How long is DRW Quantitative Challenge?

About 45 minutes across 1 section, 6 items in total, with the clock running continuously between them.

Are the questions the same every time?

No. Every item is generated from the archetype bank the format draws on, so the shape of the paper is fixed and the numbers are not. Two attempts are two different papers.

Is this DRW's real assessment?

No. Outcry is not affiliated with DRW and has no access to their questions. This sitting reproduces a publicly reported format - the item counts, the timings and the marking rules - and generates every question itself.

DRW

DRW Quantitative Challenge - Free Timed Practice

Modelled on DRW's take-home technical challenge, which for trading and research roles is what DRW calls a quantitative challenge: substantial questions spanning probability, statistics, Markov chains, regression and game theory. No negative marking. The difficulty is in the working.

Format

1 section · 6 items · about 45 minutes
No negative marking - answer everything.
No going back. Answer or skip, and the next item loads.
Every sitting is generated fresh - a retake is a new paper.

Sections

Quantitative challenge - 6 items, 45 minutes, no negative marking. Six multi-step problems in 45 minutes. Probability, statistics, a Markov chain, a regression, a game and a logic puzzle.

What this sitting is

1 section, 6 items, about 45 minutes end to end, on a clock that does not stop between sections. Every question is generated fresh, so sitting it twice gives you two different papers and there is nothing to memorise between attempts.

How it is marked

No section marks negatively. A wrong answer costs nothing beyond the mark you would have earned, so there is never a reason to leave an item blank.

There is no going back anywhere in the paper. You answer or skip, and the next item loads, so every decision to leave something is final at the moment you make it.

Section by section, with a worked example

Every example below is generated by Outcry, drawn from the same generator that section runs during the timed sitting. None of it is DRW's own material.

A. Quantitative challenge

Six multi-step problems in 45 minutes. Probability, statistics, a Markov chain, a regression, a game and a logic puzzle.

6 items in 45 minutes, which is about 7.5 minutes an item. No penalty for a wrong answer here, so answer everything.

Example 1

Cards are revealed one at a time from a shuffled deck of 26 red and 26 black. At any moment you may stop and receive $1 for each red card ALREADY revealed, minus $1 for each black. If you never stop you get $0. Roughly what is this game worth with optimal play?

Exactly $13
Exactly $0
About $6.50
A bit more than $2

Answer A bit more than $2

The count is a random walk you may quit while ahead - optionality on a mean-zero walk has positive value, but the walk must end at 0 (equal reds and blacks), which caps it: optimal stopping is worth ≈ $2.60 on a 52-card deck. Far from $0, far from $13.

Example 2

A box holds 20 cards: 16 marked accept and 4 marked reject. A reviewer reads them one at a time in a random order, keeping a running count of each kind. What is the probability that the two running counts are level at some point after the first card?

Answer 0.4

Bertrand's ballot theorem, which the reflection principle proves. Read the sequence as a walk that steps up on accept and down on reject. The walk never returns to zero exactly when the side that ends ahead leads the whole way, and reflection pairs off the bad paths to give P(never level) = |16 - 4|/20 = 3/5 = 0.6. So the running counts meet at some point with probability 1 - 3/5 = 2/5 = 0.4. Only the margin matters, not the size of the box.

Example 3

A signal fires before 80% of genuine market moves, but also on 20% of quiet days. Genuine moves happen on 20% of days. The signal just fired - what is the probability today is a genuine move?

16/68
16/32
80/100
16/100

Answer 16/32

Bayes: (0.2·0.8) / (0.2·0.8 + 0.8·0.2) = 16/32 ≈ 0.50. The false alarms on the many quiet days drag the answer far below 80%.

Common questions

How long is DRW Quantitative Challenge?: About 45 minutes across 1 section, 6 items in total, with the clock running continuously between them.
Is there negative marking?: No section marks negatively. A wrong answer costs nothing beyond the mark you would have earned, so there is never a reason to leave an item blank.
Can I go back to an earlier question?: There is no going back anywhere in the paper. You answer or skip, and the next item loads, so every decision to leave something is final at the moment you make it.
Are the questions the same every time?: No. Every item is generated from the archetype bank the format draws on, so the shape of the paper is fixed and the numbers are not. Two attempts are two different papers.
Is this DRW's real assessment?: No. Outcry is not affiliated with DRW and has no access to their questions. This sitting reproduces a publicly reported format - the item counts, the timings and the marking rules - and generates every question itself.

Outcry is not affiliated with DRW and has no access to their assessment content. This sitting reproduces a publicly reported format; every question is generated by Outcry.