the beauty of NUS's BYOD system is that it effectively is kinda a bit of the wild wild west. it doesn't help that once you clear your fundamentals, it's basically free real estate - with like 10 focus areas (now 11, with the HCI area being added)
i think people do get boggled down by the idea of focus areas. i realised pretty early on that these honestly don't matter. yes, you HAVE to complete one, but it's pretty easy to complete, and three of the focus areas (AI, SWE, Algorithms) only need you to do two extra modules anyways. instead, just look at the modules, figure out which ones you want to do first, and then choose the focus area from there.
in addition, you need to hit the requirements, but it's not stated when you have to. for example, CS3230 isn't a prereq for me for any of my mods. i did it in my very last semester. a lot of people do, apparently. don't just do the required mods just because you have to early, instead prioritise mods that unlock mods that you want to do. for example, if you wanted to do cybersecurity stuff, you could very much push 3230 or 2109S all the way to the back, since they don't really block anything on that path.
i personally took the software engineering focus area because i just like building things, and i find that more fun than learning some specific theory about algorithms. however, the SWE mods are honestly super coursework heavy, and a lot of people hate that. so pick your poison. (i can't speak about any other focus areas, didn't take it.)
i speak more about doing this for the requirements below, but i think doing a FYP is just really nice. however, not a lot of people do this in NUS CS. i think you should only do it if at least 4 of these factors apply
- your GPA can make it to first class in the end
- you are willing to sink time in unlike no other mod you've seen before x2
- you are willing to struggle on your own
- you have a genuine interest in the project you are applying for
- you have a favourable modplan that won't kill you on the side
if you're a poly student, you by default have 20 UEs exemptions, and as a IT poly student, you have a few more (i was exempted from internship and ethics). this made me have 130 UEs, which allowed me to comfortably finish in 3 years.
use this advantage to have lighter semesters - you really don't have to follow others' paths, especially non-poly people - because you have that benefit of having to cover less CU.
however, it must be noted i revoked my exemption for CS1101S. very worth. i would recommend this for all CS students coming from poly. it's different... i wouldn't want to step back into uni and die to 2030S straight away.
everyone wants a first class, not everyone's gonna get it. you need to do the dissertation to be eligible for honours (highest distinction), and if you look at the project list, you really see that this actually isn't a large percentage of the cohort. this means mod planning needs to be done if you want to get that first class, and you actually kinda need to decide early? you should know by 80CU where you stand GPAwise, and that decision has to be made then whether to do a FYP or plan for other 4k mods, for which you might need to settle some prereqs.
after a while, though, your classification is kinda set in stone. at a certain point, you will realise that your incoming GPA has stopped mattering as much. for example, if you're at a 4.2 in your second last sem, with maybe 24 graded units left, it's time to stop caring so much. go and do other stuff like internships or try research groups, because you're not pulling that over a 4.5 realistically, and you're not pulling it below a 4.0 as well.
generally, it is pretty easy to understand the workload/assessment style of a mod purely off the nusmods reviews. CS is pretty good in that there are always reviews, unless it's a brand new reviewed mod. try not to take more than 1 heavy coursework mod, unless you're someone that can handle that, and especially if you're doing external commitments like an internship.
the general rule of thumb for me is 3 CS mods max they can be fluff, or difficult modules in a different field. too much CS at one time is honestly draining, and i will say that it's nice to interact with non-CS pilled students once in a while, even if you're a techbro.
also, try to do all your mods with at least one friend. you never know when you're gonna need help, and workloads feel ten times heavier without someone to rely on.
this is really free real estate. i had a friend in engineering that used it to finish 2 specialisations, which is insane but really cool, and on the opposite, i used mine for free and easy stuff. however, some cool stuff that computing has that isn't that obvious to most people should be checked out.
- CP3108 - independent work is really cool if you find something you're genuinely interested in. i did this; WING Reading Group
- CS2309 - research mod, useful for people that want a peek into that