All students and professionals are interested in pursuing a career in equity research, investment banking, and private equity sector often enrolls in financial training programs.
One of the trusted and preferred financial training programs is offered by Breaking into Wall Street, known as BIWS certification. The article is an in-depth review of BIWS certifications – their importance and relevance.
What Is the BIWS Certification?
The BIWS certification is your ‘entry’ to the world of investment banking.
Based in the US, BIWS programs offer the highest quality training programs in the finance sector. Over 75 countries, 150 schools, and universities, and 150 finance firms and corporations use the BIWS certification as proof of a candidate’s merit and recruitment caliber.
The investment banking training offered by Breaking into Wall Street comes from Brian DeChesare.
In 2007, Brian DeChesare created Mergers & Inquisitions based on his experiences in Internet-based businesses and the investment banking world.
Brian DeChesare is a leading speaker in business schools and universities around the world.
A brief iteration of BIWS certification benefits are given before:
- Rigorous examination structure and instant results
- 90% passing score is mandatory
- Focus on self-testing
- Tests practical and conceptual understanding of learners in a complex environment
- Learning opportunity from experienced investment bankers
- Free support and lifetime updates
- Access to all programs instantly
BIWS offers multiple online programs in investment banking, financial modeling, and industry-specific modeling sectors, such as:
- Financial Modeling Mastery (sample)
- Excel and VBA for Investment Banking (sample)
- Bank and financial institution modeling (sample)
- Real estate and REIT modeling Review (sample)
- Investment banking networking toolkit (sample)
- Investment banking interview guide (sample)
You can check all the BIWS programs from here.
Importance of BIWS Certification
The BIWS certification is used by:
1. Individuals
2. Firms and Businesses
3. Educational Institutions
Let’s see each of the sections in detail.
BIWS Certification for Individuals
At the individual level, BIWS works with
(1) University students who want to land high-paying jobs in private equity, hedge funds, and investment banking;
(2) MBA students who wish to maximize the opportunities available in the financial industry;
(3) Career switchers who want to break into private equity and investment banking mid-career and
(4) Existing financial professionals at the associate level who wish to gain an edge over other finance professionals with real-world training.
Some reasons why BIWS certification for individuals is a prized asset are as follows:
#1. Active Community Support
All BIWS certification students get the benefit of its vibrant community through interactive Q&A sessions. Moreover, BIWS offers lifetime support to its students. Apart from the active community, the students can contact BIWS support 365-days a year without any hesitation.
#2. Avail Courses Anywhere
The BIWS is based on interactive learning. The custom-designed courses enable learners to track learning progress and interact with the active community for better performance. Moreover, all the content is digitally downloadable on all available devices like laptop, desktop, tablet, and smartphones. In short, BIWS certification courses are learning on the move.
#3. Challenging Tests
It is not without reason that clearing BIWS is known as one of the most difficult of finance tests. The course features challenging tests where the participants progress to the next level after making the previous one. The tests are designed to understand the conceptual and practical understanding of the coursework. In terms of practical testing, real case studies are delivered on brands like JP Morgan, Microsoft, and Apple.
Before buying, you can sample their free content, such as the free financial modeling video tutorials. I am sure you won’t be disappointed.
You can read the complete BIWS Courses Review here.
BIWS Certification for Firms and Businesses
Private equity firms, investment banks, and hedge funds rely on BIWS certification to train finance service professionals to become a more valuable asset to their respective firms.
The BIWS helps firms and businesses to train the staff in the art of real-life finance modeling skills.
The course doesn’t depend on textual theories to prepare the team but on practical, real-life examples of big brands such as Microsoft and Apple.
The BIWS training program doesn’t depend on traditional classroom teaching but the proprietary BASES methodology.
In the conventional classroom teaching system, the course is based on a lecture format where the listener is a passive participant and learns what is being spoken. Still, it is not a conducive way to teach complex concepts.
It is for this reason that BIWS training employs the BASES methodology as it necessitates both the application and practice of ideas, which is far more valuable to the firms and their employees. The BASES methodology means:
- B: Learner is shown the before version of the financial model.
- A: Learner is shown the after version of the same model along with the steps involved.
- S: Learner is required to study both the versions and understand how and what happened through a steps-based video tutorial.
- E: Learner is required to execute the model.
- S: Learner scrutinizes and compares the model with the ‘after’ model in step 2.
As you can noticeably conclude, the interactive nature of BASES methodology enables finance professionals to learn the nuances of financial concepts quickly.
BIWS coaching materials not only train the finance professionals but also offers lifetime support through ongoing assessments, live Q&A sessions, and community support.
Moreover, the progress of employees is easily tracked through the state-of-the-art software system.
There is an unconditional 90-day money-back guarantee when you buy any course from BIWS. So, you have zero risk.
BIWS Certification for Educational Institutions
A lot of students sign up for BIWS certification programs individually.
Still, in the last couple of years, realizing the importance of real-time financial studies and the need to equip its students with financial assessment skills, many educational institutions have tied up with BIWS to train their students and gain “virtual deal experience.” Here are some highlights of BIWS certification for educational institutions:
#1. Virtual Deal Experience
BIWS offers Financial Modeling Mastery and Industry-Specific Modeling courses where real deals entered by companies such as JP Morgan, Apple, and Microsoft are studied in detail.
This course helps students to understand the real world of financial transactions and based on this experience.
The students can ace interview questions by backing their academic qualifications with real statistical analysis.
There are many bonus case studies to complement the studies.
#2. Bridging Difference between Classroom to Jobs
Every year, a lot of students studying finance fail to get jobs because they don’t have practical analytical skills, despite being highly qualified.
To bridge this difference, BIWS partners with educational institutions and imparts practical skills, enabling students to gain financial analytical skills, which immensely helps them during interviews.
This is an essential step because not all financial companies are eager to train incumbents right from scratch!
#3. BASES Methodology
Similar to the training provided to firms and business employees, BIWS uses the BASES methodology to teach students.
Refer to the previous section on BASES for details.
Lastly, the BIWS is made flexible to suit the timetables of the students. There is lifetime support given to students, and they can engage with 22,000+ active member community for peer-to-peer learning.
Their interactive learning format allows the tracking and verification of progress reports.
Students who clear the exam receive a certificate of merit, which is widely reputed in the finance world. Here is an example certificate.
Endnote
We at FinanceWalk.com strongly recommend the BIWS certification courses for investment banking, hedge funding, and equity analysis, enthusiasts.
Indeed, BIWS offers one of the best video-based training materials to its students. From practical training to clearing interviews, BIWS certification courses provide everything.
