Investment Banking interview preparation
Every question below is either traced to a named firm from a public candidate report, or tagged at desk level when we could not trace it. Answers are written the way you would actually say them out loud — answer first, then the mechanism, then the limitation.
100 questions, mapped to the firms that asked them
- Questions
- 100
- Traced to a firm
- 100
- Firms
- 46
- Updated
- September 2026
008Walk me from revenue down to unlevered free cash flow.RBC Capital MarketsLeveraged Finance · London · 2026Centerview PartnersInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2025
Say this
Revenue less COGS and operating expenses gives EBIT. Tax EBIT at the marginal rate to get after-tax EBIT, add back D&A, subtract CapEx, then subtract the increase in net working capital.
Then walk it
- Start at EBIT, not net income, because unlevered means before any financing decision.
- Multiply EBIT by one minus the tax rate. This is the step people rush: you tax EBIT, not EBITDA.
- Add back D&A because it is non-cash, but note you already got its tax benefit inside the taxed EBIT.
- Subtract CapEx, which is the real cash going into the asset base.
- Subtract the change in net working capital. Growth normally consumes working capital, so this is usually negative for a growing company.
- The result is cash available to all capital providers, debt and equity, which is why you discount it at WACC.
Where candidates lose it
Subtracting interest. The moment interest appears, it is levered, not unlevered, and you have double-counted the capital structure because WACC already prices the debt. Say 'no interest, because it is unlevered' out loud.
Expect next
- What is the difference between levered and unlevered free cash flow?
- Which one do you discount at cost of equity?
- If I gave you a $10 change in revenue, COGS, or CapEx, which moves your DCF most?
Reported by candidates at RBC Capital Markets (Leveraged Finance, London, 2026); Centerview Partners (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.
021What are the main valuation methodologies, with the pros and cons of each?Centerview PartnersInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2026Piper SandlerInvestment Banking · New York · 2026InvescoAsset Management · New York · 2023
Say this
Three core ones: comparable companies, precedent transactions and DCF. Comps tell you what the market pays today, precedents tell you what buyers paid including control, and a DCF tells you what the cash flows are worth on your own assumptions.
Then walk it
- Trading comps: fast, market-based, easy to defend. But no two companies are truly comparable, and if the whole sector is mispriced your answer inherits that.
- Precedent transactions: captures the control premium and what strategic buyers actually paid. But deals are stale, each had its own circumstances, and disclosure is patchy.
- DCF: the only method grounded in the actual economics, and it forces you to state your assumptions. But it is enormously sensitive to WACC and terminal value, so it can be made to say almost anything.
- Situational ones sit alongside: LBO analysis for a floor value a sponsor would pay, sum of the parts for conglomerates, NAV for asset-heavy or real estate businesses, and dividend discount for banks.
- In practice you show all of them as a football field and argue for a range, because the overlap between methods is more persuasive than any single number.
Where candidates lose it
Listing the three and stopping when the question explicitly asked for pros and cons. Also, claiming DCF is 'the most accurate'. It is the most theoretically sound and the most easily manipulated, and saying both is what makes you sound credible.
Expect next
- Rank the four methodologies from highest to lowest value and explain why.
- Which would you weight most for a company like this?
- When would you not use a DCF at all?
Reported by candidates at Centerview Partners (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 2026); Piper Sandler (Investment Banking, New York, 2026); Invesco (Asset Management, New York, 2023). Source: Wall Street Oasis.
091What angle is formed by the clock hands at 3:15?Centerview PartnersInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2025
Say this
7.5 degrees. The minute hand is exactly on the 3, but the hour hand has moved a quarter of the way from 3 to 4. Each hour is 30 degrees, so a quarter of that is 7.5.
Then walk it
- The clock face is 360 degrees over 12 hours, so each hour mark is 30 degrees apart.
- At 3:15 the minute hand sits exactly at the 3, which is 90 degrees from twelve.
- The hour hand does not stay on the 3. In 15 minutes it travels a quarter of the way to the 4, which is a quarter of 30 degrees, so 7.5 degrees past the 3.
- The gap between them is therefore 7.5 degrees.
- The general formula worth having: the angle equals the absolute value of 30 times the hour minus 5.5 times the minutes. Here that is 90 minus 82.5, which is 7.5.
Where candidates lose it
Answering zero, because you assumed both hands are on the 3. The hour hand moves continuously, and that is the entire point of the question. Say the formula afterwards to show it was not luck.
Expect next
- When is the next time the hands overlap exactly?
- How many times a day do the hands overlap?
- How many 0s are in 1000 factorial?
Reported by candidates at Centerview Partners (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 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.