Preparing for Quant Interviews: Study Topics, Not Just Exact Questions
Summary
The discussion addresses whether unusual mathematical problems in a quantitative finance interview book are likely to appear verbatim in interviews. The response says candidates should treat the questions as a way to identify relevant topics and assess their preparation, rather than as a script of questions they will encounter. Interviewers may test related subtopics or material outside the book, and selection can include written or practical assessments as well as conversations.
The advice distinguishes specialist problems from foundational knowledge. A candidate who cannot solve a contour integration problem may not have made a serious error, while misunderstanding basic concepts such as Itô’s lemma or risk-neutral valuation could be much more damaging. The document offers qualitative guidance, not data about interview frequency or a universal account of hiring practices. Expectations will depend on the role and interviewer, so the book is best used to expose gaps and organize review rather than to predict a specific interview.
Key ideas
- Treat interview problems as indicators of relevant subject areas rather than predictions of exact questions.
- Interviews may test nearby concepts or topics absent from a preparation book.
- Quantitative hiring can include written or practical assessments in addition to interviews.
- Prioritize sound understanding of foundational concepts such as Itô calculus and risk-neutral valuation.
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Full text
# Are questions in Joshi's book really asked at Quant interviews? # Are questions in Joshi's book really asked at Quant interviews? I am reading some questions in Joshi's book on Quant Job Interview Questions, and am perplexed at some of the questions in the book. Some of them are extremely easy (like, "explain the Black Scholes equation" or "write C++ code to compute Fibonacci numbers" or "why can't t you sort an array of length N in O(n)-time"). I could do this in my sleep. But then there are these weirdo questions that require Stirling's approximation or knowing a power series expansion of $\sin x$. I mean, I know what's going on and I understand the solution to the questions totally, but ... I don't walk around with the power series expansion of $\sin x$ in my head, sorry I just don't. There's even a question about contour integration (CONTOUR INTEGRATION!) in there. Here's the solution taken from the book: WTF? Are you supposed to give this solution on a whiteboard at a job interview? Are such questions actually asked? Why? ## Answer by Magic is in the chain (score 4) https://quant.stackexchange.com/a/46110 The topics are relevant, so if you find something you don’t understand then would be worthwhile brushing up on the maths. It is unlikely that someone will ask you the exact same question though, the questions might be on related topic or sub part of the questions or a topic that is not covered in the book, but you can use these as an assessment of your preparation. And don’t forget interview does not mean you speaking to some guys in front of you. These days you will have to go through a whole assessment days and that could include written/practical tests. But you don’t have to get every question right except the basic ones. Not being able to solve the contour integration is not a serious mistake, but getting basic thing, such as Ito or risk neutral, wrong could be a catastrophe.
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This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.