Private Equity interview preparation

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100

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83

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September 2026

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All firmsAdvent International6Apollo Global Management6Audax Group6Carlyle Group6EQT6Silver Lake6Vista Equity Partners6WPWarburg Pincus6HIH.I.G. Capital5Oaktree Capital Management5Platinum Equity5TPTPG5General Atlantic4AMAres Management3Blackstone3Clayton Dubilier and Rice3GSGuggenheim Securities3Insight Partners3Invesco3Lazard3Neuberger Berman3NUNuveen3TSTruist Securities3Bain Capital2HWHarris Williams2Kohlberg Kravis Roberts2Millennium Management2Moody's2Rothschild & Co2WBWilliam Blair2Bessemer Venture Partners1Citi1Evercore1FTFranklin Templeton1Houlihan Lokey1HPS Investment Partners1KKR1Mizuho1MSMorgan Stanley1Sycamore Partners1

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1. 092If today is a Monday, what day of the week will the same date be a year from now?BrainteasersCoretechnicalOaktree Capital ManagementGeneralist · Los Angeles · 2022

   Say this

   Tuesday in a normal year, Wednesday if a 29 February falls in between. A year is 365 days, which is 52 weeks plus one day, so the day advances by one.

   Then walk it

   1. 365 divided by 7 is 52 remainder 1. So an ordinary year shifts the weekday forward by exactly one day.
   2. Monday plus one is Tuesday.
   3. A leap year has 366 days, which is 52 weeks plus two days, so the shift is two days and the answer becomes Wednesday.
   4. The condition to check: does a 29 February fall strictly between today's date and the same date next year? That depends on whether the date is before or after the end of February.
   5. So the complete answer is: Tuesday, unless a leap day falls in the interval, in which case Wednesday.
   6. Giving the conditional rather than a flat answer is what the question is testing, since the leap year case is the only reason to ask it.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering Tuesday without mentioning the leap year. The whole point of the question is whether you notice the exception. State the rule, then the condition, then both answers.

   Expect next

   • What if the date were 15 January in 2027?
   • How many days in 400 years, and why does the calendar repeat?
   • What is 301 times 447?

   Reported by candidates at Oaktree Capital Management (Generalist, Los Angeles, 2022). 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.