Finance Prep: Our Curated Directory

Wall Street Prep, Breaking Into Wall Street (BIWS), Bloomberg Market Concepts, CFI FMVA, CFA Program — all the credible finance and IB training in one place.

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WSP Premium Package (Financial & Valuation Modeling Certification)

This is the most complete starting point on this list, and the one Wall Street Prep itself pitches as its flagship program. You build a full 3-statement operating model, a discounted cash flow model, trading comps, transaction comps, and a complete M&A/LBO model, all from scratch using real public-company case studies — the same materials Wall Street Prep licenses out to bulge-bracket bank training programs and business schools including Wharton. It is genuinely one program rather than a loose bundle: the 7 modules build on each other in sequence, so you finish with a coherent portfolio you can walk an interviewer through. Best for undergrads and career-switchers who want one structured curriculum instead of stitching together free YouTube tutorials before IB, equity research, or corporate finance interviews. If you only buy one thing from this page, this is the one most people land on first.

WSP Private Equity Masterclass

Narrower and sharper than the Premium Package, this bundle assumes you already have modeling basics and takes you straight into PE-specific work: a full industrial-strength LBO build plus a bonus lower-middle-market LBO variant, and a walkthrough of the entire private equity deal process end to end — teaser, confidential information memorandum, NDA, management presentations, through to closing documents. It is deliberately positioned as a second purchase rather than a first one; Wall Street Prep’s own sequencing assumes Premium Package or equivalent modeling literacy going in. Nearly 20,000 students have gone through it, which is a meaningful sample for a course this specialized. Best bought by candidates who already know they are recruiting for buy-side roles rather than generalist IB, since the case studies and terminology assume that context throughout.

BIWS Platinum (1-Year Plan)

This is the best value of the group if breadth matters more than depth in one topic. The Platinum plan unlocks every course in the BIWS catalog for a year: the IB Networking Toolkit and Interview Guide, Excel & VBA, Core Financial Modeling, PowerPoint Pro, and every Level 3 and Level 4 industry-specific track — venture capital, private equity, real estate, REITs, banks, oil & gas, project finance, and biotech — plus any new courses BIWS releases during your access window. BIWS calculates that buying everything included individually would cost $2,808, making Platinum roughly an 85% saving if you actually use more than two or three of the tracks. Importantly, there is no automatic renewal by default, so this genuinely expires after a year instead of quietly becoming a recurring charge you have to remember to cancel.

BIWS Core Financial Modeling

This is the course that takes someone from “knows basic Excel” to being able to build a 3-statement model, a valuation, and M&A/LBO modeling from the ground up. It runs 158 individual videos organized around 10+ global case studies, ranging from 30-minute drills to 2- and 3-hour full builds, so the pacing works whether you are doing a deep pass or cramming before an interview. For anyone short on time, BIWS also bakes in Quick Start tracks at 10, 20, or 30 hours that prioritize the highest-yield material first. It sits comfortably between free YouTube tutorials and the much larger WSP Premium Package in depth and price, which makes it a sensible standalone buy if modeling technique specifically — not interview prep or networking — is the one gap left in your preparation.

BIWS Private Equity Modeling (LBO Course)

Six conceptual LBO models plus six full, step-by-step case studies make up the core of this course, ranging from 30-minute basic LBOs up to 4-hour builds that layer in stub periods, convertible preferred stock, dividend recaps, and add-on acquisitions — effectively the full range of complexity you might actually be tested on. Flexible 5, 10, and 20-hour study plans are built in, which makes it realistic to complete on the kind of compressed timeline most people actually have during recruiting season. Among all the courses on this page, this is the one most narrowly aimed at a single, specific, high-stakes moment: the LBO modeling test. If that test is on your calendar in the next few weeks, this is where the money is best spent.

BIWS IB Interview Guide

This is less a video course and more a full reference library: 578+ pages of written technical tutorials and answers to “fit” questions, 109+ pre-answered fit questions with model responses, 18 resume walk-through templates, 17 Excel-based case studies, and 218+ practice quiz questions, all built around the actual 400 Questions framework BIWS is known for. It includes explicit study plans scaled to how much time you actually have — a 4-hour emergency-prep track if an interview is tomorrow, up to a full 1-week plan if there is more runway — which is a genuinely useful feature most competitors skip. Purchasers also get access to expert Q&A support for five years after buying, well beyond a typical recruiting cycle. Of everything on this page, this is the highest-leverage purchase per pound for someone who already has the modeling chops and just needs interview reps.

Wall Street Prep vs. BIWS: which one first?

Both providers cover overlapping ground — 3-statement modeling, DCF, comps, and LBO builds — but they are structured differently. Wall Street Prep sells self-contained packages (Premium Package, Private Equity Masterclass) that bundle several courses under one certificate, and it is the provider most likely to appear on a resume as a recognized credential since it partners directly with universities like Wharton. BIWS instead sells a tiered subscription (Silver/Gold/Platinum) plus standalone courses, and leans harder into interview-specific prep — the IB Interview Guide and Networking Toolkit have no direct WSP equivalent. If your gap is technical modeling skill, either provider works and price is a reasonable tiebreaker. If your gap is specifically interview performance under time pressure, BIWS’s Interview Guide and flexible study-plan structure make it the stronger pick. Students preparing for buy-side (PE/VC) recruiting specifically should note both providers now offer dedicated PE/VC tracks, so it is worth comparing the WSP Private Equity Masterclass against the BIWS Private Equity Modeling course directly rather than assuming either is a default choice. Both providers also issue a certificate of completion, though neither carries formal accreditation on its own — the value comes from what you can demonstrably build in Excel during an interview, not the certificate itself. If budget is the binding constraint, note that a single BIWS Level 4 industry course (£148–£372 depending on which one) plus the free IB Networking Toolkit content BIWS publishes on its knowledge base can cover a surprising amount of ground before you need to spend on a full package.