Posts on Exam Cram
May 30, 2006
Groves Mechanisms got you down?
Slow down, you move too fast
The IR that needs to be compatible is the last
Just flunkin' down the years
Lookin' for fun and
Feelin' Grovesy!
Hello principal
Whatcha knowin?
I've come to watch your transfers growin'
Ain'tcha got no types for me?
Doo Bee Doo Doo,
Feelin' Grovesy!
Got shitloads of exams to do
Progression criteria to keep
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep
Let the pigeons drop their shit on me...
Mechanism design, I hate love you,
All is Grovesy!
Footnote: I'm really sorry but as you can clearly see I'm so far beyond stressed out that I'm doing evil to sweet feel good S&G songs. I need help.
Posted by vinayak at 3:36 PM
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May 28, 2006
Advanced Micro
Over one and a half years ago, I wrote what now seems like a highly overenthusiastic post on my life at the LSE. I looked at it and was very tempted to make changes to the post, but decided that I might as well leave my memories in place as they are! You'll notice that I hadn't got the hang of the right titles for people, deciding to use "Dr." instead of "Professor" everywhere. I even spelt assistantship wrong. Much has changed... the Monetary dream/nightmare is now over, I wasn't allowed to take Advanced Micro, I dropped Reform in favour of Monetary, though I still disagree with the suboptimal separating strategy. The most important reason I revisited that post however, was to find my favourite Lucas quote:
"Friedman's course ended my long career as a conscientious, near-straight A student. Now if a course did not promise to be a life-changing experience, I lost interest and attended only sporadically. I accumulated many C's, but also a lot of time to pursue what I found interesting."
As I near what will be a very fateful Friday (the Advanced Micro exam), I realise that I still feel the same way. It's reassuring to have a sense of constancy in the way you feel about something new that you learn. Let me be honest, I absolutely detest some of the things I do in Micro, mostly because I can't do it for nuts. That said, some of the things I've learnt this year have pushed me to limits I didn't think I was capable of. I still can't (for the life of me) entirely think in the convoluted way necessary to answer a Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium or Contracting question to it's entirety. However, each time I go over topics Multi-Party Contracting and Career Concerns (Holmstrom, Gibbons and Murphy, Morris...), I feel more and more guilty for hating Micro so much. I think I hate it because I never see it straight, whereas I can always get some grip, however tiny it may be, on topics in Macroeconomics. I also know why I feel guilty, it's because on the inside, I enjoy being pushed to my limits. My guilt is that constancy... it's a reassurance that somewhere inside, my thoughts on the Lucas quote remain the same.
Good luck to everyone taking the Advanced Micro exam this week... I'll see you on the other side!
Posted by vinayak at 3:17 PM
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April 30, 2006
Nuestra comida en casa de Ines y Fernando
With barely a month left before the finals, we thought we'd unwind with a potluck at Ines and Fernando's. It was by far the most relaxing day I've had in ages! Here are some photos from the day out at Wimbledon, and here is the rest of the collection!
The gang: Hande, Sanchari, Nathan, Jin, Timothée, Ziad, Luigi, Marco, Selim, Ines, Stefan, Konrad, Vilma, Fernando, and seated: Burch, Yours Truly, with Fernando (Junior) at the helm. The ace photographer: Fernando (Senior) (everyone's in a weird state of laughter after I excitedly screamed "Gülümseme", which is "Smile" in Turkish)
Timothée putting on an arrogant French pose for the camera: "Je ne m'inquiète pas, mes poumons sont faits d'acier... non... acier français!!!" Tsk tsk... all I have to say is... Quelle dommage!
Vilma, Bernhard (in his usual Churchillian victory mode), and Fernando getting the food ready.
50% of our hosts: Ines (Senior) and Fernando (Senior)
75% of our hosts: Ines (Junior), Ines (Senior), and Fernando (Junior)
Posted by vinayak at 12:19 AM
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April 2, 2006
You're sick of studying when...
"Nanny 911" on the TV is more interesting than the off the steady-state dynamics of unemployment.
March 21, 2006
The Bayes-Nash algorithm
10 Does your name contain the names Harsanyi or Nash?
20 If yes goto 1000 else goto 30
30 Are you Nature?
40 If yes goto 1000 else goto 50
50 What type are you, high or low?
60 If high goto 1000 else goto 70
70 Do you feel like some action?
80 If yes goto 90 else goto 1000
90 Does your strategy function correctly map your type to your action?
100 If yes goto 1000 else goto 110
110 Does your action space include {"Aceing the Micro final"}?
120 If yes goto 1000 else goto 130
130 Do you have prior evidence that you're a complete failure?
140 If yes goto 150 else goto 1000
150 Does your posterior hurt like hell?
160 If yes goto 170 else goto 1000
170 Do you feel so low that you know it just isn't your pay(off) day?
180 If yes goto 190 else goto 1000
190 Are you a free-rider?
200 If yes goto 210 else goto 1000
210 Have you made it a point to think about both life as a high type AND life as a low type?
220 If yes goto 250 else goto 230
230 Remember, you have to think of all types, as Confucius says, "Don't leave everything to nature because Nash wouldn't call it an equilbrium."
240 Goto 250
250 This is it, you've made it. Welcome to the Non-Bayesian world, you just failed every test out there!
260 Goto 1000
1000 Print "This is torture isn't it? Bayes RULEZ!"
1010 END
Posted by vinayak at 11:20 PM
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June 17, 2005
After the exams... the damage assessment.
I'm still recovering from the whole exam ordeal, in a way, its like the day after your haircut - I swear you can feel the hair still on you! I'm nervously pacing around the house, thinking about what to do next! I figured I might as well take the time to write out my exam experience.
Micro:
For both my Micro and Macro exams, I had the benefit of studying with my soulnerds Janak and Kevin. In a way that eased the pain of the experience. We REALLY crammed it up for Micro. I swear (and I believe I have said this before), if I see another General Equilibrium question in the next year, I might consider jumping out the window.
The exam was a different story. It was incredibly difficult. I know it's normal for every batch to scream and shout about how the previous year was easy. Somehow I really felt that this exam was marginally (by a long margin... calclulus might not help) tougher. There were a lot of new types of questions that I think I was unprepared for. I know I have a lot to complain about, but as always, I never like getting personal or putrid on my blog. Micro was a tough exam, but I have no regrets on the whole with the course, and had a good time learning a subject I often detest. I will write more about this in my year end review of the MSc.
Econometrics:
In my humble opinion, a good course is tough on the inside, but puts up exams that a prepared student can really ace. Too many courses are difficult and then put up an impenetrable exam, leaving students highly disillusioned. Econometrics easily comes under the former classification. The exam was a joy. Now I'm not sure whether I did well on it or not, but the hard work that I put into it paid far higher dividends than Micro did. I really appreciate the fact that there is almost NO informational asymmetry in this course. Exams, along with their solutions are available and date back to 1997. The exam this year was predictable enough to favour a prepared test taker, and had just the right amount of tough questions to annoy the hell out of you. On the whole, I think this was my best paper.
Macro:
I must admit I had very little time and inclination to study hard on the two days before my macro exam. This was because my ordeal with a really tough Micro exam, followed by the Econometrics exam had taken its toll on me. Half of this exam was once again heavily tilted towards a prepared test taker. Looking back, someone who was REALLY prepared should have gotten a full score on those questions. The other half was a nude walk in the Himalayas. Once again, I'm sure I can whine, but there were exams that were far worse in my life. I don't think I really mind that much that half the exam was tough, because the other half was really really really doable. I would safely say that Macro was my second best exam.
Monetary:
This was by leaps and bounds THE toughest exam I have EVER taken in my ENTIRE life. I am not sure how the exam went, and which side of the curve I will end up on, so that leaves me a worried man for the next two weeks. I'll write more on this when I start writing my end of year review.
On the whole - two good exams, one almost good exam, one utter and complete disaster.
The upside: I'm FREE!
Posted by vinayak at 7:52 PM
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June 16, 2005
Ahhh nintendo again!
Ja Rule/Fat Joe/Jadakiss's song, "New York", reminds me of all those Nintendo games with funk underlay tunes that would goad you on while you pulled out your machine guns to shoot the "boss" of each level.
I can't wait... one more exam... and then a summer of Nintendo, a summer of Nintendo!
May 30, 2005
You know you're losing it when...
You walk into the grocery store, and notice that the 'Best Before' date on the loaf of bread reads "June 1st", and all you go over to the guy stocking fresh bread and ask him, "Hey... does that mean the bread becomes a free good on the day of my micro exam?"
In case you don't know you're losing it then, wait till you see the look on the guy's face.
Oh, and some passing advice - the utility function U(a,b) = a - b-1 is normal... nothing wrong with it... nothing at all! Don't bother visiting your professor's office in panic to ask him how to draw the indifference curve for it. I already did that... and I felt like evicting the nearest ostrich and sticking my head in it's place.
Posted by vinayak at 7:59 PM
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May 24, 2005
one week to go
Exactly one week left before my exams. I have Micro on the 1st, Econometrics on the 3rd, Macro on the 6th, and (thankfully) Monetary on the 17th. Life ought to be one hell of a pleasure cruise for sure!
Posted by vinayak at 10:02 PM
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