Private Equity interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

83

Firms

40

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

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

Topic

All topicsLBO mechanics7Value creation5Returns2Fund economics9Investment judgement18Valuation6Firm knowledge2Credit and financing9Operations4Due diligence8Career and fit11Sector knowledge4Accounting2Deal structuring7Industry knowledge3Brainteasers3

Level

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Type

AnyTechnicalCaseFitMarket viewBrainteaser

1. 091What is 301 times 447?BrainteasersIntermediatetechnicalGeneral AtlanticGeneralist · New York · 2026

   Say this

   134,547. Split 301 into 300 plus 1. Three hundred times 447 is 134,100, then add one more 447.

   Then walk it

   1. Decompose to the round number: 301 is 300 plus 1.
   2. 447 times 3 is 1,341, so times 300 is 134,100.
   3. Add the remaining 447 to get 134,547.
   4. Announce the decomposition before computing, so the interviewer can follow your method even if you slip on the arithmetic.
   5. The same technique handles most of these: round one factor, multiply, then correct. For 19 times 63, do 20 times 63 and subtract 63.
   6. Offer a sanity check as you go: 300 times 450 is 135,000, so the answer should be just under that. That check costs two seconds and catches an order-of-magnitude error.

   Where candidates lose it

   Attempting long multiplication mentally and losing a digit. These are method tests. Decompose out loud, keep one running total, and give a sanity-check bound before you commit to the exact figure.

   Expect next

   • What is 56 times 67?
   • If a date is a Monday, what day is it a year later?
   • If I make 8 times my money in 6 years, what is my IRR?

   Reported by candidates at General Atlantic (Generalist, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 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.

3. 093How many books were sold in the US last year?BrainteasersIntermediatetechnicalAdvent InternationalPrivate Equity · Boston · 2022

   Say this

   Around 700 million to 1 billion units. Take 330 million people, assume about half buy any books, and an average of four to six a year among buyers.

   Then walk it

   1. Population 330 million, less young children, so about 280 million potential buyers.
   2. Participation: perhaps half buy at least one book in a year, so 140 million buyers. Flag this as the least certain assumption.
   3. Intensity: the distribution is heavily skewed, with most buyers taking two or three and a small group of heavy readers taking twenty or more. An average of five across buyers is reasonable.
   4. 140 million times 5 gives 700 million units.
   5. Then the segments not in that figure: institutional and textbook purchases driven by schools rather than individuals, which might add 50 to 100 million.
   6. So 750 million to 1 billion. Published US print unit figures sit around 750 million, so the estimate holds, and I would name participation rate and books per reader as the two assumptions the answer is most sensitive to.

   Where candidates lose it

   Using a flat population-wide average and ignoring the skew. Also failing to say which assumption drives the answer, which is the part that makes it a market-sizing answer rather than a guess.

   Expect next

   • Now size it in dollars.
   • Which assumption would you check first?
   • How would you size a market bottom-up for a diligence?

   Reported by candidates at Advent International (Private Equity, Boston, 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.