

Old system

Everyone studied MA4101 Vectors and MA4105 Sequences, Series and Mathematical Induction in Year 4 Sem 1. However, in Year 4 Sem 2, the cohort was split into 4 tracks.

I have attached some screenshots from the Specialisation of Subjects presentation given to my cohort in 2007, which is the same as the version given to the current year 5s last year. I think the table format is quite clear. Honours modules are in blue. MA CAP refers to the CAP of all your math modules so far.

Note that as you go up the tracks they all become voluntary. Meaning that those math CAPs are more like the minimum CAPs you need to enter that track. So, if you have a 4.7 math CAP, you can, in principle, still choose to take Track 1 if you really want (but no one has ever done that and I’m not sure the math department will realistically allow that).

A more likely situation is that a student who qualifies for Track 3 chooses not to take math honours instead and decides to ‘downgrade’ to Track 2. This is what I did. On the other hand, if you only qualified for Track 2 in Year 4, you could ‘upgrade’ to Track 3 by scoring a Year 5 math CAP and at least a 4 in your AP Calculus AB. But to my knowledge no one has done that either.

The purpose of the tracks was to allow students to go at their own pace. Weaker math students can take two years to learn basic calculus instead of cramming it in one year, so they have more time to learn the concepts.

On the other hand, stronger math students can push themselves by taking both calculus and advanced calculus modules at the same time (Calculus II and Calculus III respectively) and finishing Calculus BC earlier.

New system

There are no more four tracks in the new system. In the new system, you are split into major or honours students. The following screenshot is adapted from the 2009 specialisations briefing to the Year 4s.

Modules in black are modules that everyone must take, regardless of major or honours. Blue modules are for majors. Green modules that are labeled ‘honours’ are for honours students on top of the blue modules. This means you will do both blue modules and honours green modules if you choose to take math honours.

Optional modules are the electives, one of which is Statistics.

In the old system you had to do two semesters of Stats. Now you only have to do one semester. Honours electives are self-explanatory; these are elective modules offered to honours students only. I think this probably includes game theory and graph theory modules which are being offered to my batch now (Year 6). I will talk more about NUS modules in another post.

In the old system, realistically speaking there was no differentiation of Tracks 2 and 3 until Year 5 Sem 2 (which is when the Track 3 students’ math syllabus finally deviates; they take MA5401 Polar Coordinates). This means you could actually wait until the end of Year 5 Sem 1 to decide whether you wanted to do math honours or not. But in this new system, you have to declare honours by Year 4 Sem 2.

An important thing to remember is that realistically speaking, once you have taken an honours module, you are committed to taking honours. In principle you could drop honours any time you wanted, but due to administrative reasons this doesn’t happen in real life.

PHYSICS

Old system

The exams of physics are generally the same. Physics majors take Physics B, and Physics honours students take both Physics B and Physics C.

As usual, the system is never that straightforward here in NUS High, so here are some very important notes:

First, PC5105 Electromagnetic Spectrum can actually either be taken in Year 4 or Year 5. However, potential physics majors were highly encouraged to take the module in Year 4 because it frees up your time. But of course there were a small number of students who chose to take it in Year 5 instead.

Second, if you take physics honours, you must take Physics B in Year 5. But if you were a physics major, you could choose to take Physics B either in Year 5 (get it over and done with quickly) or in Year 6 (more time for preparation).

Third, there is an error in the physics honours Year 6 slide. In sem 2 the honours students still have to take PC5110 Introductory Electronics along with the physics major students.

New system

The new system is quite convoluted. The specialisation slides did not say anything other than the fact than reiterating which APs are taken by major/honours students. If you would like a look, here is the table in Programme Of Studies 2009:

Looking at the number of MCs allocated to PC3110 Mechanics and PC4110 Advanced Physics, it looks like these two are year-long modules. Basically what this means is that if you know you are going to take Physics honours, you will take the accelerated track in Years 3 and 4, and take the advanced modules concurrently with the basic modules.

As you would have cleared the modules PC5110 Advanced Mechanics and PC5111 Higher Physics by end of Year 4, it will free up your time to take the honours modules in Years 5/6.

I suppose a student could choose to do physics honours only in Year 5 (that means he/she did not clear the two advanced modules earlier) but to me it seems a bit crazy to be doing SIX physics modules in a year, and all of them are at least 2 MCs. This is on top of all the modules from other subjects that the student would be taking.

Some of you may be wondering, why are there now two more physics modules? Is the new syllabus covering a lot more content? The answer is NO. This is one key difference between the old system and the new system.

In the old system, our Year 3 mechanics modules covered all A level mechanics. In the new system, advanced topics like 2D-motion, rotational kinematics, gravitational potential and fluid dynamics are covered only in PC5110 Advanced Mechanics. This means that only the physics major students will learn all this, in contrast to the old system where everyone learnt this. This has a lot to do with mapping of our syllabus against A level so I will elaborate on this more in another post.

PC5111 Higher Physics is similar. It is a higher-level follow up to PC4110 Advanced Physics. These two modules deal with oscillations and waves. In the old system, we all had one 3 MC module in Year 4 that covered all this content. It should be noted, though, that PC5111 has more content than the old Year 4 oscillations & waves module, such as Malus’ Law of Polarization and Brewster’s Angle. In summary the content learnt is something like this, in increasing order: PC4110, old system Year 4 oscillations & waves module, PC4110 + PC5111.

One more thing about the new system: Honours students will take Physics B in Year 5 and Physics C in Year 6, as previously done. However, all major students will take Physics B only in Year 6. There is no more option to clear it early in Year 5, as Physics B covers content in PC5110 and PC5111, which major students, having not taken the accelerated track, would not have covered yet.

Chemistry

Old system

I don’t have the fully updated file to screenshot so I will just state this in word form. This system is for the current Year 5s/6s. Honours modules are taken in addition to major modules.

Year 4: CM4101 Equilibria, CM4102 Thermodynamics & Electrochemistry

Year 5 Sem 1: CM5102 Organic Chemistry, CM5105 Kinetics & Reaction Mechanisms

Year 5 Sem 2: CM5104 Inorganic Chemistry

Honours modules in Year 5: CM5401 Advanced Organic Chemistry (Sem 2)

Year 6 Sem 1: CM6101 Experiments in Synthetic Chemistry

Honours modules in Year 6: CM6401 Principles of Spectroscopy, CM6402 Separation Science (both Sem 2)

For the current Year 6s, AP Chemistry was usually taken in Year 5 (2008). Only 3 students chose to take AP Chemistry this year instead.

For the current Year 5s, AP Chemistry will be taken in Year 6 (2010). Students are not allowed to take it earlier.

For the graduated batch, their modules were slightly different. Instead of CM6101 Experiments in Synthetic Chemistry, they had CM5101 Experiments in Organic Chemistry.

New system

The new system basically involves a rearrangement of the topics in Year 4 and 5 but nothing as drastic as the math and physics syllabuses (syllabi).

In word form:

Year 4: CM4105 Chemical Energetics and Kinetics, CM4106 Equilibrium & Thermodynamics

Year 5 Sem 1: CM5102 Organic Chemistry, CM5106 Electrochemistry

Year 5 Sem 2: CM5104 Inorganic Chemistry

Honours modules in Year 5: CM5401 Advanced Organic Chemistry (Sem 2)

Year 6 Sem 1: CM6101 Experiments in Synthetic Chemistry

Honours modules in Year 6: CM6401 Principles of Spectroscopy, CM6402 Separation Science (both Sem 2)

AP Chemistry is taken in Year 6.

I also have a screenshot. Honours modules are in pink.

BIOLOGY

Old system

I think bio is quite self explanatory in diagrams. Honours modules are in purple.

For those who would rather just read words.

Year 5 Sem 1: BL5101 Biochemistry

Year 5 Sem 2: BL5102 Advanced Animal Physiology, BL5103 Ecology and the Environment

Honours modules for Year 6: BL6401 Functions & Adaptations (Sem 1), BL6403 Proteins (Sem 2).

If you are taking bio major there are no bio modules in Year 6. However AP Biology prep sessions begin earlier than for the honours students.

New system

Again, honours modules are in purple.

Year 5 Sem 1: BL5102 Advanced Animal Physiology

Year 5 Sem 2: BL5103 Ecology and the Environment

Year 6 Sem 1: BL6403 Basics of Biochemistry (I don't know if this is a major or honours module. On one hand it's pink, which indicates major module, but it has a '4' as the 2nd digit in the module code which usually indicates honours)

Honours modules for Year 6: BL6401 Functions & Adaptations, BL6403 Proteins (both Sem 2).

As you can see the main difference is that the topics are moved around, just like chemistry. The biochemistry module has also been restructured. Previously it was 3 MCs, but the new biochemistry module is only 2 MCs. I don’t know if this means the content is less (maybe that’s why they call it ‘basics’).

Alright that's all I have now. Topics I will be posting about in future: Mapping of our syllabus against A level syllabus, taking NUS modules, research in NUS High.