– An article by Samuel Harrison –
Image of: Jan Wermke and Viktor Strauch (current MIF students)
Time has flown by! One month into the course and coursework deadlines are already looming. This was a week of intense groupwork, working on deliverable projects for Quantitative Finance, Capital Markets and Macro Economics modules. The groups are allotted time to meet daily in allocated study rooms to work on our various different assignments, and the group work really adds a different dynamic to the typical individual exercises.Yesterday we divided up into teams and played a really innovative oil trading game as part of our Macro Economics module. The game involved buying/selling fictional crude futures based on simulated macro economic newsflow. We watched the news broadcast and then had to make trading decisions based on our view of supply/demand dynamics. Whoever made the most money in 13 turns won. It gave a practical edge to a concept many of us were familiar with, and was highly competitive, as well as enjoyable.
Today, again in groups, we presented a sample of our work on the investment banking strategic landscape to the rest of the class, as one of our first graded assignments. 10 minute presentations were followed by 5 minutes of question and answers, testing our knowledge of the industry and the strengths and weaknesses of specific banks.
Now the class is focusing again on our individual work, as Monday next week marks the date of our first exam… So on that note, it is probably time to get off and get some studying done before the weekend really begins!!
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