Study tips for economics and finance students

Econ & finance · 7 min read

By Raul Blanco · Updated 12 July 2026

Economics looks like a reading degree from the outside. Then the first problem set arrives, full of derivatives and curve shifts, and you realise you have accidentally enrolled in maths with opinions.

That surprise is worth taking seriously, because it explains why so many econ and finance students study wrong. They prepare like essay students, all notes and reading, for a degree that is graded like a maths degree, all problems and application. Fix the mismatch and the whole thing gets easier.

This is a problem-set degree, so act like it

Beautiful notes do not compound. Solved problems do. The single highest-return habit in economics and finance is simple: treat problem sets as the main event and lectures as the supporting material, not the other way around.

And redo them. A problem set you did three weeks ago with the solutions open is a problem set you cannot do today with them closed. Before an exam, rework old problems blind, and count only the ones you can finish without peeking. That number is your grade forecast, and unlike the feeling of having "gone over" the material, it does not lie to you.

Draw the graph from memory

Every economics model is secretly a story: something shifts, a mechanism responds, a new equilibrium appears. The graph is just the storyboard. If you can draw it from memory and narrate the shift out loud, you own the model. If you can only recognise it on a slide, you are renting it.

So make graph-drawing a drill, not an accident. Blank paper, pick a model, draw it, shift something, explain the consequence in full sentences. It is active recall with axes, and ten minutes of it beats an hour of rereading the chapter.

Formulas are sentences, not incantations

Finance students meet a wall of formulas early: present value, CAPM, WACC, duration. The trap is memorising them as symbol soup. Every finance formula is a sentence in disguise. Net present value just says "money later is worth less than money now, and here is exactly how much less." Read it that way and the formula becomes something you can rebuild when memory fails, instead of something you either recall perfectly or not at all.

The test: for each variable, can you say what happens to the result when it goes up? If interest rates rise and you cannot immediately say what that does to a bond price and why, the formula is not yours yet. And build your formula sheet by hand even when the exam provides one. The sheet is not the point. Building it is.

Match the study move to the course

An econ or finance degree is really five different course types wearing one gown. Each has one study move that pays disproportionately:

Read the news like it is revision, because it is

Ten minutes a day with decent financial news does something no textbook manages: it attaches your models to reality. A central bank decision is IS-LM with a press conference. An airline hedging fuel costs is your derivatives lecture wearing a lanyard. Students who make this connection write noticeably better exam essays, because they have examples that did not come from the same textbook everyone else is quoting.

Exams: past papers, under time, early

Econ and finance exams are speed sports. Knowing how to solve a problem and solving it in nine minutes are different skills, and only one of them is graded. From about a month out, work past papers under real time pressure and mark yourself honestly. Our 4-week exam revision timetable is built for exactly this, and if you are juggling micro, metrics and accounting at once, the guide on studying for multiple exams keeps the hardest subject from being quietly abandoned.

One practical note: problem-set deadlines, tutorial prep and exam dates pile up fast across five modules. Getting them all into one semester planner at the start of term takes an afternoon and removes an entire category of unpleasant surprise.