In my opinion, the point of
NTU's add-drop system for our electives is really to test how badly we want that particular course. Like
Saw the movie, we're put through a series of gruelling tests, and only by much self-sacrifice and willpower can we eventually get through the wire-barbed, electrocuted and heated-to-a-thousand-degree-
Celsius hurdle to achieve our much desired course.
Firstly, you are made to wake up at 10am to join a force of 22,000 other
NTU students in logging on to the add-drop portal. Then, you are made to wait 37 years like a spurned yet faithful lover while the page loads, because
NTU's Internet bandwidth is sad. Then, the page eventually loads, and like a spurned lover, you are spurned yet again, being told "Servers too busy. Please try again later.". Repeat above-mentioned process approximately 50 times or so until said lover gives up resisting and finally lets you in. Once inside, you think your troubles are over, but hell no. You then have to painstakingly key in, one by bloody one, the Index Number for your desired course. And to make the game even more fun, the Index numbers are obtained on a separate website that cannot run simultaneously with the add-drop portal. You then have to attempt to register for the course, hoping that no one has beaten you to the one vacancy or so by this point in time. Chances are, you will have been beaten to the course, following which you will spend five minutes swearing at and punching your computer. You then give up, but the game isn't over. Because the add-drop period goes on for two weeks, and also because NTU has not heard of waitlists ever before, you are forced to consistently log on to the portal, in hope that someone has dropped out of your desired course, and that there's a vacant seat in the class that's beckoning to your buttocks. If you get through all of the above-mentioned, congratulations! The elective is yours!
But since I really couldn't care less about my Business Law elective, I'm just going to go back to sleep.
