Need advice on studying for corporate finance

[batman]

I am reading the required reading for corporate finance and I am lost. I have a strong stats background but no finance background. This book really bites. It goes into examples assuming you already know concepts that are not covered.Is there anything better written out there that I can refer to?

Thanks.
:-?

[Avi]

How To Pass by Gordon Klein. Chock full of careless errors, but a very good synopsis of what would be required to get a 6-7 on the exam.

[oedipus rex]

It also helps to read the book all the way through twice - I know that sounds psycho and everything, but it does help. Skim everything on the first sweep, maybe give 4 weeks to a first read-through, then read through again, working out all the examples. Or just do what Avi said, because he passed. :wink: (of course I passed too...)

[VernSchil]

I had the exact same problem as you when I first started reading the book- I also had absolutely no prior background in finance. My advice would be to not necessarily work linearly through the text book reading. I found that solving or guessing on past exam problems and then going back to diligently read the text book really helped. Also, I definitely did not read the chapters in order. One topic I think the book does a terrible job with, in terms of the order it's presented, is the WACC (weighted average capictal cost). The book defines this and cost of capital in chapter 9, but doesn't really explain the whole concept of debt and equity until the teen chapters and doesn't really get into a detailed discussion of WACC until chapter 19. Thus, for me, chapter 9 the first time through was brutal. I suggest skipping chapter 9 and any other chapters that are extremely difficult right now and coming back to them later. The options chapters (20 and 21 I think) really seem to be the only real independent topics.

[Avi]

Or just do what Avi said, because he passed. :wink: (of course I passed too...)

Hey! Do you know something I don't? I hope I passed, I think I passed, but I don't know that I passed.

[Avi]

Also, there is no real substitue for the chapters with the definitions (includeing that Dupont stuff). I think that's 28-29.

[Pillow]

This book really bites.
Yep, you hit it on the nose. My advice: burn it. :D ;)

[Budder]

That's why I used study guide first, reading the summarized versions in Temple and trying the problems from the start. Then I would refer to the text when I needed.
I wouldn't have had time to read the book twice. I didn't even have time to read it through once!
I really learned the most by doing the problems.

[Alpha12]

I'm staggering my studying, a helpful suggestion from someone esle. ( I've forgotten who) Some of the topics are related I was happy to find. Learning interest theory helped me to digest some of the material in Corporate finance. Economics even shed a little light on the Finance as well.

Good Luck!