That's what this weekend is about. I'm studying for exams that start on Monday, in 1.5 days. I'm somewhat nervous, though not totally so. There's a funny thing here about grades... the school doesn't release them; they're only for internal evaluation purposes. Exams here are not really about grades -- they're more about confirming that people have learned what they are supposed to learn from the courses, and that's the way I'm treating them. It takes a bit of the stress out of the preparation process, because I'm pretty comfortable in most of my courses, but I'm sure the exams themselves will still be extremely difficult next week.
To give you a sense of the marking schema, there are essentially 4 final grades: the uber-awesome 3-5 people get a "President's circle" designation (oooh la la); the next one-third of the class graduates with "distinction"; two-thirds graduate with plain vanilla standing; no-one gets the fourth grade really. I heard a rumour about two people who failed out in 2004... seriously. As far as I can tell, you would have to work pretty damn hard not to pass.
I have an exam on each afternoon of Monday through Friday next week. First up is Leading People in Organizations, followed by Accounting, Marketing, Finance, and Production & Operations Management. All but Accounting are open-book too, which is nice but also potentially a trap, because it will encourage people to spend too much time referring to class notes and not enough time actually answering the exams. Beware the open-book.
This is a random and disconnected post. Sorry if it reads like a mental purge of nothing interesting. Oh, forgot about the weather. Sunny and 14C. This is what happens when Laura's not here.
Last but not least, I ate cheese fondue last night. It was really really good. If you (and by you, I mean anyone) come to Lausanne, I can point you in the fondue direction now. I had yogurt and Smacks for breakfast this morning, in case you were curious. Is anyone reading this? Seriously. I feel like I can write anything and no one will say "boo". Oh wait, maybe that's because you're not reading it in real-time. Brainiac here.
ian
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4 comments:
Hey study-buddy,
What are "Smacks?"
Good luck with your exams. Just don't do what this guy, Steve, at my high school did right before his English exam, which was drop acid. He didn't pass.
M
Take a picture of the Smacks box! It's worth it! And the toy you get inside!
Yes, I basically did away with grades in the last year of my undergrad degree. They turned into nice little surprises that came at the ends of courses...like TimBits at the class party. The trouble is, nerds like us still care. Of course, that means nerds like us usually do very well!
So, problems solved, Super Nerd! You're going to be great!
(I'm eating spinach right now. Spinach salad.)
I'm coming for the fondue - not so sure about the Smacks.
Boo.
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