Free tool
IB Readiness Check: how prepared are you for investment banking recruiting?
The IB Readiness Check scores how prepared you are for investment banking recruiting, out of 100, across four areas: resume (30 points), network (25), technicals (30) and timing (15). It's a self-check against common recruiting benchmarks, not a prediction of offers or odds, and it shows the next steps for each weak area.
How ready are you for IB recruiting?
Answer eight questions. Your answers stay on this page and aren't saved or sent. Our site analytics counts only that a check was done and its score range.
This is a self-check, not a prediction. A high score doesn't mean an offer, and a low one doesn't rule one out: banks decide on interviews, fit and timing that no checklist can see.
What does the readiness check measure?
Four things banks and career offices say matter in recruiting, scored from your own answers:
- Resume (30 points): GPA, relevant experience and club involvement. Penn's career office calls GPA one factor among several and says banks hire across a range of GPAs (Penn Career Services).
- Network (25 points): how many people you've spoken with, and how much your school's recruiting does for you. Yale's career office calls networking an important step in the recruiting process (Yale OCS), and Penn says it can help your chances of getting an interview (Penn Career Services).
- Technicals (30 points): how many interview questions you can answer out loud. Cornell's career office says not to wait for an interview invite to start preparing (Cornell Career Services).
- Timing (15 points): where you are in the cycle. Recruiting for junior-year internships usually begins in sophomore year (Yale OCS), and some boutique banks opened summer 2028 applications in September and October 2026 (Extern).
How is the score calculated?
Each answer is worth a set number of points, and the score is their sum. The point values are Superday Room's own rules of thumb, not published cutoffs: no bank publishes a GPA, networking or technical threshold that applies everywhere (Penn Career Services). Here is every weight:
| Question | Points for each answer |
|---|---|
| Resume: up to 30 points | |
| GPA | 3.8 or higher: 12; 3.5 to 3.79: 10; 3.3 to 3.49: 6; 3.0 to 3.29: 3; Below 3.0: 1; No college GPA yet: 6 |
| Most relevant internship so far | None yet: 0; Non-finance internship or job: 4; Finance, not banking: 8; Investment banking or a boutique advisory firm: 12 |
| Finance or investment club | Not in one: 0; Active member: 3; Officer or project lead: 6 |
| Network: up to 25 points | |
| School type | Target: 7; Semi-target: 4; Non-target: 0 |
| Coffee chats or networking calls so far | None: 0; 1 to 4: 5; 5 to 14: 11; 15 to 29: 15; 30 or more: 18 |
| Technicals: up to 30 points | |
| Interview questions you can answer out loud, without notes | None yet: 0; 1 to 10: 5; 11 to 25: 12; 26 to 50: 20; 51 to 100: 26; More than 100: 30 |
| Timing: up to 15 points | |
| Class year | Freshman: 15; Sophomore: 12; Junior: 5; Senior: 3; Graduated or changing careers: 3 |
The banks you're aiming for changes only one thing: a sophomore aiming at elite boutiques gets 3 fewer timing points, because boutiques recruit first (Extern). An area under 70% of its maximum is marked weak and gets 2 or 3 next steps.
What do target, semi-target and non-target mean?
They describe how much banks recruit at your school. A target is a school where many banks recruit on campus every year; a semi-target is one where some banks recruit, or only for some offices or groups; a non-target is one where banks don't run campus recruiting. The labels are informal: banks don't publish lists. More on target and non-target schools →
What does my score mean?
It's a summary of your answers against these benchmarks, read in four bands:
- 85 to 100: Well prepared on paper.
- 65 to 84: On track against these benchmarks.
- 40 to 64: Building: some areas need work.
- 0 to 39: Early: start with the basics.
The four area scores matter more than the total. Fix the weakest one first, because a gap in any one of them can stop you at that stage of the process.
Why isn't this a chance-me calculator?
Because no public data links these inputs to offers. A calculator that shows a percentage would be inventing it. Banks hire from many schools: Goldman Sachs says it recruits from all academic backgrounds (Goldman Sachs). What you can control is your preparation, so that is what the check measures.
How do I raise my score fastest?
Technicals usually move fastest, because practice adds points every week. Learn the 53 common questions, then answer them out loud and timed. Networking comes next: a few short, personal emails a week add up over a semester (cold email templates). See the recruiting timeline for when it matters.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the IB Readiness Check a chance-me calculator?
- No. It scores your preparation against common recruiting benchmarks, out of 100. It doesn't predict offers or give odds, because no public data links these inputs to offers.
- Is my information saved or sent anywhere?
- Your answers aren't. The check runs in your browser, and nothing you choose is stored or sent. Superday Room's site analytics (Microsoft Clarity) counts only that a check was done and its score range, such as 60 to 79.
- Where do the point values come from?
- They're Superday Room's own rules of thumb, shown in full on the page. The reasons for each area come from career-office guides from Yale, Penn and Cornell and from Extern's recruiting tracker.
Sources
- Yale Office of Career Strategy, “Investment Banking: 2028 Summer Internship Overview (For Sophomores)”, September 28, 2026.
- Extern, “Investment Banking Internships 2028: Which Banks Are Hiring and When to Apply”, updated October 9, 2026.
- Cornell Career Services, “Finance Recruitment for Summer 2027”, December 22, 2025.
- Penn Career Services, “Investment Banking Insights: Creating an Effective Investment Banking Resume”, February 6, 2021.
- Penn Career Services, “Investment Banking Insights: Networking to Enhance Your Chances of Securing an Interview and Offer”, February 7, 2021.
- Yale Office of Career Strategy, “Writing Impactful Resume Bullets”, undated page.
- Goldman Sachs, “Prepare (Students)”, checked October 29, 2026.