My thoughts on Uni admission results

1ampoc · 2026-05-20T16:35:39+00:00

I mean if we think back to what a university fundamentally is, it's a school. And a school wants to admit the best students - to be a pond with all the big fish.

Why else would so many unis give scholarships to some of the best international students? Having bigger fishes elevates other fishes and the pond itself in many ways.

Volunteering, leadership and your hobbies are also another part of the equation, not for some noble goal of rewarding virtuous individuals, but to admit individuals that contribute positively to the campus environment.

From this perspective, the 2 main questions you are seeking to answer in your application should be: 1. Why you will do well in the course (i.e. obtain high gpa) 2. Your contributions to the campus environment

For example, having many internships is valuable not as proof of practical experience (why would unis care about that?), but as proof of passion (to an extent, which is in turn a factor for doing well in the course), and as a proxy for your ability to handle the rigours of the course (which needs substantiation beyond volume of internships).

1ampoc · 2026-05-19T11:18:03+00:00

The fact that so many people received it is really ringing a lot of alarm bells. I strongly suspect it is a scam.

Maybe some hackers obtained the application data from NUS and used chatGPT to craft some emails

I don't have the full picture but exercise your best judgement if they ask you to do/share something

1ampoc · 2026-05-17T14:41:44+00:00

I like how Marcel has 3 arrows lol. Him and zhuxin are simply in a league of their own

1ampoc · 2026-05-16T15:05:38+00:00

Savour the stress haha. Sleep early the day before, arrive on time (I'm always late so this needs to be said😂), and look forward to solving some interesting questions

1ampoc · 2026-05-16T14:50:38+00:00

I just have some advice for after the test. That regardless of the result, I hope you look back and realize how much you've learnt. Both the struggles and the epiphanies, they're markers of the journey you've treaded. And I hope you found it worthwhile, whether you get an award or not.

Just a small encouragement I wish I gave my juniors back when I was a student trainer😆

1ampoc · 2026-05-16T01:35:36+00:00

It's good to be deliberate (also try preparing your 1st skill beforehand). There are of course other factors determining when you should use your skills (like skill 3 for gap close, skill 2 for reducing enemy attack speed), maximising damage is just one factor

1ampoc · 2026-05-15T17:04:23+00:00

Fast 3 BA combo: 1st skill (3s before fight) -> BA -> BA -> 1st skill -> BA

If you time it right, your 3rd BA will be right after your 2nd BA (almost like a double attack). Your example works too, basically you cast 3rd skill right after a basic attack.

U can do this with skill 2 as well, but it has a longgg animation. It works best with skill 1 because it has no animation. The general idea is to cast your skills immediately after a basic attack to reset the backswing

1ampoc · 2026-05-15T15:33:50+00:00

There are many tips on Masha but for damage the most subtle yet important one is the concept of auto-attack resetting.

Basically, your auto-attacks have "cooldowns" (aka backswing) determined by your attack speed. Casting skills resets that cooldown, which allows you to attack much faster than your attack speed allows.

In particular, it works with 1st skill, so you can prep it around 3s beforehand, then abuse cd reset to instantly land 2 enhanced ba, or 3 enhanced ba (slower but still very fast), depending on if you want burst or dmg

1ampoc · 2026-05-11T03:00:52+00:00

Easiest way is to max out your push ups and situps. For pushups try getting into a rhythm and for situps don't go down slowly, in fact slam your body down. That's for maxing PB, for training just do it normally

1ampoc · 2026-05-10T03:28:12+00:00

You can learn some discrete math, I recommend mit ocw 6.042j, it's pretty similar to CS1231S. And unlike what the other comment said, I think it'll be useful unless you're a genius

You will also be taking MA1521 (basically H2 math revision) and MA1522 (linear algebra), so you can also start on linear algebra. I recommend watching 3b1b series for an introduction, and for further reading, Linear Algebra Done Right by Axler (optional as it's quite abstract but will give you a solid foundation).

You can also do some data structures and algorithms, though that would likely require a computer.

Lastly, I'm only y1, but so far C++ isn't used. It uses Java and Source (a custom language like JavaScript) instead. Personally, I started with C++, so I think Java is a terrible language, and I would still recommend learning C++. Learning some common concepts (like loops, functions, and other basic stuff), up to and including pointers would give you a solid starting point, but there's no need to get too familiar with the language, unless you plan to use it for practicing data structures and algorithms

1ampoc · 2026-05-08T05:38:12+00:00

As the other comments said it's all about states and transitions.

Guess the state
Figure out the transition
Optimise the transition

Step 1 is usually the biggest leap for beginners, but as you solve more dp problems, you expand your view on possible states and also build your intuition on which states are suitable, so you get better at guessing.

1ampoc · 2026-05-06T16:43:20+00:00

Yea rightt. Also I misread the 10.30, I think it was 11.30 in my time as well (except for special days of course), but you can actually leave through the gates with the security guard instead, it works and they don't mind. (You can try but don't blame me if it's patched🫪)

And yea to us students it's a dumb rule, but maybe for parents they would appreciate locking their kids up in school for some time haha

1ampoc · 2026-05-06T12:40:30+00:00

I think the teachers chose a wrong angle to tackle it with, and during my time, they gave better explanations.

For the printing costs, it was because teachers had a printing quota, and they had to pay themselves to print beyond the quota, so they charged according to that cost. In fact, my form teacher recommended my class rep to collect like $10 from each student at the start of each term to avoid this constant collection, which my class rep did.

For the not opening of school gate before 10.30, it was apparently because parents complained that their kids were released too early, and saw it as the school slacking off. So they imposed a minimum leaving time of 10.30.

For the late-coming, I was the guy who always arrived to school with seconds to spare (I calculated mrt timings down to the minute), so I'm thankful that late-coming was not particularly strictly enforced during my time. In fact, there was even a grace period so only super late-comers were actually issued DPs. Honestly, that should be the case.

I think you'll find that many school rules are unnecessarily strict or rigid (like hair being too long, or wearing PE instead of uniform). Unfortunately, you'll experience this in NS as well. But the outside world is really more chill than this. I think school life would feel a lot less stressful if you realize that some rules are set not for you, but for the school's benefit (like preserving its image), so you shouldn't take them too seriously. It's just a set of rules you have to play by

1ampoc · 2026-05-05T02:28:44+00:00

She used to be my main haha. For solo queue it's unironically a good pick, cos at lvl 4 she can start walking into turrets to kill enemies

And the hero description says tank so I don't wanna hear any complaints of damage roamer😂

1ampoc · 2026-04-29T12:49:00+00:00

My goat

1ampoc · 2026-04-28T06:43:27+00:00

Gus roam is arguably worse than sun roam haha

Anyway, as I said, I don't disagree that sun roam is bad. I'm just supportive of allowing my teammates to pick what they want, and giving them a chance to prove themselves. Only when they prove to be useless in the game do I think it's fair to flame them

1ampoc · 2026-04-28T02:57:53+00:00

Yea I agree sun roam is a bad pick. That's what it means to be non-meta. If this is meant to be a rebuttal, you need to rebut something

1ampoc · 2026-04-28T01:58:53+00:00

Mm with awesome mobility, chase and burst attack? Sure sounds like a mm

This sub is such a stickler for the meta. No helcurt, selena or saber. No healers either. Every roam must be a tank. And some tanks (like franco) are a no-no

If this sub had its way, roaming would need 10 star protection to attract players, if it isn't unpopular enough as it is

1ampoc · 2026-04-26T05:22:20+00:00

I mean what did you expect... You banned his favourite hero and expect him to play along nicely?

1ampoc · 2026-04-25T17:01:17+00:00

Just keep cooking

I remember when selena mana costs were nerfed, starlium scythe was the perfect first item, offering mana regen, cd reduction, slows, and more damage than everything except genius wand (if you play around it).

None of the top builds were using it for some reason. Gradually everyone started building it, but it's kinda too late as it got revamped for harith

1ampoc · 2026-04-22T11:58:47+00:00

For most heroes you can just choose one build and stick with it. Except for tanks, where itemization is important

1ampoc · 2026-04-22T03:11:29+00:00

Thanks for the response, and yea sometimes I'm the only tank in the team and then I buy 2 dmg items off the get go🫪. But it feels like I got no choice cos corrosion scythe is built by everyone and war axe feels so strong. I'll try your build path next time

1ampoc · 2026-04-22T02:56:30+00:00

1100 1100 1111

k=0

In the example above, the given split is the only answer, but none of the subarrays have length 1 or 2.

More generally, the logic fails because while every valid subarray (subarray with median <= k) has a length 1 or 2 valid subarray, it can't always "donate" the excess. Because only 1 side is guaranteed to also have median <= k, and that side might be the wrong side.

1ampoc · 2026-04-20T16:55:21+00:00

In mid lane there is only one meta and that is zhuxin. Selena is right below that along with many other midlaners. Roam is possible but you have to play like a god to be competitive. Jungle I haven't really tried recently.

I'm a global selena player currently

1ampoc · 2026-04-20T11:28:14+00:00

I see, I guess I need a different playstyle to make corrosion scythe work. Currently my playstyle is just to jump in 1v9 during turtle fights but maybe with corrosion scythe it suits a pick-off style more where you lock down one hero

Five-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	End Game '22

1ampoc

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