I’m really struggling here. Prepping for an interview here and found myself forgetting a lot of things that I read previously. I’ve applied for a few IB analyst positions and I found myself having to memorise things such as leveraged fin process, work involved in DCM, credit analysis etc. Basically things that I had no experience in whatsoever. I could only read, understand and memorise them. But it’s been hard. In the last month I found myself reading the same material before interviews because I just couldn’t retain those things in my brain, on top of working full time and studying a qualification.
Am I doing this wrong or is this normal? I literally found myself reading the reasons to buy back shares the third time this month cos I could only think of one or two reasons and I’m always concerned my answers aren’t detailed enough in the actual interviews.
I think your mistakes are 1. trying to learn too many things and 2. just memorizing answers and not understanding them
If you are memorizing detailed answers for lev fin, DCM, and credit analysis... have you really applied for/have interviews with all of those roles? If you end up interviewing for a specific group (ie lev fin) then focus on that group leading up to the superday, but don't try to memorize every function of every group unless you need to. 99% of IBD interviews will ask you the basic generalist questions rather than group-specific strategy. Focus on that and zoom in as needed
As for understanding stuff, I would A. read the news/follow the markets (ie, if you see a firm buying back shares, find out for yourself why. Search for firms that have made big buybacks. Easier to understand an example than just abstract concepts) AND most importantly B. practice doing things. Do a 3-statement model, know how to do a DCF on paper, etc. If you understand the basic accounting and finance models and the way everything flows, the answer will become intuitive rather than memorized.
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