Module Preference Exercise (MPE)
Undergraduate Office, School of Computing
(updated on 29 Sep 2011)
Introduction
Module Preference Exercise (MPE) aims to determine the demand by SoC students for
SoC and important non-SoC modules offered in the following semester before the
execution of CORS. Early knowledge about module demands provides the UG Office
precious time to negotiate with various departments and faculties for class sizes; it also
provides students a clearer perspective of various module demands in the following
semester.
MPE works by requesting students to declare their preference for module selection in the
following semester. With this information, the UG Office works with departments and
faculties to adjust the class quota for each module offered to meet the demands if
possible, and inform students of the expected class quota for each module offered.
MPE also enables UG Office work out the module requirements of graduating students,
so as to smoothen their path towards graduation. In some cases, MPE enables UG Office
pre-allocation of modules so as to allay anxiety among students during module bidding at
CORS.
MPE Operating Principles
The design and implementation of MPE adheres to the following four operating
principles:
1. Honouring CORS Bidding Spirit
There will be no violation of the spirit of CORS bidding. If final demand exceeds final
supply during MPE, the bidding exercise will be required (during CORS sessions). If
final demand is less than final supply during MPE, module pre-allocation is performed.
2. Serving Graduation Requirements
Students will be grouped according to the urgency of their graduation. In the situation
where the demand for a module exceeds its supply, students choosing the module and
meeting the following criteria will be given priority in studying the module:
(a) The module chosen is used to meet the student’s programme essential/elective
requirement
and
(b) The student belongs to a group that identifies him as closer to graduation than
other students
For practicality, we classify students into three groups:
A. Group A

COM4 and CEC4 students in their final semester
o Graduating within one semester (MC ≥ 136)

COM3 students in their final semester in BComp programme with Business or
Technical focus
o Graduating within one semester (MC ≥ 96)
B. Group B

The rest of COM4 and CEC4 students
o Graduating within one year (116 ≤ MC < 136)

The rest of COM3 students in BComp programme with Business or Technical
focus
o Graduating within one year (76 ≤ MC < 96) )
C. Group C

All other students
3. Emphasising on Essentials & Electives
MPE attempts to help students in their selection of modules that are used to fulfil their
respective programme essential and programme elective requirements. If possible, MPE
performs pre-allocation of these modules for the relevant students.
MPE takes into consideration that a module that is identified as elective in one
programme can be more urgently needed than in another programme. Specifically,
a. An elective module, such as CS4247, is considered elective for both students in
BComp (CS) and BComp (CM). However, students in BComp (CM) needs
CS4247 for graduation more urgently than students in BComp(CS). As such,
CS4247 will be considered as high elective for students in BComp (CM) and
considered as elective for students in BComp (CS).
b. A module, such as CS1231, is not listed as essential for students in BComp(EC)
following curriculum 2009 and before. However, students must read CS1231 in
order to take the essential EC module CS2102. In this case, we identify CS1231
as pre-Essential for students in BComp(EC).
Assumptions about Students’ Current Status
Students are classified into three groups, A, B and C, according to the MCs that they may
have attained. During MPE, we make the assumption that
Students will pass all modules that they are studying in the current semester.
The implications of this assumption are thus:
1. Students will be awarded the MCs for the modules taken in this semester.
Example: Student X has accumulated 130 MCs before the commencement of the
current semester, and he is taking 5 modules of a total of 20 MCs. During MPE, X
will be considered to have 150 MCs, and be classified as a Group A student.
2. Students will be allowed to state their preferences to modules which require
modules they are currently studying as pre-requisites to them.
Example: Student X is taking CS2105 this semester, and CS3235 requires CS2105
as a pre-requisite. During MPE, X can choose to study CS3235, since he is
considered to have met the pre-requisite for CS3235.
Students taking an SoC degree as their second degree will be treated the same as those
taking an SoC degree as their first degree.
For students who are away from NUS during the current semester, special consideration
in computing their MCs is required:
1. Students on exchange programmes: 20 MCs will be added to their MC counts
during MPE. Modules taken overseas will be mapped to NUS modules for the
purpose of pre-requisite check.
2. Students on NOC: 40 MCs will be added to their MC counts during MPE.
Modules taken overseas will be mapped to NUS modules for the purpose of prerequisite check.
3. Students on French DDP expected to return in the following semester: They will
not participate in MPE, and their request will be handled offline.
Students on exchange programmes or on NOC are encouraged to contact Ms Quek Woon
Woon at comqww@nus.edu.sg early to provide information about the NUS equivalent
modules they are currently studying at the partner university.
Importance of Streaming Exercise
As MPE helps students in satisfying their needs for meeting their programme
essential/elective requirements, it will not give priority treatment to students’ choice of
modules if those modules are not part of students’ programme essentials/electives. In
principle, students who have not declared their streams/programmes of study will not
have their chosen modules treated with priority, unless the modules are part of common
essentials.
In practice, however, students in different years of study and different programmes of
study will be given different priorities. Students are encouraged to declare their
streams/programmes of study early. Thus, streaming exercise will usually be conducted
before the launch of MPE. Even for the first-year students, it is always to their advantage
to declare their stream of study. First-year students can seek advice from their mentors
about the stream to take.
For MPE-sem1-1011, streaming exercise will be conducted between 10 to 28 October
2011 (2359 hrs). Students who wish to declare their streams are required to do so via the
following webpage: http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~online/stream.html.
Operation Detail of MPE
Students will need to declare their module preference once during MPE. Depending on
demands for modules, students in Group A may need to re-declare in order to receive
better pre-allocation of their modules.
The schedule of MPE is given at:
http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/undergraduates/useful_MPE.html
Round 1: Input from Students
All SoC students (except those who have filed for graduation in this current semester) are
requested to declare their module preference in Round 1 of the exercise. Here, quota for
each module will be made known. For each module chosen by a student, the computer
system will verify that the student’s study so far has met the module pre-requisites.
Every student can indicate up to a maximum of four modules from the list of modules
that are available in the following semester. For each module indicated, the student must
indicate the part of programme requirements he attempts to fulfil with this module. That
is, the student must indicate if the module chosen will be used to satisfy programme or
common essential, pre-essential, programme elective and high elective or UE. These
declarations will be verified at the back end by the computer system, through preprocessing by SoC’s FFG system. Specifically, a student can identify an elective module
to count towards either elective requirement or others (i.e., Unrestricted electives), but the
student cannot identify a UE module to count towards meeting programme elective
requirement. Essential modules should generally be highlighted by students as counting
towards essential requirement, but since a student might take a replacement module to
meet the essential requirement, he is therefore permitted to indicate that the module be
used to fulfil other requirement.
Just like CORS, the MPE system will ensure no clash in lecture and examination
timetable before allowing students to commit to their choices.
Negotiation with Departments on Module Quotas
For those modules with demands exceeding supplies, the UG Office will submit these
requests to the offering departments/faculties for readjusting the module quotas. The
eventual quotas given by the offering departments/faculties will be the final quotas used
in the remaining process of MPE, and the following CORS exercise.
Processing Group A’s Preferences – Part 1
Modules chosen by Group A students for meeting either essential or elective requirement
will be considered for pre-allocation. For each of these modules, the numbers of Group A
students choosing the module as essential, pre-essential, high elective and elective are
identified (by NA_S, NA_PS, NA_HE and NA_E respectively). Iterative process is
performed to match the demands for the modules against the quotas, as follows:
Pre-allocation Process
a. If the demand (NA_S + NA_PS) falls below the supply (the module quota),
module pre-allocation will be made to assign modules to respective students in
Group A; otherwise, exit the iterative process.
b. If the demand (NA_HE) falls below the remaining supply, module pre-allocation
will be made to assign modules to respective students; otherwise, exit the iterative
process.
c. If the demand (NA_E) falls below the remaining supply (after steps a and b),
module pre-allocation will be made to assign modules to respective students.
d. Exit the iterative process.
Group A students are informed of:
1. The list of essential/elective modules which they have successfully been preallocated in MPE.
2. The list of essential/elective modules which they have not successfully been preallocated, and the need for them to bid for the modules during CORS exercise.
Processing Group B’s Preferences
Modules chosen by Group B students for meeting either essential or elective requirement
will be considered for pre-allocation. For each of these modules, the numbers of Group B
students choosing the module as essential, high elective and elective are identified (by
NB_S, NB_PS, NB_HE and NB_E respectively). The iterative pre-allocation process as
described in Part 1 above will be activated, matching the demands against the remaining
supplies.
Group B students will be informed of:
1. The list of modules which they have successfully been pre-allocated in the entire
MPE.
2. The list of modules which they have not successfully been pre-allocated, and the
need for them to bid for the modules during CORS exercise.
Processing Group C’s Preferences
Modules chosen by Group C students for meeting either essential or elective requirement
will be considered for pre-allocation. For each of these modules, the numbers of Group C
students choosing the module are identified (by NC_S, NC_PS, NC_HE and NC_E
respectively). The iterative pre-allocation process as described in Part 1 above will be
activated, matching the demands against the remaining supplies.
Group C students will be informed of:
1. The list of modules which they have successfully been pre-allocated in the entire
MPE.
2. The list of modules which they have not successfully been pre-allocated, and the
need for them to bid for the modules during CORS exercise.
Post-MPE Processing
Students who are successful in securing (being pre-allocated of) modules through MPE
will find the respective modules being pre-allocated to them in CORS, subject to them
satisfying the pre-requisite/preclusion of these modules. Specifically, if a student does not
manage to pass a module M in the current semester, and M is a pre-requisite of one of his
pre-allocated module M’, then the student will not be pre-allocated with module M’.
One CORS point will be deducted from students’ accounts for each module preallocation. During CORS exercise, students are allowed to drop modules that have been
pre-allocated to him during MPE. However, the associated CORS points will not be
refunded.
Students will not be preallocated module that has class and examination time-table
clashes with other preallocated module(s) base on the finalised class and examination
time-table.
Conclusion
The design of Module Preference Exercise (MPE) is not to outsmart CORS. Rather, it
aims to estimate the quotas required for modules offered in the following semester, so as
to allay anxiety among students during CORS. The success of MPE hinges on the active
and honest participation of all SoC students. In return, MPE enables pre-allocation of
modules to students during CORS.
Acknowledgment
The Undergraduate Office would like to thank the following members of SoC-ITU, Sze
Eng Koon, Lim Sing Ing and Philip Lim, for the help in design and implementation of
MPE.