4 hours
4-Hour LBO Model and Investment Slides
64 pages, one LBO and three slides for the investment committee.
You send backExcel model, two or three slides
$69
See the testPractice Tests / 4-Hour Buyout Model and Memo
- 4 hours
- Excel model + memo
- Nearly blank file
- Private equity
4-Hour Buyout Model and Memo
Build the operating cases, evaluate the expansion project and recommend an entry price in a two-page memo.
You get the test, a worked answer key, the models and memos I sent on the day and a two-page debrief.
Alder Quay Magnetic Materials, a fictional company · Recreated from a test I took in October 2025
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What you are given
A nine-page presentation, an Excel file of inputs and a Word memo form.
This is a page from the test. Select it to read it at full size.
What the test asks
- Build a full three-statement projection with investor returns in Excel, using only the presentation and the Excel file.
- Show the business as it is today and the business with a proposed EV magnet plant, and recommend a separate entry price for each.
- Write a one-to-two-page investment memo in the Word form.
- Four hours from the email. Make reasonable assumptions where the files give nothing. No outside research.
What the answer looks like
The answer key is a complete model you can check yours against line by line, with a note wherever it differs from what I sent. This example is from the free test, so nothing here gives this case away.
The note on the Taxes row
<- Got this wrong on the day: in the 60-minute file (row 27) this was EBT x (1 - tax rate), which is after-tax income, and cash taxes read it. Tax is EBT x the tax rate.
Take the free 60-minute test to see a full answer key and debrief
What you get
Start here.pdf1 page
1 - The test
1 - Company presentation.pdf9 pages
2 - Financial exhibits.xlsx2 tabs
3 - Investment memo form.docx
2 - My answer
1 - Answer key (corrected model).xlsxcheck yours against this
2 - The model I sent at four hours.xlsx
3 - The memo I sent at four hours.docx
4 - The revised model I sent that night.xlsx
5 - The revised memo I sent that night.pdf2 pages
3 - Debrief
Debrief.pdf2 pages
Who it is for
- Anyone with a timed private equity case study coming up that asks for both a model and a written recommendation.
- You should be able to build a three-statement buyout model from a nearly blank sheet. This tests whether you can do it and still leave time to write.
- Four hours for the attempt and about one more to compare and read the debrief.
The story
In October 2025 a recruiter sent me a case study for a private equity firm. It came by email on a Sunday afternoon with a four-hour clock. There was a nine-page presentation, an Excel file of inputs and a Word form for the memo.
About three hours in, Excel crashed and I lost at least 90 minutes of work. I told the recruiter, who said to rebuild and send. At the end of the four hours I sent what I had. The recruiter told me to finish and resend, and I sent a revised model and memo later that night.
Both sets are in the download, next to the answer key and a two-page debrief on how to check the model and the recommendation.
Before you start
Is this the real test?
It is recreated from the test I took. The format, the task and the time limit are the same. The company is fictional and its figures are changed.
How do I know the answer is right?
The answer key is my revised model, corrected and annotated, and recalculated before release. Check yours against it.
Why include the unfinished version?
Because that is what four hours and a crash produced. It shows what to build first if your clock runs out.
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38 pages, a blank workbook and two pages to make the call.
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