How will I possibly learn technicals?
Hey everyone, Im a current soph whose starting to learn technicals (I learned a few over summer but barely). I was told to get this red book by wall street prep but as Im going through it it works over 1000 questions. Ive taken notes and thoroughly so I can truly memorize... but I just learned how to answer 4 questions in what like 1 hour or more? Are there any other sources u guys recommend or strategies or things I shouldn't spend time on doing? I'm not posting this to get "youre fucked" comments but genuine advice on how to speed up/optimize/or even learn this whole process. Do I do the 400 questions instead? Do I pick and choose certain ones from red book? Only WSO guide? Pls help!
The advice I've been given (keep my title in mind) is to learn concepts, not questions; the M&I/BIWS guides are good for that. Personally, I've found that helpful, as it helps me be able to handle getting faced with new or unexpected ideas.
You really can’t memorize the questions. Not only would it be hard to memorize 1000 questions, but it also wouldn’t be helpful.
In every interview I had, I was always asked multiple questions that were not in any of the guides.
You really have to understand the concepts. Most of it is pretty simple and comes from intro accounting classes. Make sure with each question you practice, you understand what you’re saying and not just repeating a flash card…
I know it seems impossible in the beginning, but if you dedicate 60 to 90 minutes a day, you’ll have it down quick. Good luck!
Memorizing answers is a complete waste of time. Learn concepts and check your concept knowledge by trying to get through sample questions. If you can’t get a sample question, figure out what gaps in the concepts you are missing and study those.
If you really learned 4 questions in 1 hour? That’s actually incredible pace. If you are saying you simply only memorized the answers to 4 questions, then sir you may be retarded.
Need this type of humor back on WSO. Made me lmfao
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Do not read the entire Rosenbaum and pearl book. Waste of time and way more in depth than you’ll need to know
If I have the time, why not? I go to a liberal arts school and I figure that if my technicals are perfect, I can be able to zoom in on the liberal arts-yness of my profile without having my interviewers worry that I don't know what I'm doing
Yeah don't read the textbook. Good to have it for individual points of confusion but doing a read through isn't helpful. You'll glaze over the stuff that's tested and read a ton about the stuff that isn't tested.
I second this. I was in the same position as you out of undergrad with a philosophy major (no finance background whatsoever).
The Joshua Peal book really not only helps provide an explanation on concepts but also the application of those concepts for an IB role.
I highly recommend you read that book 5x. Memorize CONCEPTS (not questions). Then when you start doing those practice questions, I bet you will start getting 50% of those (or more) accurately.
Study concepts slowly overtime don’t memorize questions. Most interviewers nowadays will create questions on the spot to test your conceptual knowledge.
Do you recommend any resources to study concepts? like thoroughly
Since you’re only starting, there is no point doing 400 questions right now.
I would suggest learning the 3 financial statements (if you haven’t already) - and in order to understand them try building a cash flow model from an income statement and balance sheet.
Then, follow YouTube DCF tutorials, and then build a DCF yourself from scratch. Understand what the variables mean INTUITIVELY (WACC, change in net working capital, FCFF vs FCFE and which to use). Remember DCF is only one method of valuation so also try to understand the others (comps, precedents, and LBOs). Also think logically about why a DCF exists and why you might not always be able to use it.
Then, do the same for LBOs, following tutorial then making one yourself. Understand why things work in the LBO the way they do, and understand the different types of debt facilities. Also get to know things like “what sort of company would I suggest doing an LBO on and why” or “could I use an LBO for a high growth company”.
These I would say are the absolute basics from which you can learn further detailed questions (which you should have a foundation for if you’ve done the above) using 400 questions etc.
The above comment is solid. OP may also find this comment helpful. Watch Aswath Damodaran's Accounting 101 videos, around 3 hours in total. You can also find the slides on Damodaran's website.
Honestly if you can afford it just buy a course. The WSO one is honestly pretty good and is very much worth it.
Essentially what it does is teach you the underlying concepts behind all the basic concepts while also providing you with a structured and organised way of learning. Once you've done the course in its entirety then you can go over the 400 question guide and you'll find rather than memorising answers, you'll just be summarising concepts you actually understand.
This has the triple benefit of a) making it a much more coherent answer, b) it will hold up under interview stress because you are no longer rote learning something and most importantly c) when they push you deeper (which they will) you can now apply your understanding of the concepts to whatever line of the reasoning they push you down e.g. if they ask you something specific to an industry or whatever.
I HEAVILY advise against just churning through one of the questions banks simply because if you don't really know what's going on it will become very obvious during your interview.
Good Luck!!
BIWS guides (not just the 400, but the individual guides) do them ASAP while you have the time.
Echo this
Echoing what others are saying but the BIWS guides (the 4 main ones) should be your go to for learning concepts.
Learn the concepts there and get comfortable with their questions.
Once I got to that stage, I started branching out more and trying to find more "out of the guide" questions to test my knowledge (I recommend liquidityshark for their technical question bank -- they cover EB/BB interview questions).
Finally, this is not essential but once you understand concepts like DCF modeling, try to get into excel and use your notes or a template to try and create a simple model. This will reinforce the topics and help you speak on them in interviews intelligently.
What are the main 4 guides?
What helped me was listening to investing podcasts and reading Michael Mauboussin papers, which make it easier to understand how these concepts are applied in real life
don't have the best advice but just want to mention that I'm in the same boat! We don't have much time but I think there's just enough if you dedicate yourself to prep each day for the next few weeks. good luck!
Get a corporate finance and an accounting textbook. Then go back and study the guides.
Not a shill, but I genuinely found Peak Framework's IB course to be the best way to learn the underlying concepts through his videos. It is a pricey course but I think it's worth the money.
I then used Quizlet flashcards to practice questions on my own by speaking out loud and then finally doing mock interviews with classmates.
Where do you find that
It’s not that hard dude
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