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Well the mid-terms have come to an end. To be honest, everyone looked knackered, especially after the final 2hours of “Lean” Organisational Managament theory. The MBA class is in fact pretty vocal during a lecture and not at all like undergrad days where I can’t really remember any interaction between class and teacher. This afternoon though we were pretty silent. This may have been that only 3 or 4 seemed to have read the case study but also the first signs of fatigue setting in – “love the plateau, love the dip” (N. Bates).

Today I fell foul of the post exam comparison of answers session and sadly when I thought I had done ok, it might not be the case. Still, I feel I have done my absolute best in all the exams and am looking forward positively to the guidance and direction they will give; general conscientious is that, regardless of the outcome, they have been a good kick-in-the-ass (KITA, F.Herzberg) for us all to get our notes in shape and to encourage them to stay that way.

We are at the halfway point (well just over) in our mid-term exam week. So far we have had accounting, marketing analysis and organisational behaviour. There have been no major surprises but at the same time, you are never quite sure what they are after. Regardless, I am staying positive and looking at these tests as a pointer for the finals. If am honest, I was pretty nervous heading back into an exam room for the first time in a long time but I don’t think I was alone. Quite a few of us had “brain fade” as soon as they said those moral words “Ok you can now turn over your papers and begin … ” It is amazing how out of practise your hand gets over the years – especially as now we are so used to typing everything instead; I think quite a few had hand-ache afterwards! (I guess more worrying, those who didn’t!!)

The exams are of course (!!) each followed by a 2 hour lecture on the subject, for which you are required to have done the reading as normal; “if an MBA was easy, everyone would do it etc etc …” At least we got to play with Lego in one session yesterday!

Incidentally, one of the lecturers told us that the mid-term exams was actually a student idea from a few years back – so thanks guys!

Well the exam week is upon us. Since my last post there have already been some ups and downs. I did a practise paper for accounting and didn’t do so well sadly. This was a frustration as I feel I pretty much understand what it is all about. As it turns out, a few people were in the same boat and in fact the answers on the sample paper were wrong! – well some of them at least. Knowing WBS this was probably some kind of test of our convictions – to see if anyone would spot them etc! Still, felt much better once the corrected answers were published as a couple of us had already being trying to convinced ourselves into the incorrect answers! – the joy of the blind leading the blind!

I will try to keep comment flowing on here as the exams pass – depending on my mood of course, as am sure no-one wants to hear me ranting on if I bomb one!

Well it seems like mid-term exam stress is really getting to everyone now. There has been a noticeable fall off in people attending some classes as they head to quiet safe havens to try to remember everything we have covered so far in this whirl-wind of the last 4 week. I find the whole change that has come across us as a group fascinating – from the time (only a few short weeks ago) when we were all new to school again, here to make a positive difference in our lives, to now, where you could argue there has been a total shift to dog-eat-dog mentality – looks like the cohort is in danger of falling into the Warwick Business School swap, perhaps!?! (I hope this analysis counts for OB?!)

On a lighter note the photos for the year book have been published, together with the comment that the photographer will have his discretion as to what gets in and what doesn’t. People are not so happy with some of their photos. This has resulted in some amusing email flying about and much good natured ribbing of those with concerns. It seems therefore, that this activity is not so democratic but, hey, at least you will stand out from the crowd!

Welcome to my blog! …

I am currently studying for an MBA at Warwick Business School and plan to chart my progress and thoughts through the course. As I write we are heading to mid-terms exams already and so the whole cohort (my new word of the term so far!!) are getting jumpy. It is our first test for anything that counts towards the degree and a chance to find out where you are in the class rankings – they say we are not meant to be competitive but this is an MBA class dame-it! … What can you expect – I am surrounded by people used to winning and coming first in what they do.

Some other websites of mine you might like to check out.

www.entiaracing.com – the home of my racing team (sadly on hold during this course).

www.entiatech.com – where you can get information on my web business. Great value: hosting, email, websites – yes inc blogs just like this!  – and domain names (all you need to get online basically.) Check it out and get in touch if you want setting up with anything webwise – if I haven’t the time to do it (esp the web design mainly), I will refer you to people in the industry I trust.

Thanks for reading. Comment away and check back soon,

Samir