im pretty sure a question like that would not come up in an interview
It's an application of a very well known computer algorithm (binary search if anyone is interested). Some form is quite likely to come up in any tech interview. And "algorithmic" thinking is a pretty useful skill to be able to demonstrate and this question tests that well.
They've budgeted 2.5 hours because they think there's no way he can work out this tricky brainteaser they've got involving a King's wine collection in any time quicker than that.
They've budgeted 2.5 hours because they think there's no way he can work out this tricky brainteaser they've got involving a King's wine collection in any time quicker than that.
hm he could be right - for ibd interviews were last tuesday and today (wednesday) and they said they will let us know after they have finished interviewing.
Oh no I applied to the Womens programme! I think the interviews are later for that.
Has anybody taken MS phone interview and likes to talk about his experiences? The mail says its an "competency based" interview? Will they ask me any technical questions regarding M&A or is it just "small talk"? How to prepare?
Has anybody taken MS phone interview and likes to talk about his experiences? The mail says its an "competency based" interview? Will they ask me any technical questions regarding M&A or is it just "small talk"? How to prepare?
I had mine today. Got competency questions to start, but then there was a fair bit of 'technical' stuff as well. You don't need to know DCF or stuff like that, but need to what's going on in finance pretty well and be prepared to answer the follow on "what's the impact of..."
A king has a wine cellar with 250 bottles of expensive wine in it.
He receives a note that someone has put a drop of poison in one of his bottles of wine at random making one drop of the wine enough to kill someone 30 days after they drink the wine.
He happens to find eight prisoners who have been sentenced to death in 2 months and knows that he could just use these prisoners beforehand to help him work out which wine bottle is poisoned.
How does he do it?
We want no two bottles to be drunk in the same way. For instance, suppose all 8 men had drunk bottles no.1 and bottle no.2, then if all 8 men died we would not know which bottle contained the poison.
Fortunately, there are 2^8 different ways of drinking a bottle. This is because person one could either drink a given bottle or not drink it. Person no.2 could drink that same bottle or not drink it. => 2*2 ways of drinking that bottle so far.
Let (0110) represent person 1 not drinking a bottle, person 2 and 3 drinking that bottle and person 4 not drinking a bottle.
Then let (1000 0000) drink bottle 1, (0100 0000) drink bottle 2, (0010 0000) drink bottle 3. . . . (1100 0000) drink bottle 9 . . all the way to the 250th person.
Then we see who died. Let's say (1111 0000) died. Then the poisonous bottle will be the bottle number that (1111 0000) corresponds to in the list written above.
EDIT: the above is a pretty easy question for anyone who studies maths/ compsci to degree level.
Got a few messages about pwc insight academy advice so, Interview advice: competency based. I think the girl said she would ask me a question on every competency, I’m not sure if she did. E.g. I got asked something along the lines of "Give me a time you acquired and applied commercial and technical expertise." My answer to this question was pretty poor, just spluttered something about reading the ft and bbc.co.uk/business. Talked about the current affairs too (find something that interests you and research it. I’m sure Eurozone crisis would do fine. Perhaps talk about potential break up of big 4?). This was the first question and I picked it up after. My advice to you would be to look at all the competencies and find examples in your life where you have demonstrated these competencies. You don't need amazing examples; just make sure you have some. If you Google pwc interview questions you'll find a list but I wouldn't advise writing out answers. You will sound scripted and it won't go down well. Have a list of all your achievements in front of you so you can refer to them in the interview. The interview experience is pretty static; it isn't much of a conversation. Also, if they feel you aren't answering their question they will press you. And I wouldn't advise lying; they will be able to spot you as you can get grilled a bit if they feel you are waffling. I guess you can exaggerate a little, but be careful. And also watch out for ummms, ahhs and saying like too much. It’ll sound even worse than in person.