A structured 3-week preparation plan for a Transaction Services interview at a Big 4 or boutique advisory firm: week by week, with priorities and practical exercises.
Three weeks is the minimum serious preparation time for a Transaction Services interview. Here's how to use those weeks efficiently — with the right focus at each stage.
This is the single most important technical topic. By the end of day 2, you should be able to:
Practice: write out a mini EBITDA bridge with invented numbers. Time yourself explaining it verbally.
By the end of day 4:
By the end of day 7:
Take a historical P&L and balance sheet (real or constructed) and work through:
This is the most important preparation activity. Reading about FDD is not the same as doing it under time pressure.
Locked box vs completion accounts, VDD vs buy-side FDD, earn-out structures, change of control clauses. You don't need deep expertise, but you need to be able to speak fluently.
Take the 20 most common TS interview questions and prepare answers out loud. Don't just think them — say them. Verbal fluency is different from written understanding.
Prepare STAR-format answers for:
Research the specific team: sectors covered, recent deals, team size. Prepare 2-3 intelligent questions to ask in the interview. Final review of weak spots.
The programme's case studies, model solutions and adjustment libraries are designed to support exactly this kind of structured preparation.
Hundreds of candidates prepared their interviews with this programme. Those who landed the role have one thing in common: they worked the cases before walking into the room.
