Summer term A was a rough six week semester. I took International Financial Management, FIN 4604, as an elective. I believe it was the most challenging course I've taken at U.C.F. thus far. The subject matter of exchange rates, interest rates, currency movements, international risk factors, etc... was next level stuff. It took some work to wrap my head around how everything relates and reacts to each other. Thankfully, I had a fantastic professor that really allowed me to learn like I never have before. Forget memorizing the material, she taught me how to apply the theories and methods to real world stuff. The exams were definitely senior level with a mix of essay and multiple choice questions. At first I was daunted by the essay questions, but throughout the semester I began to love the essay questions better than the multiple choice questions because the multiple choice questions were down right difficult. I'd spend up to three minutes on non-math problems thinking them through to select the best answer. I had to apply what I learned to answer and advise the questions/situations of the firm. It was like I was a business manager.
Halfway through the short semester was when my grandpa passed away. My professor was kind enough to give me some time to regroup before I took the midterm. My head was not in the game. I scored 95% on my first exam and dropped to 87.5% on the midterm. I found it hard to concentrate. I wanted to stop going to class. Even though I skipped a couple classes, I faked it until I made it. I went to class when I didn't want to. I studied when I wanted to quit. It's a good thing because I ended up getting 100% on the final. That's the highest grade I've gotten on an exam at U.C.F. And it just so happened to be the most challenging class I've taken. What gives? Why me? There's nothing like success to make me want to keep going.
