When we last left off, your roving reporter had almost got his ass handed to him in the Micro exam from Hell. It probably took a good 12-24 hours for the stress to come down. Right smack in the middle of my flu as well.
Must have been around Friday when I read a BusinessWeek article that questioned the effects of herbal supplements. That knocked the wind out of any efforts to leverage That Ginkgo Shit™ to glorious effect. Must have been the placebo effect until then (though I was so tired I actually talked about having felt the placenta effect). From then on no matter how much of the TGS I took, I still felt lethargic. My weekend was dominated by 10-12 hour days at the library as I prepared for my remaining three exams. Overall, studying went well, though I was worried I might not have had enough time. I also managed to finally finish WarCraft III to the relief of Hot Chick Wife™ after having put about 60 hours into it.
On to Monday. That evening I had my Finance exam. I felt confident going into it, though that confidence would prove extremely short-lived. Exam starts, and truth be told, I choke. I draw a complete blank. I didn't remember a thing and had no idea where to start. I didn't know where to start and became quite anxious-in my mind, this was a make-or-break situation. My face became redder than my friend Duc Huy when he drinks beer (he is allergic to alcohol) and my neck and back were sore from all of the tension-causing stress coursing through my body.
In truth, my experience during the Micro exam the previous week had freaked me out. That exam actually served to compound a worry that had carried over from the mid-terms. Then I had received very poor results in 3 courses-in spite of heavy studying-and was beginning to question my abilities. The fact that those three mid-terms occurred in less 24 hours didn't help, but I digress. Thus I found myself heading in to the finals with a great deal of apprehension and pressure to make it through 3 'make or break' exam situations. The Micro final frazzled me, though I was able to recover and do OK. Finance was a different matter.
The key to surviving tough exams is being able to change the momentum in your favour. Memory blank in hand, I started with the multiple choice and definition questions. This allowed me to start to build some confidence. Then I moved on to the meat of the exam. A closer look revealed a number of fairly obscure questions having to deal with ratios (The Dupont System). Funny thing, I actually knew how to do them as I had memorized them all before going off to school that day. I got those out of the way and began to troll for other low hanging fruit and found some other doable ones. Throw in a bathroom break for good measure (allows me to collect myself) and I was on my way; I had the momentum in my favour. In the end, things worked out pretty well. I was able to answer 85% of the tough stuff and all of the easy stuff. I think I will do OK.
Tuesday. Macro exam on the menu for the evening. Another course where my mid-term had sucked. Actually sucked is a harsh word. My prof is a notoriously hard marker and macroeconomics is all about being precise in your words; he also doesn't give partial marks very easily. This was the third part of the gauntlet (the three exams that could sink me) I had to run during exams. This worked out pretty well. Turns out that i studied just right. I was able to complete the whole exam and never once drew a blank or panicked. I had vowed not to repeat the experience of the night before and so I did not. Seems easy, hunh?
Wednesday. Last exam. Thank goodness. Running out of gas and no discernible effect from my Ginkgo popping. Limping to the finish line. It all ends here. My 6-course term, my odyssey of fun and fatigue. I went into the exam tied with the highest mark in the class. It was mine to lose. This exam was more about management theory than good old fashioned hardware and software, so I had to study a bit harder. Still found time to walk the dog and play some video games. And then it was on to doing my taxes.
And now it's over. My return to school full-time. I knew it would be tough and it would hurt at times. In some ways it was worse than I thought, and in some ways not. I haven't seen the last 4 months go by at all. On the other hand, I have exorcised some demons that have haunted me since my undergrad, and that's definitely a good thing.