All my exams are gone gone gone gone gone gone gone...
I am getting ready for a break break break break break break
I need a break. I am also getting ready for a massive pint of beer with my friends at the bar so I cannot post something long. Later this afternoon, a comfortable travel device will take my thoughts to a dream destination where I will spend my 4-day vacation. No computer, no class, no work, no nothing.

Very briefly, the stats exam was actually quite easy - despite the fact that i realize that I did something wrong wih the poor investor Theo. The Fund Manager Monkey re-appeared, with a toss of a coin theory of picking stocks; the OB professors were gathering some psychological and background data about their students and linking extroverts and competitive people to their expected starting salaries in the regression question and a poor woman was desperately trying to increase her chances of getting a CD by finding a golden M&M (They are BACK!). She had enlisted the help of 9 friends to do that. Imagine splitting up a CD into 10...

The Accounting Exam was about Krispy Kreme Doughtnuts (and a small comparision with Starbucks). Quite interesting and apparently one of the questiona had been dealt with in one of the super long review sessions that the teacher was offering (over 3 hours!!!!) which I half missed. I am not bothered. I think that I understand accounting but I have a lot of trouble with the mechanics of it because of lack of practice. This course did not have a tutorial or short exercises to give us confidence. Every case was about the next topic to cover, completely new to us, and gave us no time to review past concepts. We shall see!
There were some nice pictures on the report, in case you got bored.

Finally the Finance exam, which I actually found dififcult. I think that, knowing that this is one of the most difficult courses of this period, I prepared myself with every single exercise, tutorial and past exam that I could get my hands on. So I felt pretty confident that the mechanics were ok. Overall, with a cold beer, I mean a cold head, I can probably also explain the global picture to a family of goldfish and pretend to be an expert.
But with the streneous P1, the exam prep and the sleep depravation which is quite typical of MBAs, this whole exam took place in some sort of cozy cotton world. This world would see Bond Coupon Rate dine with the Systematic Risk of Argentina, Betas of a stock lose their tempers over the Alphas of this same stock, the market portfolio would phone the IRR of a company project to enquire about the validity of the assumption of the CAPM model. Basically, I probably did not do well, I can probably do much better and the only question that remains unanswered is whether anyone else bought a ticket to that same world or not.

There is one concept which appeared in accounting, Price and Markets AND Finance. It is the concept of a sunk cost.
Well all these exams are a sunk cost to me. They are not recoverable now and their future benefits to me are questionable. So I have pushed them aside gently but firmly.

I am now going to slide down on the dangerous slope of leisure...and meet you again on Monday after my break.

Upcoming topics include
- Short description of the P1 Classes
- Dutch Week
- Arab Week
- The Elective Dilemna for P2
and responding to general demand: a typical day in the life of an INSEAD student.

Any comment about how this site can be improved, about the kind of topics that you'd like to see covered, about typos that you have noticed, email me!

Finally, a small disclaimer
- I do not belong to a zoo
- I was not cast in Planet of the Apes
- These are spontaneous, unpolished and follish thoughts, delivered in the most rudimentary manner for the sole purpose of informing you.