Hi all, going through the BIWS interview course right now for summer 2023 analyst interviews for banking. As someone who's not a finance/accounting major, the material seems very tedious, dry, and dense (mostly accounting!). Furthermore, it seems like BIWS covers a lot of stuff--not sure if all of it is necessary.
Any tips on how to learn the material and prioritize the topics? How long should prep take me?
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Obviously depends on your time frame but I’d soak in as much as possible. Once you can conceive of a financial model in your head, interview questions become MUCH easier.
You’ll stand out compared to other candidates if you can understand the reason behind the models rather than just the mechanics, so if you want to prioritize, then focus on the big picture.
Strange. I’m grinding through the BIWS guide as well rn and it seems fairly digestible. What major/background are you? Maybe if ur foundations aren’t as solid you can skip the harder concepts and go back to it later?
CS major at STEM school w/o finance/accounting classes. Learning most of concepts for first time. Any tips?
I also had a difficult time at first, which I think is normal. The tricky thing for me was developing a study plan which would allow me to put concepts together and make everything "click". The best thing I did and suggest you try is memorize as much as you possibly can to start. I made around 200 flashcards and broke them up into different sections (accounting, valuation, etc.) Focus on one section at a time and drill those flashcards to the point where its muscle memory. What you'll start to see is reading the guides becomes much more fluid and tends to make more sense. It's not fun but you'll build the foundation to start really digging into the guides and understanding questions. Like I said, this worked wonders for me but may not for other people.
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