BB FT Training Exams

Hi Fellow Monkeys

Long time reader/poster (using an alias account) looking for serious advice.

I am a first year analyst currently in IBD training for a BB, and not doing as well as I'd hope. The material I get, the networking I am excelling at (I think), but for some reason when we are taking our exams for the training firms (think AMT/TTS/PWS) I can't seem to do well.

During exams, I do my work on excel and save it to cross-reference when we get our results. All of the questions I answer, I always seem to have the right thought process and should be getting a majority of the questions right but I keep messing up. Thus far, I have gotten a 65 (avg 75-80) on the accounting test, and a 60 on the valuation test (avg 75-80), though I did well on the modeling exam. The exams are online and answers must be inputted to 1 decimal.

Upon receiving my grade on my most recent exam (valuation), I decided to see what I did wrong cause I felt discouraged I was not getting the material. But that actually does NOT seem to be the case. Below are my key takeaways:

1) On calendarizing EBITDA, I kept messing up the percentage (ie using 25% for yr 1 and 75% for yr 2, when it should have been the opposite).

2) 2-3 Questions I got wrong because I inputted the wrong number in a cell and it spit out the wrong output (ie picked the # above my line items that I wanted to pull because my eyes just didn't line it perfectly).

3) On scrubbing numbers I'd get 6 line items correct, and add back in one line item that should not have been added back in.

4) Had one question where I wrote the wrong decimal point (think .1 vs .2 when pressing the number pad in the actual exam).

5) Lastly, mistakenly referencing the wrong cell in 1 question (blank cell above one I wanted).

Changing/fixing one number usually did the trick to fix my answer. I'm sure you can all realize my frustration in myself for making careless mistakes, but I wanted to hear your take.

Just a few questions:

a) Should I be worried? I hate not doing well, and the amount of time I put into studying really made me think I'd do well, and I even felt confident during the test. Had I not made these careless mistakes (genuinely 3 questions out of 26 I didn't fully understand how to do) I should have received an 85+
b) Is it worth it to contact the head of the first year analysts in my group? I do not want them thinking I am just not getting the material, because I am, but rather my lack of time did not give me time to look over my answers (roughly 80% of my class stayed till the end). Again, I still feel comfortable in my capabilities, but as I write this, I am shocked I was so careless in my answers (had this been graded by a person and not a machine, they would have seen I did the entire analyses and equations in my spreadsheet correctly, but did something dumb in one part).
c) How important are the FT training exams? I do not want to get looked upon poorly, nor do I want to get fired (though I think that would be a bit extreme).

I understand banking requires attention to detail and the works, but I was pressed for time and never looked over the answers, just believed I did it correctly. Thank you all for your time. Any input is greatly appreciated. And if you want to berate me for making dumb mistakes, please do. Hopefully I do not do it again...

lostanalyst