The Library

Quant Interview Guides

The formats, the screens, and the skills, written the way a desk mentor would explain them. Every guide ends where the practice starts.

Optiver Insight Days and Early Careers: What to Expect

What insight days and early-career events at trading firms like Optiver involve, who they are for, how selection works, and how to prepare for what follows.

7 min read

Pit: the Card Game That Teaches Open Outcry Trading

The Pit card game recreates a commodity trading floor with blind swaps and shouted quantities. What it actually teaches about market making, information, and speed.

8 min read

The Citadel Securities Interview: Math Depth and Market Fluency

What candidates report about Citadel Securities interviews: the quantitative bar, random walks and martingale arguments, statistics, and how to prepare for each round.

9 min read

The SIG Interview Process: Poker, Decisions, and Expected Value

How Susquehanna interviews trading candidates: the decision-science framing, poker questions, expected value under uncertainty, and how to prepare for each round.

9 min read

Trading Firm Online Assessments in 2026-27: Every Major Format

The online assessment formats quant trading firms use in the 2026-27 cycle: speed arithmetic, sequences, probability quizzes, game-based tests, and coding screens.

10 min read

The Optiver Online Assessment in 2026-27: Stages, Format, and Prep

What the Optiver assessment process looks like in the 2026-27 cycle as candidates report it: the 80 in 8 arithmetic screen, later stages, and a training plan.

8 min read

Quant Internship and New Grad Timeline for the 2026-27 Cycle

When quant trading applications open and close for 2027 internships and grad roles, month by month, with a prep plan matched to each phase of the cycle.

9 min read

The Kelly Criterion in Quant Interviews

How the Kelly criterion shows up in quant interviews: the log-growth derivation, a worked 60/40 example, fractional Kelly, and the traps that sink candidates.

9 min read

Mental Math for Trading Interviews

The ten mental math techniques trading screens actually test, each with a worked example, plus negative-marking strategy and a 15-minute daily drill plan.

10 min read

The 4-Week Quant Interview Prep Roadmap

A four-week quant interview prep plan: daily probability and mental math drills, timed screens, firm-specific focus, mock loops, and checkpoints that matter.

10 min read

The IMC Sequences Test: Patterns and Practice

Every pattern family on the IMC sequences test with worked examples, a 10-second decision tree, trap sequences, and a regenerating practice simulator.

9 min read

The Jane Street Interview Process, Stage by Stage

What candidates report about Jane Street interviews: phone screens, market-making games, two worked probability examples, and how to prepare for each stage.

10 min read

The Optiver 80 in 8 Test, Explained

Optiver's 80 in 8 math test, explained: scoring with negative marking, the 2/3 confidence rule, pacing math, worked speed techniques, and a 3-week plan.

10 min read