[SG Talk] Polytechnic life and courses

[spax]

I'm currently studying in JC for the first three months. However, I'm still deciding whether I should stay in JC or go to polytechnic when I receive my O Level results. That's why I opened up this thread to clear doubts about the courses that the 5 polytechnics in Singapore offer.

What I'd like to know is how the courses are generally conducted. I believe that we will learn essential stuffs and gain some experience in the society through these courses. Wouldn't mind if you guys give more details as well as some tips and advices regarding the courses? :wink2:

Everybody is welcome here to talk about poly lives and share some views on the courses and programmes. It would be useful to those who are considering to enter into poly. :happy:

Oh yes, I'm more interested in the computing courses as well as IT, so if there's anybody out there taking the related courses, feel free to share as well. ;)

Gah.... JC life is so tiring, being in school full day for lectures and tutorials. There were many time when I wish to go to poly to escape those time-eating sessions in JC.... :wacko:

[*meow]

spaxie- JC life is so tiring, being in school full day for lectures and tutorials. There were many time when I wish to go to poly to escape those time-eating sessions in JC....

who told you that poly life was easy and not tiring? and who told you that poly life isn't time-eating? :rolleyes: haha. seriously.

the perception that everyone has of Poly life is wrong. (unless they have been through it themselves) it ain't easy at all. in fact, i'd say that it's either more difficult or AS DIFFICULT as jc. it's not any less stressful (that's why i'm dropping hair. -.-) either. the 'easier' courses MIGHT be easier than jc. but there's prob only a few like that.

What I'd like to know is how the courses are generally conducted. I believe that we will learn essential stuffs and gain some experience in the society through these courses. Wouldn't mind if you guys give more details as well as some tips and advices regarding the courses?
okay! let me see. aiyah, i'll tell you what happens in my course then maybe you can get a rough idea. :D

on mondays i have lectures. right now my lectures are from 9-6pm. 5 lectures.
the rest of the days i have tutorials. actually the lecture&tutorial part is largely the same as jc. it's the things we learn that are different.

you are right about the gaining practical experience part though. :D i'm taking mass comm in Ngee Ann Poly and we learn a lot of technical stuff like, handling cameras, editing videos, using different software for creating radio programmes etcetc. then there's also learning how to write proposals that will come in useful in the future, how to give a speech, marketing (god i hate this module)-- marketing consists of A LOT of things, then there's also web design and graphic communication for those who want to go into creative sectors.

projects are ENDLESS. and most of the time, people scramble and stress themselves out to meet deadlines. and that's when you'll wish you had exams instead. cos exams only come once in the whole semester, projects are never-ending, as i said. :oops: BUT then again. these projects and deadlines do give you an idea of how your actual working life will be like.

about the good part about poly. nice food & long hols. :brows: i have a 2 and a half month holiday after the end of my semester. but... first year is a lot more slack considered to the second and third years. (which i'm dreading.)
nice food. most polys should have quite a few canteens to choose from. there's definitely something nice to eat. :D

hmm. NP had an Open House from 18th to 20th. so i think you missed it by a bit.

and also, like i've said in the CS thread, poly and jc are actually the same things. the only diff is that, if you go to a poly you need to be in the top 10% to secure a place in the uni. jc students can score badly (i've known of people who get mostly c's and d's who get into uni) yet still advance to the uni comfortably. & of course in poly you learn more hands-on experiece whereas in jc it's not so practical for a lot of people.

[Starylosophy]

Haha Pearlie, you've provided lots of info!

Actually what I wanted to say has already mostly mentioned by Pearlie. I studied in NP's IT course from 2002-2005. Regarding the point that Poly is more relaxed than JC, to an extend I agree on that. But when the assignments come, they all come together. Imagining that you're taking 4 core modules and 3 Interdisciplinary Studies modules (these modules are like electives with no exams, just assignments and mini tests), you will be really crazy. I've stayed back in school to 11pm + for group projects at times. I've friends who literally stayed in school to even as late as 3am!

For IT courses, before I left, they started those small group lectures instead of conducting lectures in the theatres. Small group lectures would comprise 2 or 3 classes only. The timetable is rather spaced out. The most packed day would be from 8am-5pm. For each module, we have 1 hour of lecture, 1 hour of tutorial and 2 hours of practical. For every semester you will need to study 4 core subjects. You will choose to form your major in the 2nd year. There are five majors namely bioinformatics, ebusiness, networking and security, software engineering or business management. (My time only has Multimedia, ebusiness, networking and security and software engineering =/) Besides the four core modules, it is compulsory that you take Interdisciplinary Studies (IS) as mentioned on the paragraph above. (I heard the format has changed for IS modules as when you're supposed to take them but for my time, I was supposed to take three of them each semester). For the Final Year Project (FYP), during my time, there was a intranet website where you could vote for projects that have been initiated by lecturers, if not, you can propose your own. FYP's weightage is equivalent to 3 core modules in the last semester. So you will only need to take a core or elective subject for the last semester.

For attachment, I think now for IT courses, the students are supposed to do a semester of it. (In my time our attachment is only 8 weeks). You could secure a company and tell to the lecturer who is in charge of the attachment stuff or they will help you to allocate a company for you.

The above I mentioned is for the IT course. In the School of ICT, there are mainly three courses, IT, Multimedia and Animation and Mobile Business Solutions. For more in-depth explanation of the courses, do consult the website here (http://www.ict.np.edu.sg/ictweb/index.aspx).

To advance to Uni, as what Pearlie said, you need to be top 10 percent of the course. (An average GPA of about 3.4 and above and mostly grades As and Bs).

Oh yes the food! I miss NP's food :depresse:
There are four canteens to choose in NP, you could also go to SIM (which is next to it). There's also a restarant at the NP Alumni building as well as the building near the sports complex.

PS: I miss Four Leaves hot sandwich (Egg and Chicken mayo!) Pearlie would you be kind enough to buy it for me? :brows:

spax, I hope the above explanation as enlighten you a little. :happy:

[icetears-]

I know I'm wrong to come in here & rant, but I still find it ridiculous beyond ridiculous about what I read up last night.

I was looking up on the Hospitality&Tourism courses offered at Temasek Polytechnic. I saw two; one in Business & one in Management.

The Business course is newly opened up, & it's a course whereby you spend two years at Sentosa. But what's the entry requirements?

You have to have twelve years of education AND GCE A Levels.

I find it really ridiculous. I mean, the twelve years of experience criteria is fine with me, but why do they need stdents with Alevels? Can't I just head down to a polytechnic, get my three eyars diploma in Management, then head down to the Tourism Academy & start my degree in Business?

Sheesh I was so fed-up & disappointed when I read it. My dad told me not to question the government's decision & just follow it. But the way I look at it, it's seems like it's just me wasting two years at a junior college. I'll be taking up courses like what, math, science, gp, project work, humanities? & when I head down to the Tourism Academy, how much of this actually goes in.

Sheesh :dry:

[catseyes]

I think *meow probably said it all. It is actually no different from JC in terms of the tutorial and lecture thing, but yeah, there are lots of projects. And even the timetable seems to be "slacker" since sometimes we don't have to come for a full whole day, we still have to think how we gonna spend that time on. To clear your tutorials, work on your project, or simply just waste away the time, it's really up to you. I remember i spent a lot of time on my final year project that it's stressful. =/

The only difference i can think of for the poly and jc life, is the work attachment thing. I think different polytechnics have different time allocation for that, but you will probably get to do in during like your 2nd or 3rd year. I guess that's where we gain more experience. But of course, there is work attachment in uni as well, just that now i am comparing between polytechnic and jc life, so i will skip that, lol.

And yeah, do check the open house out whenever there's one and find out more about the courses that you are interested on.

[joyangel]

hmm..although i still have another 2 years in sec.sch..i'm alsoquite intertested in poly although most ppl from my school go on to jc. i'm interested in IT, so i guess i like to take on IT-related courses..but i wonder if you would need to have a certain standard of knowledge in IT before u take up the course or they accept those with only little/basic knowledge?
anyone taking this courses can help me?

[Starylosophy]

joyangel: Nope, you need not have to know any computer languages to enroll for IT courses in Poly.

They will teach you from scratch. But different polys focus on different languages from what I know. In NP, it's more of Java (Core subjects for 3 modules), VB.NET and ASP.NET.

[JayMatrix]

Projects-wise, it depends on your course.

I'm studying for the Diploma in Aeronautical engineering, and projects are like so few. My friend is in Business, and he's always doing projects when we have gatherings.

The first year is a breeze, seriously. I should have strived for a GPA of 4.0. For most of the modules, they are easy to score as the lecturers give useful hints and that is of course you attend the lectures regularly. On my first semester, I have a 4 day schooling week, with Wednesday having no lessons.

The second year is just a little tougher. But it's very difficult to score badly, for my course at least. I do my tutorials and attend the lectures, and in the end I still end up with a respectable GPA of 3.54. It may seem high but in my course it's considered average.

Going on to the third year, I think things will become much more tougher, with special focus on the aero-related modules. Some of them are pretty boring and the only way to score is to memorise them.

Attachment-wise, I'm most probably going to China The trip is of course subsidised and I must say going overseas for the attachment is a good way to improve myself not only practical-wise but also my ability to live independently. The trip will also allow me to work on my social skills. I just can't wait for it.

I personally went for the JC for 3 months. I withdrew halfway through and sometimes I think I shouldn't have done so. I could have been in NS now and preparing for entry to a local University even with not-so-decent-grades. But on further thinking I don't think I could have make the cut for A levels.

Right now, I'm just thinking of entering the workforce as early as possible and help lessen the burden on the sole breadwinner of my family.

[stitchphil]

Well I'm gonna give my two cents worth having went through both systems. And I totally agree with what Perlie said that poly life is not slack at all compared to JC. True that JC has a really tight time table and long days, lab sessions etc, but poly life isn't a stroll in the park either.

I think the most important thing is, regardless of which route you choose, you've gotta end up in a university persuing a degree. You simply can't stop at a diploma these days.

Yes, I do agree that poly time table does allow more flexibility, but it is no way more slack than JC in terms of assignments, projects and tutorials. You get to do A LOT of presentations (maybe because I'm an accountancy student), much more than you do so in JC.

And since Perlie gave you an insight into Mass Comm in NP, and Starry gave an insight into IT courses in NP, allow me to give some insight into the Business courses in NP. :happy:

We basically do 5 core modules and 2 IS modules per semester, as what the rest of the diplomas do. Depending on what course you choose, our first year modules are common across the 5 diplomas in the School of Business and Accountancy (BA).

Only in the second year, each diploma will stream into their areas of specialisation. And naturally, the most popular diploma in our school right now, as is the case with the rest of the polys, is definately the diploma in Tourism and Resort Management (TRM). Which I don't know much about since I'm in accountancy.

And with regards to what Starry said about admissions to the local universities, I recently went to NTU's Open House and asked about their 'cut-off' points for entries to the Unis. I think 3.4 is now no good enough for entry into the Universities, according to the lecturer, you'll need 3.5 - 3.6 to be eligible for an interview. And of course, that is just a very rough guide, the admissions officer said to be absolutely safe, is, well, simply be the top graduate in your course.

The GPA system is computated based on the average grades of your modules. The highest you can go is 4.0 for NP. I'm not very sure about the other polys though.

Hope that helps. :happy:

Random: So were you involved in the Open House perlie? =p