LBO modeling test practice
Build the model yourself. See which cell is wrong.
Build the paper LBO, sources and uses, the debt schedule and the returns yourself, in a spreadsheet in your browser. The LBO & M&A course has 629 graded cells, from a five-year buyout to an acquirer's accretion and dilution, and every one of them is checked against the answer.
The Paper LBO below is free. No account, no card.
Or find your gaps first: the free 10-minute skills checkWhich LBO test are you facing?
| Format | Typical time | What it asks | Practice it here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper LBO | Minutes, often on paper | Entry, leverage, exit and IRR, roughly | The two exercises above — free, 16 graded cells |
| Basic LBO test | About 45–60 minutes | A simple model from a short prompt | LBO & M&A: sources and uses, operating cash flow, one debt tranche |
| Standard test | 1–2 hours | A full model with several debt tranches | The five-year buyout with multiple tranches |
| Case study | 3–4 hours, or a take-home | The model, plus a downside case and a recommendation | The downside case and accretion/dilution. The memo is not graded. |
Until the timed tests are live, set a timer yourself and build against it.
Timed 60- and 90-minute LBO tests
They are being built. No date here, because we do not have one to give you.
Got a test date? Work back from it
| Your test is… | Do this |
|---|---|
| 1–3 days away | Take the 10-minute check to find the gaps. Do the Paper LBO above. Then rebuild the debt schedule and the returns until every cell passes. |
| 1–2 weeks away | The LBO & M&A course: 25 exercises and 629 graded cells, about 12 hours of building. |
| A month or more | LBO & M&A, then The 3-Statement Build, then the Spotify case in desktop Excel. |
What gets checked
- The schedule you built, not only the number at the end of it — a returns bridge that ties by luck still fails.
- The cells each formula points at, so the right multiple read off the wrong row does not pass.
- Every year, not only the first: each year's formula has to read that year's cells, so a column that only works for year one does not pass.
What a cell check cannot do
Firms also grade your assumptions and your recommendation, and a cell check cannot judge either. Use this for the mechanics, so your time in the interview goes on the thinking instead of on the arithmetic.
Excel or a browser?
Most LBO tests run in desktop Excel, sometimes on the firm's own laptop. The formulas work the same way here, and the grid does not. Do your last full run in Excel.
Where this fits
- The LBO & M&A course
Seven lessons, 25 exercises, 629 graded cells: sources and uses, the debt schedule, returns and accretion/dilution.
- The free Paper LBO lesson
The two exercises above, in the course, with your work saved as you go.
- The Private Equity Associate career path
Excel for modeling, the three-statement build, then LBO & M&A — and the 90-minute LBO test at the end of it.
- The free 10-minute skills check
Five spreadsheet questions, scored. Lookups through to a DCF.
Questions
- Is this the test a firm will give me?
- No. It is practice built on the formats firms use. The company, the numbers and the financing are ours and are fictional, and they are chosen to make the mechanics show.
- Do private equity firms really test this?
- Almost every private equity process includes a modeling test: a paper LBO early on, and a timed LBO or a case later.
- Do you have the timed 60- and 90-minute tests?
- Not yet. They are being built. Leave your address in the line above and we will tell you once, when they open — we are not putting a date on it until we have one.
- Do I need an account to try the Paper LBO?
- No. The two exercises on this page are free and open without signing in. An account saves your work so it is still there later; the rest of the course needs full access, which is a separate purchase.
- How long is the LBO course?
- 25 exercises and 629 graded cells, which is about 12 hours of building. The Paper LBO lesson at the start of it is the free one.
- What if it does not help?
- A full refund within 30 days, even after you have started.