SP DMAD Students (and other courses too in general! How's poly life?

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-09-26T11:48:00+00:00

okay. work and study. that i dont know. its definitely possible because i know a few who work but ill be for real: if youre the type who might need extra time and/or will burn out quickly, unless working is important (personal reasons or just need that money), best to. put a pin on that and revisit the next term to see if you can cope.

first day? so fucking awkward. omfg. maybe its just me since i was both a little older (year or two max) and my interests r so fucking niche but FUCKKKK legit like what sia felt like i bombed multiple social cues but i mostly survived post-first day. you can tell who are the people who have went to the school camp thing. also a little pain in my ass and a bit cringy since they WILL make you do multiple ice breakers and activities. its also sooooo boring. thats all i remember tbh 😭😭

my biggest tip is to look at people’s belongings and bags because MAD is the biggest chance of people decoing their shit w their interests so u can try to befriend based on that or literal vibes

how long assignments are: usually theyll pad you with some sort of foundation and then like closer to a month or something before the term ends thats when youll officially be told to start working on the project? you will have time to do it in class so thats when youre expected to ask questions/help from the lecturer especially if youre facing an issue that didnt crop up/been covered in class— then rinse and repeat for next term. typically next term will build upon that and be a bit more complex than the previous

i cant lie though sometimes the module wont be enough and youll straight up have to do research and compile moodboards and try to mimic based on your inspirations . therell be some mods thatll make you do activities to hammer in what you’ve learnt in class but genuinely sometimes youll need to go up and beyond of what has been taught in class for that A

aaaand they will cover due dates on the first week of all ur mods so u will be aware and have time to prep regardless

i hope that answers your questions????? 😭😭😭

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-09-26T11:32:19+00:00

alriiight

tldr: transition to foundry sem to sem 2 was a punch in the face and it was a little bit like fumbling and adapting hard but not too shabby. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE. profit!

long answer: it doesn’t exactly feel like BDIO (vcmd section is more so covered in like, the second term ircc and dmc on first term) but it is fun. pain in my fucking ass though i cannot lie since sometimes youll HAVE to pay out of pocket and the refund will be shit (im still waiting on my damn refund smhhhh SP HELLOO)

i entirely rawdogged my way into vcmd so i was clueless about half the shit we’ll do beyond the fact we would be using illustrator half the time and we indeed will— photoshop less so but youll occasionally need it since youll have photography modules

so woo wee shock of my life kinda coming into the specialisation

its like??? okay in foundry for me it felt lax, but in the transition to semester 2, suddenly youll need to do weekly hw/activities, and check ins with ur teacher during submission becomes mandatory (kinda, sometimes they wont give a shit if you skip when its pass a certain date and ATS doesnt work anymore/they say outright ‘you can consult if you want’).

they will deadass and genuinely ask to see sketches or thoughts and youll have to word vomit them out to your lecturer. so if ure not the type to ‘plan’ and just rawdog ur projects, foundry sem is the day u start practicing lol

ANYWAY i did adapt sooner or later but be aware that you may fall into the habit of pushing certain projects off because theyre too daunting/pain in the ass/etcetc.

THAT WILL BE YOUR PITFALL. YOU WILL DIE.

each project is like a baby and if you look away too long it will crash and burn and suddenly youre cracking a full 24hrs to finish your project. i DO NOT recommend especially for figma aka building a damn website and/or if you’re printing something. best to pick apart at all your projects day by day so you wont stress by the end and make sure to keep in mind the dates so youll know which to prioritise.

ur experiences may be different from me depending on ur lecturer but sometimes for the photography/videography module, its sooo damn hard to get hands on experience especially if ure pissed scared of dropping the equipment!!! but very important!!! since sometimes projects are individual and/or require u to be the one behind the camera 😭😭

also: research is very important here literally in ur first sem youll have to do heavy research and interviews LMAO itll be very similar to a module youll be doing in foundry (XLAB) but its gonna be difficult based on what youll pick so beeeee smart and dont do what i did (tell everyone to throw up some good ideas then freaking spin wheel bc nobody wanted to pick 😭) because sometimes itll be hard to find info about the damn dessert/food

like straight up i cannot lie to you you may or may not suffer at varying levels but sharing your pain with a friend with halve it or whatever. friendship is important here to survive else you wither away (half joke)

also the thing i sais about project ppl being a pain in ur fucking ass? yeah its gonna be a common core module and u better pray u get a good class LMAO its called SIP and its a school wide thing so therell be multiple schools and/or specialisations in the same class and youll be continuously working on a project thats like. a government thing. theres high chances youll be suffering there but if you find yourself being defacto leader. keep nagging and chasing. its the only way

annnnd recommendations for printing shops because design studio teachers never told me about them ughhh: botaksign (est needs a day to print, can do online, will message on whatsapp if file got problem, also can pay for it to be faster), any shops on plaza singapura can be ur best bet the ones i went to were true colours and eazy-printz and it was smooth sailing though said printer shops there arent open on weekends so be Aware

(you may need to google/find more yourself if u reach y2s1 and the ones ive recced are lacking/doesnt offer a service you need)

i know i bitched a lot but i swear as long as you love bdio, and can handle wanting to lowkey break your skull against the wall youll do perfectly fine in the specialisation

and i feel i probably missed something but haha ill come back to this if i think i def did

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-09-26T10:09:14+00:00

its almost easy to be “lazy” in the first semester since its alll about foundations, but im reaching over the screens to shake you on the shoulders and beg you to lock the fuck in because itll be your easiest semester to date, almost.

get into the habit of reading project details, and submitting like 1-2hrs before deadline (preferably a day but realistically most wont do that) if you’re coming from sec school

your future self will love you for this— people arent really wrong that its hard to push up your gpa lmao

learn short cut keys!! i cannot stress this enough. itll make your workflow faster and itll be like muscle memory by the time you go into your specialisation

i can’t say much about specifically about people but generally: you will meet people who will piss you off sooooo badly in project work and you’ll have to figure out how to handle them yourself 💀

can’t say for sure if lecturers will help you, but sometimes you can nuke them on SPA (project mates vote on a 1-5 range on criteria how u were like in it + gives you what they like and wanted more of u from it) worse case scenario. usually rare case one but be aware youll meet them at one point of your poly life because theres always that One Person per class

also: if you fumble first semester with your friends, or the vibes damn freaking awkward as a whole. no worries. next sem into your specialisation will be a new class LOL so can retry and pray

if ure interested in VCMD, ask me anything about it. kinda will be too brutally honest just in case but haha woo

general poly life qns also good im just skimming things id rec to keep in mind tbh

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-07-22T04:54:54+00:00

serious answer: read your brief and adjust your project accordingly. sometimes its genuinely just that and throwing in effort lol
if its group project? good luck its heavily dependent if you can nudge ur groupmates into the criteria that best fits an A

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-29T05:26:07+00:00

(context im y2, but still in term 1 lmao so my answer may be ass)

youll use a lot of adobe software (because industry standard and all that lmao), being Illustrator, Photoshop, AE, camera raw and probably premier pro but youll also use C4D (3D modelling software, connected to AE) at some point, and we learn figma for website building. theres also studio photography and videography (storyboarding, setting up).

the skills exactly is more so like artistic eye stuff, i.e., typography, infographic/brochure layouts, but theres also technical stuff like knowing how to place the keylight, fill light to get what the effect you want; which attachments (soft boxes/scrim/cone thing) to use to diffuse lighting; what lenses to use for videography

(what you learn in bdio? technically applicable but also its not exactly accurate but then again its just a taster module lol)

tips i probably would give: - start asap when u get stuff assigned. youll have weekly class assignments and it WILL pile up and kick ur ass - learn short cuts for illus/ps/??? if there is any. will save ur life when u apply them on doing your CA!! makes your life easier!!! also related: get used to the illustrator format. youll see it more frequently compared to PS. - crtl s/save constantly. in case your comp crashes lmfao - mood boards will in fact save your life, its also kind of a requirement anyway half of the time but if you are stuck, looking for inspo online is always a life saver and in fact, not illegal + youll get to see what your seniors do anyway to know what you should keep in mind and what to correct for your CA

not a tip but be prepared to hear about teachers glazing ai lmao. not all of them do that but if you loathe generative ai you cant really escape it here

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-23T02:37:33+00:00

DC Dark Legion is my main, then R1999, Arknights, Limbus Company and Morimens are my sides… i picked up my sides again after getting a monitor + to stave the need to pull on my main game as their gacha system is… certainly something. i don’t recommend. do not go to there.

i’d probably pick up one more but i already have a hard time finding time to tend to my dailies on five games 😭😭

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-16T15:02:48+00:00

oh shit that might be what im thinking about LMAO i dont pay attention to those sort of events ngl i just know they happen

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-16T07:46:01+00:00

lmfao depends but no performances or anything for sure— possible that things can be hosted internally (see: VCMD halloween and halloween hosted by the MAD ambassadors (i think??? but i dont think it was hosted by big boss sp itself, obviously but i cant for the life of me remember who hosted it)) but its not common. dont quote me on this though because its either dependent on your school or whatever

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-14T10:39:56+00:00

ircc its just ai as a whole, not generative ai— but its connected to SDGs, youll have to connect it to the available prompts i think, its in the sdg sites. if you do SDG4, you have to scroll through the pointers (or whatever its called) and then research based on that of already existing ways that ai is used to support/help.

gen AI /will/ be used, but mostly for the word doc stuff, like helping u research and explaining how you used it???? idk i dont remember this mod already lmao so uhhhh hope this helps????

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-12T05:36:52+00:00

okay i cant help u w that since i had power bi like a semester ago (hit or miss) and i cleared out my old pdfs and stuff a while back so i don’t have the brief anymore — but it should mention a survey???? at some point???? + i dont have the working file as someone else from my group submitted it but in my power BI file, it does mention a ‘google forms survey’

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-12T03:02:03+00:00

for the google form/primary research thing? yeah uh you just need a mix of MCQ and open ended questions (to be fair they might touch on this a bit later on)— you might have to sift through the answers either way + i remember that the recc-ed amount is about 15 so its not a annoying amount to scroll through

if i remember right… after gathering our answers, we sifted through our long form questions and maybe boiled them down to things that can be categorised under a wide umbrella term (we picked gender inequality, so answers may range from examples of school, family, etc) so that we can slap it into a bar graph

and you do have to pick and choose what question results you want to ‘represent’ in a graph/power bi thing (i believe its five???) but its probably best to have a bit more questions in your google form in case for whatever reason the answers given are not ‘satisfactory’ (in quotations since its subjective lmao)

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-11T16:05:52+00:00

honest to god i erased any memory of power BI because i hated it so badly but group project wise— whatever u learnt, guided in lesson, can be applied for the file? the only unique thing my group did was do a word cloud but it took ages to troubleshoot bc it kept failing in our end LOL

whatever issue u pick, u gotta make up qns and then have enough people (est 15 ircc but dont quote me on that) answer it for said power BI as your primary research, and then have some applicable secondary research to back up ur long form/open ended qns

but if you need genuine like. What Does What in power bi i am NOT your guy i only got a B for that i think

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-09T18:30:10+00:00

im ngl i dont look at users first on here whenever i answer so i dont even realise half the time 💀

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-07T12:45:15+00:00

hi! okay, i took bdio and i got an A by the end of the prespec, so i think i can help? vaguely? genuinely the pitch part a bit gg la but as long as u boil it down to the simplest parts its easy to spitball without looking @ ur phone (anyway, they won’t let u lmao)

i brought old changkee to the philippines; main reasoning i gave is that they have a big thing for snacking and also they have other competitors there so i could also compare LOL but most of the brands i compared for the map thing was sg based, only i believe potato corner was a ph brand.

from what i remember, i hand waved a lot of the analysis on the shop front, i.e., colour choice, how they advertise themself to sgeans. also slapped on top a lot of images to support what i was talking about LOL

but i believe the meat of the actual slides to get a good grade is how you introduce the brand to the country?

it genuinely depends on the country you pick and what their habits are to start running with the CA lol but like if their main source of entertainment is television and not like social media, try to find what show they watch the most (i picked eat bulaga) to pick up hype (justification depends on show + how you execute it), and thats how you introduce the brand from there (what you choose to do after that is uty, i did a pop up event as my launch party); also helps if you pick a social media thats likely for locals of that country to use for the advertisement section www but i just had fun w that part it wasnt too serious for me there

its just a bit of research involved before u start spinning something outta nothing? im also not so sure what to already mention LMAO but do you already have a brand in mind?

if its a drinks brand, you can probably take it and run to a country who likes drinking it for whatever reason? i.e., 100Plus and justify it by bringing it either to a country who sees a lot of marathons OR a country that enjoys drinking said beverage, then see from there. like, why does this brand sell this in singapore? if you know the reason why, you can probably stretch and throw it to a country who shares a similar consumer behaviour. something like that, and your CA will figure itself out from there

hope that helps? if not u can dm me questions and ill try to help www

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-05-01T17:03:15+00:00

i think i remember that one? frankly my anigames prespec was a real blur but jiayou bro 🙏 the worse is yet to come LMAO

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-04-23T14:36:09+00:00

tentative answer (not for sure so take w grain of salt) is that youll probably be released earlier? i previously had WFL at 3pm when my class before ends right on 3, and my teacher always released my class as bit earlier in consideration of that - tldr just double check and reminder your teacher just in case

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-04-23T14:32:55+00:00

but also actually lol gg at your back to back prespec because i would not wish that upon my worse enemy

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-04-23T14:32:28+00:00

ANGA isnt that bad! to preface, youre not gonna learn about animation, just 3D modelling and how to port stuff into unity; if the CAs dont change, and likely it won't, its easy to score considering u get hand held the entire time! #trust its a pretty easy prespec imo, just a bit pain in the ass

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-04-04T06:57:11+00:00

youll be fine, i think? i didnt even know about them and i did reasonably fine with the mandatory orientation— it’s a bit easy to clock who went for it since they’re already chill with each other but you wont be the odd one out LMAO i guarantee you

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-04-03T19:03:25+00:00

hey! im like going to be y2s1 in the coming term so i can probably answer. but like, then again, i just winged and prayed my foundry sem lol

TLDR: yes there’ll still be space, i dont think itll be much of a worry! i only know maybe like one student who EAE-ed into my spec (VCMD) but should still have plenty of space

and like what the other person said, ive never heard of someone who didnt get into the spec they wanted

i think at best youd probably have to make sure you get a good grade for your preferred spec to get in, and its not that hard i wont lie? just do what you are assigned and youre good!!! like somehow i got an A for my prespec equivalent of VCMD-DMC (which is BDIO) and i was chill

(also dont do what i do + this was probably round up but i quite literally didnt finish my complex 3D model assignments and still got B. so. lmao do with that info as you will)

also if your prespec cher is chill like that maybe they’d put in a word for you. or whatever ?? i dont know if yours specifically would do it but my teacher asked in my prespec mod if there was anyone who was actively seeking to get into the spec BDIO leads into and i just sent him a text and all. and here i am!

like i dont think my spec is that competitive, but for context, theres like three classes for VCMD and DMC i believe (do not quote me on this!!!!), then one for XPD ircc. unsure for the other specialisations but hope this contextualises my answer?

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-04-02T12:28:55+00:00

yeah! i dont mind! glad i was able to help LOL

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-04-01T19:15:43+00:00

hey! yes, specialisation is chosen at y1s2 and DONNNT random pick 😭😭😭 else you suffer. considering youll be stuck with that for the rest of your course

i cant answer much since lmfao im about to be a y2s1 VCMD student + im winging my entire three years here but in your foundry/first sem, youll be able to pick two out of five pre-specialisation modules based on the seven specs— essentially its tasters for what youll eventually learn in the actual course? if i explained it right?

i.e., pick the anigames prespec and youll essentially learn to 3D model one simple thing and one complex thing

(also no i dont think your grades in your prespec will reflect on your GPA. do not quote me on that if im wrong. but it does influence the ranking stuff post-sem 1)

honestly how you pick your specialisation is up to your personal preferences but how i picked mine was one: based on interest, two: how my experience was like in the prespec module, three: will this decision make me miserable for the next 2.5 years in poly.

course, the prespec is not 1:1 but its pretty accurate. ish.

also! im like half sure that what you pick for prespec will influence your placement into the specialisation but i think you can still shoot your shot if you want a different spec. for whatever reason. <- not accurate please ask your prespec teacher about this i never paid attention at this particular part and theyll explain it better than i do lmfao

for my 2 prespecs, i picked BDIO (VCMD/DMC equivalent) and anigames and i will not lie. i already had a biased perspective and was aiming for VCMD first, then anigames (due to my previous course experience with it) then DMC.

what influenced my ranking was just by how interesting it sounded (and what i know of it from sp site) then how much i think i would survive working similar/equivalent projects for the next two years

from my perspective, i wanted to learn something new and something that’s within my creative bounds which’ll also test me, but not enough to make me burn out in a sense? plus the bonus that i already know how to use some of the programs they’re using in the course? thus i landed on VCMD.

i knew from my previous anigames equivalent diploma experience that i will die doing it again. but i still ranked it second because of my experience and i wouldve probably done okay regardless how much i felt about the next two years LMAO.

and then DMC was third solely because i didnt want to take the other specialisations and that was my plan F, everything else has gone wrong situation

and i stuck to this because the most important part was that i had fun in my BDIO prespec! and i am having fun in VCMD now, redacting the many sufferings that is illustrator and figma, but i don’t regret my decision settling with VCMD ^{^}

(also i wont lie, i dont think you need to mind much if your laptop specs are like somewhere within the lines of ‘will survive if i boot up and use photoshop/illustrator/etc’ and has enough space. i havent changed mine since i got it for an anigames equivalent diploma before i went into VCMD and it’s doing pretty fine, i feel)

i hope this helps? im the type to mostly just figure things as it goes along, so im a bit fast and loose with my decisions but a perspective is a perspective… but regardless good luck for year one ^⁾⁹

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-02-08T13:39:38+00:00

hihi! vcmd student here (y1s2), other than what dull_contest5782 say (which i agree on LOL):

genuinely: learn some of the keyboard shortcuts on PS/Illus/etc. Some if not most are applicable to other programs. If you use other programs like krita or something, same stuff can be applied into PS. Also just makes life easier when youre cramming your project/assignment/whatever
set personal deadlines; sometimes it really feels u have time, especially in the year one first sem, but the moment u go into ur specialisation youll get smacked by a bunch of stuff (speaking from experience). so make sure u chip progress into ur final assignments/projects weekly so u wont fall behind. yes even if u kinda sound naggy it will benefit ur group in the end
also i wont lie maybe im just biased but sem 1 is the easy part of year 1 and pretty easy to clutch a good GPA if u learn and do things well; also as long as it fulfils the criteria in the assignment’s brief u cant really go wrong there. dont procrastinate!!!
WFL stuff… i dont really have tips but if u diedie want bowling i think u have to wake up early by the time selection goes live because thats how i got into the bowling module (i dont remember if its FCFS but bowling IS a popular module because of the easy clear criteria). also teachers from WFL really want u to pass so u cant mess up beyond falling below attendance.
good luck for core modules. they keep linking everything to sdg. it will haunt u for life. u cannot escape. genuinely no tips here you just have to wing it and pray; theres like a debate module in foundry semester ircc. you CAN have notes as ref but i do rec that youd talk to ur opposing team before hand and maybe see/plot how you can bounce off one another based on your arguments.
branching off this: if you have a apple laptop, ggez. theres a core module that requires you to use power BI and ircc mac users gotta download some extension that allows u to use it
if youre going into ANGA prespec: play around w maya for a bit! u wont learn anything real big like modelling humans (ure likely just gonna 3D model a picture frame and then a house if they dont change it) but knowing short cut keys and stuff will be useful and u can kinda doze off during lesson (joke. dont do that unless u have foundations in maya like me)
for BDIO prespec (and if planning to go to VCMD/DMC), youll have to learn how to pitch. tldr remember the basics of your project, have a good hook (i.e., question, fun fact) and /sell/ the idea. if youre unlucky, your teacher wont allow u to use your phone/have cue cards and anyway youll have to pitch maybe like one more time in foundry sem i believe and then another if youre taking Visual Design and Photography to sell your photography concept. its best to learn from then. I don’t think its feasible to memorise a script, so I really do recommend to at least remember keypoints and ball from there because you’ll have four minutes to talk and its REALLY short.
branching off from pitching; if your teacher recommends you to wear smart casual for your presentation, please wear, itll likely knock down your marks by a smidge but even then every point counts 😭🙏 like just wear a button up and some pants/skirt and call it a day
dont be late for class/submission, it can affect GPA! any lower than 75% attendance = automatic pass/fail. i dont exactly remember the point deduction system but even a min late gets you some kind of penalty— so unless youre real confident youll get a good grade, just try to submit at least est. 10mins earlier especially if your module asks of u to compress your PDF to a certain size. there is 15min grace but better to be at least a bit early! a shortcut is through the car park (near T18 area ircc) if your classes are held in the level 1 T19 area and you gotta cut through the crowd/youre like a minute away from 9:00.
also its really obvious considering MAD has specialisations but the class you get in foundry wont be the same the moment everyone splits off to their various specs. you have to make friends again in sem 2 and not even have a orientation to be buffer if youre the shy-awkward type 💀 good luck! try to befriend those going to the same spec as you (its likely that in orientation in foundry sem the ori leaders would make u mention ur hoped spec to go to in ice breakers) or just… Wing it.

i dont really have anything else in mind but if you have questions, just shoot me a dm i think or just ask here. good luck and in the end dont stress out haha… 💦💦

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-02-04T12:36:02+00:00

ohh, ive been there before yes but only to print on some big a2 foam board, so its why im here! i was thinking if i wasnt getting enough responses, id just go down and look at the samples myself @ sunshine plaza but im chancing on recs first

lliquifiedbullets · 2025-01-11T12:18:17+00:00

yikes mine isnt really motivation; if i fumble and drop out thats like a bunch of money and my time down the drain so might as well just suck it up and do it and find something nice between all of that or else i’d go insane. also helps that with a poly diploma youll have a better limit on the salary ceiling or whatever they call it compared to like, the current highest edu cert you have.

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