Y1S2 Finals Sprint: 17 Days, 3 Exams, 3 Prep Modes

Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Three finals in seven days. Apr 28 (2101), Apr 30 (1004), May 4 (1002). Between today and the last exam, 17 days.

The obvious planning mistake is to treat this as “three content piles, divide time proportionally”. That gives equal hours to very unequal problems.

The real shape: three different prep modes

Each exam rewards a different kind of practice. You cannot just read notes three times.

Module	Prep mode	Why
TCX2101	Helpsheet-first build, then drill from it	Prof’s HW2 feedback: “loss of marks is mainly due to weak explanation.” Closed book with 1 × A4 double-sided. Full syllabus (§1 to §8). Building the helpsheet IS the review pass; drilling from it locks recall.
TCX1004	Translate Quartz notes into a personal-style cheatsheet	Pure open book, no calculator. The cheatsheet IS 80% of the exam. Source: the `mathematical-techniques` Quartz notes. Target: a print-ready cheatsheet in my own words, Units 6 onward.
TCX1002	Trace-and-fill drills in the new format	PE (20/20) was “write full code”. Final is “fill the gaps in existing code”. Different skill, same language. Transition window matters more than more content review.

Historical signal shapes the allocation

Module	History	Implication
TCX2101	CT1 7/10, CT2 5/10, CT3 ~8/10	Weakest. Feed the hungriest mouth first.
TCX1004	HW1 9/9, HW2 est 30/30, all quizzes current	Strongest. Maintenance mode.
TCX1002	PE 20/20 (Apr 16)	Strong but format is new. Transition > bulk.

Translation to person-days, across the 17-day window:

1TCX2101 │ ████████████████████████ ~8 days (47%)
2TCX1004 │ ████████████ ~4 days (24%)
3TCX1002 │ ██████████ ~3 days (18%)
4Rest │ ██████ ~2 days (11%)

Constraints and carve-outs

This plan is not a monastery. Four things continue in parallel:

Ketchup work: 2 to 4 hours daily. Not pausable. Subtract it from the study budget instead of pretending.
Journal app: background maintenance only, no new features during the 17 days.
Workout: keep the 7-day parts split. Training during exam prep is stabilising, not distracting. Reduction is only if recovery becomes the bottleneck.
Family and social: paused for the duration. One exception: family dinner on Apr 18 evening, late-night catchup compensates.

Daily ritual that anchors everything: 30 minutes each morning reviewing CLAUDE.md and the sprint document. Mental warm-up, not work.

The 17-day grid

 1Date Mode Module Energy Focus hours
 2────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 3Apr 17 Fri Post-Friday-Sweep reset 2101 Low 1h
 4Apr 18 Sat Tutorial + Mock 10 + fam dinner Mixed Medium 5h + late
 5Apr 19 Sun Helpsheet build 1 (§1 to §4) 2101 HIGH 6h
 6Apr 20 Mon Helpsheet build 2 (§5 to §8) 2101 HIGH 6h
 7Apr 21 Tue Drill from helpsheet 2101 HIGH 5h
 8Apr 22 Wed Past papers + helpsheet refine 2101 HIGH 6h
 9Apr 23 Thu Translate Unit 6 to cheatsheet 1004 Med-High 5h
10Apr 24 Fri Translate Units 7 to 9 + CA check 1004 Medium 4h
11Apr 25 Sat 1004 mock + 2101 light review Both Med-High 6h
12Apr 26 Sun 2101 final cram 2101 Focused 5h
13Apr 27 Mon 2101 pre-exam drill + early sleep 2101 Controlled 3h
14Apr 28 Tue EXAM 17:00 MPSH4 2101 Exam ---
15Apr 29 Wed Recovery AM + 1004 ramp PM 1004 Rebuild 4h
16Apr 30 Thu EXAM 17:00 LT7A 1004 Exam ---
17May 01 Fri Labour Day. Real rest. OFF OFF 0h
18May 02 Sat 1002 deep block: fill-blank drill 1002 HIGH 6h
19May 03 Sun 1002 mock + early sleep 1002 Focused 4h
20May 04 Mon EXAM 09:00 LT7A 1002 Exam ---

The energy curve

A sprint is not a constant-output machine. There are three natural peaks and two mandatory valleys.

Red points are exam days (Apr 28, Apr 30, May 4). Three peaks: Apr 19-22 (2101 helpsheet build and drill), Apr 26 (2101 cram), May 2 (1002 transition). Two valleys: Apr 28 to Apr 29 (post-2101 recovery), May 1 (Labour Day).

The valleys are load-bearing. Skipping them borrows recovery debt against the next peak.

What makes this plan tight but survivable

Reading Week (Apr 18 to Apr 24) absorbs the heaviest 2101 work. Seven clear days, no classes.
Apr 28 to Apr 30: only two calendar days between 2101 and 1004. 1004 is the strongest module, so the short gap is tolerable if the cheatsheet is complete before Apr 28.
Apr 30 to May 4: four days including Labour Day rest. 1002 transition from PE format to fill-in-blank format gets the remainder.
No new content after the eve of each exam. Apr 27, Apr 29, May 3 are review-only.

Known unknowns (pending intel)

Some decisions are on hold until information arrives.

TCX2101 tutorial topic hint. A classmate reports the lecturer said one specific tutorial topic will be tested. Resolved Apr 17 (post-CT3 recording review). Chapter 8 is the emphasis. Least squares is highest priority (normal equation, best fit line). Orthogonal complement and projection also confirmed. Gram-Schmidt full procedure is explicitly not tested, which is a scope reduction.
TCX1002 final format details. PE had explicit exclusions (no regex, OOP, recursion, numpy). Does the final continue those? Asking in tutorial on Apr 18.
TCX1004 final briefing. 2101 posted a detailed briefing a week out. Expect 1004 to follow. Question count and mark distribution will update the grid.
TCX2101 past papers. Canvas Files and NUS Library past exam portal to be checked.

The anchor

Prof Jonathon’s line from the Apr 7 HW2 announcement is the strategic anchor for this sprint:

Loss of marks is mainly due to weak explanation. This course does not assess computation alone.

The calculator is allowed this time (unlike CT3). That freed time is reallocated from arithmetic speed to explanation quality. The helpsheet lives and dies on how well it captures reasoning templates, not just formulas.

If I can explain each concept as a sentence a peer would understand, without re-deriving, it is ready. If I cannot, no amount of working problems will close the gap.

Three finals, three modes, one anchor. Apr 17 start, May 4 end.

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