Help...!! It is time for the Exams

For the first time this academic year the period of stress has arrived as next week’s exams are rapidly approaching. This requires formidable time management and numerous hours of studying in the library. We are not only supposed to study hard for the exams, we also have the final (combined) paper for the courses Empirical Economics and International Business Ventures due at the end of this week.

Should my social life stop until all these horrific deadlines have passed? My answer is no. I really believe that no matter how busy you are and how much work has to be done, one should always reserve time to relax and ease the mind in order to achieve good results. That is why I do not cancel my football practise on Mondays and Thursdays, because during these 1.5 hours of practise you are able to forget all the difficult econometric formulas and strategic decisions that keep us occupied at school. It also gives me an opportunity to complain about the hard parts of student life (which is obviously utter nonsense) and to get compassion from the team mates that are in exactly the same position. Apart from the training nights I have two football matches scheduled for Friday & Saturday. Should I cancel these then? My answer is no. Although the Friday match will be played near Groningen in my hometown of Bedum and therefore costs me quite some travel time, I really believe it is not harmful for me to go and play. I can spend the 4 hours (2 hours both ways) in the train to study and in the same line of reasoning as above I can ease my mind playing a football match.

The following Saturday another match is scheduled with the student football club Odysseus ’91 in Utrecht, where we will compete against another side from Utrecht: Elinkwijk. For Saturday night, after the football match, the hardest decision has to be made. My girlfriend asked me to come to a Halloween party that a friend of hers organized and I have a really hard time to decline this particular invitation as I know how much fun it is going to be. At the same time I am well aware that a party the weekend before the exam week is not going to increase the productivity of my study efforts the day after. Should I decline the invitation? My answer is no. The solution will be to go to the party and leave early, as a hangover should be avoided at all times. Then I am confident that I will succeed to pass my exams next week. In my next blog I will report how my study strategy worked out and hopefully I will score sufficient grades for my exams and have a blast at the Halloween party.

Cheers!