Getting lost in all the PV, FV, Annuities and Perpetuities? Want to get into Banking & Finance Specialisation? Here’s our tip on getting that coveted A+ for AB102.

Classes are conducted seminar style, 3 hours per week for 12 weeks. A breakdown of the assessment is as follows:

Course Assessment
Class Assessment     35%
Discover Finance     15%
Final Examination     50%
Total 100%    

Class Assessment
35% of your grade is decided by quizzes, tests, class participation etc. The composition of which is entirely decided by your tutor. Some tutors conduct up to 3 tests, even calling you back in the mid-semester break, while others make do with a single quiz and class participation.
For an A+:
Be sure to attend classes, and participate actively! You never know how much weightage your tutor puts on class participation.
Study and revise consistently, as the next quiz or test might be coming up soon.
Get to know your tutor well!
Discover Finance
A project heavy component, groups of 4 to 5 have to submit five 1000-word essay, once every two weeks. Research will be done on 4 companies in an industry allocated to your group by the tutor. Be sure to choose your group mates carefully, as you’ll be meeting up often. The topics of the 5 essays last academic year are below:  
1) Essay 1: Analysis of Company Annual Reports.
A simple analysis of the 4 companies’ annual reports, focusing on mission, vision, key directors and management.
For an A+:
There’s really not much content to differentiate your groups. To get that advantage over others, presentation is key. Presentation is…up to your imagination.
2) Essay 2: Managing a Stock Portfolio
A stock trading competition using Hontrade. You will be competing against similar industry groups from other classes, trading the four companies allocated to your group. The competition last for about eight weeks.

For an A+:
Similar to a real stock market, you have to develop your own winning methods. Buy and hold, or continuous trading through the ups and downs. Note the overall market direction, and use fundamental and technical analysis to your advantage.
3) Essay 3: Technical Analysis of Stocks
An introduction to technical analysis. You will have to make use of Yahoo’s stock charts to do simple technical analysis using moving averages, support and resistance lines, and MACD.

For an A+:
For plus points, use more in-depth technical analysis, other than the ones requested, to support your opinions on the stock charts. NTU-IIC will also be uploading some documents on technical analysis. Do watch out for it!
4) Essay 4: Risk and Return of Portfolios
You will be required to write an essay on analyzing the risk and return of your current stock portfolio.
For an A+:
A strong understanding of the Risk and Return topic in your FM course is required. Note the differences in how standard deviation, Coefficient of Variation and Beta are used in analyzing your stock or portfolio.

5) Essay 5: Fundamental Analysis of Stocks
A financial model will be given to determine the intrinsic price of your stocks. You will be tasked to give buy/sell recommendations based on your findings and research.
For an A+:
Read up on the latest financial news and incorporate them into your research. For plus points, you might want to edit the inputs(earnings, growth rate…) into the financial model to obtain a more accurate intrinsic value.

Final Examination
This will be a closed book examination. The MCQs will test more theoretical knowledge while the long questions will test your technical knowledge. An important thing to note is that the examinations require you to write the entire calculation using the formulas given. Simply giving the calculator inputs is NOT enough.  
For an A+:
Mug HARD! And practise past year papers. Ask your tutors early if you have any questions or require help. The harder exam questions will require a strong understanding of the basics that you have learnt, but in general will not be out of the course curriculum. Manage your time well, allocate time according to the marks given, and do move on if you get stuck in a question.