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Unit Introduction - 1PerPage

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Kinu
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BFC2751 Derivatives 1

Unit introduction and overview

Moodle site:
https://learning.monash.edu/course/view.php?id=8192&section=0
Teaching staff
 A/Professor Thanh Huynh: Chief Examiner
– [email protected]
 Alpana Trivedi
– [email protected]
 Himali Palpita
– [email protected]
 Heidi Quah
– [email protected]
 George Wang
– [email protected]

First question for Week 1: Who is your tutor?


Email correspondence

 All email correspondence between students and staff must be


polite and courteous.
– When you email me, you must start your email by addressing me by name.
For example: I would prefer Dear Thanh or Hi Thanh. But if some students
want it to be more formal, Dear Professor Huynh or Hi Professor Huynh will
also work.
– And you must sign off your email with your name.

 Students who do not adhere to these basic courtesies may not


receive a reply.
 I suggest that you afford the same courtesies when
corresponding with your tutors.
 Teaching staff will apply the same courtesies when
corresponding with students.
Lectures and tutorials

 Lecture
– There are no face-to-face lectures.
– Lecture recordings should be up on the Moodle site on Tuesdays.

 Tutorials:
– many tutorials will be offered throughout the week.
– Onshore students will attend face-to-face tutorials,
while offshore students have Zoom tutorials.
– register for one tutorial and attend that timeslot each
week.
Learning material at your disposal
 There will be a wealth of material at your disposal to assist your
learning in BFC2751:
– Lectures notes (powerpoint slides)
– Extensive Q&As for each tutorial
– Additional supplementary Q&As leading into each exam
– Textbook: Hull, J.C., 2023, Options, Futures and Other Derivatives (11th
edition).
– But any of the other editions of Hull would also suffice.
About this unit

 Derivatives is a very interesting, contemporary and


challenging area to study.
 The growth in derivatives products offered and volume of
trading has exploded and continues to grow exponentially.
 No matter which direction your career takes, it is very likely
that your role/job will involve derivatives:
– Funds management, hedge funds, professional trader
– For you own private investment/hobby
– Risk management (forex, interest rates, equities, commodities,
energy)
 Arguably, there is something relevant here for each and
every one of you.
About this unit

 Your goals in BFC2751 are:


1. to become aware of the derivative instruments that are
available in the marketplace and how they work,
2. to know how to use derivatives to manage risk (and speculate)
in a variety of circumstances, and
3. to become proficient in pricing/valuing a variety of derivative
securities.
About this unit

 Let’s start with a fact:


Derivatives is not your regular unit. It’s one of the most
technical units in finance
 I intend to make this unit interesting and fun for you. But I
also intend to challenge you.
 From the outset in Week 1, I urge you to work hard and get
the most out of this unit.
 There is a lot of very good learning material at your disposal
in this unit, but ultimately it is your choice:
– how seriously you take your study
– how hard you work
 How much you enjoy this unit and how well you do is
completely in your hands.
Tips for success

 You must start working hard from Week 1:


 The concepts throughout this unit build upon each other.
 Cannot afford to go a few weeks without doing the work, then
expect you will be able to catch up.
 So work hard right from Week 1 and work consistently
throughout the semester.

 Rule of thumb: for an average student to get an average


grade, they need to spend about 10 hours a week working
on the unit.
Pass or fail???
Pass or fail???
Pass or fail???
Tips for success
 Review the lecture notes/recording and read the prescribed
sections in the textbook before attempting the tutorial
question.
 Make a serious attempt at the assigned tutorial questions
before the tutorial and certainly before the next lecture.
 Get your money’s worth from the tutorials:
– Attend your tutorial every week.
– It is imperative that you have attempted the questions and
therefore knowing where you are struggling.
– Ask the tutors questions to resolve your problems.
 Utilise the consultation times of staff to resolve your
problems.
 And, most of all, practice makes perfect:
– Diligently work through all tutorial questions and answers.
Utilise the supplementary Q&As as part of your exam
preparation.
The most important tip for success

 The best way to learn (and get very good grades) is to make
sure that you focus on:
– learning and understanding the content of the unit,
– NOT on what I need to know for the exam.

 So many students are “exam focused”:


– Trying to guess what might or might not be on the exam.
– Memorising tute questions (but not understanding it) and hoping the
exam is similar.
– Memorising last year’s exam (but not understanding it) and hoping
that this year’s exam is similar.
– This is a foolish strategy!
Focus on understanding

 You should NOT expect that the exam questions will be:
– exactly the same as questions you have already seen in tutes
– just like tute questions, with a few numbers changed
– exactly the same as prior year exams
– just like prior year exams with a few numbers changed.

 The exams will test whether you understand the content taught
throughout the semester:
– Can you demonstrate that you understand the content taught?
– Are you able to take your knowledge of the topics and apply it to
variations of what you have seen and new scenarios/problems?
– If you have a good understanding of the topics and content, then
you are well placed to tackle whatever is thrown at you on an exam.
Heads up!

 First Online Moodle quiz


– Monday 14 August (9am) to Thursday 17 August (11pm)
– Will cover Lectures1+2 and Tutorials 1+2+First week tutorial
– Do not wait until Thursday to complete the quiz. If many students
access Moodle at one time, it may crash.
– Moodle temporary crash is not an acceptable reason for extension.
– In general, NO extensions will be given, as you are given
multiple days to complete the quiz, unless you have very
special circumstances.
– Please contact our Lead tutor Dr Natalie Nguyen
([email protected]) if you have any queries related to
the quizzes.
Assessment

 Online Moodle quizzes (20%):


– quizzes run progressively throughout the semester

 Mid semester exam (30%)


– Will be centrally timetabled and organized

 Final examination (50%):


– during official exam period

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