Goodbye 2022! Hello 2023!
As originally planned, this article was supposed to be finished before the end of the year, but it didn’t work out.
Last Year’s Plan
I didn’t set too many goals for myself last year; the main task was preparing for the postgraduate entrance exam.
Why Pursue a Master’s Degree
I asked my friends why they were taking the postgraduate entrance exam. The answers were roughly as follows:
- Want to stay at the university or teach at a college; pursuing a master’s and then a doctorate is a necessary step.
- Feel like they didn’t learn much in college, want to try for a master’s and learn some real skills.
- If they pass, they’ll go; if not, they’ll look for a job. It’s worth a try—there’s no harm in trying.
- Really dislike their current major and want to follow their interests, to study what they truly want.
- Four years of college, three years of pandemic, everything is too competitive now. Don’t want to enter society so early, want to extend their campus life.
- Master’s graduates have much higher starting salaries than undergraduates. The job market is complicated now, so get a master’s and “wait out” a few years before working.
- Didn’t do well in the college entrance exam, want to improve their academic credentials through the postgraduate exam, and meet more outstanding people to expand their network.
Why I Chose to Pursue a Master’s
During my freshman and sophomore years, the idea of taking the postgraduate entrance exam never crossed my mind, and I wasn’t very focused on my studies. It wasn’t until later that I found my passion.
Programming Is a Practical Art
Programming is a tool for creation and self-expression, just like a musician’s score, a painter’s colors, or a writer’s words.
However, no creative tool has ever been as powerful and free as programming, nor has any tool ever carried our wildest dreams like programming.
You can reach for the moon or dive into the deepest oceans. It is a gift from this information-exploding era for us science and engineering people to express ourselves and look to the future.
How to Go Further and More Steadily
Once I set my direction, I began to think about how to go further and more steadily.
Given my non-computer science background, I felt a bit anxious and wanted to give myself more time in school to broaden my horizons, enrich my experience, and improve my abilities, so I could step into my beloved career well-prepared.
That was my initial thought.
A Rough Review of the 2023 Postgraduate Exam
From March, when I started preparing, to December, when the exam ended, there were about 300 days.
The preparation time seemed long, but the actual effective study time was much less.
A Difficult Start
At first, I was really confused. I didn’t know whose courses to watch, whose practice questions to do, which school to apply to, or which materials to buy…
From March to June, there were still some courses to study at school. In April, I was locked down in the dorm for about a month due to the pandemic. At the end of May and beginning of June, I had to prepare for final exams…
During this period, I roughly went through some professional subjects (data structures, computer networks). I also reviewed the basics of advanced mathematics and linear algebra. I memorized some English words and did some reading. I hadn’t started politics yet.
The Critical Summer
Summer vacation is the golden period for preparation. During this time, I mainly focused on mathematics and professional subjects, followed by English.
But the hot weather made people irritable, and because my foundation was weak, the strengthening phase was also very difficult.
Uneasy October-November
In October and November, the main task was to do past exam papers and mock tests.
For mathematics, I could handle the questions before 2020, but the calculations were really heavy, and it was hard to finish all the solvable questions with quality in three hours. The questions after 2020 were a level harder, with more thinking and calculation required, which was overwhelming. As for mock tests, I mainly did Li Lin’s six sets and four sets (didn’t finish them), and it was almost exhausting.
Due to poor planning, I forgot a lot of professional knowledge during this stage, so I couldn’t make progress on professional subject past papers and had to learn by doing recent exam questions.
For English, I did recent reading comprehension questions. Although my accuracy was acceptable when time allowed, it was still hard to finish everything with quality in the allotted time.
Around early November, I officially started studying politics for the postgraduate exam. Although I had read some before, it wasn’t systematic, and I hadn’t done any practice. After about a week of theory, I went straight to doing Xiao 8 multiple-choice questions.
Slacking Off in December
At the end of November, there was a surge in new COVID cases across provinces, and the pandemic situation became severe again.
On December 4th, a positive case was found at school, so dining was suspended, the library was closed, and students voluntarily isolated in their dorms.
This time, I was isolated in the dorm for about two days, and I barely studied during those days. It was during this time that the tension suddenly eased.
With the announcement of the postponement of the national civil service exam and other exams at the end of November, the topic of whether the 2023 postgraduate exam would be postponed became hot.
Staying in the dorm and not wanting to study, I closely followed such news on Zhihu, Bilibili, Weibo, etc.
Whether the exam would be postponed was closely related to the pandemic situation.
At first, the pandemic was fierce, and local governments still implemented “zero-COVID” policies, with mass testing and silent isolation.
But after the release of the “New Ten Measures” on December 7th, the prevention policy suddenly changed, and public opinion exploded.
When something strange happens, there’s always a reason, so I checked some “current affairs” on foreign websites. All I can say is, this history has no date.
After the restrictions were lifted, more and more people tested positive.
On the 21st, all candidates took nucleic acid tests as required.
On the 22nd, the school found many positive cases.
Calls for postponing the exam were strong until the night of the 23rd, but… everyone knows how it goes.
A Dramatic Ending
On the night of the 23rd, the day before the exam, I felt unwell and took my temperature: 37.7℃.
I was obviously very sleepy that night, but I couldn’t fall asleep, tossing and turning, and only rested for about an hour.
After getting up, I took my temperature again: 38.8℃.
Strangely, although my body was really hot, my mind was unusually alert. I went to the exam without taking any fever medicine.
After sitting down, I gradually felt very uncomfortable, started to feel dizzy, and eventually my eyes hurt from the fever.
At 11:30, I walked out of the exam room exhausted, with a voice echoing in my ears: Should I go in the afternoon?
I don’t know how long it took me to walk from the classroom building to the dorm…
Back in the dorm, I took a fever pill and lay on the desk.
Although health is the foundation of everything, and skipping an exam wouldn’t be the end of the world, after much thought, I chose to persist.
If I had given up then, I think I would regret it deeply now.
Around 1:30, my fever subsided a bit, so I went to the exam room for the English test in the afternoon.
The next day, my physical condition was better than the first day, but my throat was still very itchy, and I kept coughing.
Fragments of Life During Exam Preparation
What the Postgraduate Exam Taught Me
In 2005, Steve Jobs said this in his Stanford commencement speech:
None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them.
If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.
Again, you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something, your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. Because believing the dots will connect down the road, will give you the confidence to follow your heart, even when it lead you off the well-worn path, and it has made all the difference.
We can’t predict what will happen tomorrow, but we still need to finish today.
Every experience is meaningful; maybe five, ten, or twenty years later, we’ll realize its value.
Learning Methodology
I’ve always been someone who doesn’t know how to learn efficiently, and to this day, I’m still exploring.
Two and a half years of a confused college life created a gap in my learning (especially the kind of learning necessary for exams).
This forced me to face some questions at the beginning of my preparation: What is the essence of learning? How should I learn? How can I learn more efficiently?
I read some articles and watched some popular science videos, and came across knowledge in brain science, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, etc. (just scratching the surface).
Later, I learned that these studies are classified as an interdisciplinary field called “cognitive science.”
As an ordinary car driver, you only need to master the basic driving operations to meet your needs; there’s really no need to understand how the car works.
But if you’re a professional race car driver, I think you need to know more about cars to fully unleash their performance.
At the beginning of my preparation, I paid attention to this issue for the first time, and I still do today.
The Trap of Growth
During my preparation, I came across a book called “Cognitive Awakening.”
This book had a big impact on me; it made me deeply reflect on the past.
Why do we study? Why do we take the college entrance exam? Why, after entering university, do we choose our current major, and why do we pursue a master’s degree?
Many times, we don’t have a clear goal; instead, we’re pushed forward by parents, society, and the times.
Before age 18, we study hard for the college entrance exam, but what’s on the other side of the mountain?
“They say you’ll be free once you get into college!” Is that really true?
More often, we’re not the directors of our lives, but the actors in life.
You’ll Never Be Ready
In 2019, Tim Cook said this in his Stanford commencement speech:
Fourteen years ago, Steve stood on this stage and told your predecessors: “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” Here’s my corollary: “Your mentors may leave you prepared, but they can’t leave you ready.”When Steve got sick, I had hardwired my thinking to the belief that he would get better. I not only thought he would hold on, I was convinced, down to my core, that he’d still be guiding Apple long after I, myself, was gone. Then, one day, he called me over to his house and told me that it wasn’t going to be that way.Even then, I was convinced he would stay on as chairman. That he’d step back from the day to day but always be there as a sounding board.
But there was no reason to believe that. I never should have thought it. The facts were all there. And when he was gone, truly gone, I learned the real, visceral difference between preparation and readiness. It was the loneliest I’ve ever felt in my life. By an order of magnitude. It was one of those moments where you can be surrounded by people, yet you don’t really see, hear or feel them. But I could sense their expectations.
When the dust settled, all I knew was that I was going to have to be the best version of myself that I could be. I knew that if you got out of bed every morning and set your watch by what other people expect or demand, it’ll drive you crazy.
So what was true then is true now. Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life. Don’t try to emulate the people who came before you to the exclusion of everything else, contorting into a shape that doesn’t fit.It takes too much mental effort – effort that should be dedicated to creating and building. You’ll waste precious time trying to rewire your every thought, and, in the mean time, you won’t be fooling anybody.
Wait until you’re ready to travel.
Wait until you’re ready to start a business.
Wait until you’re ready to become a content creator.
Wait until you’re ready to pursue love.
In fact, you’ll never be ready—done is better than perfect.
Hello, NIO! Hello, Future!
On February 8, 2022, I received an email.
On January 9, 2023, I decided to take a leap of faith.
Find hope in the unexpected, seek courage in the challenge.
Hello, NIO! Hello, future! Goodbye, 2022!