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Information on this page currently applies to students who are admitted to NUS in AY2020/2021 and earlier.
This structure is offered to students who are majoring in Quantitative Finance regardless of GPA, or majoring in Mathematics/Applied Mathematics with GPA below 4.20 at the time of admission.
In a Project Seminar Group, a number of students would be allocated with the same topic to work together with one supervisor but they would each submit a final report upon completion.
Students need not register for the honours project module during module registration period as it will be pre-allocated to them at the end of the registration period. But they must ensure that sufficient workload is set aside (6MCs in each semester) for the pre-allocation of this course.
Key Features
Updated 24 March 2009
- For students majoring in Mathematics/Applied Mathematics, a list of topics would be announced via email, to eligible students, sometime in July. Eligible students would be invited to indicate their project preferences.
- For students majoring in Quantitative Finance, the Director of the programme would announce the project details in a separate email to them.
- For students majoring in Quantitative Finance, the Director of the programme would announce the project details in a separate email to them.
- Projects would be allocated by the Department before the end of the vacation period.
- As the intake in Semester 2 is typically much smaller, eligible students would work in one group with a topic suitable for both Mathematics and Applied Mathematics majors.
- As the intake in Semester 2 is typically much smaller, eligible students would work in one group with a topic suitable for both Mathematics and Applied Mathematics majors.
- Other students who are not eligible but interested in joining a Group have to write to the Department for consideration. Approval may not always be given as priority would be given to eligible students.
- Each Group shall have 6 to 8 students.
- Each Group is led by one supervisor who is an academic staff of the Department. A Group should meet regularly preferably from week 2 of a semester and no later than week 3 of a semester.
- The supervisor would coordinate all activities including seminars, discussions, individual work, presentations and report-writing within a Group.
- The supervisor would normally assign some (smaller) topics within the broad theme of the Group and it is expected that students’ abilities and performance will be reflected adequately in this framework.
- The supervisor may give one or two preliminary lectures to lay down some foundations for the students in a Group.
- Each student in a Group is expected to give several talks throughout the project period. The talks should be comprehensible to other students within the same Group as they are expected to learn from such presentations. Presentations should be graded mainly on how clear and efficient the materials have been presented.
- Students are expected to share their knowledge by circulating their presentation notes within the Group after submitting the notes to the supervisor/s for grading. Recommended weightage of this activity is 10% (¼ of the marks for ongoing presentation).
- Students are strongly encouraged to hold regular study sessions outside regular formal meetings.
- Students who have shown excellent potential may be given more substantial materials to work with. They may also switch to work on Individual Projects if they have displayed potential in writing a report with significant mathematical content.
- A student’s project grade is strictly performance-based and takes into consideration factors such as the level of difficulty of the topic, clarity of presentation, findings in the final report and quality of the report. In particular, there is no a priori maximal or minimal mark.
- The final project grade will be given at the end of the second working semester as with the current practice. Each student in a Group will be individually graded and projects graded A- and above must involve substantial research effort and significant mathematical content.
- For students majoring in Mathematics/Applied Mathematics, a list of topics would be announced via email, to eligible students, sometime in July. Eligible students would be invited to indicate their project preferences.
Marks Weightage
Ongoing Presentations | 40% | A significant portion of the marks should be allocated to the clarity of the presentation and evaluation of teaching (pedagogy), as one of the main purpose of such presentations is for other students to learn from the presented materials. These presentation tips may be helpful to students. |
Contribution within Group | 20% | This is to encourage more interaction and fruitful discussions during students’ presentation. |
Individual Final Report | 40% | Each student in a Group is required to write an individual report consisting of materials that have been covered in his/her presentation together with some essential topics for the Group. The report should be 20-30 pages long. Submission deadline remains the same as that for individual projects. These report writing tips may be helpful to students. |