The Investment Banking Interview Prep App

Investment banking interviews test a combination of technical knowledge, industry awareness, and personal fit. The process typically takes three to six months of focused preparation, and the candidates who start early and stay consistent tend to outperform those who cram in the final weeks.

IB interviews fall into two categories: technical questions that test your finance and accounting knowledge, and behavioral questions that assess whether you'd be a good fit for the team and the demanding hours of the job. Most candidates spend too much time on one category and not enough on the other.

Your preparation timeline depends heavily on your background. Finance majors from target schools may need less time on technical fundamentals but should still practice delivering clear, concise answers under pressure. Students from non-target schools typically need to invest more time building their network and filling knowledge gaps, but they're at no disadvantage if they start early enough.

Months 1-2: Build your foundation. Study accounting, valuation, and M&A concepts. Read the key books. Start reaching out to bankers for informational interviews and networking calls.

Months 2-4: Move into active practice. Run through technical questions repeatedly until your answers feel natural. Work through behavioral questions using the STAR framework. Attend recruiting events.

Months 4-6: Refine and test. Do mock interviews with peers, mentors, or AI tools. Focus on your weak areas. Stay current on recruiting timelines so you don't miss application deadlines.

The biggest mistake candidates make is treating preparation as a knowledge exercise. You can know every concept perfectly and still bomb the interview if you can't communicate your answers clearly in 60 seconds or less. Practice out loud, not just in your head.

Technical skills get you to the interview. Behavioral answers determine whether you get the offer. Bankers work 80 to 100 hours a week in small teams, and they want to know you're someone they can work alongside at 2 AM on a Saturday when a live deal is closing.

Three questions appear in virtually every IB interview. "Tell me about yourself" is a 90-second pitch that connects the dots between your background, your interest in finance, and why you're in that chair today. Start with a brief personal hook, walk through your key experiences, and end with why investment banking is the logical next step.

"Why investment banking?" requires specificity. Reference a particular deal that fascinated you, a conversation with a banker that clarified what the job involves, or a class that made you realize you enjoy breaking down businesses analytically. Generic answers about "learning a lot" won't set you apart.

"Walk me through your resume" is similar but more detailed. The interviewer wants you to explain each major experience and why you made each transition. Every line on your resume should connect logically to the next, building a narrative that makes investment banking feel like the inevitable conclusion.

Beyond the big three, interviewers test your self-awareness and interpersonal skills through situational questions. These require real examples from your experience, not hypotheticals. The STAR framework (Situation, Task, Action, Result) gives your answers structure, but the best responses feel conversational rather than formulaic.

After reviewing thousands of candidate experiences, certain patterns emerge. The most common interview mistakes aren't about getting a technical question wrong; they're about preparation gaps and poor self-awareness.

Not practicing answers out loud. Reading a study guide is not the same as explaining a concept to another person. The gap between understanding a DCF in your head and articulating it clearly in 60 seconds is enormous. Practice with a friend, a mentor, or an AI mock interview tool. Record yourself and listen back. You'll notice filler words, rambling, and unclear transitions that you'd never catch otherwise.

Underestimating behavioral preparation. Technical candidates often assume their finance knowledge will carry them. But banks routinely reject technically strong candidates who give flat, uninspiring behavioral answers. Your story needs to be tight, authentic, and practiced enough that it sounds natural without sounding memorized. Spend at least a third of your prep time on behavioral questions.

Not staying current on markets. You should be able to discuss at least two or three recent deals or market developments. If an interviewer asks "What's happening in markets?" and you go blank, it signals that you don't actually follow finance outside of interview prep. Read the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, or Bloomberg for 15 minutes a day. It compounds quickly.

Treating networking as transactional. Sending a cold email asking for a referral is not networking. Building a relationship over multiple touchpoints and genuinely learning about someone's experience is. The candidates who get internal referrals are the ones who showed up to coffee chats with thoughtful questions and followed up with a thank-you note, not the ones who asked "Can you refer me?" in their first message.

Giving generic answers to "Why IB?" and "Why this bank?" If your answer could apply to any bank or any industry, it's not specific enough. Interviewers can tell when you've done real research versus when you're recycling a template. Mention a specific deal, a specific person you spoke with, or a specific aspect of the group's culture that resonates with you.

Ignoring the questions you ask them. The final five minutes of every interview are reserved for your questions. Asking nothing, or asking something you could have Googled, signals low interest. Prepare thoughtful questions that show genuine curiosity about the team's deal flow, the group's culture, or what the interviewer personally enjoys about the job.