Is Missing One Non-Basic Technical Enough to Prevent You from Moving on?

In an interview, whether it's first rounds or superdays, if you miss one non-basic technical question, do you automatically not have a chance of moving on? I understand that if the interviewer really thinks you are a good fit, then you can be fine, but if this were not the case, will you still move on?

I wouldn't think that this would be different for SA or FT positions, but I am mainly asking for FT positions.

Thanks!

4 Comments
 

There are certainly exceptions, but generally speaking, missing an interview question or even giving a correct, but less-than-perfect answer will result in a ding. The reason is that ib interviews are all about elimination. There are so many qualified applicants that IBs need to cut through the fat, so to speak, and the easiest way to do that is to just ding anyone who is not perfect.

 

It depends. The purpose of asking an advanced question is to see how deep your knowledge runs and your ability to think. I know a lot of interviewers, myself included, don't necessarily expect every technical question to be answered with 100% accuracy. With that being said, we do expect thoughtfulness in working towards an answer. Additionally, more outside of your control, it depends how everyone else does. If everyone else nails it but you're only close, then you're naturally going to be stack ranked lower.

 

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