PRACTICE GUIDE GOLDMAN SACHS
Goldman Sachs Software Fundamentals Practice Test
Outcry’s Goldman Sachs software fundamentals practice section has 2 questions in 30 minutes. These numbers describe the linked mock; the source check below distinguishes published details from practice settings.
Outcry follows those two clocks. Two coding questions, ten maths questions, JavaScript execution, navigation and scoring are practice settings. Other Engineering applicants have a different diagnostics challenge.
Outcry is not affiliated with Goldman Sachs 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 Goldman Sachs’s own.
What it screens
A global investment bank; this guide covers the Quantitative Strategist (Strats) track specifically, not the firm's other divisions.
- ✓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 Goldman Sachs
Goldman Sachs’ HackerRank guide assigns Software Fundamentals (30 minutes) and a multiple-choice maths challenge (22 minutes) to Quantitative Strategist applicants.
Practice stage: Initial technical assessment · Strats track. Outcry follows those two clocks. Two coding questions, ten maths questions, JavaScript execution, navigation and scoring are practice settings. Other Engineering applicants have a different diagnostics challenge.
The format
These are the settings used by Outcry’s Goldman Sachs practice sitting. They are not automatically the employer’s published format; see the linked assessment’s source check.
| Questions | 2 |
|---|---|
| Time | 30 minutes |
| Per question | 15 minutes |
| Negative marking | No |
| Answer style | Code editor, run against hidden tests |
| Where it sits | Initial technical assessment · Strats track |
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 Goldman Sachs’s.
Complexity that is actually graded
Hidden tests sized so the naive solution times out. A correct answer that is too slow scores the same as a wrong one.
Reading someone else's code
A diff or a function with a bug in it, and the question is where.
Example
Position is accumulated in a double and the code tests `if (position == 0.0)` to detect flat. What goes wrong?
- Comparing doubles is undefined behaviour
- The compiler removes the comparison
- 0.0 and -0.0 compare unequal
- Accumulated rounding leaves a residue, so the test is false when the book is flat
Answer Accumulated rounding leaves a residue, so the test is false when the book is flat
Adding and subtracting fills in binary leaves a residue around 1e-15. Compare against a tolerance, or hold size in integer lots and never in a double.
Language and systems detail
Memory, references, undefined behaviour and the things that bite in production.
Example
Frames: 3 Reference string: 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 0 1
A process makes the page references below against 3 free frames, using FIFO replacement. How many page faults occur?
- 9
- 2
- 3
- 4
Answer 3
FIFO evicts the oldest resident page regardless of use. Walking the string gives 3 faults and 9 hits over 12 references. The first 3 references are always faults because the frames start empty.
Numerical and data handling
Floating point, aggregation and joins on data that does not fit the obvious shape.
Example
x 12 22 7 18 23 5 17
What is the sample variance of the series above? Use the n-1 denominator.
Answer 49.8095238095238
The mean is 14.86. Squared deviations: 8.16 + 51.02 + 61.73 + 9.88 + 66.31 + 97.16 + 4.59 = 298.86. Divided by n-1 = 6 that is 49.81. The n denominator would give 42.69.
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
Var(X) = 9, Var(Y) = 2, Cov(X, Y) = 6. What is Var(5X + 3Y)?
- 51
- 243
- 423
- 333
Answer 423
Var(aX + bY) = a^2 Var(X) + b^2 Var(Y) + 2ab Cov(X, Y) = 25(9) + 9(2) + 30(6) = 225 + 18 + 180 = 423. The coefficients square, and the covariance term carries the factor 2.
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
- 01Write the edge cases into your own tests first. That is where the hidden ones live.
- 02Get the function signature exactly right before anything else. Return type and ordering are graded, and a correct algorithm behind a wrong signature scores zero.
- 03Practise without an autocomplete. The screens run in a bare editor, and the gap between writing code with help and without it is larger than most people expect.
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 Goldman Sachs
Common questions
- Is this Goldman Sachs’s official software fundamentals test?
- No. Outcry generates its own questions. Goldman Sachs’ HackerRank guide assigns Software Fundamentals (30 minutes) and a multiple-choice maths challenge (22 minutes) to Quantitative Strategist applicants. Outcry follows those two clocks. Two coding questions, ten maths questions, JavaScript execution, navigation and scoring are practice settings. Other Engineering applicants have a different diagnostics challenge.
- How long is this software fundamentals practice section?
- 2 questions in 30 minutes in the Outcry mock. These are practice settings unless the source check explicitly confirms them.
- How is the practice marked?
- Correct answers earn 1 mark unless the question states another weight. Wrong answers lose 0; 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.