Foundation...Tombo,Tombo.

I beg your pardon??? (Shocked)
I've got 9 years work experience in the Banking and Financial sector, and I still need to take a Foundation course to progress directly into the MBA Programme? I asked, my ' I ' glowing with righteous emphasis.
This has got to be a joke.
But it wasn't.
The Enrolment Officer at the University, made it quite clear via her email to me, that besides my 'wealth of experience', I need to take the Foundation course, because my first degree is not business related.
So all those years of work experience...don't they count for anything? I asked, with the easy manner of the entitled.
Errrr...apparently, they don't. :-(

Anyway, I began the Foundation course in Economics, Accounting, Statistics and Research.
Economics was pretty interesting as it examined the fundamental economic principles such as scarcity and choice, opportunity cost, demand and supply, elasticity, cost of production and market structures...an area I was quite interested in way back in Secondary School.
Accounting on the other hand was a whole new ball game! The accounting module examined the basic principles of accounting, and the ways in which accounting statements and financial information can be used to improve the quality of decision making. The truth is, the more I read about it, the more confused I became...I could literally feel my brain suffocating with every page.
Statistics and Research didn't help either. I skimmed the opening chapter braced for further boredom. In my head, all I could hear was, 'na who send you message'?

I decided to send an email to my Tutor, because unlike the online diploma courses I took last year with online, real time classes via a webinar, I'm yet to be notified of any in this case. I must have missed it in my mail I thought.
The reply from my Tutor came in barely 5 minutes later:


"There are no webinars for this programme. You have all the e-books and module materials you require for the course at your disposal. I suspect that you're an adult student. Should you require further clarifications, contact me".

My interpretation.

The hook for me, was the fact that the Tutor was suspecting that I'm an adult student? As though to make me see the gravity of my own foolishness.

For me, I learn better and faster when there is a class...some sort of interaction on the course content. How about you? How best do you learn?
Just reading, reading all by myself, and cramming to come and pour in the exam cannot work now o.
It worked back then while I was in the University, because all I was thinking about at the time was my faith in God and my books. So I had enough space in my brain to download up to 5 textbooks in my head and pour it all out for the Lecturers during the exams.
Now? The brain has been fully compartmentalized to house my faith in God, hubby, children, mum, siblings, work, money, more money, much more money, etc. No space to even memorize my Bank account number. I always have to call an Account Officer If I need to do a transaction that can't be carried out via the ATM.

The course assessment was a few days away. I had to get my act together, because if I didn't score at least 60%, I won't be able to progress to the main MBA programme. That would be it for the entire programme.

After reading for days, with depression lurking around the corner, my greatest joy was to discover that the assessment for the Foundation course will be in multiple choice format!!!
Ope oooooo!!!!!!!!! tombo...tombo to the rescue!!!!

Do you remember what that is? Let me take you back...wayyyyy back to JAMB (UTME) jamming days :-)

You attempt a question with multiple choice answers A - E. You're caught between A, C, or E, being the correct answer (In fact, let's just be honest...you don't know the answer). You can''t leave the question unanswered...it was called negative marking or something like that? So you close your eyes, and recite (or sing) this slowly, while touching each multiple choice answer with your index finger, one after the other...

"Tombo, tombo baskelebe Iya amala ku...amala, amala kai, kai, tiki bosa bos, bread and butter baskelebe, maje ko tutu, baskelebe, maje ko gbono, gbono o".

If the recitation stops with your index finger on multiple choice answer C, that is your answer.
CRAZZZZYYYYY right? :-)

Oya talk true, have you done this in any exam you wrote? Was it a different recitation, song or poem?
Please let me know all about it in the comment section. I'll love to hear how and when you did apply guess work in any exam you had to take. :-)

You want to know how that tombo, tombo panned out for me? I'll tell you all about it next week!

Till next week Sunday (God willing)...Believe you can and you're half way there.