Thea Kratochvílová

This year, for the first time, I had the opportunity to get a taste of the atmosphere of a real exam period at Cambridge. My impressions of this semester are mixed because, in addition to the huge academic strain, it was also one of the most balanced periods in terms of the balance between studying and socializing with classmates.

This year's semester, or trimester, is far from what I had hoped for. It has been almost two months since the University of Cambridge closed its doors to most students, and their reopening is still uncertain.

Returning to Cambridge after a six-month break was full of unexpected and new experiences. I started the academic year with a two-week quarantine, during which I had to rely entirely on the contents of my hand luggage.

The last semester (although in reality, it is more of a trimester – each term is 2 months long and there are three such periods in the academic year) is associated with enormous stress inherent to the final exams, which typically take place last week of May / first week of June.

In my previous post, I was perhaps too critical of academic life at Cambridge. It turns out you cannot really judge based on first impressions. As we have been told time and time again, the first trimester is hardly a representative sample, since its primary goal is to unify the level of all students and construct the foundations upon which we later build. Thus, in the first part of the first year, teaching and individual tutors do not have enough room to really go into the depth of covered materials, especially considering that students generally do not know how to properly ask questions and identify emerging ambiguities stemming from the lecture material.

Ancient British universities still have a somewhat fabled reputation in central Europe. The system of colleges, individual consultations, and prestigious academic associations give rise to respect and awe in the uninitiated. Reality is a little less pompous, not that the academic bar is not at an excellent level, but excessive expectations always lead to disappointment.