We are homing in on the final 1/4 of the curriculum. It has been a long journey so far, and if you have stuck with it throughout, congratulations.
Are you making sure to write down all of the LOS statements before going through each reading? And are you actively searching for the answers as you read through the text?
The week to come:
As discussed last week the equity investments topic area is split in two study sessions, that are further subdivided into 6 readings (3 in each). This week we are going to cover the 3 readings in the second study session. The first reading (44 pages) provides an overview of equity securities (common/preferred, public/private, direct/depository receipts etc.). The second reading (62 pages) contains an introduction to company and industry analysis (how are industries defined/delimited and analyzed). The final reading (50 pages) is about equity valuation. Here you will learn some basic tools and concepts including the Gordon growth model and the multistage dividend discount model, that you will need to refer to a lot throughout the program (so pay attention to these).
Tip:
Just like in the study session last week, there is a significant variation in the relationship between reading size and the number of end of chapter questions in this study session. The last reading (equity valuation) is shorter than the introduction to industry & company analysis, but at the same time it has got more end of chapter questions. It also contains some of the key concepts (like Gordon’s growth model) that we are going to use throughout the program. It is therefore not a bad idea to pay extra attention to the last reading.
As always we are going to apply our standard study approach to master this study session:
- Please ensure that you attempt the end of chapter questions as the first thing when going through each reading. As you answer the questions make a list of the most difficult ones (especially whenever you resort to guessing). When you are done with the questions, review your answers thoroughly (particularly those that you got wrong) and add these questions to your list as well.
- Also please ensure that you write down and answer the LOS as you work your way through each reading. The combined effort of question practice and LOS statement “hunting” will ensure that you are focused on seeking out the most important information as you progress through each reading.
- Lastly as you wrap up each reading attempt only the challenging end of chapter questions from your list. Remove those answers that you can now confidently answer correctly from the list, and if there are any questions left read the explanations thoroughly before you redo them. Continue this process until you have mastered all of the end of chapter questions in the reading. Save away the full list of difficult questions for future use in the revision process.