SPM

I was hoping to come up with a more interesting title for this post than "SPM", but right now that's the thing that's occupying most of my brain space right now. I'm having trouble thinking of much else. The SPM (or Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia) examination starts on Monday, and it's affecting me a little...

First of all, I am aware that I completely forgot to do an English section this week - I think I was super-saturating myself with Sejarah that day - and right now I really don't think I can focus enough to do one. However, I'll share a little bit of English at the end of the post.

Second, I won't have any time to do any more blog posts for the whole of next week. Yay. Well, actually, I probably will have some time, since there are several days of rest in between exams, but right around that time I will be, yes, super-saturated with all sorts of subjects, so chances are anything I write at that time will be, well, garbage.

Thirdly, I wish the best of luck to everyone sitting for any kind of important exam around this time of year.

What is the difference between "imitate", "simulate", and "emulate"? According to Wiktionary, "imitate" means "to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of", or, in short, "to copy." For example, you can imitate Michael Jackson by learning to moonwalk. On the other hand, "simulate" means "to model, replicate, duplicate the behavior, appearance or properties of". For example, you can simulate fog by using a fog machine. Lastly, "emulate" means "to attempt to equal or be the same as". Wikipedia says "emulation" means "An ambition and effort to equal, excel or surpass another... especially through imitation". For example, you can emulate a cartoonist by learning and enhancing his style of drawing and humor.

In short, "imitate" is to copy a thing, "simulate" is to recreate a particular situation, and "emulate" is to imitate a person to try to be better than them - in a context of rivalry.