GOBLIN100: The 100-Question Beginner Ramp for IB Interviews

What is in GOBLIN100

10 phases. 100 questions total. Roughly 10 questions per phase, in a deliberate order that mirrors how banking technicals are actually taught:

1. Orientation: what investment banking is, what an analyst does, why questions are asked the way they are.
2. The three statements: income statement, balance sheet, cash flow, and how they link.
3. Working capital and operating mechanics: the parts that break first under interview pressure.
4. Valuation fundamentals: enterprise value, equity value, and the bridge between them.
5. Multiples: EV/EBITDA, EV/Revenue, P/E, and when each applies.
6. DCF: projection mechanics, WACC, terminal value, and the standard 60-second walkthrough.
7. Capital structure: debt versus equity, free cash flow, capital allocation.
8. M&A basics: accretion versus dilution, synergy categories, deal mechanics.
9. LBO basics: the paper LBO framework and the value-creation drivers.
10. Markets context and fit: sector trends, behavioral framing, and why-banking foundations.

The questions are not random. They are sequenced so each builds on the prior: accounting before valuation, valuation before DCF, DCF before LBO.

The fixed sequence is the point

GOBLINMODE is adaptive. GOBLIN100 is the opposite: every candidate sees the same 100 questions in the same order. There is no skipping, no filtering, no health weighting. The point is to give a candidate who does not yet have a grading signal a pre-ordered path so they cannot accidentally skip something they need.

Once the candidate has graded all 100 cards, the system has enough signal to switch them to GOBLINMODE, which then resurfaces whatever they got wrong with 20x the weight of mastered material.

The graduation

GOBLINMODE weighs every card the candidate has graded. So when a candidate finishes GOBLIN100 and switches to GOBLINMODE:

• Cards they marked Don't Know during GOBLIN100 immediately surface at 20x weight.
• Cards marked Skip sit at 5x weight (no-response).
• Cards marked Know drop to 1x and become occasional review.

Nothing is lost. The grades carry over.

This is the right ordering for most candidates: ramp on a fixed sequence, accumulate grade signal, then turn GOBLINMODE loose.

How long GOBLIN100 takes

It depends entirely on the candidate's daily volume.

• Free tier: 7 questions per day. GOBLIN100 takes about 15 days at the cap.
• Accelerated: 80 questions per day. GOBLIN100 takes 1–2 days if pushed, more typically a week of moderate sessions.

There is no time pressure. A candidate can drag GOBLIN100 over a month if that is the pace that fits their schedule.

What candidates skip when they skip GOBLIN100

A candidate who jumps straight into GOBLINMODE without any baseline grade signal will get questions from the active phase, but GOBLINMODE has nothing to weight against because the candidate has not graded anything yet. The first hundred or so cards will basically be unseen-tier questions in arbitrary order.

That is fine for an experienced candidate. It is not fine for a beginner, who needs the curriculum order to scaffold the technical concepts in the right sequence.

Pricing

GOBLIN100 is available to Free and Accelerated users. The Free tier's 7 questions per day apply to GOBLIN100 the same way they apply to GOBLINMODE: same daily counter, same UTC midnight reset.