---
title: "Sunsetting the Eifueo Project"
date: 2023-05-23
tags:
  - eifueo
  - retrospective
---

For three and a half years, the [Eifueo project](https://eifueo.eggipelago.com) has dutifully carried out its task of collecting and organising notes in a way that would be quick and easy to review. Although this worked out wonderfully in high school, the method is both inefficient and insufficient for the pace of higher education.

So how can we make it better?

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We can't.

At their core, engineering courses in university are about problem-solving. Instead of blindly memorising rules to be applied once to get you the answer, you blindly memorise rules to be applied _two or more times_ to get you the answer.

If we have to do that, it's much easier to write plenty of practice problems instead of rewriting plenty of notes.

## It takes too loooooong

Reformatting notes is not an easy endeavour. We have to re-examine our old notes, research any ambiguities, and then write all of them up in a way that is clear, concise, and professional. On average, I'd say that it took a good hour or so per day to finish Eifueo for six courses. Imagine the number of practice problems I could finish if I allocated Eifueo's time slot to those instead!

## It's booooring

Me? A writer? Imagine.

This one isn't actually too bad, and doing practice problems instead isn't going to help much, but think of all the other fun things I could be doing instead. I already _have_ the notes. If I need them, I'll just look back at them.

Anyway, by the end of Eifueo's lifespan, most of the content was regurgitated onto the site.

## It doesn't help nearly as much for exams

This is perhaps the biggest reason, and I have to say that I'm quite disappointed in the education system for this one.

High school had many courses that were "expression"-focused, and those were the courses that Eifueo excelled in. English, chemistry, and history all were less about getting the answer or precise process correct, and more about how well you can bullshit your way out of it. Even math was pretty easy to apply a shallow formula and get the right answer.

![We love nice TAs!](thanks-192-ta.webp)

Unfortunately, the physics courses are antithetical to everything Eifueo stands for. They have a rigid structure that you can't bullshit your way out of but are also flexible enough that you can't simply apply a formula. The best way to get good is simply to do more problems.

You'll have to understand that this greatly saddened me as a person who tries his hardest to do _less_ problems. The cost-benefit ratio isn't worth it anymore.

## Retrospective

With a heavy heart, I must bid farewell to one of the first services I ever deployed to my server. Eifueo has tried its hardest to help me keep up, but I can only avoid doing practice for so much before it actually bites me in the butt.

o7 It has served me well.

![At this rate, I'm going to be an expert in perspective art!](assessment-art.webp)
