During the first week of August, I completed a finance course on Udemy called Finance 101 – Learn and Master the Basics of Finance. The course was about building a strong foundation in finance, starting with simple concepts like banking and moving to slightly more advanced topics such as risk management and derivatives. My main motivation for choosing this experience was my genuine interest in business and entrepreneurship. I wanted to understand finance better so I can connect it to both my subjects in school and my future career goals.

Learning Outcomes Demonstrated

• LO1 – Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
  I realized that one of my strengths is being able to pick up concepts quickly when explained with examples. But I also noticed that I need to work on remembering financial terms and using them confidently in discussions. That’s something I’ll keep practicing.
• LO2 – Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills
  Initially, I found the course a bit overwhelming because of all the new words and technical terms. Reading about derivatives or risk management wasn’t easy. But sticking through it helped me gain new skills, like reading financial news with more clarity and understanding the basics of investment and financial planning.
• LO4 – Show perseverance and commitment in CAS experience
  Completing 8 modules and 40 lectures in 9 days required consistency. Some sessions felt heavy, and I was tempted to skip, but I kept going because I wanted to finish what I started. By the end, I was proud of the certificate I earned—it showed me the value of perseverance.

Reflection

This CAS experience turned out to be more rewarding than I expected. Finance always seemed complicated, but the course broke it down into smaller, understandable pieces. I started to see how financial knowledge can shape everyday choices—whether it’s saving, investing, or simply understanding what’s happening in the global economy.