PRACTICE GUIDE OPTIVER
Optiver NumberLogic Practice Test
The Optiver NumberLogic screen is 26 questions in 25 minutes - about 58 seconds each - answered by typing the number, with no calculator. It marks negatively, so a wrong answer costs you a mark and a skip costs you nothing.
Where it sits: Section B of the same battery. 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 Optiver.
Number-sequence screens are commonly reported alongside the arithmetic test.
Outcry is not affiliated with Optiver 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 Optiver’s own.
What it screens
A global market maker headquartered in Amsterdam, trading options, ETFs and futures on major exchanges.
- ✓First and second differences, ratios, and alternating patterns
- ✓Interleaved sequences (two rules taking turns)
- ✓Squares, cubes, primes and factorials recognised on sight
- ✓Committing to an answer with seconds left
Where it sits at Optiver
This section does not arrive on its own. It is section B of 6, and the sitting around it runs 95 minutes and 175 items in total, with 80 in 8, Likelihood List, Beat the Odds, Zap-N: number memory and Zap-N: patterns 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 Optiver sitting on this site runs on, matching the format candidates report.
| Questions | 26 |
|---|---|
| Time | 25 minutes |
| Per question | 58 seconds |
| Negative marking | Yes - a wrong answer costs a mark |
| Answer style | Typed numeric answer, no calculator |
| Where it sits | Section B of the same battery |
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 Optiver’s.
Arithmetic and geometric runs
A constant difference or a constant ratio, sometimes with the first term chosen to hide it.
Example 1
-14, -7, 1, 10, 20, ?
Answer 31
First differences increase by 1 each time, forcing the sequence to cross zero.
Example 2
-11, -4, 4, 13, 23, ?
Answer 34
First differences increase by 1 each time, forcing the sequence to cross zero.
Example 3
-4, 99, -1, 79, 2, ?
Answer 59
Interleaved sequences: odd positions rise slowly from near zero, evens drop rapidly.
Second-order differences
The differences themselves form a pattern - the give-away for a quadratic rule.
Example 1
What comes next: 1, 8, 27, 64, 125, ?
Answer 216
Cubes from 1: next is 6³ = 216.
Example 2
What comes next: 15, 21, 28, 36, 45, ?
Answer 55
Triangular numbers - the gaps go up by one each time. Next is 45 + 10 = 55.
Example 3
All traders are risk-takers. No risk-takers are cautious people. What follows?
- No traders are cautious people
- Some traders are cautious people
- No cautious people are risk-takers only if some traders are
- All risk-takers are traders
Answer No traders are cautious people
Every trader sits inside risk-takers, and that set is disjoint from cautious people, so none can overlap.
Named number families
Squares, cubes, primes, factorials and Fibonacci, recognised rather than derived.
Example 1
34, 38, 46, 58, 62, 74, ?
Answer 82
These are twice each prime, starting at 17. The gaps do not settle, which is the hint. The next prime after 37 is 41, so the answer is 82.
Example 2
9, 12, 18, 27, 39, 54, ?
Answer 72
The gaps are 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 - each one 3 bigger than the last. The next gap is 18, so 54 + 18 = 72.
Example 3
10, 18, 34, 66, 130, 258, ?
Answer 514
Take 2 off every term and you get 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256 - powers of 2. The next power is 512, so the answer is 514.
Operation chains
Each term built from the last by a repeating operation cycle rather than one rule.
Example 1
1, 8, 27, 64, 125, ? What comes next?
Answer 216
Cubes from 1³. Next is 6³ = 216.
Example 2
4, 8, 12, 16, 20, ? What comes next?
Answer 24
Twice the last minus the one before: 2 × 20 - 16 = 24.
Example 3
24, 67, 29, 75, 34, ? What comes next?
Answer 83
Two sequences alternate. Odd positions 24, 29, 34 add 5. Even positions 67, 75 add 8, so the next is 83.
Ratio runs that are not geometric
Terms whose ratios themselves move, which reads as geometric until the third term breaks it.
Example 1
19, 27, 37, 49, 63, ? What comes next?
Answer 79
The gaps are 8, 10, 12, 14 and grow by 2. Next gap 16, so 63 + 16 = 79.
Example 2
11, 30, 68, 144, 296, ? What comes next?
Answer 600
Double and add 8: 296 × 2 + 8 = 600.
Example 3
34, 37, 40, 43, 46, ? What comes next?
Answer 49
Each term adds 3, so 46 + 3 = 49.
Position-dependent rules
The rule uses the index rather than the previous term, so differences never settle.
Example 1
What comes next: 118, 104, 90, 76, 62, ?
Answer 48
Constant step of −14: 62 − 14 = 48.
Example 2
What comes next: 1, 3, 7, 15, 31, ?
Answer 63
One less than a power of two: 2^6 − 1 = 63. Equivalently double and add 1.
Example 3
What comes next: 5, 10, 30, 120, 600, ?
Answer 3600
The multiplier grows: ×2, ×3, ×4, ×5, so next is ×6: 600 × 6 = 3600.
What a good score looks like
On a paper of 26 questions marked +1 and -1, the arithmetic of the threshold matters as much as the threshold: every wrong answer costs you two places against someone who skipped it. These are usually scored alongside the arithmetic section rather than reported separately, so a standalone cutoff is rarely visible. Candidates describe the sequences round as the one that responds fastest to practice, because the rule families are few.
How to train for it
- 01Learn to take first and second differences automatically, before trying anything cleverer. It resolves most items on its own.
- 02Memorise the small squares, cubes, primes and factorials to sight-recognition. Deriving them is what costs the time.
- 03Check the rule against the last term before you answer. A rule that fits the first three and fails the fourth is the most common way to lose one of these.
TRAIN IT HERE
The drills that match each section
Sequence Sprint
Timed next-term sequences, exactly the assessment format.
Arithmetic Drill
The raw calculation speed that sequence tests assume you already have.
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 Optiver
Common questions
- Is the Optiver NumberLogic 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 Optiver NumberLogic test?
- 26 questions in 25 minutes, which is about 58 seconds each.
- Is there negative marking on the Optiver NumberLogic test?
- Yes. A wrong answer costs you a mark, so an item you cannot see a route through is worth skipping outright - a blind guess on this paper is negative expected value.
- 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 Optiver Trading Assessment sitting puts the sections back to back on one clock.