As promised, here’s the summary of Term 1:

Subjects covered:

1. Managerial Economics
2. Financial Accounting
3. Marketing Management
4. Business Statistics.

The description of the courses can be read here.

Professors who took the subject:

1. Mark Finn [Accounting]
2. Scott Ward [Marketing]
3. Robert A. Stine [Business Statistics]
4. Richard Waterman [Business Statistics]
5. Asim Ansari [Marketing] | Link 2
6. Amit Bubna [Economics]

Mode of Evaluation:

1. Managerial Economics:

Take-home assignments: 4 assignments in total, one/week. Weightage 40%
Surprize Quizzes*: 3. Weightage: 10%
End-term Examinations: Closed-notes, closed-book Examination. Weightage: 50%

* One or two objective type questions needs to be answered in the very beginning of the class, on a randomly chosen day. The question will be shown for 90 seconds. Those who arrive to the class by 2-3 minutes late will miss the quiz and thereby stand to lose the marks!

Skills required: Ability to deal with equations; Visualize graphs; Basic math skills with emphasis on differentiation.

2. Marketing Management:

Case-Studies: 4 total; 2 individual case studies and 2 group case studies.
Only the group case studies will be evaluated. Weightage: 40%
End-term Examinations: Open-notes, Open-book, Laptop allowed. Weightage: 60%

Skills required: Good at Numbers; Ability to communicate your thoughts effectively in writing;

* This course was taught by two professors. First 5 lectures were taken by Scot ward and remaining 5 was taken by Asim Ansari.

3. Business Statistics:

Mid-term: 40% [Objective type: 30 questions]
End-term examinations: 60% [Objective type: 37 questions]

Skills required: Basic statistics, Good at Numbers, Ability to model problems to equation.

* This course too was taught by two professors. First 5 by Robert Stine and later 5 by Richard Waterman.

4. Financial Accounting:

Group-Assignment: 40%
End-term Examinations: 60% [Combination of objective and financial statements analysis. Open-book, open-notes, laptop]

Skills required: Good at Numbers.

As you can see, there are various modes involved and one needs to adapt different strategies for each case. It’s absolutely imperative to be part of good study group [or make your study group rock!], as considerable portion of assignment are group-assignments. Overall, this term was quant-heavy.

Learnings: LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN in the classes. If one just does this, he is 70% through. Take notes actively. I realized the importance of the notes, when I was preparing for examinations. Most of the questions in examinations are based on the class lectures. It’s best to go prepared to the class. Ideal strategy would be “pre-read, listen actively, post-read“. This cycle ensures that the concept registers in the mind deeply and that no further reading is needed on this topic…I will DEFINITELY try to achieve this in the next term…Not to ace the exams, but to effectively maximize learning in minimum possible time. As the course progresses, we need to spend more time on Career-oriented activities and projects.

Another key learning: “SLEEP for 6 hours minimum“. Lack of sleep reduces the concentration level in class. Reduced concentration means losing out on concepts. This leads to back-log. The back-log only accumulates and never depreciates…So SLEEP is essential…

Hope this post was useful!