14 Comments
 

Same boat! Passed the assessment with an 80 and then all downhill from there (68-75ish).

Done 1000 practice problems and no matter how much I review there are just too many details/day counts/specific regulations to wrap my head around. Hoping Knopmans stats about a 99% pass rate for average question scores of 65-70 applies.

I take it Wednesday-- I'll let you know how it goes! Best of luck!

 

Personally I found the real thing a little bit more difficult I think, but obviously you don’t get the score anymore so don’t know how my actual scores compared. 

In general, I felt like the real exam had more questions where you needed to know the subtle details to pick out the correct answer from two close choices, whereas with Knopman, I usually felt like if I *mostly* understood or recognized a concept, I could pretty easily spot the one correct answer. 
 

 
690029

Personally I found the real thing a little bit more difficult I think, but obviously you don't get the score anymore so don't know how my actual scores compared. 

In general, I felt like the real exam had more questions where you needed to know the subtle details to pick out the correct answer from two close choices, whereas with Knopman, I usually felt like if I *mostly* understood or recognized a concept, I could pretty easily spot the one correct answer. 
 

Any advice on how you would have prepared differently knowing this? Exam is tomorrow so I can't do anything drastically different. But I'll take anything at this point

 

Personally, I didn't really change my strategy the day before.

I would alternate between doing a bunch of practice questions and re-reading the sections from the book that I was consistently missing. I focused more on sections where I was weakest under the assumption that improving from 65 to 75 in a section was probably easier than improving from, say, 85 to 95.

Just do what you can and try not to stress about it too much.

 
Most Helpful

I actually thought the exam was much easier than Knopman’s Q-bank. Way less random nitty gritty questions. I didn’t get any valuation math, but a lot of accounting.

Definitely study fairness opinions, research rules, and the IPO transaction stages. Got at least 5 (straightforward memorization) questions on each.

I thought it was a bit of a time crunch. Only finished with 5 min left to go. The questions were much wordier than knopman and small details can reveal the answer. For instance, they would put that “existing shareholders don’t want to be diluted” in a paragraph with 6-8 sentences so it’s easy to get mentally tired and pick a wrong answer.

Btw I scored a 68 on the baseline, 73 on diagnostic 1, 74 on diagnostic 2, and 80 on the benchmark. Practice tests I’d range from 68-76 or so. I started 10 days ago probably spent 60-70 total hours studying. Everyone I know passed, so you should be fine.

 

I passed! I agree with your whole assessment, but would say the small details made it harder than Knopman. In the Qbank if I could match a key word to a bigger concept by association, I'd get the question correct. However the small details can make you second guess yourself on the real thing. 

The exam went into the nitty gritty of rules (75% of revenue must come from that state to qualify for reg 147 was an answer choice, but you'd have to remember it was 80%). The questions felt wordier than on the QBank overall.

A lot of the questions came from obscure places in key concepts. If I could do it over again I'd spend way more time memorizing the key concepts cold and less time aimlessly doing a 1000 practice questions.

 

Nesciunt est magni aut quasi. Deserunt accusantium totam quae sapiente quia voluptas fuga. Deserunt sit itaque qui ea corporis reprehenderit non est. Atque odit aut ea autem voluptatem omnis ex. Ut natus quis quo vitae omnis. Amet alias sed maxime blanditiis.

Facere consequatur et et qui rerum. Provident aut optio aut cupiditate eligendi. Sed voluptatem odio aut saepe est.

Dolor ut vitae consequatur hic et. Placeat cumque doloremque est quisquam labore. Unde vitae odit ipsam aut est. Deserunt ut est beatae quam doloremque enim ea.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (72) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”