Bid, Win & Succeed in NUS CORS: Tips, Tricks, Strategies &... Having Fun!

So you want to win your modules in Centralised Online Registration System? You want to use at little points as possible. And you want to secure the modules with as few points as possible.

Mr. CORS. We meet again. For the last time...

This post summarizes some knowledge from my experience before it expires into long term memory. Many of them can sound bad and going against general bidding ethics.

Make sure you have planned your timetable with NUS Timetable Builder. You cannot bid for a module if its timetable or exam dates clash with any of the modules you already have or are bidding for. Have some backup replacement modules and don't fix on just 5 modules.

And yes, you can have fun with CORs as well.

1. Treat it like eBay
   
   CORS is like eBay. Except that it has a stupid thing called Closed Bidding Period, where you can only see the number of bidders in the final few hours.
   
   But you can withdraw bids without *any* penalty. Now that opens up many more doors. Retraction of bids in eBay is recorded in your feedback but in CORS, there's no penalty..
   

   
   EBay, where all snipers are bred and trained.. (Image stolen)
   

   Which is why, many eBay tricks can be applied in CORS. They will be elaborated on below.
   
   
2. Take popular modules later when you have more points
   
   This you should already know. Especially if you are a freshie. Just like when something you are watching reaches too high a price, you forget about it and wait for another to show up. As a freshie, you have so many modules that you can bid for. And as the years goes by, your choices of modules will get lesser and lesser.
   
   

   
   Hope those 5 winners are in their last semester, they just squandered 90% of their points when the New Student slot still has 24 left... [source]
   

   A lot of seniors will recommend planning ahead for your full term in NUS. For me, I don't recommend this. Why? Because as you spend more time in NUS, you will find new modules that you have never heard before. As a freshmen, how many modules would you have known already? That's why I did planning only in my 3rd year.
   
   
3. Selecting Modules When You Are a Freshie
   
   Don't take the easy modules like CS1105 when you are starting off. You can always take these modules later and not many modules require them as a pre-requisite. If the demand exceeds vacancy, think of switching to other modules.
   
   For the first few semesters, mix modules that you can get for one point as having a major share in the modules you need to take for the semester. For example, for your first semester of your first year, you can take 1 popular module and 4 unpopular ones.
   
   If the module's demand exceeds by about 10% in CORS by the end of the open round (Trust me many of them won't follow rule #4), consider seriously replacing it with another module. Like saving money in the bank, you want to save points for future use as CORS does not delete points every semester.
   
   That doesn't mean you should drop the module the moment it exceeds demand. Some modules always require mandatory fighting for it as its demand always exceeds vacancy. For these kind of modules, try to take them later when you have more points.
   
   When the number of vacancies for the module are alot, like 50+, 100+, chances are high that you won't have to spend too many points to get it, but don't put just one point! Put your maximum you are willing to pay for it. There will definitely be a few bidders who put only a few points.
   
   
4. Bid only at the Last Minute
   
   Known on eBay as sniping. Place your bids only in the last 10 minutes of the round.
   
   

   
   Being a sniper is not easy with all these preparations. And be careful not to miss the deadline (Image stolen)
   

   Until then, leave it at zero points. Placing even a single point will increase the number of bidders by one - this is updated realtime even during the closed bidding period. Several pros and cons
   
   
   1. Some of the bidders would have placed their maximum bids and ignored the closing period
      
      
   2. If the bidders are less than the number of vacancies, there is a very high chance that some of them bid only 1 point and did not bother about it
      
      
   3. The time for bidders to change their bids is very small.
      
      
   4. The time for you to change your modules is very little if you find the number of bidders suddenly increasing at a high rate at the last minute.
      
      
   5. If it is a level 1 or level 2 module with 50+ vacancies and the number of bidders are less than demand before the closing period, chances are high that many of them did not place too many points.
      
      
   6. If the module has a very small number of vacancies, this strategy works great too. Especially in a one vacancy module, the lone bidder may just put in a low bid point thinking that he is the only bidder. When you bid at the last minute, you catch him by surprise and he may not even have noticed it until he gets his results.
      
      
   Be careful when sniping as it is very easy to miss a whole round simply just because you did not place a bid for it on time. Set your alarm bells to go off as a reminder and make sure you are in front of the computer by 445pm in your sniping position.
   
   
5. Secure *Other* Modules in Early Rounds
   
   In the early rounds, your competition is significantly less than at the later rounds. Use this to your advantage and secure modules that you wouldn't normally take in case you find out later that the modules that you are planning to take in later rounds require more points to bid.
   
   So even if you were not planning to take CS1105 this semester, and you see it with few bidders and lots of vacancies in Round 1, go ahead and grab it first. Grabbing it later may result in you paying more points than necessary when more bidders can bid for it. And use the Module Preference Exercise (MPE) exercise to get modules that you may not need early on as well.
   
   CORs limits on the maximum number of modules you can bid for in the early rounds to 5 modules. This can be a disadvantage if you plan to take 5 modules for the semester as you will not have any buffer slot to check the bidding status of a module.
   
   Not to fret, CORs publishes the statistics of the bidding statuses in a list under 'Useful Information' when the opening period ends. However, they are only accurate as of publishing time. The other way is to get a buddy to temporarily drop his module and add the module you want. Troublesome, but that's the only way if you want the latest updated information on the number of bidders.
   
   
6. Protected Slots For FreshMen
   
   Freshmen enjoy a special privilege. Protected Slots. This means that until the end of Round 2B, all modules will have a certain quota that will fit only freshies.
   
   

   
   Why do fresh always remind me of oranges? Yumm... Image Stolen
   

   So what does this mean? In summary
   
   
   1. All the people you are bidding with can only bid a maximum of about 650 points from programme account and about 350 points from general account (for SoC students - see under 'Allocation of Points'). Remember, some faculties award higher points to the general account or programme account.
      
      
   2. If you are a freshie, the number of bidders you see in the CORs bidding page are all freshmen with about the same number of starting points you have until Round 2B ends. This levels the playing field. So instead of you trying to fight with us seniors who may have more than 4,000 points, you only fight with your new peers who have about a maximum of 650 points to spend.
      
      
   3. A chance to secure modules which are very popular as the seniors will not be able to compete with you and your competition is only limited to the freshmen. However, note that some modules don't have any special allocation for new students. For example, SS modules.
      
      
   4. Unfortunately, this also means that you can't join in the regular queue if the number of bidders in the senior queue are lesser. Take for example, CS2105 Lecture 2 as of Round 2A Opening Period for 2009/2010, the Returning Students Queue has no students bidding for the 17 slots yet the New Students queue is on the brink of a fight if an extra bidder joins in.
      
      
   With protected slots, you need to again evaluate the number of bidders in the round as the clock ticks closer to the closing time. If it is a popular module according to the history of CORS, place your maximum bid early when the round opens and be prepared to lose all your points. Yes, be prepared to empty out 100% of whatever type of points but take joy in knowing that CORs will allocate you the module if you bid first (See Module Allocation).
   
   For example, if there is one vacancy for MA1301 and Bidder A,B and C placed their bids of 400 pts in the morning, afternoon and evening, the winner will be Bidder A as he/she placed the bid first. Remember, your peers bidding for that module only have about 400 pts for General account. Personally I recommend bidding for such modules in the next round or semester.
   
   NOTE: Different faculties has different top-ups of points every semester. See this page under 'Allocation of Points'. Doesn't mean that all the peers you are bidding with have exactly 650 points. Some faculties like Engineering have 750 points in their Program account.
   
   
7. Don't Rush to take GEMs, SS and Breadths Early
   
   For some reason, many freshies opt to fulfil their SS and GEM requirements early. This means that you may have to forego popular [easy] modules.
   
   Save up your points in your General account and bid for your favourite SSs and GEMs in the final 2 years. Until then you can bid for modules which require only one point with your General account.
   
   
8. Money Can Talk
   
   In NUS, you stay longer, you get to save more points as you bid for fewer modules for every semester. Those who want to finish NUS studies early will find it more harder to secure their 6 or more modules for every semester due to the limited number of points they get for every semester.
   

   
   Almost everywhere, money can talk. With fewer modules, you'll have an easier time as well. (Image stolen)
   

   Of course, then you will have to spend more money as you stay on for the extra semester or two.
   
   
9. Red Carpet Treatment for Graduating Students
   
   If you can't secure a required module until your final semester, CORs Appeal can work wonders. Even if the module is over full, they may somehow squeeze you in.
   
   Note that I am not guaranteeing that you will get a slot in the final semester no matter how full or high the bidding point is, but this is what I have heard.
   
   

   
   Red Carpet Treatment (Image stolen)
   

   Also, I've heard final year students even having the privilege of replacing a module that is required to be taken for graduation with another similar level module when the module is overfull. Talk about working around graduation requirements!
   
   
10. Not everything has to go through CORs Appeal.
    
    If you don't meet the pre-requisite for a module but believe you have taken a module that is very similar to the requirement, you can always e-mail the course coordinator and ask for a waiver.
    
    And if CORs keeps shouting "You do not satisfy the pre-requisites for or has read a preclusion module for this module!" even though you meet the pre-reqs, e-mail your course coordinator too. Don't wait until you can appeal.
    
    
11. Be careful of One Vacancy Modules
    
    In modules with only one vacancy, the winner pays the full bid price as there is no minimum bid to refund your points partially. Think very carefully before you bid for such modules. Modules with such vacancies only occur from Round 2B onwards, when the odd student drops a popular module.
    
    
12. Have fun - Sabotage Other Modules
    
    This is not really a tip but something to do to create demand for a module. Known as shill bidding in eBay. Okaaay, this is for fun. Perhaps I am sounding bad, but hey, I got points to squander <evil laughter>
    
    So, what you do is check the stats of the modules available in the current round (*before* the closing period) and narrow those with very few vacancies and something you can bid for. Then go and dump all your points into the module for the one likely to have a big bidding fight. Now the closing bid statistics will show you competing for the module. Once the closing period comes in, change your bid to 1. You won't get the module, and even if you did in the one in a billionth rare chance, it's just one point wasted. Or just retract the bid in the last minute.
    
    So, how can one person make a big difference? Actually, you can. Go for those modules which have very small vacancies.. those in the single digit... <evil laughter>
    
    

    
    Is this what you call - Having fun with CORS? [source]
    

    Guess who was one of the bidders for ACC1002X above...
    

Well that's all I can share for now. Good luck bidding, hope it will help fellow juniors in future.

Behind the curtains, I await... sniper rifle in position.. (Image stolen)

Common FAQ: So how many points should I bid? No one can give you a definite answer for this as it depends on many variables. You will need to make your own independent decision with the tips above.

If you have more tips, share in the comments below. Not all of you may agree with my tips, but feel free to discuss below. Have fun!

Connect Your NUS E-Mail To GMail. Get Real Unlimited Disk Space

The System Administrator. If you don't know him, count yourself lucky. He will contact you personally when there is something wrong with your NUS e-mail account.

Otherwise, he never shows himself in public. He stays with his Administrator, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ensuring that no one is flouting the rules that is set for the NUS e-mail accounts.

The System Administrator. (Image Stolen)

One of the most common e-mail he sends is the one below

From: System Administrator <XXX@nus.edu.sg>
To: NUS Computing Student <XXX@nus.edu.sg>
Subject: Your mailbox is over its size limit

Your mailbox has exceeded one or more size limits set by your administrator.
Your mailbox size is 28121 KB.
Mailbox size limits:
     You will receive a warning when your mailbox reaches 27648 KB.You may not be able to send or receive new e-mail until you reduce your mailbox size.
To make more space available, delete any items that you are no longer using or move them to your personal folder file (.pst).
Items in all of your mailbox folders including the Deleted Items and Sent Items folders count against your size limit.
You must empty the Deleted Items folder after deleting items or the space will not be freed.
See client Help for more information.

The e-mail is littered with technical terms such as 'PST' and 'Client Help'. Regardless, if you don't heed his orders, he will disable any new incoming e-mail to your account, stranding you without any e-mail updates.

Now, with Google's awesome GMail, you don't have to rely on NUS Mail's paltry 30MB space any more. So awesome, it provides its own external POP3 checking service. And a spam filter that can filter all the stupid reminder and job posting emails.

UPDATE: Thanks to Frank in the comments of another post, you can now auto forward all NUS mails to another e-mail account! Seems to have been there all the time and I somehow missed it :/. You can still use the below to auto-label your messages as some NUS mails are not sent with your NUS e-mail address in the TO field (making GMail filters useless for labeling).

What this means in layman's terms is that, GMail can check and save your NUS e-mail for you automatically. This, and it deletes the e-mail from the NUS server once it has gotten a copy of it.

Here's how to get GMail to host your NUS e-mail acount for you

1. First, login to GMail.
   
   

   
   GMail Home Page
   

   Click on Inbox on the left if you are not already there.
   
   
2. Click on Settings on the top
   
   
3. Click on Accounts
   
   

   
   GMail Accounts page
   

   The above page is what you should see now
   
   
4. Click 'Add a mail account you own'
   
   
5. A box should pop up. Enter your NUS email addy or Friendly email. (has to end with '@nus.edu.sg'). Then click Next Step
   
   
6. Now comes a bit of a technical part. Fret not, when NUS Computing Student is here!
   
   

   
   NUS Email POP3 Settings

   Here is how the settings should be

   • Username: Your MATRIC number e.g. u0708534
     
   • Password: Your NUSNET password
     
   • POP Server: select 'pop.nus.edu.sg'
     
   • Port: 110
     
   • Leave a copy of the retrieved message on the server: UNCHECK

     WARNING: Check this only if you still want the e-mail to be left on the NUS server for retrieval via NUS mail later. But note that this will take up space as time goes on and sooner or later, the god admin System Administrator will be after you with his punishment. Remember, He has the power to stop all mails to your NUS e-mail account.

     Otherwise uncheck it so that GMail will delete the e-mail in the NUS server after downloading them to your GMail. This will clear the precious space for new incoming e-mail and helps keep you in the System Administrator's good books. Trust me, you don't want to incur the wrath of the System Administrator.

   • Always use a secure connection (SSL) when retrieving mail: UNCHECK
   • Label incoming messages: CHECK
   • Archive incoming messages (Skip the Inbox): UNCHECK

   Click Add Account.
   

7. Once you are done, you should receive good news.
   

   
   Success! No more measly limits!

8. Check 'Yes, I want to be able to send mail..' and then click Next Step

9. Enter your FULL NAME as in your matric card when it asks you for your name. Then click Next Step
   
   
10. GMail will want to verify that you are the owner of the e-mail address. Click on Send Verification.
    
    
11. Check your e-mail using NUS Web Access. Look for a e-mail with subject "Gmail Confirmation - Send Mail as XXXXX". Sometimes, it may end up in the Spam folder.
    
    
12. There will be a confirmation code in the email. Copy the number and paste it into the pop-up box. Close NUS Web Mail.
    
    

    
    Enter the code and click Verify

    After clicking Verify, the pop-up will close and you are brought back to the Accounts page.
    
    
13. WAIT, we're not done yet. Check 'Reply from the same address to which the message was sent' under 'When receiving a message'. This ensures that when you reply to your NUS mails, the FROM field appears as your NUS e-mail account and not your GMail account.
    
    
14. Now when you go to your inbox, you will see all the messages that were in your NUS inbox.

Finally, note that you will still need to access NUS Web Mail for some mails which don't pass its lame spam filters. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a way to disable the spam folder in NUS e-mail system.

Just take it that it is the System Administrator's way of ensuring you come back. For now, you don't have to worry about messing with the System Administrator unknowingly...

NUS SameMail LargeMail - The Same Mail As Before

It's been said that things that are too good to be true, are usually are. NUS Large Mail is a fine example of that.

What it actually means. Source

When you go to the fine print of this upgrade here, it becomes clear. What is thought to be a simple 1GB upgrade of all mailboxes is actually a complicated addition of a secondary 'vault'. Something like the Closed Bidding period in CORS - where things can be quite random.

Actually, it works to a extent. But only if the rate of incoming mail does not exceed the rate it archives the mail. Sure, it auto archives my mail for me every month. But if I happen to receive lots of large files in 2 consecutive days, I still have to login to clear my inbox as the archival kicks in at an unknown period of time.

There's still no peace of mind.

With e-mail accounts like GMail, I don't have to worry about exceeding my allocated space as the 7GBs of space is all there for me to use.

However, if I could just move every single mail to that 1GB 'vault' automatically, then it would be a great! But no...

The hidden truth about NUS LargeMail

No, you can't change the automatic archival limit to archive every single mail. You need to do this manually... and use Outlook... and install some extension software... and.. you get the idea!

So what's the actual e-mail space you have? 0.03 GB. All right stop rubbing your eyes! I said it correctly, it's 30 MB. The same. At Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail, you get over 1GB (1000MB) of space.

At these providers, you get more than 1GB of real space! (Image stolen)

Perhaps NUS should dump Microsoft Exchange and move to Google Apps. Let Google handle all the space and maintenance. This would mean relying on a provider across the Singapore borders... but .. Oh well, let's not get too academic here.

So how to resolve this for now? For those of you with GMail accounts and know how to do it, configure GMail to collect email from your NUS mail via POP3. If you are using Live! Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or any other e-mail account, you can use NUS email redirection service - AutoForward - but it can be difficult to distinguish some NUS mails.

See my other post on how to connect your GMail account to NUS's E-mail system.