i am about to take the test, quite panic now..
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Optiver
- Thread starter IUgrad05
- Start date
Steve Dillinger
ET Sponsor
These kind of 'math tests' are pretty worthless. They are a hold over from days when you had to be able to calculate fractions very quickly in your head to compete in an open outcry pit.
From what I see on their website and have heard on the street they do very little open outcry trading as a percentage of their business.
The quick math thing is a parlor trick. Any intelligent person can do it with a little practice and study.
IMO, the test is nothing more than a marketing exercise. It shows how brilliant / elite they are. When they do their real recruiting at top Universities I bet they do not even give the test or if they do it is one of many criteria that is judged.
From what I see on their website and have heard on the street they do very little open outcry trading as a percentage of their business.
The quick math thing is a parlor trick. Any intelligent person can do it with a little practice and study.
IMO, the test is nothing more than a marketing exercise. It shows how brilliant / elite they are. When they do their real recruiting at top Universities I bet they do not even give the test or if they do it is one of many criteria that is judged.
Quote from Steve Dillinger:
IMO, the test is nothing more than a marketing exercise. It shows how brilliant / elite they are. When they do their real recruiting at top Universities I bet they do not even give the test or if they do it is one of many criteria that is judged.
They give the test at Top Universities - but I agree with you that it may be mostly to create a bit of a mystique about how brainy they all must be. The more people they test and fail the greater their notoriety.
I just graduated from one of said "top universities" they recruited at. Nobody from my school achieved what they determined was a qualifying score so nobody was able to continue on. A classmate of mine and I got the top two scores but that really was not much of a consolation. I will say they are very forward and upfront with the whole situation as opposed to many firms. That was refreshing.
I have a question.
Is optiver's 8 min-80 question exam paper based affair or screen/computer based exam? I heard that only if you clear 8 min exam, you are allowed to proceed on to the later stages. So, i think it would be screen based test. If anyone knows about it, kindly please clarify.
Thanking you in obligation
Is optiver's 8 min-80 question exam paper based affair or screen/computer based exam? I heard that only if you clear 8 min exam, you are allowed to proceed on to the later stages. So, i think it would be screen based test. If anyone knows about it, kindly please clarify.
Thanking you in obligation
it's paper based typically taken in a group setting.
I did the best in the group but still failed. I wasn't prepared for the fact that the company is based in London and they use colons to represent division and instead of decimals, they use commas.
You have to go straight down and every wrong answer cancels out two right answers.
I can't remember how many you needed right but I believe their pass rate is like 10%.
One thing that I didn't like was the proctor. First off: there is no time to cheat and second, if you have to baby a test, then there is already a disconnect between trust in the employer and employee.
I did the best in the group but still failed. I wasn't prepared for the fact that the company is based in London and they use colons to represent division and instead of decimals, they use commas.
You have to go straight down and every wrong answer cancels out two right answers.
I can't remember how many you needed right but I believe their pass rate is like 10%.
One thing that I didn't like was the proctor. First off: there is no time to cheat and second, if you have to baby a test, then there is already a disconnect between trust in the employer and employee.
I did really well on the first test (60+) and I was invited to their chicago office for additional tests and interviews.
The tests were easy and I got through those easily. They needed something in my background which suggested a passion for trading but as a guy who went straight to grad school in engineering and no experience of trading, I got bumped by the head trader.
Firm is top class and I had very positive interactions with them.
The tests were easy and I got through those easily. They needed something in my background which suggested a passion for trading but as a guy who went straight to grad school in engineering and no experience of trading, I got bumped by the head trader.
Firm is top class and I had very positive interactions with them.
Quote from Steve Dillinger:
These kind of 'math tests' are pretty worthless. They are a hold over from days when you had to be able to calculate fractions very quickly in your head to compete in an open outcry pit.
From what I see on their website and have heard on the street they do very little open outcry trading as a percentage of their business.
The quick math thing is a parlor trick. Any intelligent person can do it with a little practice and study.
IMO, the test is nothing more than a marketing exercise. It shows how brilliant / elite they are. When they do their real recruiting at top Universities I bet they do not even give the test or if they do it is one of many criteria that is judged.
This is incorrect.
What interest would a prop firm have in creating an 'elite' aura/mystique about themselves? That doesn't make any money.
The test is a bit of an artifact from the floor-trading days. But today it just functions as a simple and effective selection mechanism. When 500 people apply for 1 opening, they have to weed out numbers quickly. So, 500 people take the test, maybe 25 pass. Of those, based on credentials, maybe 10 are interviewed, and 1 will get an offer.
Say you have 10 great candidates with great credentials, but of those 10, only one can calculate quickly -- who do you hire?
Oh, and the test is given at all top universities. There's no exceptions made.