NBS Y2 Semester 2 AY2015/2016

Monday, June 13, 2016
Secret War Journal[January - May 2016]

AB1201 Financial Management


Lectures attended: 100% (Dr Chanika / Angie) [E-lectures]
Tutorials attended: 100% (Dr Chanika Charoenwong)
Textbook(s): Brigham, Eugene F., Joel F. Houston, Jun-ming Hsu, Yoon Kee Kong, and A.N. Bany Ariffin,
Essentials of Financial Management, 3rd edition, Cengage Learning Asia. ISBN-13: 9789814441377.
Assessment: Tutorial Presentation (7%), Group Project (8%), Online Assignments (5%), Mid-Term Quiz (20%), Closed-book Final Examination (60%)
Comment(s):
This is one of the most important Year 1 modules for Business students if you are gunning for the Business and Finance specialisation. This is due to the grade requirement to be be considered for the specialisation. (Should be at least B+ but do not quote me for it because I am not familiar with this!)

The content delivery of this module had changed much since its inception. Now, it delivers its lectures through online lectures. The plus side to this is that there is no need for you to go to school for lectures. For some, it is a lost opportunity to clarify questions. (There are still forums and emails, no worries hardworking students hahas)

The assessment breakdown looks daunting but it is less taxing than it seems. It really is more of continuous work. As long as you keep up to the pace of the coursework, it should be a breeze for you.

I would recommend Chanika as your tutor, if possible. She puts in the extra effort to go through the contents once more and clarifies any doubt you might have for the chapters. Also, she gives additional questions for you to attempt in class, preparing you for the mid-terms and the finals.

The Mid-Term Quiz is fairly important and you should never dismiss this. Doing well for this quiz is indicative of your knowledge in Financial Management thus far. The quiz traditionally focuses more heavily on the concepts. It is also the course's tradition to release the questions and solutions for the past 3 semesters so you will be adequately prepared for the quiz.

The finals is similar to the mid-term quiz but includes more calculations. Again, the coordinator will traditionally release past papers and solutions for your revision. I found this to be especially helpful as not every business modules readily give away such resources.

In the event that you do not feel prepared after attempting the past papers, feel free to attempt the self-practice questions in the tutorials (strongly recommended, by the way) and textbook questions. Speaking of textbook, the textbook is essential as there will be contents exclusively in the textbook that will be tested. These concepts will not be found in the lecture notes. Finally, while studying with the textbook, do not discount the footnotes as they can be tested as well.

CS8700 Becoming a Culturally Competent Communicator in a Multicultural World

Lectures attended: No lecture.
Seminars attended: 84.62% (Dr. Chen Hsueh-hua Vivian)
Textbook(s): Baldwin, J. R., Coleman, R. M., González, A., & Shenoy, S. (2014). Intercultural communication for everyday life .Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Assessment: Mid-Term Quizes x 2 (40%), Final Project (30%), Class Participation (30%)
Comment(s):
This was offered as a GERPE-BM module during this semester. This may change as I had heard from the School that they are restructuring the basket for GERPE-BM.

This may end up as a rant for me. However, if you are considering this as an elective module, I would strongly advise against this unless you have an interest and ample time for this. My belief is that fulfilling only one condition is not sufficient.

Here is why. There are almost weekly writing assignments for this module. Yes, there is only one 3 hour seminar session but the assignments require a bit of time investment. If you are already overloaded with other modules, this is not for you.

That said, the concepts taught are interesting and potentially useful. This modules aims to teach you how to communicate effectively with people from a different culture. This is increasingly important in the globalised world. Dr Chen is good in trying to make the seminar sessions interesting and interactive which helped. If you enjoyed AB1601 Organisational Behaviour, you should enjoy this module as well.

If you have noticed, there are no finals! That is a plus point. However, there is a catch. The final project's deadline is perilously close to the start of the final examinations. Hence, this is something you need to take note before deciding to take on this module.

The final project is essentially another writing assignment. It will be similar in nature to your weekly assignments, just longer in length.

All mid-term quizes are closed book and in multiple choice format.

Textbook will be helpful if you are not planning to exercise your S/U option. Otherwise, skipping the textbook should be safe.

For a full list of the modules I took, see link here. :)