15 posts tagged “exam” (page 2)

So many new and interesting shows are starting.... so little time to watch TV AND study!!!!!

Currently being recorded for us...... Weeds, Kid Nation, Top Chef, Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares, Beauty & the Geek, and Biggest Loser. 

Luckily, My Boys and The 4400 just ended and Top Chef is almost over....  plenty to get added as replacements though.  Grey's Anatomy, Project Runway, and ER start soon and I think we're going to give LOST another chance.  Amazing Race will probably be coming back shortly as well.  AND, I keep hearing good things about Califonication, Ugly Betty, Big Love, and Brothers & Sisters....  Looks like our DVR is going to get full pretty quickly!  Maybe its time to scale back our Netflix subscription for a little while. 

MUST.... STUDY!!!!   

Tonight, I got home from a busy day of work at 6pm; caught up with email, played on the computer (uploaded photos - finally!), and futzted around the house until dinner.  After about an hour of TV with Adam, we "hit the books" for about an hour (should have been longer).....  and then I spent the next HOUR getting ready for the next couple of days....

I made myself two lunches (tmrw & Wed), bfast & dinner for tomorrow, and fruit snacks to last me the week....  then, I got outfits ready for the next few days, packed up my toiletries, and got my workout clothes laid out .....  what a lot of planning!!!!

Tomorrow, I plan on attending a SPIN (stationary bike) class at the gym before work - it starts at 6:45am, so I'll be a zombie leaving the apartment in the morning and want to be able to "grab & go" without much thinking.... I'll go straight to the office from there, and then straight from work to my "exam" class, which won't let out until 9:30pm, if I'm lucky.  I prepped some for Wed so I wouldn't have to do it tomorrow night.... 

I'm a big Sunday night prepper... I like getting clothes ironed for the week and some food-prep done to make things go smoother when we get home and are in a rush to cook.  I can only imagine how much more prep will come with kids.  Yikes!  It looks like some form of tonight's routine is going to become a weekly staple as I try to juggle a busy work schedule and regular exercise around this study regime.  Ugh.  Is it December yet? 

Last night was my first "exam" class - figure I would stay out of trouble by not referring to it by name.  Using one word to summarize: Painful.  The topic was Ethics - extremely straightforward and relatively short in comparison to some of the more technical sections (like quant and accounting)..... I have taken more securities exams than I care to remember on the topic, so I didn't need to worry about this section too much. 

The lecturer sounded like a used-car salesman and started the lesson by telling everyone that they didn't need to do any of the reading before the lecture on whatever that week's subject is - what the hell!  I figured we would all come in having seen the material already and the class would be a chance to reinforce the material and answer any lingering questions - Nope.  Instead, he plans on using it as an introduction to the material, with the individual work done afterwards.... well, I'm not doing it that way, end of story, and I find it appalling that the lecturer would say that.  I think that's stupid and counterproductive.

He droned on for over 3.5 hours, when he said we'd be out early for a topic that should have taken 2 hours tops.... He already warned us that long sections could go on for 4 hours -- if this took 3.5hrs, how will we complete longer, more complex subjects in only 30min more?  Not a good sign.  He had one of those crazy pens that could write on the screen of his computer that we could see on the projector and totally overdid it.  He wrote out word for word every note he wanted us to write in our lecture notes... which slowed down everything considerably.  Then when he got about 5 pages from the end, he realized that we were close to the end of the class and suddenly picked up the pace dramatically, blatently leaving stuff out -- on the last slide he actually used the term "blah, blah, blah" to describe the material - thanks, helpful....   I spent the last hour doing work I had (thankfully) brought with me from the office. 

Luckily, the class is on my way home (as if that's even possible since I live a block away!!!!!) and by 9:40pm I was in my Pjs with a glass of wine in my hands... I feel bad for all of the other students in the class that have to get home, especially those guys in the suburbs that have to come in to the city for the class.... rush hour traffic to get in on time and a drive home around 10pm afterwards - that must be awful.... 

It's going to be a long 5 months.... 

Not being able to post from work has really slowed down my ability to share... I have lots of fun/random/quirky stories to share from the last week and a half, but haven't had the energy when't I've come home from work.  Last week I was in NYC from Monday to Wednesday, have a fun Seinfeld-esque story about that trip.... Wednesday afternoon I launched coverage of another stock that is officially my responsibility....  lots of other things here-and-there to talk about.... 

Tomorrow our new Associate starts - I finally get to start doing my *real* job instead of being the helper to my senior analyst. YEAH!!!  Big deal for me...

"Exam" studying officially began... should have been last weekend, but if I'm going to be honest, it really wasn't until today that I really started the reading-- and I only did an hour, so I"m not exactly off to a great start.... Ethics - such a snoozer.  I need to redo this section at the end anyway, and the material is straightforward and similar to all the securities exams I've already taken, so I'm not too worried about knowing the particular material... not a great way to come out of the gate though.  My first class is Tuesday night after work, for 3.5 hours - ugh.  Next is Quant, which is a tuffy for me.... 

Today I registered for the first level of the Chartered Financial Analyst exam.  The test is on December 1st and between now and then I will need to study at least 15hours a week to pass.  I've already failed once (back in June 04) and I remember how un-fun the studying is.  My company is now willing to pay for weekly study session, hopefully they will be a lot of help.  Classes start in mid-July, so I need to squeeze in all the fun while I still can. 

Unfortunately, early December isn't when the pain ends.  The level 2 exam is the first Saturday in June, so I will have to start studying again right after New Years.  Hopefully, I'm sitting for level 2 in June and not retaking Level 1.

Update: Only going to refer to this as "the exam" going forward to keep myself out of trouble....  You can never be too careful in this very internet-savy world we live in... wouldn't want something inadvertantly coming back to bite me in the ass.