I don’t feel good enough

Hi! I feel like I’m not smart enough for investment banking. Math has never been easy for me, I’m not a fast learner. It takes me a while but I have the work ethic and persistence to learn and understand things. Not sure what to do with my life. I’ve done 2 IB internships but when I’m trying to study for technicals it’s hard to memorize definitions and undertansd the math. I have all the resources needed to study. But, should I consider changing my career trajectory ?

51 Comments
 

There are a couple of things that landed me an offer.

  • DO, rather than watch or read. It is 100x easier to recall the steps of a DCF when you recall your experience of doing a basic one yourself on Excel.
  • Learn the concepts rather than rote memorise the answers to 400 IB Questions. This is particularly the case for accounting
  • For questions like 'How will X news affect the market' I like to read consulting reports from McKinsey/Bain on the M&A outlook. They also include sector specific details so you can aim for an industry
  • Don't be afraid to not know the answer. You can utilise the interview to probe and ask questions, and generally hint towards an answer, rather than say a completely wrong guess. 
 

IB isn't math. It's much easier than heavy math.

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 
futureinvestmentbanker2002

Then why am I struggling with accounting topics in the 400 guide and financial modeling

Accounting is dumb. To learn the bean counter's ways, you just have to memorize a bunch of rules. Financial modeling should be relatively intuitive. 

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

It’s easier if you learn the concepts from the BIWS chapters and then go through the 400 questions after. Sadly, I didn’t know about the BIWS guide existence until after most of the good firms finished recruiting. There’s also a behavioral questions guide.
 


 

There are other guides like vault, but you don’t ever need to read / you may be better off without that one. 

 

Don’t listen to the crappy answers you’re getting on this post. The BIWS concepts are in guide that’s basically a textbook. It’s online somewhere. The 400 questions are like flash cards. You’re likely not learning or understanding the concepts efficiently if you don’t have the explanations from the textbook version 

 

Dude all of your posts make you sound sorry and incapable. You’re begging for pity at this point. “How do I keep myself motivated” “How do I memorize technicals” “I suck at math”. On top of that you have shit grammar and keep using the crying emoji everywhere. Get a grip. If you’re indian your parents should’ve raised you stricter or addressed your insecurities sooner. It’s normal to feel what you feel but it’s not normal to shitpost this much and keep asking dumb follow up questions for shit you can find online.

 

Dude all of your posts make you sound sorry and incapable. You’re begging for pity at this point. “How do I keep myself motivated” “How do I memorize technicals” “I suck at math”. On top of that you have shit grammar and keep using the crying emoji everywhere. Get a grip. If you’re indian your parents should’ve raised you stricter or addressed your insecurities sooner. It’s normal to feel what you feel but it’s not normal to shitpost this much and keep asking dumb follow up questions for shit you can find online.

 

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