Interview prep, written down.
Real questions, real answers, and the study plans people actually use before a finance interview. For the underlying concepts worked in full — DCFs, WACC, LBOs, and the rest — see the concept guides.
Restructuring Interviews: How the Questions Differ From a Normal IB Round
The valuation is where an RX question starts, not where it ends. Priority of claims, a recovery waterfall you can run out loud, Chapter 11 vocabulary, and the debt repurchase question that trips people up.
A Field Guide to Case Study Interviews (the Ones With a Printed Packet)
What's usually in the packet, why you read the question before anything else, the rough returns math you can do on paper, and how to present a recommendation that survives the follow-up questions.
Superday Format: What Changes When It's Five Interviews in One Day
Same questions, very different test. Why interviewers grade you as a set, how to repeat your story without it going flat, and how to keep one bad round from turning into two.
Modeling Test Day: What to Do in the First Five Minutes
Most people who run out of time lose it at the start. Read the whole prompt, work back from the outputs, put every input in one place, and dodge the circular reference before it eats the clock.
Debt vs. Equity Financing: What an Interviewer Wants to Hear You Weigh
Why debt is cheaper, why nobody funds with all debt, the factors that actually decide it, and a worked EPS example where issuing stock beats borrowing until the share price falls.
Revenue vs. EBITDA vs. Free Cash Flow: What Each Multiple Is Really Pricing
Each denominator sits at a different line of the income statement, and everything below it is taken on faith. The matching rule, a two-company capex example, and the interview questions that test whether you know the difference.
What “Walk Me Through Your Resume” Is Actually Testing
It sounds like a warm-up, but it's the first work sample you give. What the interviewer is scoring, a structure that turns a timeline into a reason, and the habits that cost people the room.
How to Read a Cap Table Like an Investor
Basic vs. fully diluted, a Series A worked through share by share, the option pool shuffle that quietly lowers the real pre-money, and why owning 56% can mean taking home 35%.
Common LBO Interview Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Where LBO answers actually break: sources and uses that don't balance, unlevered cash flow in a levered model, assumed multiple expansion, exit math that forgets the remaining debt. Plus a paper LBO clean enough to run out loud.
Strategic vs. Financial Buyers: Why the Same Company Is Worth Two Different Numbers
Synergies against standalone cash flow, EPS accretion against IRR, and no exit date against a fund life. Why two buyers price one target differently, and how the pitch changes with the buyer on the other side.
Reading a 10-K Before an Interview: What to Extract in 20 Minutes
A route through the filing rather than a read of it: what the cover page gives you in a minute, what MD&A is actually telling you, the three notes worth opening, and the sections to skip outright.
Reading a Comps Set: What Makes Two Companies Actually Comparable
The screens that make a peer set defensible, the adjustments that make the multiples honest, and the four things to check on someone else's comps page before you trust the median.
Investment Banking Interview Prep by Firm: Goldman, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, and More
The process, not just the questions: Morgan Stanley's group exercise and stock pitch, Lazard's technical-heavy first round, and why prepping the same way for every firm misses what actually differs.
IRR, MOIC, and Payback Period: When Each One Lies to You
Three ways to score the same deal and three different answers: the MOIC-to-IRR bridge, why a dividend recap moves one number and not the other, and what each metric quietly hides.
How to Write a Coffee Chat Request Email (With a Template)
Finding the right person, the one line that actually gets a reply, a template worth adapting instead of copying, and how long to wait before following up.
What “Accretive” and “Dilutive” Actually Mean in an M&A Deal
Pro forma EPS math with worked numbers: the all-stock P/E rule, the debt and cash versions, breakeven synergies, and why accretion says far less about a deal than candidates assume.
Excel Shortcuts Every Investment Banking Analyst Should Know
The keyboard-only shortcuts that separate a first-year who's still reaching for the mouse from one who isn't, organized by what you're actually doing at your desk.
How to Prepare for a Technical Finance Interview in Two Weeks
A day-by-day plan for the two weeks before a technical round: what to actually memorize, what to practice under a clock, and what to skip.
25 Finance Interview Questions You'll Actually Get Asked
The real rotation: accounting flow-throughs, valuation walkthroughs, LBO mechanics, and the behavioral question that trips up more candidates than any technical one.