Practice banking interviews until your answers sound deal-ready.

Investment Banking Analyst interviews follow a predictable structure across firms, but the rigor varies sharply depending on where you're interviewing and what desk you're targeting. Most loops run three to four rounds: an initial screen with a junior banker or analyst who's testing whether you can talk about deals and markets without sounding rehearsed, then two or three rounds with senior bankers and managing directors who are assessing your technical foundation and judgment under pressure.

The competencies panels consistently probe for map directly to what you're actually doing on day one as an analyst. You need to demonstrate financial modeling fluency—not just knowing how to build a DCF, but understanding which assumptions matter most and why, which is why you'll get asked to pressure-test a model or explain which line items you'd scrutinize first in a given scenario.