Drills
Every drill draws from generated questions, so running the same one twice never gives you the same paper. Two tracks run through everything below: mental math (arithmetic and fluency — useful on its own) and trading interview prep (sequences, probability, and the desk material, marked wherever it appears).
Start here
Don’t know where to begin? 8 steps, in order, cold hands to interview-ready.
- 1Warm-up · 1 minMental mathGet your hands moving. No penalty, no clock pressure worth worrying about.
- 2Sprint · 3 minMental mathAdd negative marking. Learn what a wrong answer costs and when to skip.
- 3Speed 80 · multiple choiceTrading prepSit the standard high-volume format end to end. This is the round that filters most people out.
- 4Trading preview · 6 questionsTrading prepSee the other side, free: a fixed sample of the trading questions the paid categories generate unlimited amounts of.
- 5Sequences · 15 in 25Trading prepPAIDPattern recognition under a clock, with no going back.
- 6Brainteasers · 15 minTrading prepPAIDSlow down. These are the questions you talk through in a room, not race.
- 7Desk ready · 10 minTrading prepPAIDTrading numeracy: quotes, edge, expected value, payoffs.
- 8The full run · 25 minTrading prepPAIDEverything, mixed. Clear the pass line here and you have no holes left.
By category
Untimed, unlimited — pick one skill, or start a mix of everything in a track.
Mental math
The online screen10 categories
Timed arithmetic under negative marking — percentages and missing operands, not just addition.
Free now:Integer arithmeticDecimalsFractionsMixed arithmeticPercentagesSquares & roots
Browse the categories individually
Arithmetic
- Integer arithmeticFour operations on whole numbers. The baseline every assessment starts from.39 + 267
- DecimalsThe same operations with a decimal point to keep track of. Most dropped marks live here.1.31 + 1.89
- FractionsAdd, subtract, multiply and divide fractions, answered as decimals.3/5 ÷ 1/2
- Missing operandPAID66 × ? = 138.6. The shape candidates freeze on, because no free trainer generates it.? × 9 = 612
- Mixed arithmeticAll four types interleaved, exactly as the real papers serve them.151 + ? = 276
Numeric fluency
- PercentagesPercentage of, percentage change, and reversing a move — including the trap.Increase 790 by 4%
- Basis pointsPAIDThe working unit of every rates desk. 1bp on $1m is $100 — from there it's arithmetic.Express 210 bps as a percentage
- Fraction conversionsPAIDHalves to 64ths as decimals and percentages. Recall, not division.Express 3/4 as a percentage
- Squares & rootsSquares, cubes, perfect roots and powers of two, on sight.2 ^ 7
- CompoundingPAIDRule of 72 and fast (1+r)^n approximations, graded on closeness rather than exactness.100 compounded at 2% for 4 years
Trading interview prep
Unlock the full mixPAIDThe interview round9 categories
Unlock the full mixPAIDSequences, estimation, and the puzzles you talk through out loud: dice, expected value, stopping problems.
Browse the categories individually
Reasoning
- SequencesPAIDNine rule families, randomised. The sequence round that shows up in most assessments.8, 11, 16, 23, 32, ?
- EstimationPAIDLand within a tolerance, fast. Exactness is worth nothing if it takes you nine seconds.Estimate (1355 × 265) ÷ 37
- Weighings & informationPAIDFind the odd coin on a balance. Each weighing has three outcomes, which is the whole trick.You know the fake coin is heavier, not lighter. With 2 weighings, what is the largest number of coins you can guarantee identifying it among?
- Rates & meeting timesPAIDRelative speed, combined work rates, and the average-speed trap that catches almost everyone.A boat covers 200 miles downstream in 10 hours, and the same 200 miles upstream in 20 hours. What is the speed of the current?
- CountingPAIDHandshakes, lattice paths, trailing zeros. Combinatorics small enough to do in your head.6 people, including Alex and Sam, line up for a photo. In how many of the arrangements do Alex and Sam end up standing next to each other?
Probability & games
- ProbabilityPAIDDice, coins, urns and conditional probability at interview speed.6 fair coin flips. P(exactly 0 heads)?
- Expected valuePAIDWhat is this game worth. Includes the reroll question, which comes up constantly.Roll a 6-sided die. You may reroll once and must take the second roll. Playing optimally, what is the expected value?
- Card & urn gamesPAIDSequential draws without replacement, and why linearity of expectation makes most of it easy.A shuffled pile holds 5 red and 4 black cards. The first 4 cards are 1 red and 3 black. P(the next card is red)?
- Games & optimal playPAIDSwitching doors, stopping rules, gambler's ruin. The answer depends on playing correctly.A coin game: the pot starts at $1 and doubles every time the coin lands heads, up to a cap of $128 — once the pot hits the cap it stops growing. The game ends the moment the coin lands tails, and you're paid whatever the pot holds at that point. Expected value of the game?
The desk round12 categories
Unlock the full mixPAIDWhat the seat actually needs — quoting a market, bond risk, option structures, and volatility.
Browse the categories individually
Trading desk
- Market makingPAIDWidth, mid, edge and skew on a two-sided quote.Fair value is 307. You buy 1,000 at 308. What is your theoretical edge?
- Position & P&LPAIDMark to market, weighted average price, partial closes.You buy 150 at 67.99, then 250 at 65.63. Average price?
- Bond riskPAIDDV01, duration, convexity and forward rates. What a basis point actually costs you.A government bond yields 6%. A corporate bond of the same maturity trades at a spread of 125 bps over it. What yield does the corporate bond offer?
Options & exotics
- OptionsPAIDExpiry payoffs, breakevens, time value and put–call parity. No Greeks, no models.Underlying 119. A 125 put trades at 7.88. What is its time value?
- Option structuresPAIDSpreads, collars, butterflies and risk reversals — cost, breakevens and the payoff diagram.You hold the stock at 95, buy the 90 put and sell the 100 call for the same premium — a zero-cost collar. What have you actually done?
- Exotic payoffsPAIDDigitals, barriers, lookbacks and Asians, evaluated on a stated path. Arithmetic, not pricing.You are long a worst-of call on two stocks. Correlation between them rises, everything else unchanged. What happens to the value of your option?
- Exotic dynamicsPAIDReplication, barrier discontinuities, autocalls and structured notes — how they behave.A cash-or-nothing digital put struck at 160 pays a flat $400 if the underlying settles below 160, and nothing otherwise. You replicate it with 170 / 150 put spreads — long the 170 put, short the 150 put, each spread on one unit, so each spread can pay at most its 20-point width. How many spreads do you need for the replication to pay the full $400 once the underlying reaches 150?
Volatility & Greeks
- Volatility scalingPAIDThe rule of 16 and the square root of time. A vol trader has this pre-loaded.A stock's annualised implied volatility is 48% (252 trading days). What 1-sigma move does that imply over the next 63 trading days, in percent?
- Variance & vol swapsPAIDVariance is the tradeable quantity, not volatility. Vega notional, payoffs and convexity.An index shows the usual downward-sloping skew — lower strikes at higher implied vol — with at-the-money implied volatility at 25. Ignoring rates and any cap, where should the fair strike of a variance swap of the same maturity sit relative to 25?
- Skew & term structurePAIDForward vol from two tenors, skew in vol points, and implied correlation on an index.An equal-weighted index of 16 stocks, each with an implied volatility of 50. Every pairwise implied correlation is 20%. What is the implied volatility of the index?
- GreeksPAIDDelta, gamma, vega and theta as numbers you hedge with. Greeks given, no model to solve.Two at-the-money calls on the same stock at $100, same 100 strike and the same implied volatility: one expires in a week, the other in a year. Per option, which has the larger gamma?
- Delta hedging & gammaPAIDGamma against theta: what a move pays you, and the daily move that just breaks even.You are delta-hedged on a stock at $20 and the risk report shows a dollar gamma of $400. Desks quote dollar gamma as Γ × S² / 100 — the dollars of delta the book picks up when the stock moves 1%. What is your position gamma, in shares of delta per $1 move?
Practice
Our own formats, not reconstructions — instant feedback, and you set the pace.
Mental math
Trading interview prep
Trading preview · 6 questionsA fixed, free sample of the paid trading categories — sequences, probability, market making, options, volatility.6 q∞ min—Desk ready · 10 minPAIDThe trading categories only. Quotes, edge, payoffs, expected value.∞ q10 min-1Brainteasers · 15 minPAIDWeighings, rates, counting and games. Thinking time, not typing speed.12 q15 min—Vol desk · 12 minPAIDRule of 16, variance swaps, skew, and running a delta-hedged book.∞ q12 min—Structuring desk · 12 minPAIDSpreads and collars, exotic payoffs, and how a structured note actually behaves.∞ q12 min—Rates desk · 8 minPAIDDV01, duration and basis points, at the speed a rates interview expects.∞ q8 min-1The full run · 25 minPAIDForty questions drawn from every category. Clear 30 and you are ready.40 q25 min—
Assessment simulations
Trading-firm assessment shapes, not general practice — timing, scoring and answer format matched to the real thing.
Speed 80 · multiple choice80 questions, 8 minutes, minus one for every wrong answer.80 q8 min-1corroboratedSpeed 80 · typed answersPAIDSame volume, but you type the answer and there are no fractions.80 q8 min-1reportedSerial 60 · no skippingPAID60 in 6, served one at a time. You cannot skip or go back.60 q6 min-1corroboratedSequences · 15 in 25PAIDSequences, escalating difficulty, no going back.15 q25 min-1reportedSequences · 25 in 25PAIDMore questions, roughly a minute each, skipping allowed.25 q25 min-1reportedNumerical reasoning · 24 in 18PAIDFewer questions, more time, mixed arithmetic and patterns.24 q18 min—indicativeQuant round · 9 in 60PAIDNine questions, an hour. This one is not a speed test.9 q60 min—reported
Quantm is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any trading firm. These are generic formats reconstructed from publicly shared candidate accounts — they describe common assessment shapes, not any one employer's test, and real assessments change without notice.