How do some ppl in class knw so much if they are @ same level as me....how to get ahead? Please help!?

Question

Hey there are these 3 or 4 guys in my finance class who know a lot about the stock market and how it works. They are at the same level as I am but some how they have an aptitude for this stuff. I love finance and I want to know these things to. how do you think thye know so much without taking extra classes. They grasp things faster, they have questions about how the thing taught in class could work in the market. They are college kids...they don't read books for pleasure...do they? I read teh news every now and then but still how do they have this knowledge? Am I just slow or something? I have done really well in other similar courses but those were easier than this one. But its getting to me how these ppl know more and contribute more than I can think. Any advice on how to get ahead of the curve?

I can see the problem. Before I started serious finance courses I thought what's the rush in learning about the worl of finance...I am going to learn it in class anyway. I know it now what am I going to do in my class...sleep?? But these ppl didn't think like me and look where they have landed! I am willing to work hard...i love Finance

Answer 1

The only way to get ahead it to do more work. You need to read extra books about finance. Check the internet for information on the stock market. Read the finance section of the paper. Watch the news when it deals with finance issues. You can study extra, or you can accept you don't know as much as others.

Answer 2

Good. You've recognized you have a problem.

You will never know it all. The idea is to learn as much as possible during school because you aren't working. It's tough to get that much time to purely learn once you're out of school.

No, class time isn't just to absorb what the teacher is spitting out at you. That's what bad students and the ones who get left behind do.

I don't know if anyone ever told you this, but the best way to learn something is to teach it. It forces you to think of it from many different angles so you truly understand it all the way. That's because you'll get questions from people and you have to think of different ways to make it understandable to them instead of repeating what a textbook says. Anyone can read from a textbook. Doesn't mean they understand it. Asking questions to help you understand the material better helps you learn even more. You don't want to do the bare minimum for a class. The bare minimum for a class doesn't cover enough of what you need to know in the real world anyways.

The other thing is letters of recommendation. It's another reason why teachers encourage participation (the first is that participating shows you know the material and are paying attention). When you participate, the teacher gets to know you better. Can see what your strengths and weaknesses are. Gives them something to talk about when writing a letter of rec. Business is very much about marketing so this part is actually pretty critical. Think those guys in your class aren't going to get some compliments by accident when someone else asks their classmates if they've ever heard of them?

Answer 3

1) as you sit and ponder the reason, your friends may be out in the pub having a wild time meeting real stock brokers who know the niche.

2) Ways of learning. sone people learn by reading, other learn by obsevation, some people learn by "feeling" or in psyche. Strange but true.

3) Your friends may also have relatives in the industry.

Last but not least, please be brave and go talk to them. They will give you the best answer. You are still in a class, so be humble and ask. Imagine the stress that you will have once you're out in the real market and others will likely to sneer you instead.

I wish you good luck.

Answer 4

If you can't read the news EVERY day, listen to news radio at least once a day for hour. Watch CNBC. Read the business section of the newspaper or *gasp* the Wall Street Journal. You'll pick it up.

Chances are they had parents who did these things so they were exposed to the stock market before college.