SSEF 2008 Causalty Rate

Its been a long time since I made any comments showing how busy I was for the past year or rather how bored I am now. As such, here I am sharing some interesting observations about this year’s Singapore Science and Engineering Fair 2008 (SSEF) registration as there is always something to talk about SSEF registrations.

One thing that makes this year different from most of the history of SSEF is its tighter screening which results in a greater number of projects being removed from the fair. While many, including myself, think that it would be a real pity to remove the good works of many, I think that its more of a practical constrain of space and human resource that makes it impossible for everyone to present. I would really like to illustrate this point with an example: while my group and I got into SSEF 2007 with a project that (literally) counted cells (using a hemocytometer under the light microscope), others who did stuff like luciferase/vectors/transduction etc was not able to get past the first round. The increase in standard is really a surprise and has increased the causalty rate from almost negliable to 41% this year (Table 1, below):

Total applicants*	Approved applicants	Causalty rate	VJC total applicants	VJC approved applicants	VJC Causalty rate
422	249	41%	53	36	32%

*after removing duplicates and spam

This is unprecedented in SSEF history before (at least not that I known of)! I vividly recall that my first SSEF project in SSEF 06 was they first year the screening system was implemented, where few projects that were affected/removed. This sentiment carried on to last years SSEF 07 where the it was relatively unheard of that many projects where removed; of course there were some for both years. But this year, the 41% casualty rate seems to be quite high and its effects could be felt quite soundly.

Of course, here let us focus on our own school. We can see that the causalty rate is quite high at 32%, which is almost 1 in 3 projects. Nevertheless, the sliver lining is that VJC’s average casualty rate of 32% is lower than the total average of 41%. I think that it would be interesting to see how this compares to others schools so did anyone did anything for the other schools? (please do share if you have, thanks!). To be honest, I am still not very sastified with a 32% casualty rate which is not very confidence inspiring fact for next years’ batch. Nonetheless, its the quality that matters not the quantity but with VJC’s decreasing trend of medal tally fro 4 consecutive years, things are certainly not bright.

Statistics do not represent everything, and I think that the numbers do not show us a complete picture. For example, some projects are inter-school projects involving members from more than one school, so to avoid double-counting, I simply took the school as the school the project is registered at. Also, some people did 2 or more projects so the statistics really do not give you the individual causalty rate but the project causalty rate.

I think that SSEF 08 would be very interesting; the bars are raised and the standards have shot up. This time round its not going to be so easy to maintain the standard but we should take it on a postive light, that winners can be very well convinced that they are up to the mark. On VJC’s side, this year might be a very decisive year as the first batch of Integrated Programme (IP) reach their 4th year (IP4/JC2) and are competing with the IP and non-IP projects from other schools so whether the effectiveness of the IP is something worth looking out for. Finally what I really hope is that VJC would break her 4 consecutive years of drop (have 3 or more if you can afford it, but we are really broke here) and win a nice set of medals, ideally surpassing the 2004 year or at least get a silver and beat the 2005 year. All the best to VJC in this year’s upcoming SSEF!

EDB Dialogue and Roundtable Session 2007

EDB Dialogue and Roundtable Session 2007 was held on 21st July, from 8.30 to 11.30 at the Intercontinental Hotel Singapore ballroom. The session is organised by the EDB (Economic Development Board), a government organisation that is responsible for making Singapore attractive to business investments. Mr. Lim Siong Guan, chairman of EDB, gave a talk on career and scholarship choices and also participated in the discussion. Students from various top junior colleges were also present, and the entire ballroom of around 30-40 tables were occupied.

8.10am

Upon arriving early at around 8.10am, I scouted the area around Intercontinental Hotel Singapore in an attempt to determine the shortest route to Bugis MRT station, which was the closest train station nearby. I discovered something interesting on the way: a table filled with donation tin cans, which I infer means that there would be some donation drive where people would be carrying tin cans around to ask for money. I also went exploring around the hotel to see if Bugis Junction and the hotel were connected; unfortunately, I was unable to find any connection.

8.20am

After exploring the hotel, I decided to head to the ballroom which was at level 2. To my surprise, there were already a crowd of at least 30-40 people scattered all around the waiting area outside the ballroom. I registered immediately and was given a postcard of which I was instructed to place in a glass bowl in a table opposite the reception table which would be used for a lucky draw. I was a bit lost on what to put on the postcard (which now acts as a lucky draw coupon) but decided that the logical thing to do was to put my name and my school.

I scanned the area, desperately looking for familiar faces, and the only one that I could find was Mr Chan Poh Meng, our school’s principle. When I first arrived, he was chatting with some girl which identity I was unable to ascertain. But after registration, I saw that he was all by himself at the balcony looking down at the restaurant on level 1. Being a social person, I decided to be polite and wish Mr Chan a good morning. We talked about quite a bit of things, but there was one point that I wish to specially bring up. Mr Chan mentioned that it was not easy a task having to balance the responsibility of a principle against the popularity with the students. Critics of Mr Chan may say that this a lame excuse for his unwillingness to reward us with half/full days and that it is nothing more then a pretext for his lack of generosity. But I disagree. I believe that a principle or a teacher, even the government, basically anyone with any authority, should get their priorities right, and fulfil their responsibilities even if certain actions are undesirable to the populace. Moreover, I can feel Mr Chan’s sincerity when he was talking me about it; some may say that I am ignorant and was fooled, but I strongly believe that I have at least a minimal level of discernment to differentiate hypocrisy and sincerity. By the way, I decided to self-censor some of my opinions that I have with the previous principle, Mrs Chan, regarding this topic.

8.40am

I parted ways with Mr Chan after he suggested that we should start to make a move since the ballroom was opened. I walked into the ballroom and settled at a table with a group of VJC students. I was wondering about the type of activities that would happen latter after seeing 1) many colourful pieces of paper, 2) writable stickers and 3) many colour pencils and markers. Fortunately, I was to know later that the stickers was just to write your name so that others in your table know who you are and that he paper and pencil was for you to write down questions for the Q&A session later.

The early bird activity was just a 10 question MCQ + 3 free response questions (though one was skipped) on some statistics on EDB. Looks like the participants from others school were well-prepared, as they were able to tell the answers of questions like: the number of employee EDB has, the percentage of GDP that EDB contributed to Singapore and what the TKCL (Trust, Knowledge, Connected, Life) in the World•Singapore plan stands for.

9.00am+

I didn’t check my watch so I ma not that sure on the timing. There was a talk by Mr Lim, chairman of EDB. It started of quite lively then got a tad boring, but I think he sensed it and continued with the rest of the speech in a more light-hearted tone. After the talk was the dialogue session, where one representative from each of the six participating junior college was invited up on stage to ask one question each to the group of 4 EDB officers including Mr Lim. Interesting questions like the failure of the UNSW Asia campus was asked. After the dialogue session was a roundtable session where we got the chance to talk with the EDB officer that was posted to our table. Meanwhile, we got refreshments that were served by Intercontinental Hotel. I had high expectations about the food that were served (since it comes from a hotel after all), and despite being well satisfied, I thought that it could be better. After refreshments and the roundtable session was another round of Q&A, but this time the questions can come from anyone that is present. There was only time for three questions (if I had not remember incorrectly) but there was an interesting question about the Iskandar Development Region (IKR) in Malaysia, that is commonly thought was created to compete with Singapore’s tourism industry, particularly the newly developed Marina Bay area. Mr Lim has a unique interpretation on the topic and stated that we should not always play the game the same way but should recreate the game so as to play well in it. The session ended with a lucky draw. Probability was against me and I failed to get any of the four lucky draw prizes (as usual), especially not the iPOD Nano which some lucky guy from Hwa Chong Institution got it.

11.30am+

Packed all the remaining freebies left on the table and headed home after the session. On the way to the MRT we spotted some students holding donation tin cans, which reconfirm my suspicion of a donation activity going on. Trip home was smooth and I returned home at around 1.00pm.

New NUS Admission Criteria!

This is a good news to all BMCE students against the snobbery of some people who advocate take PCME just because it previously gives students a wider range of university course options. In 5th March, NUS announced a new admission criteria (which I only got to know about yesterday…) which I think radically change the way people treat BCME.

For below comparisons, data under “New Syllabus 2005″ and “Old Syllabus” are taken from the “16 May 2005 Univ Adm Fwk under new A-level curriculum (Annex C)” while the “New Syllabus 2007″ data is taken from http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/apply/cata/newcurriculum.htm, from the .pdf file called h1h2_prereq. The .pdf file’s “Information is correct as at 5 March 2007.”.

(Note: This is not an exhaustive list of ALL the available course, but mostly those that have undergone changes)

(Note 2: when I mention “need” below, it really means a pass is needed)

Faculty	Old Syllabus	New Syllabus 2005	New Syllabus 2007	Remarks
Bioengineering	A Level Physics + Mathematics	H2 Mathematics + Physics	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry or Physics*	I find it absurb that you need to have physics but need not have any biology background to do bioengineering…
Chemical engineering/ Environmental engineering	A Level Mathematics + Chemistry + AO Physics	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry + H1 Physics	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry + Physics**	BCME students can now take chemical and environmental engineering assuming they have taken O level physics
Computer engineering/ Civil engineering/ Common engineering/ Electrical engineering/ Industrial & Systems engineering/ Mechanical engineering/ Material Science engineering/	A Level Mathematics + Chemistry + AO Physics	H2 Mathematics + Physics (except for Industrial & Systems Engineering which needs only H1 Physics)	H2 Mathematics + Chemistry + Physics***	BCME students can now take the many other engineering courses assuming they have taken O level physics
Computing	A Level Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	This goes to show how far A level computing is a useless subject. But then I thought that they would want H2 mathematics students since quite a bit of logic and mathematics is invovled in computing.
Computing	A Level Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	This goes to show how far A level computing is a useless subject. But then I thought that they would want H2 mathematics students since quite a bit of logic and mathematics is invovled in computing.
Computing	A Level Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	H1 Mathematics	This goes to show how far A level computing is a useless subject. But then I thought that they would want H2 mathematics students since quite a bit of logic and mathematics is invovled in computing.
Engineering Science	?	?	Good grades in H2 Mathematics + Physics	Pardon my ignorance but what on earth is engineering science about? Is it a new subject since the old .pdf file has nothing about it. It is also interesting to note that “good” grades (and not just a pass) is needed.

*those who dont have H2 pass in chemistry and/or biology will have to do some bridging modules
** those who dont have H1 or H2 physics need to have taken physics in O Level and some bridging modules
*** those who dont have H2 physics need to have taken physics in O Level and some bridging modules

Comment:

It is interesting that NUS considers mathematics as an arts subject. Only if A Level does the same…

Double degrees are fun, some make sense (e.g. law and life sciences gives you and edge when it comes to biomedical legal and ethical issues or mathematics/applied mathematics and computer since computing students that have a strong mathematics background tends to prosper), others are weird (e.g. engineering and economics, if you wanted to do set up your own engineering company, you probably would do engineerng and business), one is just too specialised: computing (in communications and media)**** in NUS + master of entertainment from Carnegie Mellon, this is really a pity that you get a Carnegie Mellon degree in such a specialised course.

**** please refer to http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/multidisciplinary/bcomp_met.htm for this piece of infomation

Last words:

You can take all subjects in NUS with BCME assuming you have a O Level pass in physics. However, if you take PCME instead, you cant take pharmacy which requires biology. The relaxation of requirements for the various engineering departments comes at a good time since more and more people are taking biology (at the expanse of physics) at O Levels. This is to all who worry for their future university course options because of taking BCME: dont worry, you can get access to all courses (as long as you have a O Level pass in physics)

Triple Science

In this age, with the new MOE syllubus (the one starting for people born in 1989), the triple science combination has been greatly devalued. The pride of the science stream has now been carefully eliminated from all schools. The main reason is that it is now a requirement to take a constrasting subjects: minimum 1 arts subject is needed even if you are taking the science stream OR 1 science subject minimun if you are taking the arts stream.

We should start with a brief glossary of terms:
H1 – compared to AO level , same depth as H2 but theoractically less breadth.
H2 – compared to A level
H3 – compared to S paper, but differs in the sense that it is a completely new subject. E.g. H3 biology is aout proteomics, which is not part of the standard H2 biology syllabus. Secondly, H3 can only be taken only if you have taken the H2 equilvalent of the subject, for example, you cant take H3 physics if you are not doing physics at the H2 level.

Triple science option 1: With KI

In most schools, the only way you can offer triple science at A Levels is to take it with Knowledge Inquiry (KI), a new subject which is supposedly harder than General Paper (GP) but marketed as uniquely different. One more thing to note is that KI is a H2 subject that you can take in lieu of GP, which is H1. Moreover, KI is regarded as a constrasting subject for both arts and science stream students, i.e. KI can be considered as a subject that is both arts and science.

So the KI-triple science combination looks like this:
KI + Mathematics + Biology + Chemistry + Physics + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work + Mother Tongue )

There is a weird restriction which limits each human being to either less than or equals to 12 credits; a H1 takes up 1 credit, a H2 takes up 2 credits while a H3 takes up 1 credits. It is supposed to be humanly impossible to do more than 12 credits (too stressful etc) which is true for most people. So if you take the KI-triple science combination, and wish to do mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics at the H2 level, you have effectively filled your credit limit.

KI (2) + Mathematics (2) + Biology (2) + Chemistry (2) + Physics (2) + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work (1) + Mother Tongue (1) ) = 12

That means that you cant take any H3 unless you drop your H2 (mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics) to a H1.

Triple science option 2: Without KI

There is a unofficial triple science subject combination. This involves taking a double science subject combination and adding one more science to it. For example if your original subject combination is (lets assume that you take your constrasting arts subject as H1):

Mathematics (2) + Biology (2) + Chemistry (2) + 1 constrasting subject at H1 level (1) + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work (1) + Mother Tongue (1) + GP (1) (since you dont take KI)) = 10

Since 10 is below the credit limit of 12, you can take one more H2 science subject (since you already have a H1 constrasting arts subject), for example, Physics (2). Thus your subject combination is:

Mathematics (2) + Biology (2) + Chemistry (2) + Physics (2). + 1 constrasting subject at H1 level (1) + compulsory H1 subjects (Project Work (1) + Mother Tongue (1) + GP (1) (since you dont take KI)) = 12

In other words, to get a triple science, you take a double science subject combination and add an additional subject, which is another science.

Similarly, taking a triple science means that you cant take any H3 unless you drop your H2 (mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics) to a H1.

Problems

Option 1 (with KI):
1) KI is very challenging and it might be difficult to cope with a triple science (constrasting subjects are sterotyped to be slightly easier)
2) KI requires you to pass a selection test (to determine whether you are able to do KI or not)

Option 2 (without KI):
1) You effectively take more subjects than anyone else! You take 3 sciences + 1 math + 1 constrasting + GP + 2 compulsory subjects which gives you a staggering 8 subjects. The KI-triple science option only requires you to take 7 subjects ( KI + 3 sciences + 1 math + 2 compulsory subjects ), while a double science subject combination requires to take ( 2 sciences + 1 math + 1 constrasting subject + GP + 2 compulsory subjects ) which is only 7 subjects.

There are only 2 ways to do 9 subjects:
1) Drop one of your H2 subjects in the non-KI triple science combination to H1 and do a H3, giving you 9 subjects. (you can drop 2 H2s to do 2H3s as you need a minimun to 3 H2s)
2) Drop 2 of your H2 subjects in the double science combination to H1 and do 2 H3s, giving you 9 subjects.

(Please tell me if you can think of more)

So whats the real problem?

The option of taking triple science without KI is available in some schools but NOT mine! The bigger problem is that I appealed for this subject combination and it was rejected. The reasons given was 1) H3 is valued for scholarship and university applications (depth more important than breadth) 2) (and if you take H3 by dropping a science subject to H1) taking H1 for a science subject is useless as university admissions needs H2.

If I have known about this, I might have joined Temasek Junior College instead of my present school. Temasek Junior College is only a 5 minutes bus ride away from my present school and has comparable grades (fine, they are slightly lousier (no offence intended)). But then, I would never had known it, because the new syllabus only came out 2 years ago (2005), and I made the decision to join the Victorian Integrated Programme in 2004. Oh well…

Some schools offering triple science without KI (as of writing)
Temasek Junior College: http://www.tjc.edu.sg/education/subcoms.asp (under group 4, number 27)
Hwa Chong Institution: http://www.hwachong.edu.sg/newsEvents/subjectcombi2007.htm (number 42, 43)

SMS of the Year 2005

There is no sms of the year of 2006 unfortunately. But I am posting the SMS of the Year 2005 this year (2007) because I am changing my phone…

Sent by: My Har (my Photonics elective teacher )
Date: 12.09.05
Time: 09.49am
Reason: Response to me asking him the exempt us from going for a certain photonics related course due to examinations coming close

“Hi. In the 1st place, I thought VIP means we will not need to worry about exams!! Or all of you are the cream, so what challenge are exams to you? Aims of IP?”

(no sacarism intented, and I very much respect Mr Har as a very sincere teacher, the purpose of this post is just to document a glimpse of my life, apologies for any misunderstandings…)