I Study a Lot

I don't remember this much homework during my freshmen year.  Maybe it's because I'm in the Marriott School of Management now, or maybe my brain is rusty from taking a two-year hiatus serving the Lord, or maybe I just decided to repress my memories of the vast amount of homework I did.  Whatever the case is, I'm pretty busy these days.

A couple of months ago, my first test in BusM 301 was coming up.  The test covered Financial careers, financial statements, and ratios.  I really neglected to keep up with the material so I had to start cramming like crazy. But with how little time I had, that would mean that I would have to cut out things like my morning exercises, scripture reading or watching Lost (by the way, I finally finished with the final season).

This is where I started getting creative and looking for everyday opportunities to cram a little bit of extra study time into the day.

Alright, I didn't really study while driving or showering.  However, I did start studying while exercising in the morning and while walking to campus.  I still do both of those things today (strangely, I find that I remember things better if I'm sweating while learning them).

But I would be lying to you if I told you that I didn't consider making flash cards that I could put in individual zip-loc baggies that I could hang on our shower.  Also, I did hear of a calculus student who put their homework in the passenger seat of the car so that they could do a little math while waiting for red lights.

Anyway, I went and took my first finance test some time ago.  I totally aced it--but it was at the cost of any sort of social life.  A couple of nights later, this happened: 

"Hey Jake, I want this CD but I don't know if I can afford it.  Would you. . . "

"Yes!  I can help you out there!"

"Let me pull out my TI-83 and your balance sheet and do some financial ratio analysis here."

"Let's see. . . net income over sales. . . sales over total leverage. . . leverage over owner's equity. . . DuPont Ratio. . . "

I would like to take a second and comment on how good I'm getting at my MS Paint handwriting skills.  Valuable workplace skills there.

And that story is absolutely true.  Sadly.