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Do interviewers expect mental math to be fast?

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Denis
Coach
on Aug 18, 2026
Mid-Cap Private Equity | Ex-H.I.G. Capital | Ex-Goldman Sachs Investment Banker NYC | Ex-Bain & Co. | MBA Chicago Booth

Short answer is yes.

But not for the reasons you might think. Everyone knows you will use software/calculators to do modelling/maths once in IB. 

However, multiple aspects why it is important. Spot checking your analyses ex-post (for quality assurance), simulating impact on figures ex-ante (i.e. before you updated the model, what do you expect the result to change). However, most importantly, senior Banker / client interaction. Mental maths gives you flexibility to play through ad-hoc scenarios with clients on the spot. 

Hence, mental math is an important QA and client-service tool.