Exams are over, and the first term, Michaelmas Term as it is called in Cambridge, is over too. In fact, we start second term, Lent Term, on monday.
Today we collected the study packs, huge as usual. See a picture and take into account that this is just the study notes. I'll buy the books over the weekend on Amazon.
I am overall happy with the exams. To be more accurate, I'm reasonably happy about the Accounting and Finance exams we did on Wednesday, and quite happy with the Marketing and Organisational Behaviour ones I just finished one hour ago.
I don't know exactly for what reason but we took two exams in a row at a time. It seems to be a normal practice for the MBA. Time pressure is huge. You are given three hours to complete both of them. In fact, the Accounting lecturer told us that he expected us not to be able to finish it. It is not only about how well you can solve the problems, but also about how fast and above all how do you perform under pressure.
The first part of the Accounting exam was difficult. Well, more than difficult tricky, because we didn't do any exercise like that in class and everyone was expecting something different. Not even the accountants in tha class managed to make the Balance Sheet balance, and one of them told me it would normally take 8 hours to one of its subordinates to do what we were asked to do in 45 minutes. I spent one hour in the exercise, and of course it didn't balance, but I think I did quite a good job. The theoretical questions were not difficult but I had no marging to make mistakes or think too much, so I feel I could have done better.
As a result I started the Corporate Finance paper a bit late, with around 75 minutes remaining. I think I did quite well the first half, a complex Net Present Value calculation, and again rushed throught the remaining questions, making some silly mistakes in one about Options and leaving one blank. But I think overall I did well.
Today it was the turn for Marketing and Organisational Behavior. Much easier for me. In both of the exams you could chose to answer two questions out of four. In any case, also only three hours to complete both of them.
I did Marketing first. I chose to do a pricing strategy for a flying car and a customer loyalty program for a financial institution. I didn't have time to mention a few things I wanted to say and my caligraphy was horrible, but I think content is good.
Finally, for Organisational Behaviour, I chose the questions about motivation and change management. I also felt quite comfortable and I managed to remember all the frameworks we had to use to analyse the problems.
Now most of the class is in the first Pub session of the day in The Bath House. I'm in the school catching up with emails and, as you can see, the blog. I'll join the second session tonight at The Anchor.
Below, a picture of the Syndicate Room yesterday with some colleagues studying and discussing about how to price a radical innovation.
Today we collected the study packs, huge as usual. See a picture and take into account that this is just the study notes. I'll buy the books over the weekend on Amazon.
I am overall happy with the exams. To be more accurate, I'm reasonably happy about the Accounting and Finance exams we did on Wednesday, and quite happy with the Marketing and Organisational Behaviour ones I just finished one hour ago.
I don't know exactly for what reason but we took two exams in a row at a time. It seems to be a normal practice for the MBA. Time pressure is huge. You are given three hours to complete both of them. In fact, the Accounting lecturer told us that he expected us not to be able to finish it. It is not only about how well you can solve the problems, but also about how fast and above all how do you perform under pressure.
The first part of the Accounting exam was difficult. Well, more than difficult tricky, because we didn't do any exercise like that in class and everyone was expecting something different. Not even the accountants in tha class managed to make the Balance Sheet balance, and one of them told me it would normally take 8 hours to one of its subordinates to do what we were asked to do in 45 minutes. I spent one hour in the exercise, and of course it didn't balance, but I think I did quite a good job. The theoretical questions were not difficult but I had no marging to make mistakes or think too much, so I feel I could have done better.
As a result I started the Corporate Finance paper a bit late, with around 75 minutes remaining. I think I did quite well the first half, a complex Net Present Value calculation, and again rushed throught the remaining questions, making some silly mistakes in one about Options and leaving one blank. But I think overall I did well.
Today it was the turn for Marketing and Organisational Behavior. Much easier for me. In both of the exams you could chose to answer two questions out of four. In any case, also only three hours to complete both of them.
I did Marketing first. I chose to do a pricing strategy for a flying car and a customer loyalty program for a financial institution. I didn't have time to mention a few things I wanted to say and my caligraphy was horrible, but I think content is good.
Finally, for Organisational Behaviour, I chose the questions about motivation and change management. I also felt quite comfortable and I managed to remember all the frameworks we had to use to analyse the problems.
Now most of the class is in the first Pub session of the day in The Bath House. I'm in the school catching up with emails and, as you can see, the blog. I'll join the second session tonight at The Anchor.
Below, a picture of the Syndicate Room yesterday with some colleagues studying and discussing about how to price a radical innovation.
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