[jlspeed29]

Hey guys..im hoping someone here could help me out..ill have an interview in a week or so with an investment bank and they are going to give me a math test ..my buddy said it was basic highschool math...anyone got anything more specific?

thanks in advance

[nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Originally Posted by jlspeed29

Hey guys..im hoping someone here could help me out..ill have an interview in a week or so with an investment bank and they are going to give me a math test ..my buddy said it was basic highschool math...anyone got anything more specific?

thanks in advance

does your buddy work at that IB?

[Buegie]

Is it a boutique or BB firm? Whats the position, M&A, S&T, mid/back office?

[jlspeed29]

S&T
sales assistant
to my understanding its a middle-market firm

[Buegie]

Originally Posted by jlspeed29

S&T
sales assistant
to my understanding its a middle-market firm

Lazard, Evercore, something like that? Good for you. I don't think specific math tests are really that common. S&T does them more than M&A though I think, much more math involved in the actual work.

What's your major? I wouldn't expect it to be that hard, they hire people from all different backgrounds, not just finance people. Being willing to bust your ass is much more important than being smart.

[jlspeed29]

thanks man...my buddy works on their advisory side and said it was basic...
i majored in econ and finance im thinking it will be easy but i cannot afford to mess something like this up....
its just an assistant/associate role but they said within 3 years they expect the candidate to move into an actual equity sales role managing accounts and so-forth

[Buegie]

Originally Posted by jlspeed29

thanks man...my buddy works on their advisory side and said it was basic...
i majored in econ and finance im thinking it will be easy but i cannot afford to mess something like this up....
its just an assistant/associate role but they said within 3 years they expect the candidate to move into an actual equity sales role managing accounts and so-forth

I don't know if you're aware but there's a blog about breaking into IB (focuses on M&A but he does other areas too). This is an interview series he did on S&T, part 2 is the better part IMO but it's all a good read if you have the time:

Part 1

Part 2

[aut0sh0cker]

I have a bit of experience with these interviews. One time I was about five minutes into a second round interview and out of nowhere, the recruiter asks me what is "ten over five-factorial." My dumb ass tries to do this as fast as possible so I blurt out "1/24" and before I could correct myself (answer was 1/12) she said that was all and they had no more questions. Be careful and take your time as accuracy counts more than speed.

The actual math was never difficult, you just have to know your probability and expected value.

Here's a sample of the kinds of questions I have been asked in the first round for S&T positions:

"You have a deck of 97 cards, numbered 1-97. The deck is shuffled randomly. Now I propose a game in which you draw five cards from the deck at random. If the cards come up in ascending order, I will pay you $10. Exactly how much are you willing to pay to play this game?"

[jlspeed29]

Originally Posted by aut0sh0cker

I have a bit of experience with these interviews. One time I was about five minutes into a second round interview and out of nowhere, the recruiter asks me what is "ten over five-factorial." My dumb ass tries to do this as fast as possible so I blurt out "1/24" and before I could correct myself (answer was 1/12) she said that was all and they had no more questions. Be careful and take your time as accuracy counts more than speed.

The actual math was never difficult, you just have to know your probability and expected value.

Here's a sample of the kinds of questions I have been asked in the first round for S&T positions:

"You have a deck of 97 cards, numbered 1-97. The deck is shuffled randomly. Now I propose a game in which you draw five cards from the deck at random. If the cards come up in ascending order, I will pay you $10. Exactly how much are you willing to pay to play this game?"

those questions sound like something a trader would probably know....

[nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

Originally Posted by aut0sh0cker

Here's a sample of the kinds of questions I have been asked in the first round for S&T positions:

"You have a deck of 97 cards, numbered 1-97. The deck is shuffled randomly. Now I propose a game in which you draw five cards from the deck at random. If the cards come up in ascending order, I will pay you $10. Exactly how much are you willing to pay to play this game?"

The correct answer is: What's my commission structure?

[jlspeed29]

also, thanks for the links to the podcast....
i went to their site..plan on spending all day on it..!

[jlspeed29]

Originally Posted by ferrari355fi

The correct answer is: What's my commission structure?

[jlspeed29]

thanks again for the blogs guys

anyone else know of any other sites where I can get info on investment banking?
mergersandinquisitions.com is good

[Buegie]

Wall Street Oasis
Leveraged Sellout

M

[Buegie]

Bimmerpost app cuts off my post when I use the and sign for some reason.

M and I is my go-to resource

[BigDog]

Originally Posted by aut0sh0cker

I have a bit of experience with these interviews. One time I was about five minutes into a second round interview and out of nowhere, the recruiter asks me what is "ten over five-factorial." My dumb ass tries to do this as fast as possible so I blurt out "1/24" and before I could correct myself (answer was 1/12) she said that was all and they had no more questions. Be careful and take your time as accuracy counts more than speed.

The actual math was never difficult, you just have to know your probability and expected value.

Here's a sample of the kinds of questions I have been asked in the first round for S&T positions:

"You have a deck of 97 cards, numbered 1-97. The deck is shuffled randomly. Now I propose a game in which you draw five cards from the deck at random. If the cards come up in ascending order, I will pay you $10. Exactly how much are you willing to pay to play this game?"

*sigh*

i remember those questions when i did my very first interview at a hedge fund here in chicago...

if you want more of those types of practice questions, get the book Heard it on the Street.... its a fun read and has a lot of brain teaser type puzzles

[double_j]

What's the probability on the 1-97 card question? I'm not the most mathematically inclined person and can't figure out a good way through it. Do you have to treat it like an options pricing model or something?

[aut0sh0cker]

Originally Posted by double_j

What's the probability on the 1-97 card question? I'm not the most mathematically inclined person and can't figure out a good way through it. Do you have to treat it like an options pricing model or something?

The idea behind that question was to test quick reasoning skills. In a 5-card deck, there are 5! = 120 total orders that they can make. (1,2,3,4,5; 1,2,3,5,4; 1,2,4,3,5; 1,2,4,5,3; etc).

The answer they look for is the ability to make the distinction that the actual numbers on the card do not matter such that their order is unchanged. So there is no difference between 1,2,3,4,5 (from a 5-card deck) and 1,2,3,4,6 (from a 6-card deck). In both instances, the cards are ordered in ascending order (as opposed to sequential order).

In other words, you could draw five cards from a 97-card deck: 1,15,23,72,91 and they are still in order.

So now you can look back at the original problem with the 97-card deck and draw 5 cards out at random. These 5 cards can now be considered to be a "new" 5-card deck (and the numbers on them don't really matter so long as they are all unique). The probability of drawing 5 cards in ascending order out of any 5-card deck is 1 divided by the total number of possible orders (5! = 120), thus the probability is 1/120.

So, if you receive a payout is $10 once out of every 120 draws (on average), then you will want to pay less than $10/120 = $0.08 to play the game each time.

No calculator was allowed and I was given a pencil and paper.

[jlspeed29]

like a phuqing Boss ^^^