Preparing for Quantitative Proficiency Test for MScFE at WorldQuant
Yesss!!! I cleared the test, I’m now eligible to pursue Masters in Financial Engineering offered by WorldQuant. A 2-year exhaustive online masters program offered by WorldQuant LLC for free of cost.
You heard that right. A rigorous course and curriculum offered completely free. But hey, there is a catch. You need to pass the Quantitative Proficiency test to get admitted to the course. Which is tough by all means in case you are taking it lightly.
Why this strict screening?
During the course, there are going to be a lot of group work assignments and the teams need to be on the same capability level to contribute and learn, and to do that a basic screening becomes mandatory. Let’s finish any other requirements quickly and get back to the Test.
- You need to have a decent laptop and some decent internet connection
- You need to have completed graduation (Bachelors) and be ready to ask your college to mail the transcript to them. (Caution :- Your college needs to either send transcripts by post to them or mail them using their official mail id)
- Only in case your latest college had medium of communication different from English, you need to take the TOEFL test and prove your Language Proficiency
- Clear the Quantitative Proficiency Test (Let’s continue on this)
Quantitative Proficiency Test
There will be 2 sections and 20 questions in each section. At the time I appeared for the test, the cut off was set at 75%. You can have two attempts in succession, if you fail both the attempts, you need to wait for at least 30 days to reappear for the test. Let’s look at the questions composition in detail.
There are 2 sections in the test which have to be completed in 3 hours —
Mathematics :- This section include questions from
a. Linear Algebra
b. Matrix and Determinants
c. Limits
d. Differentiation and Integration
e. Partial Derivatives
f. Differential Equations
g. Application of differential equation
Statistics :- This section focuses more on the Statistical and related field and you can expect questions from
a. Probability (pdf, cdf and equations)
b. Poisson dist
c. Permutations and Combination
d. Series (Arithmetic and Geometric) with application in Probs
e. Stats (normal distribution and properties)
How do you prepare?
Well based on your background, you need to find the areas where you need to focus more. I had a decent background in calculus part of Maths and hence I focused more on the Stats part. Here are few links which can get you up within 1–2 weeks rather than taking complete courses from coursera.
Statistics 110 — Probability
Linear Algebra — MIT
Probabilistic Systems Analysis and Applied Probability
Single Variable Calculus
Multivariate Calculus — MIT
Statistics for Applications
Also you can google and find the experience of the candidates who have appeared and qualifies the test prior to you. Dont get disheartened in case you are not able to clear it in first attempt, even I found it hard to crack despite being decent at maths in college and high school.
Rest assured ALL THE VERY BEST.
May the force be with you.
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