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User guides
Pick a level, download the memo, model or deck, and attach your work as supporting files when you grade.
3 min read · Last updated Oct 6, 2026 · Educational only, not investment advice
Cases with templates have a Download templates box on the case page. Each case offers three formats:
| Format | File | Use it to |
|---|---|---|
| Memo | .docx | Write your IC memo in a standard credit memo structure. |
| Model | .xlsx | Build historicals, the debt schedule, credit metrics and your downside. |
| IC deck | .pptx | Turn the memo into the slides you'd present to a committee. |
The templates use only figures that appear in the case. They give you structure, not answers.
| Level | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Guided | Every section has prompts and notes on what an IC looks for. | Your first memo, or a new asset class. |
| Standard | Section headers and one prompt each. | You've written credit memos before. This is the default. |
| Blank | The IC format only: headings, historicals and title slides. | Practicing under conditions closest to the real thing. |
Tip
Start with Guided on your first case, then move to Standard or Blank on the next one. Leaning on prompts for too long makes the real case study harder.
The memo is what gets graded. Your model and deck can be attached under Supporting files (up to three files, 10 MB each) so the grader can see how you got your numbers.
Remember
Fill it in and upload it under Supporting files. Your score always comes from your memo.
Don't upload files containing an employer's or client's confidential information. Use the case templates or your own practice work.
| File | What it contains |
|---|---|
| Memo | A cover page; a memo header (To, From, Date, Re); a transaction summary box; a key credit metrics table for your base and downside cases; and eleven numbered IC memo sections, from the executive summary and sources and uses to structure, recovery, relative value and your conditions. Each section suggests a length. |
| Model | Cover and Read me tabs with the colour key; an Inputs tab for every assumption; the case historicals; then Sources & Uses, an operating build, a debt schedule, credit metrics and covenant headroom, a downside case with a sensitivity grid, a recovery waterfall and lender returns. |
| IC deck | Sixteen-by-nine slides in the order an IC expects, from the transaction overview to the recommendation, with action titles and the case historicals and term sheet already in place. |
At the Guided level, the memo's prompts are written for the specific case, each section explains what an IC looks for, and the model's formulas fill in as soon as you enter the inputs they need. Standard gives you one prompt per section and the model's labelled blocks without formulas. Blank gives you the structure and the case historicals only.
Every file credits its sources on the cover: the public filings a case was built from, or a note that the case is fictional. If you prefer the earlier templates, the case page also links to the previous version (v1).
For more on each file, see How to write an IC memo, How to build the credit model and How to structure the IC deck.
Educational only. Nothing in this guide is investment, legal or tax advice. Practice on a case, and never use an employer's confidential documents.