// QUANT PREP
Quant prep you play, not read.
Quant prep is four skills under a clock: arithmetic to reflex, probability you can set up cold, a market you can quote both sides of, and statistics you can pick holes in. Everything here is timed and scored, because the interview is. 3 runs a day are free on any game, with no account.
- LABS
- 12
- GAMES
- 58
- MOCK SCREENS
- 9
- FREE RUNS / DAY
- 3
// THE ORDER TO DO IT IN
An eight-week quant prep plan
Most people prepare by reading question banks back to front. The screens do not test recall, they test speed and setup under pressure, so the order below front-loads the skills that only improve with reps and leaves full sittings until there is something to measure.
- Arithmetic drill
01 Weeks 1-2
Mental arithmetic, to reflex
Every trading screen opens with speed arithmetic, and it is the only part that is pure reps. Optiver's battery gives you roughly six seconds a question with negative marking, so hesitation costs more than a skip. Work until two-digit multiplication and percentage moves are automatic rather than calculated.
- Probability lab
02 Weeks 2-4
Probability and expected value
The largest single bucket in every quant screen. Conditional probability, combinatorics, expected value, and the bets that look fair and are not. Firms are testing whether you can set up the problem, not whether you memorised a distribution table.
- Market maker
03 Weeks 4-6
Market making and risk
Quote a two-sided market, take the fill you are given, and manage the inventory that comes with it. This is the part candidates most often skip and it is the part that separates a trading offer from a research one.
- Mock screens
04 Weeks 6-8
Statistics, and full sittings
Regression, selection bias, and the backtest that only looks significant. Then stop drilling in isolation and sit the full-length papers back to back, on the clock, with the real marking rules.
// EVERY SUBJECT
The 12 labs
Probability
Conditional probability, expected value, and the bets that look fair but are not.
Market Making
Quote a spread, take the fill, manage the inventory that comes with it.
Brain Teasers
Invariants, symmetry and induction, played out step by step.
Statistics
Distributions, regression, and the backtest that only looks significant.
Stochastic Processes
Absorbing boundaries, one-step recursions, knowing when to stop.
Gradient Lab
Taylor error, Lagrange constraints, eigenvalues, PSD matrices.
Algorithm Arena
Complexity, dynamic programming, and code that actually runs.
Quant Dev Lab
Matching engines, data structures, and latency you can measure.
Risk Lab
Tail risk, expected shortfall, and correlations that converge when it counts.
Economic Consulting
Causal inference, damages, and the confounder opposing counsel will find.
Actuarial Lab
Run-off triangles, loss development, and reserving that has to hold up.
Drill Lab
Mental math reps until the arithmetic is automatic.
// THE REAL FORMATS
Prep for the assessment you will actually sit
Generic quant prep gets you to the screen. Knowing the format gets you through it - how long each section runs, whether a wrong answer is marked down, and what the paper is really testing. Outcry is not affiliated with any firm listed.
// BY FIRM