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Example question:

Let's say we play a game. In this game, if I flip a coin heads, you win $3, tails, you win nothing. Suppose you value this game at $1 (i.e. this is what you are willing to pay to play). Also assume you can participate in this game at any level you want (i.e. you win $30 if it's heads) and your willingness to pay adjusts accordingly (i.e. you would pay $10 for the chance to win $30).

Now consider a game where I flip a coin twice. If heads comes up at least once out of the two flips, you win $9, otherwise (two tails flips) you win nothing.

How much would you pay to play game 2, given what you are willing to pay for game 1?

 
Best Response
aspiringmonkeyisanidiotI know that the format is 3 2-on-1 30 minute interviews. Can anyone provide any insight on i) % of final round candidates that receive offers; and ii) the type of questions?

I definitely have the technical and fit down, but am wondering about brainteasers and questions that might test knowledge of recent deals/firm.

Also, somewhat of a stretch, but any insight on what separates a good candidate and a candidate that gets an offer would be great.

Thanks in advance!

I interviewed with the NY office, so don't know if the SF office asks different questions, but here's what my interview consisted of:
  • 3 1 on 1s.

  • Heavily technical (focus on accounting concepts as opposed to financial concepts like DCF. I'm a finance major that had taken 1 accounting class before, and they really went to the edge of my knowledge base. Given that I had a prior banking internship, they knew I was comfortable with general valuation concepts, and seemed to avoid questions focusing on that).

  • All 3 interviewers throw one question at you to see if you can "connect" with them. For me, I come from a non-target that has a good athletic program, so we discussed that for a few minutes.

  • I personally had no brainteasers, but a couple of the technical questions I got were tough enough that I had to work my way through them in a case-like format.

  • Surprisingly, no one asked "why goldman", or asked whether I had any other offers, but this was an accelerated interview because I had other exploding offers, so I think they might have already known, or realized that GS was my top choice.

  • Talking with people at GS before the interview, they mentioned the one thing that makes GS interviews really tough compared to interviews at other firms is that you need a consensus in order to be given an offer (if even one person doesn't think you'll fit well at GS, and the other two are gung-ho over you, you don't get the offer). I was lucky enough to get 3 people I meshed well with, but just make sure you connect with all of your interviewers.

Hope this helps..

 

corgi95 can you work us through the problem?

I thought jtmarlin used sound logic in his first answer that yielded $4.5 (I said 6 because I thought the probability for game two was 100% as opposed to 75%).

Also, thank you for the input streetluck

 

Think about it using a tree:

Let's suppose I flip heads on the 1st flip. Then I'm for sure getting 9 bucks. So the 2nd flip for me is a game that pays 9 either way so it's worth 9 to me.

Let's suppose I flip tails on the 1st flip. Now I have to flip heads on the next flip to get 9, otherwise I get 0. This is 3 times the 3,0 game so it's worth 3*1 = 3 to me.

Now going to the first flip, if I get heads I get a game worth 9, if I flip tails I get a game worth 3. This is the same as 3 dollars for sure + a 6,0 game (which is 2 times the 3,0 game so it's worth 2 dollars).So the initial game is worth 3+2 = 5.

 

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