3rd Semester

Wrapping up 3rd semester at IIT Jodhpur — courses, grind, and what I learned.

December 10, 2025updated June 5, 20265 min read
iitlife

So, the 3rd semester has officially ended, and I must say it was an rollercoaster of emotions and experiences. From the excitement of diving into new subjects to the stress of exams and projects, this semester had it all.

Academic Journey

In the beginning, I was really looking forward to studying all the subjects properly and it even went well for the first few weeks. and I guess It was like that throughout the whole semester (except for a few subjects like SNS ifykyk). I managed to keep up with the coursework, attend lectures. There were moments of clarity when complex concepts finally made sense, and those were truly rewarding.

Some quizes went amazingly well, some went very badly. But overall, I think I did a decent job balancing my studies and personal life.

The minor exams weren't good at all. I struggled in mostly all the subjects and got below average grades and thought that I would improve that in the major exams. But turns out I didn't. I did worse in most of the subjects and ended up with a CGPA of 7.35 (SGPA of the 3rd sem was 6.76). which is below average for me or anyone else too. I am quite disappointed with myself but I guess it's a learning experience.

Now I have one big problem lying ahead of me. I have to improve my grades in the next semester upto around 9 SGPA to get my overall CGPA even close to 8. Because I've already messed up so bad during these first 3 semesters. So I have to work really hard in the next semester to achieve that.

And I'm doing this because the on-campus Internship seasons are starting from the 5th semester and I really want to get an internship in a good company. So I have to improve my grades a lot. and the criteria for even sitting in the internship season is 7.5 CGPA. So I have to work really hard for that or else all of my hardwork that I put devloping my skills will go in vain, and I really don't want that to happen.

So yeah, Academics are a big concern for me right now. But I think with a little bit of smart planning and execution, I can pull it off.

Personal Growth

On a personal level, this semester has been a journey of self-discovery. I learned to manage my time better, prioritize tasks, and take care of my mental health. There were moments of stress and burnout, but I also found ways to relax and recharge. I left gaming, that's a big thing for someone like me who can't live without games. I started exercising regularly and eating on time, because I used to skip meals a lot. I also picked up some new hobbies like reading and coding more seriously. I have started reading 10 pages of a book everyday while speaking so that I can improve my speaking skills too. I have also started recording timelapses of my coding/studying sessions, because It just gives me dopamine rush seeing those timelapses later.

Also, I've started investing time in myself. Learning new skills, exploring new interests, and setting personal goals. This semester has taught me the importance of balance and self-care.

I wasn't this self-aware before. I used to just go with the flow and not think much about my own needs and desires. But now, I realize that taking care of myself is crucial for my overall well-being and success.

I have also started planning a lot of stuff for the future but the big concern is that I don't know if I will be able to execute those plans properly or not. But I guess time will tell. The execution always takes me back a bit. I plan things very well. I dream of big but when it comes to execution, I always lag behind. So I have to work on that too.

and yeah, I'll start maintaining these posts regularly from now on. I have been procrastinating a lot on writing these posts. I used to think that no one reads these posts so what's the point of writing them. But now I realize that writing these posts is more for myself than for anyone else. It helps me reflect on my experiences and growth. So yeah, I'll try to write these posts more regularly from now on. (and even some of my friends read these posts too, so that's a bonus :) ig)

Coding Journey

Coding has been a big part of my life this semester. I have worked on several projects, learned new frameworks, and improved my problem-solving skills. I have also contributed to open-source projects and collaborated with other developers.

I consider this as my starting of Open Source and the biggest starter for me was contributing to "Hacktoberfest 2025". I made around 6 PRs during that event and got my first ever Hacktoberfest T-shirt. It was a great experience and I learned a lot from it.

PRs merged during Hacktoberfest 2025:

One thing I noticed from these PRs (looking at them now in december) is that my PR quality has improved a lot since then. My code style, commit messages, PR descriptions everything has improved a lot. I have learned a lot about writing clean code and following best practices.

Some Projects I worked on this semester:

  • Motixion: Live at Motixion. A minimal, fast, responsive web app that gamifies daily life for accountability partners. Track tasks, hours, points, streaks, and rewards with a shared system. Built with React.js, Tailwind CSS, and Supabase for seamless user experience and real-time data management.
  • StraightHockey: Pygame Air Hockey game featuring Human vs AI with a 5k-step RL agent, custom physics and UI, and an SB3 training pipeline achieving 80%+ win rate.
  • DocuMentor (Design Credit Project): An offline, privacy-first AI tutor that helps you learn from your study materials through intelligent summarization, Q&A, and quiz generation.
  • Chronapse: Chronapse is a Linux-only timelapse recorder that blends the elegance of Go's Bubbletea TUI with the simplicity of Python and OpenCV. It lets you record long-duration timelapses directly from your laptop camera — efficiently, safely, and beautifully.
  • Huffman Compression (DSA Course Project): A feature-rich web application implementing the Huffman coding algorithm for both text and image compression. Built with React, Vite, and Tailwind CSS.
  • Shot Ninja: A lightweight, cross-platform screenshot utility that captures your screen with a simple keyboard shortcut. Perfect for quickly saving screenshots during lectures, meetings, or any screen recording session.

Some small contributions to other projects too:

Overall, coding has been a rewarding and fulfilling experience this semester. I look forward to continuing my coding journey and exploring new opportunities in the future.

Looking Ahead

As I look ahead to the next semester, I am filled with a mix of excitement and apprehension. I know there will be challenges ahead, but I am determined to face them head-on. I plan to focus on improving my grades, exploring new coding projects, and continuing my personal growth journey.