I have a theory that the social scene at MBA school is inversely related to the % of our grades be being determined in the next 10 days. So for example last weekend, there was some socializing (I missed out as I was in Ottawa, but there was still some activity). But that's because we had 1 paper due and 1 presentation due.
This weekend - on the eve of exam week, there were even fewer people from our class out last night. A cross grad school party with the Lawyers and the Doctors which I heard was fun. This afternoon, I went and checked out the Homecoming game. Sad to say U of T lost, but one of the players is in my class and he scored a Touch Down so that was very cool. Unfortunately - we were studying ECON in the stands with our trusty cue cards. Not tail-gating with a beer. So that was disappointing.
Number of students are finishing their FIT papers now, and moving on to ECON, our first exam. And this is where the true test of time management comes in. I have said before (and will say again I am sure) the MBA is a training operation on how to manage your time. So front loading can be a good skill to have. For example, our last exam is accounting, so leaving it till Thursday afternoon is simply a flawed strategy. But with ECON right around the corner, it is much more tempting to spend the next 48 hours focusing on that.
The most important point of this blog - is the Friday night of next week. We have been working on a bar/club of choice to go to Friday night and celebrate surviving Q1. A grassroots event popped up to go to the bar at 12:01 as soon as we finish our exam on Friday and manage to start making up for all the missed beers as soon as possible.
I suspect as our grades will have been behind, we will see a very large proportion of the student body out on Friday. At least I hope so!
Showing posts with label Exams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exams. Show all posts
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Turkey and MBA's
For those of you Canadians who may be coming to Toronto but have family near by, a tricky decision comes at Thanksgiving. What is traditionally a relaxing holiday, in undergrad is usually before or after a couple of midterms (ie some stress but manageable), and when working means one less day of the week.... becomes a "fake holiday" and hopefully you get to eat some turkey.
I have family in Ottawa, and while I really did want to see them, I also had to manage the balance of getting a lot of work done this weekend. You see, the whole Wednesday off thing, means that holiday Monday's classes just shift to Wednesday, so its not a lighter week, just more work to do in less time.
Plus, I have to mention, we have a paper due on Thursday and three midterm, two finals and a paper due next week. Now - hopefully we are all caught up and totally on top of things and have long since written amazing A + papers, mastered every bit of course material and are prepping for some light review next weekend in order to get straight A's on our exams.
One thing the Rotman MBA stresses is understanding that we see the world through our own eyes, and it is not reality, but our own reconstruction of reality. So in theory that model is entirely possible. If you are that student, I beg of you, please tell me (and my peers) how you do it. Because the general pulse i am gathering (and feeling myself) is that:
1. Hopefully paper number 1 due Thursday has a complete draft, with a couple of edits and reviews to ensure strength in content, for a quick re-read on Wednesday and then submitting the final paper with plenty of time for technical difficulties. (most of my colleagues are comfortably on this one)
2. Ideally - paper number 2 due next Tuesday has a healthy outline, maybe the workings of a introduction and some sketching of how you are going to build and rebuild the paper a few times. (some of my colleagues are well beyond this stage- but I bet most are just about here)
3. Course material - each exam will have different levels of comfort for each student, depending on their own strengths, education and how much that class has caught their attention to date. We don't really know all the details, and are relying a little too heavily on conjecture from second years to determine whats the most scary exam and which ones should be more manageable.
(most of us are focusing on one or two classes - Econ and Accounting for me - that we feel farthest behind on, but have the most potential to be successful if we get caught up)
Keep in mind, that the pace of these classes are much more rapid than anything you'll have experienced (likely) so getting behind in reading by two classes (like two lectures, not weeks) can mean you are behind 2 or 3 chapters.
The quizzes to date are a good way to force us to stay on top of things, but we have been warned (and so I pass the warning on to potential incoming students) the quizzes are not necessarily indicitive of the exams.
This week is the last week of classes - and then we have exam week, I will be sure to post some overall thoughts on Q1 next weekend, while they are fresh in my mind....
I have family in Ottawa, and while I really did want to see them, I also had to manage the balance of getting a lot of work done this weekend. You see, the whole Wednesday off thing, means that holiday Monday's classes just shift to Wednesday, so its not a lighter week, just more work to do in less time.
Plus, I have to mention, we have a paper due on Thursday and three midterm, two finals and a paper due next week. Now - hopefully we are all caught up and totally on top of things and have long since written amazing A + papers, mastered every bit of course material and are prepping for some light review next weekend in order to get straight A's on our exams.
One thing the Rotman MBA stresses is understanding that we see the world through our own eyes, and it is not reality, but our own reconstruction of reality. So in theory that model is entirely possible. If you are that student, I beg of you, please tell me (and my peers) how you do it. Because the general pulse i am gathering (and feeling myself) is that:
1. Hopefully paper number 1 due Thursday has a complete draft, with a couple of edits and reviews to ensure strength in content, for a quick re-read on Wednesday and then submitting the final paper with plenty of time for technical difficulties. (most of my colleagues are comfortably on this one)
2. Ideally - paper number 2 due next Tuesday has a healthy outline, maybe the workings of a introduction and some sketching of how you are going to build and rebuild the paper a few times. (some of my colleagues are well beyond this stage- but I bet most are just about here)
3. Course material - each exam will have different levels of comfort for each student, depending on their own strengths, education and how much that class has caught their attention to date. We don't really know all the details, and are relying a little too heavily on conjecture from second years to determine whats the most scary exam and which ones should be more manageable.
(most of us are focusing on one or two classes - Econ and Accounting for me - that we feel farthest behind on, but have the most potential to be successful if we get caught up)
Keep in mind, that the pace of these classes are much more rapid than anything you'll have experienced (likely) so getting behind in reading by two classes (like two lectures, not weeks) can mean you are behind 2 or 3 chapters.
The quizzes to date are a good way to force us to stay on top of things, but we have been warned (and so I pass the warning on to potential incoming students) the quizzes are not necessarily indicitive of the exams.
This week is the last week of classes - and then we have exam week, I will be sure to post some overall thoughts on Q1 next weekend, while they are fresh in my mind....
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