My First Economics Midterm

Lat Friday I took my first economics midterm - the first midterm I have ever taken in college.

Here is the basic rundown of my schedule. I studied for the test that week. On Thursday we had the TA review session and I did not leave early and was one of twenty kids still there at the end. During this session we went over a practice test that I thought we did not have the answers to. I then went to the library until I got kicked out and then I went to bed. I took the test in an hour and then went on my fall break. I just got the results of my test yesterday.

This whole process showed several economic principles, mostly of opportunity cost. I went to the review session because I thought we didn't have the answers to the review test. I found out later in the library that we did on an audio recording and I listened to the whole thing and got all the answers. This causes me to be up later. In my opinion, I could have gotten to bed earlier had I not gone to the review session and just listened to the recording - I got the same information. The cost of going to the review session was me not studying on my own with people, me not listening to the recording until later and me going to bed late.

Now the problem with opportunity cost is that we'll never know what would have happened if I took the other option. Maybe I would have done worse on the test without the review session. Maybe I would have slept and I would have done better.

There is a point every night before a test where there is a question of opportunity cost. When does the cost of studying outweigh the cost of sleeping? The problem is, we will never know. If I chose to sleep more maybe I would do better or maybe I would do worse. If I studied more maybe I would know more, or maybe I would pass out during the test. But I will never know the outcome of taking the other choice.