Which technicals should I know for IB interviews?
I have the "The 400 Investment Banking Interview Questions & Answers You Need to Know" study guide, and I was wondering which technicals to really know for interviews/superdays. I know the guide breaks them down into basic/advanced versions, and has several different categories of technicals (accounting, EV, DCF, LBO, etc.). Should I memorize all of them or are there certain categories that I should focus on more?
Also, this would be for 2021 summer analyst programs if that makes a difference (vs. someone who's already out of college/has some experience).
Thanks!
Depends how bad you want the job/how much of a risk you're willing to take. Honestly, the 400 guide should be used as a review/organizing your knowledge
don't memorize all of M&I 400 but rather understand all of it. How much you "should" know entirely depends on the firm and your interviewers – which is why its best to just know as much as you can to have your bases covered. I emphasize "understand" because many questions asked by interviewers have follow ups and "off the guide" variations that truly test if you know what your talking about. As such, I typically would suggest something foundational before touching the guides, like Rosenbaum & Pearl. However, seeing that time is a bit constrained for SA 21, I'd suggest that you go through the M&I 400, but really really try to understand concepts as you go
Would the M&I financial modeling guide (as opposed to interview guide) be comparable to Rosenbaum and Pearl? I'm going for SA 22, so I have more time
Exactly, understanding is key. When interviewing it is so easy to spot the individuals who just memorized responses compared to those who actually know the answer because they understand what is being asked.
What are the best resources to fully understand?
So far accounting and valuation are the ones I've been asked the most. I've gotten some fairly easy questions from an EB, but tougher questions from a BB. Through my post-interview self-review, I was able to find most of the answers in the 400Q guide.
Knowing 400Q guide in and out will help you pass the baseline technical sanity check.
Opposite for me. Way tougher from EBs
yeah, what? At BBs I haven't gotten much variation from the guide questions, whereas at EBs I've had to do paper LBOs....
Agree, EBs have also asked me restructuring questions and BBs haven't. I've done merger models and paper LBOs for EBs too...
What is a good next step for prep after you've built an understanding of Rosenbaum and 400 questions guide?
Guides or depending on time, read about the vertical and build industry knowledge.
Also interested
Honestly the BIWS comprehensive guide (~$200) was 100% worth it. It's basically a more in-depth version of the free 400qs online that's broken up into behaviorals, valuation, mergers, LBO, etc. I'm not trying to be a shill, but looking back it was definitely the main reason why I got an offer.
Do you recommend any changes to this list ?
Valuation Mckinsey and Damadoran
M&I 400
Rosenbaum and pearl
BIWS comprehensive guide
In terms of priority I’d say 1) 400qs 2)BIWS 3)rosenbaum/damadoran/free online material
Damadorans work is great (and free). I bought the rosenbaum book too but thought it was pretty barebones - there’s a ton of great free resources online that can give you a similar breakdown in terms of modeling (see macabus).
Last but not least make sure to get the 400qs down in its entirety. You should be able to get by most interviews with this knowledge. I think is also free if you look hard enough online.
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