Interviewer Guide for Industry Mentors 📆 8-Week Intensive Investment Banking Technical Curriculum

Curriculum Outline, Built by [Anonymous Analyst]., Goldman Sachs

Introduction

As the mentor, your role is to help the student develop clear, conversational answers to high-frequency technical questions over the course of weekly mock interviews.

This curriculum outlines the most critical technical concepts and questions to emphasize with your student. While the Breaking into Wall Street materials provide broad coverage, not all content carries equal weight. We’ve consulted analysts across top firms to distill what matters most in interviews, so you can focus your time on refining the most relevant topics.

The table below summarizes the core topics covered across the next two months. Students will complete one assigned Breaking into Wall Street PDF per week. The structure is designed for progressive technical development, but you may adjust based on the student’s proficiency — skipping topics they’ve mastered or condensing sessions as appropriate.

This is a pilot version of our technical training curriculum. We’re grateful for your support and welcome any feedback to improve the structure or experience.

Week	Topics Covered	Key Focus
0	Introductions	Getting to know each other, Overview of the next 7 weeks
1	Core Valuation Concepts	Discount Rate, WACC, DCF Basics, IRR, NPV
2	Accounting: Income Statement, Cash Flow Statement, Balance Sheet	Financial statement line items and their interrelations
2 (Continued)	Accounting: More Advanced Accounting	Relationships between IS, CFS, BS, and key accounting concepts
3	Introduction to Debt	Debt Fundamentals
4	Equity Value & Enterprise Value, Metrics, and Multiples	Differences between Equity Value and Enterprise Value, valuation multiples, calculations
5	Valuation and DCF Analysis	DCF walkthrough, terminal value, discount rates, public comps, and valuation methods
6	M&A Deals and Merger Models	Accretion/Dilution, Enterprise/Equity Value in M&A, deal modeling concepts
7	Leveraged Buyouts (LBO) and LBO Models	LBO concepts, IRR calculations, purchase price, debt projections, and exit strategies
8	Final Interview	Full interview covering key concepts from prior weeks

Tactical Structure

This technical program will follow a 1-1 structure between a student and a dedicated Ladder Curriculum mentor who will serve as the core guide throughout the seven weeks. The student will be required to complete pre-readings before each session. Each session will be divided into two key components: a review of the assigned materials to deepen the student’s understanding, and practice interviews to apply concepts and build technical proficiency. Each week, we expect the student to put in at least 5 hours.

Mentorship Expectations

Mentors are asked to meet with their assigned student once a week, for a total of eight sessions.
Outside of these meetings, no significant time commitment is expected. However, students may reach out between sessions with occasional follow-up questions. We appreciate any support you can provide when possible.
After each session, please complete the Mentor Meeting Form — this is used to track both student progress and your payment. We can only pay you if we receive this form.

Curriculum Structure

We provide students with a shared technical curriculum organized into weekly modules, each linked to specific Breaking into Wall Street readings and mandatory technical questions.

You can view the curriculum here: **[Technical Curriculum Overview – Notion] 📆 7-Week Intensive Investment Banking Technical Curriculum**

Mentors are welcome to use this structure or adapt it to their own style. If you choose to deviate from the suggested format, please let the program team know in advance by emailing jimmy.nguyen@lumiere.education.