There is no “tough”; there is only trained and untrained

(My favourite quote from the movie "Man on Fire".)

It's been a few days since the MBA class of 2010 had their first exam, and upon reflection, that line fits the experience perfectly.

With only four lectures of material to study, some simple supply and demand curves, I thought I had this economics exam covered. 

I should have thought again.  The material might not have been "tough", but it did test how well trained I was. 30 minutes, 20 questions, 0 time to think. Not only did you have to learn it, the answers had to be excavated instantly from your memory if you wanted any chance of finishing on time. 

I suppose this underscores how we're expected to perform once we're back in the working world. No one is going to pull out a textbook while in a boardroom.  Nor do you have have time to ruminate over a point someone's made before they move on to the next one. The standard isn't about having knowledge at your fingertips anymore; it needs to be at the tip of your synapses. 

We haven't gotten the results back yet, but as for me... LESSON LEARNED!