How important is it to remember everything in training?

Just started FT training and the technical and financial concepts are picking up. Every day we go through new topics pretty quickly so there's a lot of stuff to cover. We're not going in depth too much and the trainers are kind of breezing through the material with very little time to take comprehensive notes, ask questions or go over anything really. I'm getting familiarized with the concepts (not everything is difficult to understand) but also not really retaining anything. Is this normal? Should I be paying more attention during the training? Do I need to self study concepts after the trainings or on the weekend?

Also, how much of the material is relevant for when I hit the desk? Would it make sense to wait until my actual day 1 to figure out what things I need to double down on?

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I dont have an answer for you concerning if this is how your supposed to feel but I felt the same way.

My training was virtual and it was a nightmare of endless zoom instruction with as you said, little room to ask questions or get into the nitty gritty of the concepts. 90% of my time outside of class hours was spent working on models or studying for my series exams. I ended up doing pretty poorly on the tests as a result because I didnt spend time studying and I dont have a finance background, but everyone has assured me they dont matter.

I served in the Marines before coming to IB and the entire training process gave me nothing but bootcamp flash backs. Your just drinking from a fire hose getting shuffled from one period of instruction to another. In the end that experience (bootcamp) was so insignificant compared to the rest of my career in the military and I imagine our experience in training will be similar. Just try your best, get through it, and come out on the other end excited to finially be done and do your actual job.

If you truly feel behind technically, as I do, than the only way to succed is to absolutely own that point of friction. Study in your limited free time. Google shit you dont understand. Ask questions. ACTUALLY TRY TO GET AHEAD. I was physically leaps and bounds behind my peers when I was first entered the Marines which is a pretty big deal (no sports background like most recruits). But after buckling down and hitting the gym hard, training smart, and actually caring I was a fucking beast in my unit and was able to fold that success into other areas that resulted in even more successes such as meritorious promotions and accolades.

I know I'm going on a tangent and at this point I'm just projecting but if theirs one thing that I've learned about teying to succeed in highly competitive environments like the Marines or banking it's that all you gotta do is care. And care a lot. You'll be surprised by the amount of people who simply just self select themselves out of future successes because they stop caring and get complacent despite the fact that they start off doing so well.

Keep fighting the good fight.

 

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