Business with finance study material, 2025 CITY

I’m starting Business with Finance at City, University of London in September 2025, and I’d like to get a head start with some preparation.
I was wondering if anyone has:
• Any websites, books, or resources they recommend?
• Access to any study materials, lecture slides, reading lists, or past notes?
• Any advice on which topics or modules to review in advance?
• Tips on what software/tools I should get familiar with (e.g., Excel, accounting tools)? Also which budget friendly laptops I should get.
I want to make online notes over the summer and just get a feel for what to expect.
Thanks in advance x

I haven't done a degree at City, but I think I can comment on the above.
Based on the course content: https://www.bayes.citystgeorges.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/courses/business-with-finance#accordion-v23-570233-header470240 ... I might be able to say the following:
· The degree would teach you everything you need to know from the ground up
· As A Level Maths isn't a requirement, none of the modules should be that mathematical, so you won't even need to brush up on your maths much
· In terms of books, they will tell you which ones to get (they don't show this on their website). The rule of thumb is to spend as much time in the library going over the textbooks after your lectures, but I think the following are worth buying (typically are required texts):
o Principles of Macroeconomics by Gregory Mankiw
o Quantitative Methods for Business, Management and Finance by Louise Swift and Sally Piff
o Corporate Finance: Principles and Practice by Antony Head and Denzil Watson
· Even if you decide to get the books above, I would still hold off until the start of the semester and you had your Fresher's week to ask the individual lecturers what to expect - it's not likely to be as daunting as you think.
· As they teach you everything from the ground up, there's really nothing to review. If you did A Level Business Studies, you can review your notes for the A Level as it might help with some of the business modules (complete regurgitation of A Level Business Studies still). If you have done A Level Maths, then I would review the AS content for statistics.
· They won't likely require you to do accounting software (that would probably make things too easy). Instead, I would just brush up on Excel (maybe possibly Word and PowerPoint if you have never touched the software). If you want the A-Z guide on this, I recommend Slaying Excel Dragons: A Beginners Guide to Conquering Excel's Frustrations and Making Excel Fun by Mike Girvin (I didn't come up with the title, so don't shoot me). Alternatively, look at YouTube videos on specific features of Excel you're not familiar with, but even then they won't require you to be anything above an intermediate user of Excel.
· Do note, you are doing a business and finance degree. It's not a course that would require heavy computing power like say for computer science, data science, engineering, or physics (and even then they don't require a lot of power). You can typically get by with a laptop costing £300-£400 (I wouldn't go cheaper out of self respect, but you can if you want). (I have a friend who did his business degree using a laptop that was 20 years old at the time - it had the basic Office software + pdf reader and that was essentially all he needed.)
If you want books that can further your knowledge beyond what is taught, then I can provide recommendations. However, doing any of the above is already overkill.