Examination in Western: The hour of reckoning

I was wondering what I have been doing for the past 3 months since I arrived in Canada, and during that process, tallied the amount of hours I have spent on studying. The grand total came up to a miserable and utterly dismal figure of course, since most of my time was whiled away on play instead. Hence, with a total lack of preparedness, the panick attack that strucked me was almost too much to bear as I counted down to D-day. Below is the assessment of how I will fare for each individual modules registered for this exchange:

1) MME 303a - Fluid Mechanics:
Touted as the 'killer' module, this module boasts a failure rate of 30% from the previous semester. The sheer amount of calculus involved in this engineering module is mind boggling, with partial differentiation proving to be the main obstacle in this course. Despite having a certain amount of confidence on my knowledge of calculus, the concepts for the physics on fluids (i.e. the theory) is difficult to grasp at best.
Prediction: Would be contented with a pass for this module. It's like a division one team playing an EPL team, they will be mad with joy by forcing a draw for that match.

2) MME 450a - System Controls
Let's just say that this course is an enigma. No, I do not mean it as a meterphor, it is literal. After attending 3 months of lectures and tutorials, my understanding for this particular module is an abysmal 40% at most... Quite frankly, plotting the roots locus of a feedback system (the most important part of this module, in fact, the crux of what this entire module is all about), remains to be an unsolvable mystery to me. To cap things off, half the class's consist of graduate students doing their Masters/pHd, talk about a level playing field. I will be minced meat even before the exams start.
Prediction: Can you spell disaster in capital letter? It will take more than just divine intervention for me to scrap through this course, and gasp, it's worth 4 AUs (academic units) in NTU. If I screw up this module in Canada, I will have packed 'Western' food to bring back to Singapore...

3) MME 259a - Design & Manufacturing
Hugely project based module, with the final exams contributing a measely 40% to the entire outcome. Although the results for our project remained undisclosed, I'm pretty sure I won't take a hit for this module.
Prediction: As long as I write some nonsense for the exams, they will be forced to give me some sympathy marks and save me from failure.

4) MOS 101a - Management and Organizational Studies
Arguably the most tedious module of this semester, fraught with written assignments, read-ups and a 2 and a half hour mid term (that's like an exam by itself back in NTU, wtf?!). Despite the onslaught of these odds, it proved to be a mere nuisance to yours truly, since the art of dispensing crap during written assignments has always been my proud achievements. Though shallow in my arguments in these essays, they can at least assure me a modest grade.
Prediction: Will pull through with some work.

5) GEO 155a- World Cities
This module remains to be a paradox even on the last lecture. For starters, the lecturer is a 70 plus year old 'veteran' if you will, of the teaching profession. 'Finding Forrester', 'Dead Poet's Society' and even 'GTO' comes to mind when Prof Cecil is mentioned to any student that took this module. Strangely enough, despite the 2 written assignments required to be handed up in this course, I enjoyed this module thoroughly. As the course's title suggests, this module introduces different cities around the world and sought to explain the development and history of these cities. Gained plenty of general knowledge in this course and attended every single lecture even though the lecture begins at 7pm on a monday (my first lesson for monday is 0830am and ends at 9pm!). To top it off, the examination format is MCQ, therefore, an element of chance is factored into the final results.
Prediction: With a myriad of possibilities, the examination could swing both way. Should Lady Luck frowns on me, the results would of course be disastrous, and failing the module may not be entirely impossible. However, if fate is kind, an A is not hard to achieve either. Hence, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for now.


The seats and tables look familiar in every aspect with regards to those in NTU. It proved my point that taking examination is the same whether you're in Canada or Singapore. Be it Caucasians or Asians seating by your flanks or front or back, it makes no difference, the feeling of dread is ominipresent. At this point, that dread is maddeningly frightening, but listening to the song Sangatsu Kokonoka from 1 liter of tears, my feelings were set at ease somewhat. Recalling that Aya fought the hardships of her disease, suddenly the dread from exam stress seem insignificant. Wish me luck...