Useful Tips to Do Well For Your Part-Time MComp from NUS. Also Relevant For Any Master's Degree, Anywhere!

My master's journey has been a wonderful experience that I never once regretted taking on. It was made even more special with me winning the SCS Gold Medal & Prize 2022 (for being the student with the best CAP in Information Systems specialisation for the year 2021-2022).

Those four semesters just went by in a flash and I have to admit that some days were rather crazy and hectic while others a little more palatable. But throughout it all, I tried to do several things to keep me going and help me attain that Master's degree and I will share some of those in this post.

While my Master's degree was in Computing with a specialisation in Information Systems (IS), I feel these tips could apply generally to any Master's programme. I would also like to mention that I did my Masters completely online via zoom classes (due to the Covid-19 situation) so there might be certain aspects more applicable to online classes but mostly, the tips here do apply for most situations.

Disclaimer: I am writing these from my personal experiences and a lot of it are my own personal opinions so read them knowing that they are not necessarily 100% guaranteed. 

Tip 1: Find Reliable Team Mates

Image Credit: Vecteezy

And find them EARLY!

I can't stress this enough! All the modules I did involved group work (1 CS and 9 IS modules. For exact details, do check out my previous posts). EVERY SINGLE MODULE! And every project formed a sizeable proportion of the grades - between 40 to 60%. 

Bottom line: You can't escape group work (unless you are doing some Information Security modules... maybe).

{Next paragraph is more applicable for those still having online classes} 

With lectures and classes being held online, it was harder to meet people to possibly form a team with. However, if you still have zoom classes, it would be useful to observe the active and engaged people in class. After all being on zoom might make students more comfortable to speak up in class. Email those you feel might make good and reliable team mates. (I did have a bad experience with someone I found this way. He seemed so active in discussions but when it came to writing the report, absolutely garbage work. So, just know this might not always lead to success...)

And now that physical classes are resuming, chat up with some of your course mates, see if you have similar interests in the topics, etc. Also check if you have matching desires to attain good grades. This can be really important because I have noticed that some students just wish to get through modules with a passing grade, while others wish to get top grades. It helps a lot to form a team with people who will be working towards a particular desired grade (in addition to just the completion of the project).  

I have to say that unless you know other students, your first semester is going to be a little risky when it comes to your project. So start your search early! I noticed people who aim to do well tend to start forming teams early. As you progress through the subsequent semesters, take note of the people who work well in a team, who makes significant contributions and produce quality work and then STICK WITH THEM! 

Doing your part well in a project would help too as it will almost always guarantee that someone (a former teammate, etc.) will approach you to join their team in the future. This will really work to your benefit especially if you don't know many fellow students.

Of course, I am not guaranteeing this first point is a foolproof plan which leads me to the second point.

Tip 2: Get Started on Group Projects Early

Image Credit: Flaticon

This is SUPER important! I have made the mistake of starting group projects late in the semester with only two weeks left to deadline and regretted it! 

Why? 

Because there is always that someone (or someones) who produces shoddy work. And then you are left cleaning up after them - often finding yourself trying to beef up their portions to an acceptable standard or having to completely redo their work.

So why do this to yourself? Especially towards the end of the semester, which is the most hectic period with multiple deadlines all catching up to you. 

You know yourself and you know the kind of work you produce and how much time you need for them. These are within your control but what isn't is your team mates and their work unless you have worked with them before. 

So starting early and trying to have once a week catch up meetings will definitely help you produce a final group output that will be of a greater quality. Even if you need to do a little extra to improve that final output, at least you have the time for it without too much added stress. 

Tip 3: Practice Your Presentation 

Image Credit: Vecteezy

Another possibly unavoidable part of your master's journey is giving presentations. Graded Presentations! So what to do? 

Practice, practice and practice, of course! 

Nobody ever gets good at presentation without some practice so even if you don't have a whole lot of time to spend on practicing, at least run through your slides and plan what you are going to say before you are due to present.

Certain presentations are timed and requires you to get your point across succinctly within a tight time frame. You could very easily find yourself going over the time limit if you don't practice for such presentations. That could mean having to skip past significant parts of your contents to complete within the set time limit and this will definitely affect your grades. 

So next time you have an upcoming presentation, set aside that hour to plan what you are going to say and then actually practice it with a stopwatch nearby!

Tip 4: Learn to Make Great Slides

Image Credit: Image by Waewkidja on Freepik

While practicing presentations are important, your presentation slides need to be of top quality too! During a presentation, people may miss what you have just said but your slides will remain up there in front of their eyes. So make sure you brush up on your slides-making skills.

Try to achieve that right balance of pictures and texts. We have all heard that too much texts is not advisable for slides and that is of course true. After all, people are not going to be able to read too much within that short frame of time or they may just not be bothered to. However...

Too many pictures, without any significant text, can also counterproductive. If someone missed out on hearing an important point you have just made, make sure they can still catch that detail on your slide. You want your slides to be informative on top of being easy to digest. 

And make sure those font sizes are readable to people even if they are sitting at the last row of the meeting room.

Tip 5: Engage with the Professors in Consultation

Image Credit: Flaticon

Doing a Masters is really all about gaining new knowledge that you could use to scale up in your job and so the end goal is usually to put what you have learnt into practice. What better way to do this than to consult with the very people who are practicing these knowledge in real life. 

So, go and speak to the professors! Ask them about their working experiences, how to apply certain knowledge in practice, their challenges and obstacles, etc. Such discussions can broaden your mind and help you think creatively and out-of-the-box, which could help you do better not just for your Masters but also at work.

And even though this tip is encouraging you to consult with your professors, don't discount the immense knowledge you can glean and connections you can make from your fellow course mates. One of them could very well be some top manager or know someone who is looking to hire that next outstanding individual.

Tip 6: Brush Up on Your Writing Skills

Image Credit: Image by Waewkidja on Freepik

I know this one is a little hard to do hence it is at this position of this list, meaning it's a "good to have".

Report writing is an unavoidable part of doing your Masters programme unfortunately (or fortunately for some). And I have been UNfortunate enough to team up with members who string up sentences which could leave a proficient English language speaking/reading person to feel like they are reading Alien language gibberish.

Sure, the lecturers/TAs are mainly marking your work based on your content and probably won't mark you down for your erroneous grammar. But why tempt fate by asking them to guess the meaning of your sentences?

It would have been ideal if you had good writing skills from the start but if not, then you know you gotta read more widely. Try reading more reports, articles and papers. Things that you could emulate for your own report. Emulate, NOT copy! Plagiarism is a very serious offence that could get you a fail.

Tools like Grammarly can come in right handy when you have to write long reports. The free version can help you to correct any common mistakes that you might have made while the premium version even offers "Turnitin-like" features, allowing you to flag out plagiarised sentences. 

And lastly, if you don't intend to do anything about improving your writing, then at least make sure you get started on your group projects EARLY so that you group mates can have sufficient time to try to help with your grammar or sentence structure. Don't leave that poor group member of yours correcting your portion of the report for grammar mistakes 'til four in the morning of submission day. 

Tip 7: Know Thyself Well

Image Credit: Image by Waewkidja on Freepik

Know your strengths. Your weaknesses. And acknowledge them. Then work towards improving them and/or filling in gaps temporarily. 

How? 

Tips 3, 4 and 6 have already expounded on the improvement aspects. As for filling in gaps, you do that by finding team mates who are good at something you are not-so-great at. 

If you don't write well but can do up an amazing set of slides, then find a member who writes well. If coding isn't your strength, then find someone who can code while letting them know that you will cover the research and report writing. 

Know what you can bring to the table then do it well while learning the things you are not so great at during the course of the group project.

Always having the right attitude will take you a long way in your master's journey or indeed, in any aspect of your life.

**Hope this helps. Got any additional pointers for other students like yourself? I am sure they will appreciate your sharing.