PRACTICE GUIDE MAVEN SECURITIES
Maven Securities Mental Maths Practice Test
The Maven Securities mental maths screen is 50 questions in 5 minutes - about 6 seconds each - answered by typing the number, with no calculator. There is no negative marking, so leaving an item blank gains you nothing over guessing.
Where it sits: First online round. The practice sitting on this page runs the same item count, the same clock and the same marking rule, with questions generated by Outcry rather than taken from Maven Securities.
Outcry is not affiliated with Maven Securities 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 Maven Securities’s own.
What it screens
A London-based proprietary trading group active in derivatives market making and systematic strategies.
- ✓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 Maven Securities
This section does not arrive on its own. It opens the paper, and the sitting around it runs 41 minutes and 98 items in total, with Sequences and Probability and problem solving on the same continuous clock. Candidates who prepare only for this round tend to be caught by the pacing of the rest.
There is no going back. You answer or skip, and the next item loads, which means the decision to leave an item is final at the moment you make it.
The format
These are the numbers the Maven Securities sitting on this site runs on, matching the format candidates report.
| Questions | 50 |
|---|---|
| Time | 5 minutes |
| Per question | 6 seconds |
| Negative marking | No |
| Answer style | Typed numeric answer, no calculator |
| Where it sits | First online round |
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 Maven Securities’s.
Two-digit multiplication
Products you are expected to reach by splitting rather than by long multiplication.
Example 1
16 × 24
Answer 384
(20−4)(20+4) = 20² − 4² = 400 − 16 = 384.
Example 2
45 × 55
Answer 2475
(50−5)(50+5) = 50² − 5² = 2500 − 25 = 2475.
Example 3
6/7 × 14
Answer 12
14 ÷ 7 = 2, then × 6 = 12.
Fast division
Exact quotients where the divisor is chosen to make a shortcut available.
Example 1
125% of 32
Answer 40
Swap it: 125% of 32 = 32% of 125 = 40.
Example 2
44²
Answer 1936
Anchor on 40: 44² = 40² + 2 × 40 × 4 + 16 = 1600 + 320 + 16 = 1936.
Example 3
1/3 of 18
Answer 6
18 ÷ 3 = 6, then × 1 = 6. Divide before you multiply and the numbers stay small.
Fractions and decimals
Converting between the two on sight, and reducing without pencil work.
Example 1
0.25 × 24
Answer 6
0.25 is 1 quarters. 24 ÷ 4 = 6, so 1 × 6 = 6.
Example 2
Decrease 600 by 10%
Answer 540
10% of 600 is 60, so the answer is 600 − 60 = 540.
Example 3
67 + 80 + 33 + 81
Answer 261
Pair them: 67 + 80 = 147, 33 + 81 = 114, total 261.
Additive chains
Long sums and differences where grouping to round numbers beats working left to right.
Example 1
10/12 as a decimal, three decimal places?
Answer 0.833
1/12 = 0.083, so 10/12 = 0.833.
Example 2
783 + 557 = ?
Answer 1340
Round 557 to 560, add, then correct by -3: 1,340.
Example 3
2/3 as a decimal, three decimal places?
Answer 0.667
1/3 = 0.333, so 2/3 = 0.667.
Squares and near-squares
Products a step either side of a square, where the difference-of-squares identity is faster than multiplying.
Example 1
Continue the sequence: 71, 74, 77, 80, 83, ?
Answer 86
Every step adds 3, so the next term is 83 + 3 = 86.
Example 2
B6 B6 A3 A19 B15 B7
A means add 7 to the number. B means multiply it by 2. What do the six results add to?
Answer 104
B6→12, B6→12, A3→10, A19→26, B15→30, B7→14, which adds to 104.
Example 3
Add the digits of 53979265.
Answer 46
Running total: 5 → 8 → 17 → 24 → 33 → 35 → 41 → 46.
Order of operations under pressure
Items written to punish reading left to right instead of resolving the structure first.
Example 1
5x + 4y = 71 and 2x + 9y = 95. What is x?
Answer 7
Eliminate y: multiply the first by 9 and the second by 4, subtract, and x = 7. Then y = 9.
Example 2
181 × 21 = ?
Answer 3801
181 × 20 = 3,620, plus 181 × 1 = 181, giving 3,801.
Example 3
26 × 34 = ?
Answer 884
26 × 30 = 780, plus 26 × 4 = 104, giving 884.
What a good score looks like
On a paper of 50 questions with no penalty for a wrong answer, the only thing an unanswered question can do is cost you. 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
- 01Add the clock and hold the accuracy. This is the step most people skip, and it is the one the screen measures.
- 02Sit a full timed screen end to end, so the pacing decisions happen under the same pressure as the real thing.
- 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 Maven Securities
Common questions
- Is the Maven Securities mental maths test multiple choice?
- Typed numeric answer, no calculator. You type the number, so there is nothing to eliminate your way to.
- How long is the Maven Securities mental maths test?
- 50 questions in 5 minutes, which is about 6 seconds each.
- Is there negative marking on the Maven Securities mental maths test?
- No. A wrong answer costs nothing beyond the mark you would have earned, so leaving an item blank is never better than guessing at it.
- 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. The full Maven Securities Online Assessment sitting puts the sections back to back on one clock.