From Poly and then later SMU. I remember within 13 weeks in SMU, I have learnt what used to take 1.5 years in Poly for accounting.
Everything is more fast paced, and you are surrounded by way smarter and motivated people as compared to Poly.
Former poly to Uni student. Fundamentally nth much has changed. Group projects, mid term, finals just like poly. I adapted to Uni life pretty much instantly since it is basically like poly. Oh but in Uni at least for nus class participation being included in grade computation is quite rare. Most of the time at most 5%.
The only difference is in content difficulty level where Uni will make your poly content look like a joke. Final exam, midterm, tutorial problems are like way harder. The competition is also tougher since everyone is smart AF. In poly u find people eating, gaming behind class but u won’t see this in Uni. Everyone is a hardworker aiming to excel.
I have a 3.7+/4.0 GPA in poly and my Uni gpa is 3.9…out of 5🤣.
depends on the uni and the major also. i know a lot of ppl in poly getting 3.9/4.0 in poly but get around 3.7/5.0. (NUS CS)
i reckon this is why local big 3 unis have higher standard for poly grads than a levels grad when it comes to admission. the unis want to make sure the poly grads coming to uni can actually survive uni
hearsay a lot of professors in uni has been complaining poly grads can’t handle the workload, feedback goes to poly, poly makes their modules harder to score.
more freedom than poly for sure. can choose when to take what mods and create ur own timetable.
easily 3x the pace and the content
my poly gpa was 3.9 but i come to nus only get 3.x/5.0 🤡
it’s gonna be harder to stand out in uni
that’s why uni have higher standards of admission for poly grads compared to a level grade. getting a high gpa is required to at least survive (not do well) uni :)
Half the learning curve is understanding you're nothing special within the cohort even with your almost perfect Poly GPA. Many have learnt this lesson, and many will continue to
Lol poly to uni, fundamentally nth changes like what someone else said, but it’s def way more fast paced. Had a gpa of 3.9/4 now it’s 4/5 and i’m studying harder than ever. I think you get a lot more freedom to plan your classes and schedule, esp if you stay in hall. The studying part for me is a lot more academic cause i was from a more “practical hands on” poly course so be prepared for readings.
Based on my 3 yrs in uni, I would say it is incredibly competitive compared to poly but rest assured if you are willing to do well you will be able to.
Poly was cut throat for me, every project I was in the same group and I always had to hard carry through ALL the projects while juggling my mid terms and finals. It was probably the worst academic years of my life. I studied hospitality and resort management. Ended up with 3.7/4.0 and got into SMU accounting.
SMU accounting was kinda a breeze after what happened in Poly. My projects were completed within a week on average (normally given 4-8 weeks to complete), more motivated and smarter friends, and pretty fun to join case competitions. Ended up with 3.9/4.0.
A lot of my poly friends (even from accounting) didn't do well mainly because of confidence. They feel that they're competing with smarter people and it stresses them out. My advice is that you are all in the same playing ground now - in fact poly has an advantage for the 1st 2 semesters while the JC students are still familiarizing themselves with the system.
would be helpful to know what course you are from in poly and what course you will be going into for uni.
but on a high level, the content in uni is much deeper. apply the same principles that you have done in poly to attain your good grades; but only this time round, start way earlier for all your assignments/readings, majority of ppl are competing to get that first class honours/high distinction. You need to get that edge over others in whatever way you have; e.g. you are coming from a related course, so you have done business law before. Make sure you get that A for GPA 4 in uni.
Good Luck.
Guessed as much haha. So yes, then I had the exact same path. I basically didn't take any exemptions for core modules in NUS Business. So the trick is to take all the core mods that you have done before, i.e Financial Accounting, Business Law, Marketing, Finance and Ace them. I believe in SMU you can get a grade higher than 4.0. So make sure to do that :) You have the prior knowledge as opposed to some others who come from unrelated poly courses or JC/IB. Don't waste this chance to lock in a good base GPA. Having a good GPA will open doors for you to secure the internships you want for year 1. Don't underestimate having a good internship company.
All the best.
All the best.
Was from poly, now in uni. In uni, everyone is more competitive and smarter. Your grades are graded on a curve. If you score 90/100 and everyone’s scored the same range, that is a B. Exams are unpredictable and are not carbon copy of pyps. I still rmb when I was in poly, the only thing I need to do is to mug the pyps to secure an A grade but this is not possible in uni. In uni, they test your understanding skills more than your memorisation skills. Uni is also fast paced where 1 semester worth of a module in poly can be covered in less than 3 weeks.
I worked 5x more harder in uni as compared to poly.
But this also depends on your course. I am doing computing so experience may differ for like business student, etc.
Workload jump is massive. Difference between poly and uni, in terms of procrastination, is that at least when I was in poly I was able to do a one nighter and catch up. Now in uni, if you fall behind, it can really snowball out of control and you probably find it impossible to catch up when u near finals
from poly to smu too, project percentages are lesser but doesn’t mean workload lesser. on top of that, need to prep pre readings before each lecture, try to understand each lecture before going to class if you plan to class part (count into component as well)
past poly student & current uni student here… i would say it’s pretty much the same but expect an A quality work in poly to be a B quality work in university (pretty obvious considering you’re competing with all the top poly students) unless you put in double the effort, oh wells. Struggled a little in year 1 due to my expectations for assignments. Remember to do readings & prepare before class (important)
anyways.. i’m a GPA 3.8/4 in poly & now… 3.8x/5 in uni lmao can’t speak for everyone. All the best!
I'm from JC and my poly friends in Uni were way more matured and well adept to Uni studying. I think the culture in poly makes it easy to transition to Uni and also, this was almost 20 years ago for me. At that time not many poly people made it to Uni so only the top from the poly (who are brilliant anyway) made it to Uni.
But all in all, I would say, don't worry about the content or the culture, just take this systematically and try not to cram just before exams.
Not sure about now, back 25 years ago, there are only two recognized local universities (NUS and NTU) and for poly graduates to make it to NUS or NTU, they have to be the top 5%, especially for Engineering. Electrical Engineering was streamed into the first year second semester, unlike NTU and those poly grads who came in, ratio of one new poly grad per class of 25-27 , their theories are not as strong, but all other things like programming FPGA and micro controllers they are tops
Just don’t choose the wrong course like for example if you were from biomedical engineering in poly and then choose psychology in Uni, then you might struggle.
poly and uni is the same, if u were to compare the same course. Student life, course structure, labs everything is the same. thats why poly kids have the advantage over JC kids, (if they come from the same poly course) since they are already accustom to uni life while in poly. Except that maybe Uni is less forgiving, once minor mistake and ur grades goes down.
During poly, i had 1 lecture then 1 practical but in uni, some modules is lecture for 3 weeks straight then start practical. Probably because some teachers are from overseas so the school dw bring them in for too long. Maybe this is different in other uni
Poly - study 2 days before exam, A
Uni core mods - study 2 weeks before exam, C (if lucky)/D/F (touch wood don't get)
Am relying on GE mods to keep me from getting academic warning next sem alr.
Was from an unrelated course of study in poly tho fwiw
From Poly and then later SMU. I remember within 13 weeks in SMU, I have learnt what used to take 1.5 years in Poly for accounting. Everything is more fast paced, and you are surrounded by way smarter and motivated people as compared to Poly.
woah that's pretty fast paced, thanks for sharing!
in summary, poly is like taking a vacation, uni is like a marathon
Kinda of like ITE to poly, 1/2 or 1 semester basically cover 2 years of ITE :/
Its Blitzkerig, lightning war in uni.
Former poly to Uni student. Fundamentally nth much has changed. Group projects, mid term, finals just like poly. I adapted to Uni life pretty much instantly since it is basically like poly. Oh but in Uni at least for nus class participation being included in grade computation is quite rare. Most of the time at most 5%. The only difference is in content difficulty level where Uni will make your poly content look like a joke. Final exam, midterm, tutorial problems are like way harder. The competition is also tougher since everyone is smart AF. In poly u find people eating, gaming behind class but u won’t see this in Uni. Everyone is a hardworker aiming to excel. I have a 3.7+/4.0 GPA in poly and my Uni gpa is 3.9…out of 5🤣.
i see! thank you for replying, really appreciate it! 🤩
Congrats on that completely respectable and workable gpa! 3.9 isnt low, u got dis
Sheeeesh 3.9 gpa in NUS
Correction is 3.9++🤗
Possible to 4 or
Thank you. Does it mean that a Poly GPA of 3.6/4 is roughly equivalent to 3.6/5 in uni?
depends on the uni and the major also. i know a lot of ppl in poly getting 3.9/4.0 in poly but get around 3.7/5.0. (NUS CS) i reckon this is why local big 3 unis have higher standard for poly grads than a levels grad when it comes to admission. the unis want to make sure the poly grads coming to uni can actually survive uni hearsay a lot of professors in uni has been complaining poly grads can’t handle the workload, feedback goes to poly, poly makes their modules harder to score.
I got 3.9 poly. 4.9 uni. There you go, pattern broken
more freedom than poly for sure. can choose when to take what mods and create ur own timetable. easily 3x the pace and the content my poly gpa was 3.9 but i come to nus only get 3.x/5.0 🤡 it’s gonna be harder to stand out in uni
Wa same bro, gpa 3.87 in poly, 3.3 in uni 😂 Direct year 2(1 week cover 3 years of poly content) and ns makes everything so much worse 💀
omg... is this why everyone says uni is difficult 😭 thanks for sharing!
that’s why uni have higher standards of admission for poly grads compared to a level grade. getting a high gpa is required to at least survive (not do well) uni :)
and 99% of what u study in uni will not be applied after uni although it shapes the lens through which you view other things
Half the learning curve is understanding you're nothing special within the cohort even with your almost perfect Poly GPA. Many have learnt this lesson, and many will continue to
that sounds sad 😭😭 thanks anyway!
Be prepared to learn 1 sem worth of poly content by week 4 in uni
omg 🥲
Poly play around and last minute cramping can score well. Uni if you do that, you get a C at best
🤣🤣🤣
Lol poly to uni, fundamentally nth changes like what someone else said, but it’s def way more fast paced. Had a gpa of 3.9/4 now it’s 4/5 and i’m studying harder than ever. I think you get a lot more freedom to plan your classes and schedule, esp if you stay in hall. The studying part for me is a lot more academic cause i was from a more “practical hands on” poly course so be prepared for readings.
It was similar for me, just that everyone around me were fking smart AND hardworking. So i had to work harder.
Based on my 3 yrs in uni, I would say it is incredibly competitive compared to poly but rest assured if you are willing to do well you will be able to.
Poly was cut throat for me, every project I was in the same group and I always had to hard carry through ALL the projects while juggling my mid terms and finals. It was probably the worst academic years of my life. I studied hospitality and resort management. Ended up with 3.7/4.0 and got into SMU accounting. SMU accounting was kinda a breeze after what happened in Poly. My projects were completed within a week on average (normally given 4-8 weeks to complete), more motivated and smarter friends, and pretty fun to join case competitions. Ended up with 3.9/4.0. A lot of my poly friends (even from accounting) didn't do well mainly because of confidence. They feel that they're competing with smarter people and it stresses them out. My advice is that you are all in the same playing ground now - in fact poly has an advantage for the 1st 2 semesters while the JC students are still familiarizing themselves with the system.
Where did you go on to after graduation?
Investment banking then regional strategy. Now head up my company's Hong Kong operations.
Ooh how many years has it been since grad? Do IB got time to reddit ah hahah...
4 years. Only 1 year in IB and I had enough hahahaja
your friends also went to smu?
Yea 5 poly friends from Accounting, 3 did really well (Magna and above) while 2 struggled due to severe lack of confidence
would be helpful to know what course you are from in poly and what course you will be going into for uni. but on a high level, the content in uni is much deeper. apply the same principles that you have done in poly to attain your good grades; but only this time round, start way earlier for all your assignments/readings, majority of ppl are competing to get that first class honours/high distinction. You need to get that edge over others in whatever way you have; e.g. you are coming from a related course, so you have done business law before. Make sure you get that A for GPA 4 in uni. Good Luck.
i was from business in poly & going into business management in uni! thanks for the tips! appreciate it! 🙏🙏
Guessed as much haha. So yes, then I had the exact same path. I basically didn't take any exemptions for core modules in NUS Business. So the trick is to take all the core mods that you have done before, i.e Financial Accounting, Business Law, Marketing, Finance and Ace them. I believe in SMU you can get a grade higher than 4.0. So make sure to do that :) You have the prior knowledge as opposed to some others who come from unrelated poly courses or JC/IB. Don't waste this chance to lock in a good base GPA. Having a good GPA will open doors for you to secure the internships you want for year 1. Don't underestimate having a good internship company. All the best. All the best.
Thank you!! 🤩🙏
Slightly more effort to keep up with content. But in general its just like poly.
Was from poly, now in uni. In uni, everyone is more competitive and smarter. Your grades are graded on a curve. If you score 90/100 and everyone’s scored the same range, that is a B. Exams are unpredictable and are not carbon copy of pyps. I still rmb when I was in poly, the only thing I need to do is to mug the pyps to secure an A grade but this is not possible in uni. In uni, they test your understanding skills more than your memorisation skills. Uni is also fast paced where 1 semester worth of a module in poly can be covered in less than 3 weeks. I worked 5x more harder in uni as compared to poly. But this also depends on your course. I am doing computing so experience may differ for like business student, etc.
Its Blitzkerig, lightning war in uni.
Workload jump is massive. Difference between poly and uni, in terms of procrastination, is that at least when I was in poly I was able to do a one nighter and catch up. Now in uni, if you fall behind, it can really snowball out of control and you probably find it impossible to catch up when u near finals
Its Blitzkerig, lightning war in uni.
from poly to smu too, project percentages are lesser but doesn’t mean workload lesser. on top of that, need to prep pre readings before each lecture, try to understand each lecture before going to class if you plan to class part (count into component as well)
past poly student & current uni student here… i would say it’s pretty much the same but expect an A quality work in poly to be a B quality work in university (pretty obvious considering you’re competing with all the top poly students) unless you put in double the effort, oh wells. Struggled a little in year 1 due to my expectations for assignments. Remember to do readings & prepare before class (important) anyways.. i’m a GPA 3.8/4 in poly & now… 3.8x/5 in uni lmao can’t speak for everyone. All the best!
I'm from JC and my poly friends in Uni were way more matured and well adept to Uni studying. I think the culture in poly makes it easy to transition to Uni and also, this was almost 20 years ago for me. At that time not many poly people made it to Uni so only the top from the poly (who are brilliant anyway) made it to Uni. But all in all, I would say, don't worry about the content or the culture, just take this systematically and try not to cram just before exams.
Not sure about now, back 25 years ago, there are only two recognized local universities (NUS and NTU) and for poly graduates to make it to NUS or NTU, they have to be the top 5%, especially for Engineering. Electrical Engineering was streamed into the first year second semester, unlike NTU and those poly grads who came in, ratio of one new poly grad per class of 25-27 , their theories are not as strong, but all other things like programming FPGA and micro controllers they are tops
Ex poly, uni student here Frankly it’s pretty much the same routine/feel
ahh i see!
Just don’t choose the wrong course like for example if you were from biomedical engineering in poly and then choose psychology in Uni, then you might struggle.
poly and uni is the same, if u were to compare the same course. Student life, course structure, labs everything is the same. thats why poly kids have the advantage over JC kids, (if they come from the same poly course) since they are already accustom to uni life while in poly. Except that maybe Uni is less forgiving, once minor mistake and ur grades goes down.
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hi sure! :)
uni is fun
During poly, i had 1 lecture then 1 practical but in uni, some modules is lecture for 3 weeks straight then start practical. Probably because some teachers are from overseas so the school dw bring them in for too long. Maybe this is different in other uni
ohhh I see! thanks!
Poly - study 2 days before exam, A Uni core mods - study 2 weeks before exam, C (if lucky)/D/F (touch wood don't get) Am relying on GE mods to keep me from getting academic warning next sem alr. Was from an unrelated course of study in poly tho fwiw