Feeling Numb (Dumb?)

I am very disappointed in myself. I just got back from my macro exam and don’t think I did very well. There were two problems I got stuck on and ended up making some wrong assumptions to get myself going again. I am not feeling very pleased with myself right now.

Apparently, I focused too much over the last month brushing up my macro background when I should have been brushing up on differential equations. I don’t know why I am struggling with them now. I made A’s in many engineering courses that required them in my undergrad program at Virginia Tech. (Maybe the fact that those were 12 years ago is making a difference? I hadn’t realized how much I had forgotten.)



Here’s some great advice that I came across a couple days ago that I wish I had taken more to heart this year:

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During each semester ask yourself this question: Am I ready to be tested right now on everything that has been taught up to this point? If your answer is ever “no,” then you know you’re falling behind, and you need to catch up immediately. Ideally you should be able to answer “yes” to this question at least once a week for every subject.

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These are some words of wisdom that certainly would have served me well. To be honest, though, the sad thing is that I’m not sure what else I could have done to get better prepared for the test tonight. More math review certainly would have helped, but I don’t think additional study of macro would have done me any good. For some reason, my brain has just been getting stuck in that class. I don’t know how else to explain it. It’s not so much a mental block as it is a brain stall…

I am very disappointed in myself. I know that I am capable of doing much better than I did. I am now hitting the books to get ready for my econometrics exam tomorrow. I sent my paper in for the Buchanan seminar today, so after tomorrow night, the only thing I’ll have left is my micro exam on Monday.

I’ve been a resident advisor this year in Liberty Square (student apartments on GMU’s campus) on top of working over at the Mercatus Center. I think I bit off more than I could chew trying to do both on top of full-time school. (I’m actually taking an overload of 12-credits this semester in addition to everything else.) I certainly could have benefited from a lot more time for studying this year. To any other PhDs thinking about being an RA, my advice is to definitely wait until after your first-year and prelims are behind you.

I’m feeling pretty numb (dumb?) right now…