PRACTICE GUIDE DRW
DRW Mental Math Practice Test
DRW does not publish the shape of its mental math screen, and candidates describe it as 60 to 80 questions in 8 to 10 minutes, roughly about 6 to 10 seconds per question, answered by typing the number, with no calculator.
Those are ranges across firms running this format rather than DRW's own figures, so treat them as the shape to train against and check the instruction screen on the day for the marking rule.
Outcry is not affiliated with DRW 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 DRW’s own.
What it screens
A Chicago-based principal trading firm covering fixed income, energy, crypto and real estate alongside its core trading business.
- ✓Two-digit multiplication and division without writing anything down
- ✓Fraction and decimal conversion at a glance
- ✓Percentage moves in both directions (a 20% drop needs +25% to recover)
- ✓Knowing when to skip: negative marking punishes guessing
Where it sits at DRW
A Chicago-based principal trading firm covering fixed income, energy, crypto and real estate alongside its core trading business. What that means for the screen is that the questions tend to be drawn from the work rather than from a textbook, so the format below is the shape to train against rather than a syllabus.
Candidates also report 4 other screens at DRW, covered separately on this site. Where a firm runs several, they usually sit in one round rather than spread across the process, so the pacing of the whole set matters more than any single section.
The format
DRW does not publish this screen's shape, and it varies between firms, so these are the ranges candidates report rather than exact figures.
| Questions | 60 to 80 |
|---|---|
| Time | 8 to 10 minutes |
| Per question | about 6 to 10 seconds |
| Negative marking | Varies by firm and year |
| Answer style | Typed numeric answer, no calculator |
| Where it sits | First round, before any interview |
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 DRW’s.
Two-digit multiplication
Products you are expected to reach by splitting rather than by long multiplication.
Example 1
45 × 55
Answer 2475
(50−5)(50+5) = 50² − 5² = 2500 − 25 = 2475.
Example 2
6/7 × 14
Answer 12
14 ÷ 7 = 2, then × 6 = 12.
Example 3
25²
Answer 625
25² = 625.
Percentages both ways
A percentage of a number, and the move needed to undo one - a 20% fall needs a 25% rise.
Example
14 items score 59 on average and 19 other items score 72 on average. What is the average across all 33?
Answer 66.5
Total points: 14 × 59 + 19 × 72 = 2,194, over 33 items, giving 66.5. The plain average of 59 and 72 is 65.5, which only holds when the two groups are the same size.
Fractions and decimals
Converting between the two on sight, and reducing without pencil work.
Example 1
Decrease 600 by 10%
Answer 540
10% of 600 is 60, so the answer is 600 − 60 = 540.
Example 2
67 + 80 + 33 + 81
Answer 261
Pair them: 67 + 80 = 147, 33 + 81 = 114, total 261.
Example 3
25% of 25% of 400
Answer 25
Multiply the fractions first: 25% × 25% = 6.25%, and 6.25% of 400 = 25.
Mixed operations under a clock
Several steps in one item, where the order you take them decides whether it fits in the time.
Example 1
1/3 of 66 = ?
Answer 22
66 ÷ 3 = 22, times 1 = 22.
Example 2
450 ÷ 3 = ?
Answer 150
Chunk it: 3 × 150 = 450, leaving 0, which is 3 × 0. The quotient is 150.
Example 3
73.46 + 7.08 = ?
Answer 80.54
73.46 + 7.08 = 80.54.
Knowing when to skip
On a negatively marked paper an item you cannot see a route through is worth leaving.
Order of operations under pressure
Items written to punish reading left to right instead of resolving the structure first.
Example 1
181 × 21 = ?
Answer 3801
181 × 20 = 3,620, plus 181 × 1 = 181, giving 3,801.
Example 2
26 × 34 = ?
Answer 884
26 × 30 = 780, plus 26 × 4 = 104, giving 884.
Example 3
Two fair dice are rolled. What is the chance the total is 9, as a percentage?
Answer 11.1
4 of the 36 ordered outcomes total 9, so 4/36 = 11.1%.
What a good score looks like
Candidates most often report a pass mark around 70 per cent of the questions attempted correctly, with the strongest scores well above that. Nothing here is a published figure: firms move these by role, region and year, and most never state them at all.
How to train for it
- 01Drill the arithmetic cold, untimed, until you stop making careless errors. Speed on top of shaky accuracy is worth negative marks on a paper that subtracts.
- 02Add the clock and hold the accuracy. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one the screen measures.
- 03Learn a handful of identities rather than more speed: difference of squares, multiplying by 11, halving and doubling. They convert a hard item into an easy one.
TRAIN IT HERE
The drills that match each section
Arithmetic Drill
2.5 timed minutes of exactly this question mix, with a ghost of your best past run to race.
Duck Duck Dash
Endless mental-math runner - one mistake ends the run, and the questions climb through ten difficulty tiers.
Sequence Sprint
Pattern recognition under the same per-question time pressure.
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 DRW
Common questions
- Is the DRW mental math test multiple choice?
- Reported as typed numeric answer, no calculator. Formats move, so treat this as the shape rather than a guarantee.
- How long is the DRW mental math test?
- Candidates report 60 to 80 questions in 8 to 10 minutes, roughly about 6 to 10 seconds per question.
- Is there negative marking on the DRW mental math test?
- It varies by firm and by year. Where a paper does mark negatively, skipping beats guessing; where it does not, answer everything. Check the instruction screen before you start - it is always stated there.
- How do I practise for it free?
- Every drill linked on this page is free to play, with no account, inside a daily run cap. Questions are generated fresh each run, so there is nothing to memorise between attempts.
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