FNCE30001: Investments

20% Mid-sem test, 10% Tutorial work (see below), 70% 3hr Final exam.

***Please note, different lecturers take Sem 1 vs Sem 2 Investments, so some of these comments may not be applicable to your experiences

This course is an extension of some of the Business Finance topics, mainly regarding the equity and debt decisions individual investors take. Because of this, the first few topics regarding the formation of the CAPM will be familiar.

I personally didn’t particularly like Juan’s way of lecturing. There are a lot of mathematical proofs, and in class he just pointed to them on the slides using the laser pointer to explain them. I would’ve preferred if he wrote them out (like my DS lecturer did). The point is; if you’re not great at maths, you’re going to have to spend a lot more time understanding the proofs, which are indeed important because most of the theory questions are based off of them.

Btw, lecture recordings are sufficient.

Consists of Part A: Multiple Choice and Part B: Short Answer. Thankfully the exam focuses more on the second half of the course, but there is still a question or two on the first few topics. Probably close to an overall mix of 30% theory and 70% calculation qs.

Tips? Do the practice questions, the overly easy practice exam (which does not reflect the exam at all, imo ~_~), redo tute qs, and go through the formula sheet to make sure you understand what each formula is and when they’re to be used. Also, something you really need to nail down flat is arbitrage. Annoyingly enough, its not covered that much in lectures or tutes, and I found that I had to rely on my prior DS knowledge, but do your best to understand how to exploit the various arbitrage situations.

Yes, with screen capture.

Juan Sotes-Paladino

As usual for finance subjects, the mid sem is a 1hr test taken during the lecture stream you’re enrolled in. ie. I would suggest picking the Thursday stream over the Tuesday one so you have more time to study . The majority of the test itself is relatively straight forward, but there are a few curveballs. My tips are: do the practice questions, understand the theory/proofs (but don’t spend time memorising stuff, because it’s multiple choice… they give you the answers!), and keep an eye on the online tutor if you need help. Redoing the tute work isn’t exceptionally helpful, but you can if you have the time.

DS is often coined the hardest finance subject, but after doing Investments I honestly think Investments is the hardest, due to the in-depth understanding of the models/proofs that is required.

Yes, 1 exam and extra questions.

2 Out of 5

Principles of Investments, Bodie et al, McGraw Hill Irwin, 2013. Didn’t buy it; don’t know how useful it is. Don’t need it for the weekly tute qs.

The 10% from tutorials comes from handing up attempted “Part B” questions to your tutor every week. Don’t panic because most of these weren’t super hard, nor long (usually 1 or 2 questions, takes around 30mins if you already understand the content, closer to 1hr if not). In addition to these, I suggest doing the questions that aren’t asterisked (*), as the solutions to these are only discussed and given out in tutes. Overall, tutes were really important in consolidating the content (probably more important than lectures…), so make sure you ask questions if you don’t understand anything!

1x2hr Lecture, 1x1hr Tute

2015 Sem 2