Assignments & Exercises
Exercise Sessions
Exercise sessions will be held on Tuesdays at 14.15 - 16.00 starting from 06.09.2022. The topics of the exercise sessions are those presented in the lectures of the same week. During the sessions, the course assistant demonstrates solutions to both exercises and assignments. The students will also present solutions to exercises and be awarded points.
Exercise session attendance list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ooKZo2E6tQygXBQhrSrSYdHQPEEuPtx-PGKkhZVHjSQ/edit?usp=sharing
Exercise Session Schedule
| # | Date | Content | Student Presentations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 06.09 | Basic cash flow calculations. PV and IRR, inflation. | No |
| 2 | 13.09 | Annuity formula. Mortgage calculations. Bond calculations. Duration. | Yes |
| 3 | 20.09 | Spot rates, duration. | Yes |
| 4 | 27.09 | Applied interest rate analysis. | No |
| 5 | 04.10 | Mean-variance portfolio theory. | Yes |
| 6 | 11.10 | Capital asset pricing model. | Yes |
| 7 | 25.10 | Models and data, General principles. | Yes |
| 8 | 01.11 | Derivative instruments. | Yes |
| 9 | 08.11 | Basic options theory. | Yes |
| 10 | 15.11 | Options pricing in binomial lattice. | Yes |
| 11 | 22.11 | Options pricing in continuous time. | No |
| 12 | 29.11 | Interest rate derivatives. | No |
Assignments
Amount: 8 assignments,Points: Each assignment awards 4 points for correctness and 2 points for quality. Will be graded separately for each student.
Maximum points: 8 * 6 = 48
Student presentations: Will not be presented by students.
Submission: Will be submitted separately by each student.
Solutions: Will not be provided, although, verbal or written comments may be provided.
Other: You should preferably not start working on the assignments earlier than 1 week before the deadline (so that the lectures and exercises have handled all necessary materials).
Exercises
Amount: 12 exercises, of which 8 award points for student presentations (see table above).
Points: Willingness to present a solution to a specific task will award 1 point. Each session that awards points will have students present the two first tasks. For example, exercise session 2 will have students present tasks 2.1 and 2.2.
Maximum points: 8 * 2 = 16,
Student presentations: Will be presented by randomly selected students only when points are awarded (see table above).
Submission: Will not be submitted by students (unless otherwise stated).
Solutions: Will be provided after each session.
Attendance list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ooKZo2E6tQygXBQhrSrSYdHQPEEuPtx-PGKkhZVHjSQ/edit?usp=sharing
Course Grading
General: The course is graded on a scale 0-5 based on a final exam, assignments and exercises.
Exam points: The maximum total points awarded from the exam is 30. These points are not scaled.
Assignments and exercises points: The maximum total points of both assignments and exercises is 48 + 16 = 64. These points are then scaled to a maximum of 10, or in other words the total points will be divided by 6.4.
Total course points example: Exam points = 25, assignment points = 40, exercise points = 10. Total points = 25 + (40 + 10) / 6.4 = 32.8.
Potential extra course points: The course may feature activities which will reward extra points. You will be notified of these arrangements if this is the case. These points will be appropriately added to the total course points.
Assignment Templates
Excel templates will be provided for each assignment. They document themselves and are provided with their respective assignment. You can verify your solutions with usage of the HASH section. It works automatically, but false positives are possible. Errors caused by numeric inaccuracies are also possible. Grading will always be based on the actual solution, not on hashes.
Note: Avoid using commands that change cell references, such as, the cut command, otherwise you may destroy some functionality. Do not use rounded numbers. Usage of, for example, Excel Solver may result in slight numerical errors and thus false negatives.
IMPORTANT: Submitting the Excel template is enough for full marks, no need for any additional reports or files. The Excel templates are recommended, but they are not the only way to complete the assignments.