The final exam has just ended. People are streaming into the school bar, congratulating each other. Some even start hugging their friends and bidding teary farewells. A typical bunch of graduating MBA students, you say? Not quite. That was the scene played out last month when we finished Period 2, only four months into our ten-month MBA.

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I’m no stranger to live music nights. When I lived in Hong Kong (where I grew up and also worked before INSEAD), I used to volunteer for Sofar Sounds Hong Kong, a global movement based on secret gigs built to promote live music in intimate settings.

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Hey future INSEAD students, February 2018 has just started and some application deadlines for the class of 2019 have already passed. If you are done submitting your application or are still thinking about applying, let me ask you a question first. Did you know that INSEAD requires its students to learn a 3rd language before graduating? Yes? No? Don’t worry! In this blog, I will share with you what worked for me to prepare for the exemption exam so you can quickly check this requirement off even before the program starts.

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One week into the programme, we had our first quiz. Then, six weeks later, a frenzy came along: the final exam frenzy. Only then, when you take a look at practice final exams do you realise the amount of material covered in such a short amount of time. (I heard the second term takes this concept a notch further, with an extra class in the schedule, but I digress. Let’s keep this topic for, perhaps, a few weeks from now.) We all do an MBA for different reasons.

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