PRACTICE GUIDE D. E. SHAW
D. E. Shaw Technical Practice Test
Outcry’s D. E. Shaw technical practice section has 12 questions in 17 minutes. These numbers describe the linked mock; the source check below distinguishes published details from practice settings.
This India-campus-inspired mock uses 95 minutes, four sections and 138 available marks. Counts, section weights, clocks, deductions and JavaScript are Outcry settings unless confirmed by your invitation.
Outcry is not affiliated with D. E. Shaw and has no access to their assessment content. This guide describes an assessment format that candidates report publicly; the questions here are generated by Outcry and are not D. E. Shaw’s own.
What it screens
A quantitative investment firm based in New York, among the largest and longest-running in the industry.
- ✓Reading concurrent code and pointing at the defective line
- ✓Order-book data structures: what happens on a cross, a cancel, a partial fill
- ✓Algorithmic complexity chosen for the input sizes stated in the problem
- ✓Monte Carlo methods and when a simulation beats a closed form
Where it sits at D. E. Shaw
D. E. Shaw’s public interviewing guide describes typical interviews and relevant mathematical/computing skills. It does not establish this exact India campus test or rule out assessments in other regions.
Practice stage: India campus practice · current format unconfirmed. This India-campus-inspired mock uses 95 minutes, four sections and 138 available marks. Counts, section weights, clocks, deductions and JavaScript are Outcry settings unless confirmed by your invitation.
The format
These are the settings used by Outcry’s D. E. Shaw practice sitting. They are not automatically the employer’s published format; see the linked assessment’s source check.
| Questions | 12 |
|---|---|
| Time | 17 minutes |
| Per question | 85 seconds |
| Negative marking | Yes - a wrong answer costs a mark |
| Answer style | Multiple choice |
| Where it sits | India campus practice · current format unconfirmed |
What it tests, with a worked example
Every example below is generated by Outcry, drawn from the same question generators the timed drills run. None of them is D. E. Shaw’s.
Data structure implementation
Build the thing rather than call it: an order book, a cache, a ring buffer. Graded by hidden tests, so there is no partial credit for an approach.
Language and systems detail
Memory, references, undefined behaviour and the things that bite in production.
Example
A table holds 229,000 rows of 256 bytes each. Blocks are 4,096 bytes and rows do not span blocks. How many blocks does a full scan read?
- 14,313
- 229,000
- 218,000
- 16
Answer 14,313
4,096 / 256 = 16 rows a block once the remainder is discarded, since a row cannot straddle a block. 229,000 / 16 rounds up to 14,313 blocks. Dividing total bytes by block size gives 14,313 and quietly assumes no wasted tail.
Numerical and data handling
Floating point, aggregation and joins on data that does not fit the obvious shape.
Example
X and Y are independent, with standard deviations 17 and 30. What is the correlation between X and X + Y?
Answer 0.49301257198088033
Cov(X, X+Y) = Var(X) = 289, because X and Y are independent. SD(X+Y) = sqrt(289 + 900) = 34.482. So the correlation is 289 / (17 x 34.482) = 0.493. Adding independent noise to a series never makes the correlation zero, only smaller.
Edge cases
Empty input, one element, duplicates and overflow. The hidden tests always include them.
Probability behind the problem
Screens that look like coding questions and are really expectation questions.
Example
A strategy returns 19.8% a year with an annual volatility of 27.8%. Cash pays 3.7%. What is its Sharpe ratio?
Answer 0.579
Sharpe is excess return per unit of risk: (19.8% - 3.7%) / 27.8% = 16.1% / 27.8% = 0.579. The risk-free rate has to come out of the numerator, because holding cash earns 3.7% at zero volatility and no strategy should get credit for that. Using the raw 19.8% gives 0.712, which flatters the strategy by 0.133 and flatters it more the higher rates go.
Reading a spec precisely
Return type, ordering and tie-breaking are graded, and are where most silent failures come from.
What a good score looks like
Use this mock’s score and worked review to identify skills to practise. No Outcry score guarantees a pass or a hiring outcome; a current employer threshold for this practice paper has not been verified.
How to train for it
- 01Implement the core structures from scratch once each. The screens ask you to build them, not use them.
- 02Write the edge cases into your own tests first. That is where the hidden ones live.
- 03Get the function signature exactly right before anything else. Return type and ordering are graded, and a correct algorithm behind a wrong signature scores zero.
TRAIN IT HERE
The drills that match each section
Concurrency Clash
Find the data race, name the fix - real C++ defect patterns, five levels.
Order Book
Matching-engine mechanics: crosses, cancels and partial fills.
Algorithm Interview Track
DP tables, Monte Carlo estimation and speed rounds at four difficulty tiers.
SIT THE FULL BATTERY
All the sections back to back on one clock, marked the way the real screen marks them, with a by-skill breakdown at the end. Included with any pass.
Also reported at D. E. Shaw
Common questions
- Is this D. E. Shaw’s official technical test?
- No. Outcry generates its own questions. D. E. Shaw’s public interviewing guide describes typical interviews and relevant mathematical/computing skills. It does not establish this exact India campus test or rule out assessments in other regions. This India-campus-inspired mock uses 95 minutes, four sections and 138 available marks. Counts, section weights, clocks, deductions and JavaScript are Outcry settings unless confirmed by your invitation.
- How long is this technical practice section?
- 12 questions in 17 minutes in the Outcry mock. These are practice settings unless the source check explicitly confirms them.
- How is the practice marked?
- Correct answers earn 3 marks unless the question states another weight. Wrong answers lose 1; unanswered items lose 0, including timeouts. These rules apply to this mock.
- Where can I check the employer’s process?
- See the public source check on the linked assessment. Your role-specific invitation governs the actual format, permitted tools and scoring.