Hedge Funds interview preparation

Long-short equity, macro, event-driven, distressed, multi-manager platforms and the Indian Category III landscape. Every question is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it — answers lead with the point, then the mechanism, then the limitation.

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Question bank

100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them

Questions
100
Traced to a firm
39
Firms
16
Updated
September 2026
Asked at
All firmsMan Group10Balyasny Asset Management7Bridgewater Associates3D.E. Shaw3Apollo Global Management2KKR2Oaktree Capital Management2Point722Squarepoint Capital2AQR Capital Management1Baupost Group1Coatue Management1HPS Investment Partners1Northern Trust1Viking Global Investors1Wolverine Trading1
Topic
All topicsStrategy taxonomy8Stock pitch10Short selling6Portfolio construction8Risk and drawdown8Performance and alpha7Event-driven and merger arb8Distressed and credit5Fund structure and economics7Financing, NAV and operations6Compliance and research process5Quant and systematic6India and Category III AIFs5Career and fit11
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Type
AnyTechnicalMarket viewBrainteaserCaseFit
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  1. 084I roll two fair dice. What is the probability the sum is 7, and what is the probability of at least one six?Quant and systematicCorephone / first roundWolverine TradingEquity Hedge · Chicago · 2025

    Say this

    A sum of 7 is 6 out of 36, so one in six. At least one six is 1 minus the probability of no sixes, which is 1 minus 25 over 36, so 11 out of 36, a bit under a third.

    Then walk it

    1. Count the sample space first: 36 equally likely ordered outcomes. Ordered matters, and treating the dice as indistinguishable is the classic way to get these wrong.
    2. Sum of 7 has six combinations: 1-6, 2-5, 3-4, 4-3, 5-2, 6-1. So 6 over 36, which is one in six. Worth knowing that 7 is the most likely sum, and the distribution of sums is a triangle peaking at 7.
    3. For at least one six, use the complement. No six on either die is 5 over 6 times 5 over 6, which is 25 over 36. So at least one six is 11 over 36, about 30.6 percent.
    4. Note why it is not 2 over 6. Adding the two individual probabilities double counts the double six, so you subtract it: 6 over 36 plus 6 over 36 minus 1 over 36 equals 11 over 36. Inclusion-exclusion gives the same answer and it is worth saying both ways.
    5. The general rule that follows: for at least one of anything, go to the complement. It converts a messy union into a product, and it is the single most useful reflex in dice and coin questions.
    6. Then the standard follow-up they are setting up: given the sum is 7, the probability that one die is a 6 is 2 out of 6, so one third, because conditioning restricts the sample space to the six ordered pairs. Answer these fast and cleanly, and say the fraction before the decimal.

    Where candidates lose it

    Saying 2 over 6 for at least one six, which double counts the double six. And treating the dice as unordered, which wrecks the sample space. Say 'complement' out loud and do the arithmetic in fractions. At a prop shop these are timed, so speed and a clean statement of the sample space matter as much as the answer.

    Expect next

    • Given the sum is 7, what is the probability one die shows a 6?
    • What is the expected number of rolls until you see a six?
    • I pay you the sum of the dice. What would you pay to play?

    Reported by candidates at Wolverine Trading (Equity Hedge, Chicago, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.