https://academicquant.co.uk/blog Notes on quantitative finance interviews, Oxbridge STEM admissions and MBA applications. en-GB https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-best-quant-interview-prep https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-best-quant-interview-prep The books and practice sites worth your time for quant trading, research and developer interviews, compared by role, with what to skip. One option is ours. Sun, 01 Nov 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-market-making-interview-game https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-market-making-interview-game Make me a market, with worked numbers: setting the width, what being lifted tells you, how far an informed trader moves your quote, and managing a position. Mon, 26 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-mental-math-trading-interviews https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-mental-math-trading-interviews The shortcuts that decide an 80 in 8: rounding and correcting, squares, fractions by heart, division by factors, a nines check, and when to skip a question. Mon, 26 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-how-to-solve-stochastic-differential-equations https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-how-to-solve-stochastic-differential-equations Four ways to solve an SDE in an interview: Itô on the right function, an integrating factor, moment equations and the scale function, with worked examples. Mon, 19 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-trader-vs-researcher-vs-developer https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-trader-vs-researcher-vs-developer What quant traders, researchers and developers do all day, what eight trading firms pay each in their 2027 US adverts, and how each is interviewed. Tue, 13 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-low-latency-cpp-interview-questions https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-low-latency-cpp-interview-questions Twelve low-latency C++ questions trading firms ask developers, from cache lines and atomics to page faults and order books, and what a good answer sounds like. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-machine-learning-from-scratch-interview https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-machine-learning-from-scratch-interview The ML coding round asks you to write softmax, backprop, attention or k-means in NumPy. Eight implementations and the one detail in each that fails candidates. Fri, 09 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-gmat-or-gre-for-mba https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-gmat-or-gre-for-mba GMAT Focus or GRE for an MBA in 2027: the test mix and median scores at HBS, Columbia, Kellogg and Wharton, how schools read each test, and how to choose. Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-mit-international-acceptance-rate https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-mit-international-acceptance-rate I've put MIT's Class of 2029 figures in one place. Only 136 of 6,926 international applicants got in, about 2%, and you'll see why early action helps. Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-oxbridge-acceptance-rates https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-oxbridge-acceptance-rates I went through both universities' own numbers. Oxford maths gave offers to 10.1% and CS to 10.9%, and at Cambridge it's 12.7% for maths and 7.4% for CS. Tue, 06 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-intern-pay-2027 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-intern-pay-2027 Jane Street, Citadel, Jump, IMC, SIG, Two Sigma and others state 2027 quant intern pay in US adverts. The figures, what they mean, and how a summer adds up. Mon, 05 Oct 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-emba-deadlines-2027 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-emba-deadlines-2027 If you're applying to an Executive MBA for 2027, I've listed the next deadlines first, then every round at all 17 programmes, Wharton and LBS included. Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-interview-study-plan https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-interview-study-plan An eight-week quant interview study plan for trading and research roles: probability, mental maths, brainteasers, market making and code, week by week. Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-why-free-question-banks https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-why-free-question-banks Why the practice banks on this site are as large as they are, how the questions were written, and what changed in October 2026. Mon, 28 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-lbs-interview-questions https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-lbs-interview-questions The questions London Business School MBA and EMBA interviews cover, how to answer each, and the mistakes that sink an interview. From a current LBS interviewer. Tue, 22 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-interview-questions https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-interview-questions The quant interview question types asked in Jane Street, Citadel and Optiver style rounds: probability, expected value, brainteasers and market making. Tue, 22 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-gmat-99th-percentile https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-gmat-99th-percentile On GMAC's August 2026 table a GMAT Focus 715 is the 98.6th percentile and 735 the first above 99%. Section cut-offs, and a plan from a two-time scorer. Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-is-mba-worth-it https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-is-mba-worth-it Is an MBA worth it in 2026? The real cost, what graduates earn, the break-even maths, and when it pays off for bankers, engineers and quants. Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-why-lbs https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-why-lbs Why a quant chose London Business School for an MBA, what the programme is like, what it costs, and what I look for as an LBS interviewer. Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-decision-day https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-decision-day A poem in the manner of Poe, for candidates refreshing an inbox in January, waiting on an admissions decision that has not come. Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-night-shift https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-night-shift On students who work while they study, what the working hours cost them, and why the tired ones are often the better bet. Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-oxford-interview https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-oxford-interview Why students with perfect school marks score in the forties on MAT mocks, what the questions detect, and how the December interview differs from an exam. Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-interview https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-quant-interview What Jane Street and Citadel interviews actually screen for, the stochastic calculus you need, and the large amount you can safely ignore. Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000 https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-what-mba-buys https://academicquant.co.uk/blog-what-mba-buys An honest account of what an MBA actually purchases, who it works for, who it does not, and why the people who need it least are the ones who get in. Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000