Interview Books

That's a good place to start.

I think getting to know incentives ie why people do the things they do in IB (ie IB wisdom/insight) is more important than technicals. You'll learn technicals on the job, building on what you learned at university.

This sort of wisdom also lets you provide higher quality answers in interviews, particularly demonstrating that you know how the industry works.

Off the top of my head, books that can help provide this are Merchants of Debt (biography of KKR) and Barbarians at the Gate (history of the Nabisco LBO with good overview of development of the leveraged loan and high yield debt market in 1980s and how that fueled PE LBOs). Most of the work I do is in LBO debt and these recommendations reflect that bias.

King of Capital (a biography of Blackstone) is sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. That could be worthwhile, with similar value to the KKR biography.

If you want to geek up, Rosenbaum/Pearl is fine. Perhaps also the McKinsey Valuation book for a more nuanced view on valuation.

Amazon links:

http://www.amazon.com/Barbarians-Gate-Fall-RJR-Nabisco/dp/0061655554/re…

http://www.amazon.com/Merchants-Debt-Version-George-Anders-ebook/dp/B00…

http://www.amazon.com/Valuation-Measuring-Managing-Companies-Edition/dp…

http://www.amazon.com/King-Capital-Remarkable-Schwarzman-Blackstone/dp/…

Just get the WSO Technical and Behavioural guides, there is honestly no book that can help you prepare better than these.

If you persist on reading a book for background on technicals, go with the Rosenbaum&Pearl one. As far as 'incentives' go, read "Damn it feels good to be a banker" and you should be set. Good luck

What you have now is good for interviews. Do not over stretch yourself. I think one of the preps you can buy has an accounting excel spreadsheet where you put in the inputs and it flows through the financial statements. As you may have heard already, it is imperative that you understand the concepts. The people that will be interviewing you will know all the examples from these prep materials so they will tweak certain things in their question to make sure you simply didn't memorize answers.

My advice is to breakdown your prep. Valuations, accounting and behavioral.

http://www.ibankingfaq.com/category/interviewing-technical-questions/

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/popular-accountingfinance-questio…

http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/stand-out-as-a-non-target-the-int…

The links above are a good start. Make sure you use the search function well. This website has some very solid information and discussions. If you still cannot understand certain topics, there are a ton of people here, including myself, that will be willing to help.

Rosenbaum and Pearl is the gold standard, know that one well. I also think that going through the basic modeling course on breaking into wall street is worth it if you have time over the summer. Definitely teaches more than modeling and is a good introduction to a lot of the basic concepts.

Honestly networking and fit are just as important if not more important than technicals. Learn how to craft your story well and really sell it. Why xxx bank? Why IBD? etc are basic questions that if answered well if you are thoughtful and have done your hw on the various banks. Good luck.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

I guess there are 2 areas that I need to prep in, which are the technicals and the "fit" portions, and different books to read for each area. I will be going into Pearl and Rosenbaum and another one of the books you guys mentioned to help me better understand "why IB" and the culture behind it.

Thanks again! :)

easy question, easy answer. just a couple book recommendations would help a lot, i want to order The Intelligent Investor from amazon.com and i need to buy another book to qualify for the free shipping deal loll.

thx

moving mount fuji and heard on the street by dr. timothy crack, i think thats his name.

that free shipping gets me every time.

...but i love amazon so they can have the extra income :o)

http://www.ibankingoasis.com/node/7333

The vault guide is a good prep book if you need to have a hard copy of something, but for your money the WSO guides will get you just as prepared for much less money.

2nd Patrick's WSO guides.

Subsequent your purchase of the WSO guide (which I highly recommend), you can print and bind it at your friendly neighborhood Staples/Kinkos for a couple of bucks. Might even be good practice for putting together a pitchbook.

Thanks for all the advice! Is there a way to see what the WSO guide is like before I purchase it? I want to get a feel for it before I purchase.

I don't think there is any type of preview, but it covered every question that I was asked in an interview. Not only did it cover the basic ideas that they expected me to know, it went even more in depth and I was usually stopped halfway through my explanation and told that it was obvious I had a very thorough understanding of the concept. The technical guide really will make you stand out head and shoulders above other candidates who haven't read it, which is a surprisingly high number of people.

i have read guides from 3 different and well-known companies. WSO was the best and unfortunately was the only one that came with a money-back guarantee.

that ibankingfaq information is the best i've come across as well. if anyone has alternate sources, I'd also like to hear of them.

great question - i also want to know.

I also would like to know.. I have a feeling you attend my school.. Indiana Univ?

me or hiit?

Dont you guys ever use the search function...

ScoopBooks Guide is the best resource that I have come across...its pricey at $100 but its worth it

I think I'll check out the Scoopbooks guide. Can you tell me how comprehensive it is? Memorizing technical questions is fairly easy, but I don't want to regurgitate the same answer out. I'd rather actually learn the concepts behind it so just in case I have to formulate an answer to an odd question. Do you personally think it is a good learning reference?

For anyone still reading this thread, I found some pdfs online of the Vault guides and a few wetfeet ones. PM me if you want the link.

http://www.ibankingoasis.com/node/7333

On the same page...

I was aiming for more technical finance books that may help me answer finance questions. I have read some posts about Damodaran and his valuation guide, but I don't know how relevant the content is to the types of finance questions they will ask. Should I buy it?

If you didn't major in finance or accounting, don't feel the need to go into too much detail. Be sure you know the terminology of basic things (look at financial statements and find line items you don't understand, then look them up). You know the financial statements relate. It is hard to give concrete examples because a lot of it depends on what the interviewer feels like asking. I would say the most important aspect of the interview is knowing how the whole deal process works. Try to find a current / ex banker who is willing to walk you through all the different stages on the deal process. This should be far more valuable to you (and is much easier to prepare for then learning all of finance / accounting).

Read Damodaran. Read it very slowly if you don't have any experience in finance yet. Also do all of the questions he provides on his website. It helps you build a solid foundation and be able to speak intelligently.

Corporate Finance: A Valuation Approach by Simon Benninga ,Oded Sarig , if anydownload link , please let me know

If you used the search function, you would've sound several past posts with recommended books. To begin with, I'll give you the basics:

1. Liar's Poker (S&T)
2. Monkey Business (IBD)
3. Barbarians at the Gate (PE)
4. Too Big to Fail (2008 Financial Crisis)
5. Investment Banking - Rosenbaum

Market Wizards (trading)

I liked House of Cards by William Cohan (ex IB I think) for my "2008 Crisis" reading, but it focuses on Bear and only briefly touches on the rest of it. It took a while to get going, but it was pretty good once it had momentum.

OP a quick Google provides hundreds of resources, if you're going to make it in IB you'll need to show a lot more initiative.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Investment+banking+recommended+reading

More concise / less assholish suggestion:

http://www.morganstanley.com/about/careers/rr.html http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/faq/what-should-i-read-if-i-am-intereste…

All help is appreciated

I would get an actual WSO guide or two before relying on novels. Liar's Poker provides some humorous insight into 80's S&T culture but is hardly interview prep.

ScoopBooks - Practitioner's Guide is by far the best book I have seen but it is kind of pricey (~$100). I still occassionally reference it. http://www.scoopbooks.com/inside_practitioners_1.php

Does this book have the CD or any excel file with it to practice or it just explains everything in words only?

The only thing I would suggest is dosk's interview guide on M&I, and I would only take a glance at the technical questions (they are very concise and easy to understand).

Honestly, I think I over-prepared for my SA interviews, especially for the behavioral part. I remember practicing my questions a couple times a day for a few weeks before the interview process started. However, when the actual interview came, most of my answers sounded too fake. The extra preparation did help me nail every one of my technical questions, but compared to other applicants, I was too boring and rehearsed. In the end, I did receive one offer at a BB (after interviewing with 15 or so), but I was placed on the waitlist initially.

If I do decide to go forward and (try) to recruit in the fall, all I will do is look at a few technicals again and make sure I understand everything that I've listed on my resume.

Also don't waste your money on WallStreetPrep. I also bought it last summer, and it didn't help too much. As long as you know the basic fundamentals about valuation and accounting (in dosk's guide), you'll get the technicals right.

I second ScoopsBooks Practitioner's guide, I have the book sitting on my desk right now. When I interviewed I quoted lines from this book on your simple questions like what are comps? It's an easy read and covers everything technical question you can get thrown at you in an interview

I think all of the guides this site has released are great. You really can't beat the format for the money, and they include everything you need to know with little you don't. I personally felt like the vault guides were a little long winded. M&I is a good concise resource as well, the WSO guides are just a bit more thorough.

EDIT: I am speaking about the interview section of M&I, not the guide. I never bought the guide.

NEVER lose your BlackBerry www.conveniencesoftware.com

Y are you such a tool? They don't expect you to know shit, so just freestyle.

Really depends on whether you are doing IBD or S&T.

This (http://www.gottamentor.com/viewRoadmap.aspx?r=283) is a fairly good roadmap for preparing for an internship in IBD. It recommends that you read testimonals from past interns so you know what you're getting yourself into/ mistakes that others made to avoid/ get some advice from people who have been in your position, read the WSJ daily so you are informed and familiarize yourself with Excel.

This (http://www.gottamentor.com/viewRoadmap.aspx?r=285) is a fairly good roadmap for preparing for an internship in S&T. t recommends that you read testimonals from past interns so you know what you're getting yourself into/ mistakes that others made to avoid/ get some advice from people who have been in your position, read the WSJ and watch CNBC daily so you are informed, read press releases, quarterly earnings statements, and annual reports of the firm you will be working at for the summer, and purchase "The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities" by Frank Fabozzi.

Finally, this (http://www.gottamentor.com/viewBlog.aspx?b=115) is a good list of books that you can read to learn more about Wall Street. There is also a thread somewhere on this site with book recommendations that you can find by using the search function.

Would appreciate any opinions on this as well.

I use BIWS and love it. Very comprehensive and easy to learn.

BIWS hands down. Study each of the guides, including the advanced sections in both the Accounting and Merger Model guides, and there won't be many technical questions they could throw at you that you haven't seen before. The behavioural guide is great as well.