P72 modeling & cognitive test - didn't complete model, am I screwed?
I just want someone to tell me how bad I fucked up or that there's a chance so I can move on.
I wasn't able to complete the 3 statement model in the time allotted. Most equations were filled out I just needed to work back to a couple of line items + fill out 2-3 contribution components and most of the rest would've self-solved. I'm used to having macros + was having some problems getting it to function properly because of the stupid protected view. If I hadn't wasted time being trying to change that or had another 5-10 minutes I def would've completed it. I'm in niche sector of PE and didn't do banking, so this 3 statement structure was a bit different from what I've encountered before so took some time having to remember the formulas I haven't thought about since college/trial & error to sense check them.
Bright side is I'm sure I crushed the Wonderlic. Practice tests had me scoring 36-38 and I felt better doing the real one, got all the way to #47/48 vs in practice I was capping out in the low 40s averaging ~90% correctness.
Will they take background into account or am I immediately tossed because I didn't finish?
Would scoring 97th+ percentile on the Wonderlic make up for not finishing?
Unfortunately, you probably are. Let us know if you end up going to the next round.
Took the same assessments a few months back. Would describe my performance almost entirely in line with the above. Never heard back.
One thing I would say is I wish I had followed up explaining the issues I came across in a follow up note to the model submission. Probably wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but would’ve made me feel a bit better.
TLDR: probably will get dinged and not hear back. I think they send these out pretty liberally and thus only have to progress applicants with very strong results on both tests.
Sorry dude, you’re probably hosed. It’s a generic three statement model for a very simple business, if you can’t put the pieces together in the 45 min or whatever you get then unfortunately there’s 30 other candidates with similar backgrounds who can.
I personally think model tests are generally dumb, especially timed ones but in this case it’s a weed out tool and doing anything less than perfect is probably an auto-ding. I was fortunate to ace it and the wonderlic and eventually start my hf career there so not talking out of my ass.
I don't mean to be mean, but how have you spent at least 3 years doing LBOs (even if you didn't come from banking) w/o being able to deal with a 1 hr 3 statement model? Surely your PE associate interviews had harder models?
It's a fair question. I guess my fund is an outlier in that we don't build 3-statement models, we focus on software and licensing/IP-heavy businesses so the IS/CFS has all the financial data we're sensitive to, the BS beyond ensuring they didn't have any debt we needed to buyout or some weird share pref/right structure wasn't super relevant. To get the job I had to do a few LBO/DCF models and target multiple/IRR is pretty straightforward. On the job, we'd only use leverage when it was a large company (like $100m+ ARR) and we didn't close any of those during my tenure, just did a few smaller buyouts with 100% equity that were refinanced after some growth/margin expansion or minority growth investments. Never built one in my prior role either because it was covering the same types of businesses and the only BS that mattered was ours, not the target's (for the same reasons as above). So I had to remember all the contribution margin and balance sheet stuff from finance courses almost 10 years ago which ate up some time + had some problems with their protected sheet stuff which cost me another 5 minutes since the BD guy who said to email him if I had problems didn't answer until the next day. As I said above, I still completed most of it and just needed a few more minutes to calc a couple more missing inputs that would've then solved the model. I'd made it clear to the recruiter that put me in the process I was only interested in software pods so I wasn't expecting this type of model given those businesses don't exactly think about contribution margin or inventory metrics like a widget-selling consumer biz.
Still, you're right that it should've been easy and I'm kicking myself about the wasted time. For what it's worth recruiter said I can do it again in 6 months and now that I know what to expect (apparently they give the same type of model to everyone) it shouldn't be a problem next time around.
Fair enough, and all the best in the future.
Seems like you're applying for a specific role and not the Experienced Academy?
Thank you! You're right, didn't apply to the academy. I'm not interested in spending 8-10 months back in school, I'd rather go right to a desk and either sink or swim to figure out whether public markets is the right fit for me. Been focused across equity L/S/LO with a smattering of event-driven shops recruiters randomly decided to show my resume to.
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