Plethora Essay

Question: Describe about the corporate finance course involved a plethora of new concepts such as valuation of bonds, concept of efficient markets along with concepts of merger acquisition? Answer: The corporate finance course involved a plethora of new concepts such as valuation of bonds, concept of efficient markets along with concepts of merger acquisition. I have little background in most of the concepts that were taught in the class. I had expected the course to be challenging one especially due to the strong mathematical and analytical skills involved. Since, I tend to start from the scratch and need absolute clarity of concepts to be competent in a particular lecture, thus I decided to be regular in my lectures and pay close attention. However, there were issues in understanding I faced which began right from the second lecture that focused on efficient markets. Even though, the lecturer maintained a decent pace with regards to coverage of the course content but considering the difficult level, I could not really cope up. I had a plethora of doubts regarding the topic on a second reading that I did after the lecture and at one juncture even though of leaving the course. But, then i decided that considering the importance of this subject for my future engagements in finance, it is significant that I should devote more attention to the subject. Thus, I started reading the subject matter to be discussed in the class before- hand so that I could clear my doubts within the class only and thus gain conceptual clarity of the subject. This was immensely helpful and enabled better understanding of the core concepts of the subject. Additionally for the mathematical computations, I took help from some fellow students that brought about immense improvement of understanding in my numerical portion. However, considering that I have an inclination for kinaesthetic learning style, the discussions in the class in this regard were a little disappointing. The frequent use of such exercises could have been immensely useful for gaining not only clarity regarding the application of concepts but also with regards to conceptual clarity. I faced immense difficulty in the mathematical portions of mergers and acquisitions but later realised these were mainly attributed to lack of underlying concepts. Thus, one of the key takeaways from the course is that conceptual clarity is paramount and it leads to successful application of complex concepts in practical problems. This is the learning that I intend to take away in my professional career ahead also is to focus on fundamentals especially on why a particular aspect is being treated the way it is. As a result, during my job I would focus hard on the training provided rather than relying exclusively on the job learning. This approach goes a long way in reduction of incremental efforts required to excel at the job. However, one of recommendation for the focus is more focus on practical aspects with more case studies so as to ensure better concept clarity through application. Also, if some basic foundation classes can be arranged for students lacking the fundamentals or parallel doubt classes for those who cannot cope up could be immensely helpful and thus, must be considered.