Lately, talk about graduate school entrance exams has been everywhere. It feels a little absurd to be worrying about it as early as sophomore year, but that is exactly what has been happening around me.

One of my roommates has already made up his mind: he wants to apply to Beijing Institute of Technology. He searched all over the internet for the reference books they use and then ordered textbooks on analog electronics and digital electronics online. His reason for choosing Beijing is actually tied to a girl, which is its own story, but because of him I ended up learning that even universities can be weighed in terms of cost-performance. In any case, following his decision has somehow brought me all kinds of unexpected takeaways.

He has also thrown himself into self-study sessions with almost frightening enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the three of us in the dorm still have not attended a single class of Modern History, and I have only gone to one College Chinese class myself. But when it comes to analog electronics and electrical machines, I have not missed a single session. The result is a pretty dramatic split in how classes are treated. I guess attending class is a kind of dynamic balance after all—one subject gains attention, another loses it.

As for the website, my recent investment of time has basically dropped to zero. Really, zero from every angle. A while ago I crammed for the Level 3 computer network exam, and only then did I realize I still had not written anything about it. That says a lot about how much room there is for improvement in my blog update speed.

The written portion of that computer exam felt completely hopeless, but the hands-on practical test turned out to be unexpectedly easy. After finishing the computer exam, the next thing waiting is CET-6.

At one point I had even thought about taking IELTS. I had already bought an IELTS vocabulary book. But after considering things from different angles, I decided that going for the graduate entrance exam makes more sense. Maybe it is also because the other two people in the dorm are planning on taking that path too. I am not eager to rush into job hunting so early either.

I also talked with a teacher and came away feeling that going abroad for graduate study would not really be a wise choice for me. Staying in China and taking the more straightforward route seems more suitable. After all, I have no desire to end up relying on my parents' hard-earned money just to pay for a self-funded graduate degree overseas. My family did say that if I felt too much pressure, I could consider going abroad for exams instead. But thinking it over, I have already survived the college entrance exam once. Going through another big domestic exam for graduate school does not seem so terrible, especially with my roommates preparing for it too.

Still, the pressure now is very real. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing, I honestly cannot tell. Unlike my roommate, I do not have that much time to spend in study hall. At first, I thought the schedule did not look too packed. Then somehow more and more classes were added, and the workload for each course turned out to be heavy on top of that.

Anyway, everything feels a bit frustrating lately, so I will stop here for now.