Support classes, Exams and Holiday season!

(Written on 23rd Dec'11)

I write today, the last working day of this year for many in the UK, about what has happened in the last month or so.

The end of the Michaelmas term was a bit of a whirlwind. It started with the week 6-8 classes when people started thinking seriously about the exams. This was followed by revision classes in week 9 and exams in the following week. We had 5 exams in as many days. Most of us had written exams 6-8 years back and so were slightly rusted with  the whole method. Writing with a pen and not a keyboard was a hurdle by itself ! To this add the fact that we had to dress up in a white shirt, white bow, black suit and a subfusc! Clearly it wasn't the most comfortable setup for many. But we managed to scape through.

I do want to mention, however, what preceded the exams too. SBS is a great place not only because of its presence in Oxford or its professors, but equally because of the students. We have students who are professional accountants and they ran support classes for each section every week. There wasn't an economist in the class but a few people had studied it in their undergrads and they ran support classes for that. Similarly there was help at hand for finance novices. So people with no backgrounds had a lot of support to gain better understanding of the subjects from not just the professors and the TAs but also from their fellow students. It truly was a collaborative exam prep! Thanks to Jean-Philippe Poissant, Prateek Jain and Rob Mills for running the Accounting sessions, , Amandeep Singh, Erkin Kudratov, Nithum Thain and Sean Mullin for the Economics classes, Aunnie Patton and Prashant De for the Finance classes and Daniela Papi and David Damberger for flashcards and notes on Strategy!

I have to also share a small anecdote about the diversity in the class. When going for our exams I shared my cab with people who stayed in the same building as I did. The four people in the cab were: a Chinese, an Indian,a Portuguese and a Slovak! Four different accents in the cab are always fun!

We ended the term with a Christmas Gala where it was great to exchange presents and have a good time before people leave Oxford to visit their families, go on vacation or stay back and play Cricket (like I am doing!) Couple of shout outs: First to the band from our class, called Double Entry and their take on Hotel California (or Oxford MBA), at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q543iMjIYx0&feature=related and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgnIAzaxNZI&feature=related; The second shout out is for Mike Navarrete for this awesome video on the silent library disco: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL49r-aD72c&feature=share

While I do feel a sense of emptiness now after a really busy term, I intend to relax during the break and prepare for the next term. After all it isn't called Hellary for no reason. I am sure we'll moan and complain, but we will make it through! This break is akin to sharpening the axe to ensure it cuts well when it gets back to chopping the wood. A well deserved and necessary break for all of us!

Hope you are thinking about sharpening your axe regularly too. Work hard, rest well and have a great time off. Happy holidays to you and your loved ones!