back

exams are killing me

23/05/2026

Life update!

I've been trying to update my website at least once per month to prevent myself from dissapearing off the face of the earth like I did earlier this year, but I'm sorry to anounce that the only update I can squeeze out my ass this month is this little life update blog because its EXAM SEASON!!!

Of course I am no stranger to exams. I grew up in a school in which getting into a prestigious university is everyone's life goal, so over the course of the year I'd consider myself a pretty good exam taker. But somehow, depsite me having less exams in university and having much more flexible schedules I almost feel more drained than I have ever been.

I do my degree in history and politics so all my exams come in essay format, which is fine since I'd consider myself okay at those (mostly). I think it largely just comes down to the degree of content I have to memorise. Even if on the exams we can choose the prompt for the topic(s) we're the most familiar with, we're expected to know that topic basically from the inside out, even some of the authors/sources on this topic (we're expected to cite them on the exam! closed book!)

I've done 3 out of 4 of my exams as of writing this blog and though I know I'm so close to the finish line I literally feel so burnt out, in ways I haven't felt before when I was in school. Maybe it was having to do exams while balancing living on my own that's particularly draining, but I'm not too sure myself.

Anyways, here are a few things that I've learnt so far as a result of studying for my exams that I think are pretty cool topics!

  • The history of European integration (from ECSC to EEC), why Britain didn't opt in, and how it's tied to Cold War politics
  • The different critiques of the Treaty of Versailles, how it was formed as a messy compromise, and its impact
  • The impact of the Korean War on Cold War dynamics, why each great powers got involved, and how miscalculations by all actors escalated the conflict
  • The different factors and events that led to the origin of Cold War in Europe, and different schools of historiography interpreting this
  • How Republican China and Meiji Japan differed in their modernisation project, and how existing structure in Japan made their process of centralisation significantly easier
  • Social media, at least in an observable time frame, does not directly lead to polarisation/persuade people into believing extremist stuff
  • As per last point, social media in fact increase the volume of extremism because it allows extremists to find each other and coordinate collective action
  • Salient social identity can be constructed via human processes, like politics, manipulation, media, etc. This can be done through both top down to bottom up influence

Anyways, I'll definitely get to updating my website once summer started. I should have a fair amount of free time then! Especially cuz I have to stay in london for ~1 month before I can go home since my sister's graduation (also in the UK) is in early July, so I just gotta wait til that. But after that my family's bringing us on a trip to Czech Republic and Austria so that's exciting! Will be sure to talk about my experience here also.

Signing off for now; I still gotta learn almost the entire JS Mill and Hannah Arendt unit for my political theory class

read more of my madness?
←newer older→