Quantitative Reasoning with Data
A
AY21/22 S2
For STEM students, this course is one of the biggest waste of times. It teaches how to analyse and interpret data, using techniques like hypothesis testing and plotting charts. I appreciate that NUS has pushed this for all students, but come on. We are already covering these topics in our core mods like ST2334.
Workload is nearly non-existent, as most of the time, you only have to do a couple of Canvas quizzes. There are also tutorials every 2 weeks, where most of the time is dedicated to group discussions anyway. The project was just a simple data analysis project with Excel, which was relatively easy to do. There was also a final presentation, where we had to interpret the results of a research paper, and apply the concepts that we've learnt in the course. Don't worry too much about it.
But what you do have to worry about are the exams. The questions are not hard at all, and can be completed in 5 minutes in theory. But realistically, they are very unclear what exactly they are looking for, and the phrasing of the questions is awful. Only 10 questions some more. Could be done in 5 minutes, but the 60 minute time is for you to gaslight yourself into thinking you're wrong. It would honestly be better for them to add more questions (maybe 20) so that we don't have to worry so much about gaslighting ourselves.
Overall, I appreciate the course for non-STEM students, but if you're in CS, it's better for you to take ST1131, as it actually teaches you R, much better for learning data analysis.