The Optiver OA is the online assessment Optiver sends after you apply for an internship or graduate role. Optiver says its process starts with it, followed by behavioral and technical interviews and a final interview with the hiring team. You take it on the Optiver Assessment Platform, you can attempt it only once every 8 months, and results from that window carry over to similar roles. Optiver says it tests problem solving, logic and reasoning, and suggests practicing mental math and strategy games. For trading and research roles, candidates report an 80-question, 8-minute mental math test, number sequences, probability questions and reaction games; tech roles add a coding test.
From Optiver's own campus Q&A, recruitment FAQ and job postings, checked November 3, 2026. Optiver does not publish its list of tests, so anything about individual modules comes from candidate reports and says so. Your invitation email wins if it says something different.
| When | The first step after you apply for campus roles, before behavioral and technical interviews |
|---|---|
| Where | The Optiver Assessment Platform; you log in with a one-time code or an authenticator app |
| Time to finish | Some Optiver postings give you 7 days from the invite; check yours |
| Attempts | Once every 8 months; no resets or retakes once you start an attempt |
| Results carry over | Within 8 months, earlier results are reused for a similar role and no new invite is sent |
| What Optiver says it tests | Problem solving, logic and reasoning in different formats; no trading knowledge needed |
| Trading and research modules | Candidates report mental math, number sequences, probability and reaction or memory games |
| Mental math ("80 in 8") | Candidates report 80 arithmetic questions in 8 minutes, no calculator, and a point lost per wrong answer |
| Total time | Candidates report about 2-3 hours across all modules, which can be split into sittings |
| Tech roles | A coding test in a language you pick from the supported list; candidates also report a CS quiz and games |
| Feedback | Optiver does not give specific feedback at the early stages |
| Next steps | Behavioral and technical interviews, then a virtual final interview with the hiring team |
Optiver does not publish its test list. These are the types candidates describe, in our own words. Which ones you get depends on the role.
Fast arithmetic with no calculator. Candidates report 80 multiple-choice questions in 8 minutes, with a point taken away for each wrong answer.
Tip: Train with timed drills every day. If wrong answers cost a point, skipping beats a wild guess.
Find the rule behind a series of numbers and give the next term, with the series getting harder as you go.
Tip: Check differences, ratios and alternating patterns first; most series use one of the three.
Quick probability and expected value questions under a clock, for example the chance of at least one head in three fair coin flips.
Tip: Know dice, coins and cards cold, and use the complement ("1 minus none") to save time.
Short game-style tasks that test speed, memory and decisions under pressure, as candidates describe them.
Tip: Take them rested and in a quiet room. Optiver itself suggests strategy games as practice.
Candidates report one or two longer coding problems, sometimes object-oriented, plus a multiple-choice quiz on computer science basics.
Tip: Read the whole spec before you code and keep your classes easy to extend.
Optiver does not publish scores, cut-offs or how it weighs each test, and it does not give specific feedback at the early stages.
Candidates and prep sites report that the mental math test gives a point for each right answer and takes one away for each wrong one. Candidate estimates put a pass near 55 out of 80, but Optiver has never published a cut-off.
Your attempt counts for 8 months. Optiver will not reset or let you retake an assessment once you start it, and if you apply for a similar role in that window, your earlier results are used again.
Optiver suggests mental math practice. Use 8-minute drills of 80 questions with a penalty for wrong answers so the real test feels familiar.
Work through number series and quick probability questions with a clock, and play strategy games, which Optiver names as useful practice.
Optiver's software postings ask for object-oriented design skills. Build a small object-oriented program from a written spec in your strongest language, then review computer science basics for the multiple-choice quiz candidates report.
You get one attempt every 8 months, so start when you can focus. Use a stable connection and an up-to-date browser, and turn off any VPN, as Optiver advises.
Optiver does not publish what its assessment platform records. You log in through the link in your invitation with a one-time code, or with an authenticator app you set up.
Candidate reports differ on the coding environment: some describe a HackerRank-style test, others a different one. Optiver does not say which tracking it uses, so read the instructions on your test.
Whatever happens in the OA, Optiver tests the same skills again live: behavioral and technical interviews follow, and Optiver says quick decisions and staying calm under pressure are assessed throughout.
Practice sets copy the format, but answer lists do not help much: the mental math, sequence and game modules test speed rather than memorized answers, and coding problems are scored on the code you write. Coding Copilot reads the coding problem on your screen and writes a solution for that one.
On the coding test, OphyAI works on the real assessment: Coding Copilot in the desktop app snaps the problem with one hotkey and shows an approach, complexity notes and working code in an overlay that screen sharing and recording leave out. It does not help with the mental math or the reaction games. You get one attempt every 8 months, so start when you can focus.
Optiver does not publish what its assessment platform tracks. It does test the same skills again live, in behavioral and technical interviews and a final interview with the hiring team. The OphyAI window is hidden from screen sharing and recording, but not from a webcam, a person watching, or the platform's own keystroke, paste and tab tracking.
Compare every platform: Can online assessments detect AI?
Coding Copilot in the OphyAI desktop app reads the coding problem on your screen with one hotkey and returns an approach, complexity notes and working code in your language.
Use OphyAI Coding Copilot on the coding part of your real Optiver OA, not just to practice. Press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + A and it snaps the problem window, even when other windows cover it, or press Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + S to drag a box around one part of the screen. The answer shows as a card in a floating overlay that stays on top of a full-screen browser and opens without taking the keyboard from your editor, with code, a dry run with edge cases and the Big O. Follow-ups remember the problem, so you can add a new rule and get updated code.
Be clear about what it does not do. OphyAI does not play the reaction games or race the 80-question mental math test for you; those measure your own speed, so practice them. Aptitude Test mode is built for standard multiple-choice aptitude questions, not timed speed drills like these. In Optiver's live technical interviews, Space or Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + L transcribes the question your interviewer asks out loud.
Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + A snaps the problem window, even when other windows cover it, and Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + S lets you drag a box around part of the screen. In a live interview, Space or Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + L transcribes the question the interviewer asks out loud.
Answers show as a card in a floating overlay that macOS and Windows leave out of screen sharing and recording. It stays on top of a full-screen editor or browser and opens without taking the keyboard from your editor.
Each answer card shows how OphyAI read the problem, what to say first, the code with line numbers, a dry run with edge cases, and the Big O. Follow-ups remember the problem, so "now handle duplicates" updates the same code.
Free download. Coding Interview is on the Premium plan ($59 a month, 500 credits) and uses 15 credits per session. See everything it does
Hiding a window from screen share does not hide it from a webcam, a person watching, keystroke and paste history, tab or focus tracking, or proctoring software.
Optiver does not publish a total. For trading and research roles, candidates report about 2-3 hours across all modules, split into sittings, and the mental math test alone is 8 minutes. Some Optiver postings give you 7 days to finish.
The name candidates use for Optiver's mental math test: 80 arithmetic questions in 8 minutes with no calculator, where wrong answers reportedly cost a point. Optiver itself only says to practice mental math.
Not an official one. Candidate estimates put a pass near 55 out of 80, but Optiver has never published a cut-off.
For tech roles, yes. Optiver says you can pick from the supported languages on the online assessment, and its engineers mostly use C, C++, C#, Java and Python. Candidates report one or two longer coding problems plus a CS multiple-choice quiz.
No. Optiver offers no resets or retakes within 8 months once you start an attempt, and its postings say you cannot reapply for a similar campus role in that window.
Optiver says the online assessment is followed by behavioral and technical interviews, then a virtual final interview with the hiring team. It aims to update you within about a week.
No. Optiver says you need no prior trading knowledge, and many of its new hires had none before joining.
Not specific feedback. Optiver says the volume of applications means it cannot share feedback at the early stages.
Read on November 3, 2026. OphyAI is not affiliated with Optiver.
Download OphyAI Desktop and bring Coding Copilot into your next coding interview: it hears the question, reads the problem, and shows the approach and code in an overlay your screen share leaves out.
