Category: Never say Never. An expression often spoken by optimists, to diffuse the pessimism espoused by those of us with a more cynical (or, “analytical” as I like to think about it) nature. The irony, of course, is that by using that phrase you say ‘never’ twice. Regardless, I’m going to bend the common meaning of the phrase, to make it feel optimistic:
There will NEVER be another exam as hard as the Decision Models exam we just took.
I realize this is a funny and rather bold statement in light of my comments about last semester’s Accounting exam. In retrospect, that exam was difficult, but only due to the sheer volume of material and the generally complex, and often perverse, “logic” of Accounting. But for that exam, at least there were examples that we could refer to from the notes and the textbook. I may not have understood why you write the journal entry for operating leases the way you do, but I was confident that I could at least mimic an answer based on a previous class example.
Decision models afforded no such luxury. Knowing how to use Crystal Ball, Solver, or TreePlan was a necessary, but not sufficient condition to doing well on this exam. Heck, I’d even go as far as saying that besides getting practice on the types of problems you needed to solve, none of the homework or case studies really gave too much insight on how to solve this set of questions.
Never, in all my years of schooling, have I had an exam that’s only purpose was to grade you on your raw analytical horsepower and mental stamina! When I first opened the exam, I chuckled as I glanced at the questions. If any of you have seen Back to School, I felt like Rodney Dangerfield taking the Econ exam:
Econ professor: This exam has only one question…in 27 parts.
Rodney Dangerfield (after finishing): I feel like I just gave birth…to an Accountant!
To be sure, this exam was everything that Professor Peng said it would be. There were three questions, 5-10 parts each, one for each major section of the class: Decision Trees, Monte Carlo simulation, and Linear Programming/Optimization. I spent approximately two evenings per question, several hours per section, and I feel that I did a ‘better than P’ level of answering the questions. At this point, there’s nothing I can do but wait to get my final grade.
That being said, I wouldn’t have it any other way! I didn’t come to this program just to get a piece of paper, other than to prove to myself and others that I can handle this level of quantitative analysis. If I’ve learned anything from this class, it’s the following:
- The (business) world is way more complicated than I could’ve even imagined (and that’s coming from energy forecasting and financial services background!).
- Someone needs to be able to know how to solve these types of problems…it might as well be me!
- Even if #2 applies, it’s better to be surrounded by other people that know how to do this stuff.
- If the computer crashes from a problem you are trying to solve, you’re either doing it wrong or it’s not worth solving!
So to wrap up, Professor Peng, thank you for not taking it easy on the class! I’ve got an even more profound respect for the quantitative methods the separate the wheat from the chaff in the business world. After taking this class, and especially this exam, the problems that I need to solve at work seem almost pedestrian in nature. I may still only get a ‘P’ in this class, but I can say I’ve really learned something.
Randy,
I think you have made great points about the course. But I would like to say that the the course itself is more based on common sense and tricks than about anything else. I did not get the best out of this since I did not put in the efforts needed due to the flight tests and many 24 hour shifts I had to go through at work. But I really enjoyed the course and feel that this is a great method. Peng also put in efforts to make it interesting and challenging. Just my 2 cents.
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