Curtin Quant Society
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Assessment Resources
Interview Preparation
A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews - Xinfeng Xhou
Commonly known as the 'The Green Book', this book will prepare you for interviews by outlining the key concepts frequently tested. It contains more than 200 interview questions that are very commonly used, but also contains information about brain teasers, calculus, linear algebra, probability, stochastic processes and calculus, finance and programming.
Glassdoor.com
Glassdoor is a website primarily for current and former employees to review their companies anonymously, however, there are great resources available regarding interview questions for trading firms. The links below contain first-hand accounts of interview experience, with some practical examples of the questions used:
Note: you will need to create a free account, but we believe it is worth it.
Heard on the Street - Timothy Crack
"Heard on the Street" by Timothy Crack is an essential read for anyone preparing for job interviews in investment banking, investment management, or options trading. Heard on the Street contains over 140 of the most common quantitative/qualitative questions asked in these interviews, with chapters 1 and 4 being the most useful for quant trading positions. This book is the perfect place to start learning about approaches to solving interview problems!
50 Challenging Questions in Probability - Frederick Mosteller
“50 Challenging Questions in Probability” by Frederick Mosteller provides a collection of challenging problem-solving questions in probability theory. These logic questions apply probability such as Bayes’ Theorem, conditional probability and random variables and do not require much working, and hence are very similar to probability questions asked in interviews.
General Information
Option Volatility and Pricing - Sheldon Natenberg
One of the most widely read books by quantitative traders, and is often given to new traders to guide them through the theory of options trading. Covers the major aspects required by graduate traders, including:
- The foundations of option theory
- Dynamic hedging
- Volatility and directional trading strategies
- Risk analysis
- Position management
- Stock index futures and options
- Volatility contracts
Optiver - Trading, Research and Risk
Optiver is the largest options market maker in the world. The purpose of this document is to explain to you what this actually means as well as tell you more about jobs in trading, research and risk. This document outlines a comprehensive guide to quantitative careers at Optiver, providing a sneak peak for the hyper-curious into the type of people they hire, and the problems and ideas that motivate them.
Jane Street Probability and Markets Guide
The Jane Street Probability & Markets Guide is a comprehensive 13-page introduction to basic concepts asked about in Jane Street and other trading companies' interviews. This guide covers both standard concepts - such as counting, probability, and expected value - and lesser-known concepts - such as market making, adverse selection and recursion - all of which are important to have a strong base in prior to interviews. Though it doesn’t contain many practice problems, the guide can give readers a good direction on what topics to study to prepare for interviews.
Courses
Options 101 - Akuna Capital
The Options 101 course offered online by Akuna Capital is an in-depth insight into the basics of options trading from the perspective of an options market-maker, with the information often taught to interns during the first two weeks of internships. This course provides videos, readings and practice problems in option theory and can help determine if a career in options trading is right for you. The course covers concepts such as basic option theory, profit and loss payoffs for different trading strategies and Greeks.
