M.Sc. in Mathematics by Coursework

Objective | Admission Requirements | Application | Fees

Course Requirements | Substitution |Specialization | Candidature

Objective

This programme aims to provide advanced training in mathematics with an emphasis on coursework. It offers opportunities to those who have an Honours degree or a Bachelor's degree in mathematics to build and enhance their professional skills and qualifications in advanced mathematics in general and/or in some specialized areas of applied mathematics.

Admission Requirements

From AY2006/07, candidates may be admitted to one of two study tracks which are catered to candidates with different levels of qualifications. Students who did not major in mathematics at the undergraduate level would normally be considered for admission into the 80MC track.

Track 1 (40MC or modular credit programme)

An applicant must have:

• an Honours degree in mathematics or an equivalent qualification, or

• an Honours degree in a discipline with strong training in mathematics at university level.

Track 2 (80MC programme)

An applicant must have:

• a three-year Bachelor’s degree in mathematics or an equivalent qualification, or

• a three-year Bachelor’s degree in a discipline with strong training in mathematics at university level.

Other Requirements (for both tracks)

An applicant whose native tongue or medium of undergraduate instruction is not English must complete the TOEFL, IELTS, or Diagnostic English Test (DET) administered by the NUS Centre for English Language Communication.

An applicant with a non-mathematics background is required to take the GRE Subject Test (Mathematics).

Foreign applicants are not allowed to study part-time in Singapore unless they have a valid employment pass to work in Singapore.

Interested applicants should sit for the required tests early, bearing in mind that there may be specific test dates and the test results may take a few months to reach the university. Our institution/department code is 9087/72 for TOEFL and 0677/0703 for GRE.

Application

Application deadlines are:

• 15 April for August intake, and

• 15 September for January intake.

[Apply Online]     [Paper form in Word]     [Paper form in PDF]

Applicants from other ASEAN member countries (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam) may apply for NUS Graduate Scholarship for ASEAN Nationals, on a competitive basis. Click here to read about the details of the scholarship.

Fees

There is a non-refundable application fee of S$20 per online application/S$40 per paper application. Payment should only be in the form of a Singapore cheque, or a bank draft in S$ and drawn on a bank in Singapore.

Other fees include registration fee, exam fees, computer account fees, tuition fees. Details are available at the Registrar's Office web site. The web site also gives the timeline and amount of fees refundable for withdrawing from a course during a semester.

Course Requirements    (Updated: 19/2/2009)

[Cohort 2009/10 & later]    [Cohort 2006/07 - 2008/09]    [Cohort 2005/06 & earlier]

For candidates admitted in AY2009/10 or later, they must fulfil the following conditions in order to graduate:

Track 1 (40MC programme)

1. Read and pass:

   • Two MA-modules at level 4000 (or above), and

   • Eight MA-modules at level 5000 (or above), and

2. Obtain a minimum CAP of 3.00.
   
   OR
    

1. Read and pass:

   • Two MA-modules at level 4000 (or above), and

   • Six MA-modules at level 5000 (or above), and

2. Complete a project and written report (equivalent to 8 MCs) with a passing grade over a maximum period of two semesters, and

3. Obtain a minimum CAP of 3.00.

In summary, either

(2 x ≥MA4xxx) + (8 x ≥MA5xxx) + CAP ≥ 3.00

OR

(2 x ≥MA4xxx) + (6 x ≥MA5xxx) + (1 project) + CAP ≥ 3.00

Track 2 (80MC programme)

1. Read and pass:

   • Two MA-modules at level 3000 (or above), and

   • Nine MA-modules at level 4000 (or above), and

   • Nine MA-modules at level 5000 (or above), and

2. Obtain a minimum CAP of 3.00.

   
   OR
    

1. Read and pass:

   • Two MA-modules at level 3000 (or above), and

   • Nine MA-modules at level 4000 (or above), and

   • Seven MA-modules at level 5000 (or above), and

2. Complete a project and written report (equivalent to 8 MCs) with a passing grade over a maximum period of two semesters, and

3. Obtain a minimum CAP of 3.00.

In summary, either

(2 x ≥MA3xxx) + (9 x ≥MA4xxx) + (9 x ≥MA5xxx) + CAP ≥ 3.00

OR

(2 x ≥MA3xxx) + (9 x ≥MA4xxx) + (7 x ≥MA5xxx)+ (1 project) + CAP ≥ 3.00

CAP for graduation is computed based on the best x number of modules within requirement and does not include the project or seminar modules (i.e. best 7 modules for 2005/06 or earlier cohorts, best 8 modules for Track 1, and best 18 modules for Track 2).

For candidates admitted between AY2006/07 and AY2008/09, they must fulfil the following conditions in order to graduate:

Track 1 (40MC programme)

1. Read and pass two MA-modules at level 4000 (or above), and

2. Read and pass six MA-modules at level 5000 (or above), and

3. Complete (with a passing grade) a project and written report over a maximum period of two semesters
   OR
   Read and pass MA5296 Mathematics Seminar I (MSc Coursework) and MA5297 Mathematics Seminar II (MSc Coursework), and

4. Obtain a minimum CAP of 3.00.

In summary,
(2 x ≥MA4xxx) + (6 x ≥MA5xxx) + (1 project or 2 seminar modules) + CAP ≥ 3.00

Track 2 (80MC programme)

1. Read and pass two mathematics modules at level 3000 (or above), and

2. Read and pass nine mathematics modules at level 4000 (or above), and

3. Read and pass seven mathematics modules at level 5000 (or above), and

4. Complete (with a passing grade) a project and written report over a maximum period of two semesters
   OR
   Read and pass MA5296 Mathematics Seminar I (MSc Coursework) and MA5297 Mathematics Seminar II (MSc Coursework), and

5. Obtain a minimum CAP of 3.00.

In summary,
(2 x ≥MA3xxx) + (9 x ≥MA4xxx) + (7 x ≥MA5xxx) + (1 project or 2 seminar modules) + CAP ≥ 3.00

CAP for graduation is computed based on the best x number of modules within requirement and does not include the project or seminar modules (i.e. best 7 modules for 2005/06 or earlier cohorts, best 8 modules for Track 1, and best 18 modules for Track 2).

For candidates admitted in AY2005/06 or earlier, they must fulfil all the following conditions in order to graduate:

1. Read and pass at least seven MA-modules at Level 4000 or above, of which at least five must be at Level 5000 (graduate level modules) or above;

2. Complete an individual project and written report over a maximum period of two semesters.

3. For students admitted between July 1999/2000 to January 2002/2003 intakes, a minimum Cumulated Average Point (CAP) of 2.50 (average C+ grade) is required for graduation.

4. For students admitted in July 2003/2004 and later intakes, a minimum CAP of 3.00 (average B- grade) is required for graduation.

Module Substitution    (Updated: 19/2/2009)

Subject to departmental approval, students in Track 1 and Track 2 may be allowed to substitute a maximum of two and four MA-modules, respectively, with approved non-MA-modules to fulfill the graduation requirements.

In addition, the following three CF-modules are counted as MA-modules when they are used to fulfill the graduation requirement⁺:

• CF3101/QF3101 Investment Instruments: Theory and Computation

• CF4102/QF4102 Financial Trading and Modeling/Financial Modeling

• CF4103 Financial Time Series: Theory and Computation/QF4201 Financial Time Series: Theory and Computation

Students must write in to the Department for permission to substitute MA-modules, before the module registration period in any semester.

⁺For students who are admitted in AY2009/10 or later, QF-modules will be counted as non-MA-modules.

Specialization    (Updated: 19/2/2009)

Specialization is only available to students who are admitted in AY2008/09 or earlier.

Students admitted to Track 1 and Track 2 programme structures may choose to specialize in Mathematical Finance or Operations Research by satisfying additional course work/graduation requirements as follows:

Specialization in Mathematical Finance

1. At least two of the modules at level 4000 or above must be chosen from List MF1, and

2. At least three of the modules at level 5000 or above must be chosen from List MF2, and

3. The project or the topic of at least one of the seminar modules (MA5296 or MA5297) must be in the area of Mathematical Finance.   

Specialization in Operations Research

1. At least two of the modules at level 4000 or above must be chosen from List OR1, and

2. At least three of the modules at level 5000 or above must be chosen from List OR2, and

3. The project or the topic of at least one of the seminar modules (MA5296 or MA5297) must be in the area of Operations Research.

Students may also choose not to specialize in any of these two areas. In such cases, they may read any available modules of interest to them and which are within the course work/graduation requirements.

Candidature

Minimum & Maximum Candidature

Candidature is longer for part-time students as they are only allowed to read a maximum of three modules in any semester (including project module).

Continuation of Candidature

A student obtaining CAP < 3.00 in any semester will be issued with an academic warning.

A student’s candidature will be terminated without re-admission if:

• the CAP is < 2.50 for 2 consecutive semesters of study, or

• the CAP is < 3.00 for 3 consecutive semesters of study.

CAP for continuation is computed based on all modules read (be it pass or fail), regardless of whether they are counted towards graduation later on.