PJT Partners · Investment banking analyst · Summer Analyst / Analyst

First-round technicals

Corporate finance fundamentals plus the restructuring canon, at analyst depth

What they actually ask

The question shapes this round uses. Larpy does not read these out. It builds each one from your own resume, because the generic version is the one you have already rehearsed.

“Walk me through the 3-statement impact of a company purchasing $50 million of equipment using cash on hand.”
“Explain why valuation multiples such as EV/Net Income and Equity Value/EBITDA are conceptually flawed.”
“Why do companies file for chapter 11?”
“Explain what Debtor-in-Possession (DIP) financing is and why a company would use it during a restructuring.”
“What are some of the causes of a firm being financially distressed?”

What this round is judged on

Accounting · a clean three-statement walk with the tax effect right
Valuation · the bridge, the multiples, and why a mismatched one fails
Restructuring canon · Chapter 11, automatic stay, DIP, technical default
Credit reasoning · what a lender controls for and what a claim is worth

How Larpy grades this

We score these the way an analyst would. Per topic, what a strong answer lands and the confidently-wrong answers Larpy catches.

ACCThree-statement flow of a depreciation change
Strong
nets the tax effect correctly (net income down 7.5, not 10); adds the full non-cash charge back on the cash flow statement; closes the balance sheet and states that it balances.
We flag
claims extra depreciation raises net income or cash (it lowers net income; cash rises only by the tax shield); forgets the tax rate and moves the full 10 through pre-tax to net income; leaves the balance sheet unbalanced.
VALWalk me through a DCF
Strong
uses UNLEVERED free cash flow discounted at WACC (not levered FCF or cost of equity); includes a terminal value and discounts it back; sums to enterprise value, then bridges to equity.
We flag
discounts unlevered cash flow at the cost of equity; omits terminal value (it is usually the majority of the value); forgets to subtract the change in working capital or capex.
LBOWhy an LBO generates a return
Strong
names the three drivers: deleveraging, EBITDA growth, multiple expansion; explains leverage amplifies the equity return.
We flag
says the return comes from the debt itself rather than deleveraging plus growth; cannot name the return drivers.

Larpy builds a fresh question per topic from your resume and grades the full answer live. Start the mock for the worked model answer.

Where this round sits

PJT Partners’s published process. Lime marks the stage this round runs.

01
Explore (not simulated here)
02
Application Selection
03
Suited Assessment (not simulated here)
04
Recruiter screen
05
Interview, first roundthis round
06
Interview, final round
07
Offer Decisions

What happens in each stage›

Explore (not simulated here): PJT names this as the first stage of its own process: research the firm and the broader industry and attend on-campus or virtual events. It is not an interview, but it is the stage the later ones test, because the interview leans on industry understanding.
Application Selection: Recruiters and professionals review applications, submitted as PDFs, and make interview selections on academic background and industry knowledge. US Summer Analyst applications open in spring and close before summer; EMEA and Asia open in September and close in October; full-time roles post in early August with interviews in August and September.
Suited Assessment (not simulated here): An AI-scored assessment linked in the job description, measuring traits and characteristics PJT says can be better predictors of success than a resume. PJT states it is used alongside other data and is not weighted more than other evaluation factors. It is not a conversation, so it is not simulated here.
Recruiter screen: A short conversation with recruiting before the structured interview. PJT publishes Explore, Application Selection, Interview and Offer Decisions but not this step, so its presence and form are candidate-reported. The content is a resume walk, motivation and a first check on what you know about the firm.
Interview, first round: PJT publishes a single structured interview stage that it says assesses aptitude, potential and cultural fit through questions on industry understanding and corporate finance fundamentals. In practice that starts as a first round with bankers, and at PJT the corporate finance half arrives early.
Interview, final round: Back-to-back sessions with senior bankers. Restructuring and Special Situations is one of the firm-defining businesses, and the final-round technical content goes there: in-court versus out-of-court, DIP financing, liability management, creditor recoveries and distressed M&A, on top of the standard fundamentals.
Offer Decisions: PJT says successful candidates are the ones who exhibited strong potential across the range of attributes that predict success in the role, and that it typically hires a majority of the class from its internship programs.

Sources

Built from what PJT Partners publishes about its own process and from real interview data. No leaked question lists. The questions you get are generated against your own resume, so they are not from anyone else's interview.

companyPJT Partners, Studentspjtpartners.com
The published four-stage process (Explore, Application Selection, Interview, Offer Decisions), the statement that PJT runs a structured interview process aiming to assess aptitude, potential and cultural fit through questions on industry understanding and corporate finance fundamentals, the Suited Assessment linked in the job description and explicitly not weighted more than other factors, penultimate-year eligibility for the Summer Analyst Programme, US applications opening in spring and closing before summer, EMEA and Asia applications opening in September and closing in October, full-time roles posted in early August with interviews in August and September, and the fact that most of the class is hired from the internship programs.
companyPJT Partners, Careerspjtpartners.com
The firm-level framing of the process: from the initial application through interviews and evaluations PJT says it focuses on getting to know the whole person, their skills, aspirations and potential.
companyPJT Partners, Experienced Professionalspjtpartners.com
The evaluation standard PJT states directly, that through comprehensive interviews it assesses each candidate's expertise, aptitude and alignment with its values, and the values themselves: curiosity, collaboration and integrity. Also names the business lines, including Restructuring and Special Situations.
datalevels.fyi, PJT Partnerslevels.fyi
Investment banking compensation and level context. No interview-process content.

Sources last checked August 12, 2026. Hiring loops change, so this date is the honest limit on everything above.