God knows how much I hated mathematics. I want to put it in a better way, I did try to ace it in secondary school but I got an F9. I could swear that I deserve an A because an A student happens to be a friend of mine so we did compare answers afterwards and we disagreed only on one question. It is still a mystery how my friend got an A and I got F9. Anyway, that experience left me rather demoralized or can I say it drew a wedge between me and calculations.
My mathematics failure at SSCE was not the first one; I also failed or perhaps averaged the maths score in JSS examination. I believe I fairly aced maths at primary school common entrance examination. So it is fair to say that I am not a mathematical genius. And here am I at Lagos Business School where numbers seem to be constantly in my face.
There are four courses for the first semester and save for management communication, the other three courses have some sort of calculation, arithmetic computation and excel sheet calculations. There are times I just get dizzy just by staring at the spread of numbers on the screen. I sometimes wonder how I was going to pass the courses but my husband encouraged me and he gave me a CFA hack.
The hack is a youtube video of Tony Bells. Tony Bells is probably an American professor who has a youtube video where he teaches accounting. Tony probably has a ton of it that I have not viewed but the few ones that I have viewed have been quite helpful. His style of teaching is simple and relaxing. Everything that I find difficult to grasp in class is simplified in Tony’s tutorial.
Ironically my colleagues love the CFA lecturer and have applauded his teaching methods as effective. I believe the professor is doing his best but the class creates a lot of psychological tension for me. Hence it makes learning difficult. On the other hand, with Tony Bells, learning is taking place in a relaxed atmosphere. I can rewind, pause and replay again if I need any clarification.
In contrast, the professor might put you on a spot, ask a question. Snap at you if your response is not what he expects. And you are constantly in fear of not making a fool of yourself, should you not know the answer to his question. There is no doubt that the lecture is good at what he does. I will add that I even enjoy his class when I am not the one in the spotlight but his teaching style does not clear the fogginess of the course.
So, this hack, this Tony Bell’s teaching style which seems to work for my comprehension is the reason I will pass CFA. I did not do so well in primary school and neither did I ace maths in secondary school and undergraduate programs but this time around, I am passing CFA in flying colours.
Probability Simplified