On 11 June 2026 Optiver updated its Europe recruitment FAQ. It explains the assessment portal, the eight-month rule on retakes and the behavioural interview that follows the tests. It does not mention the 80 in 8.
That is normal. Optiver has never published the format, the scoring or a pass mark for its most famous test. Everything you have read about it, including what follows, comes from candidates and prep sites.
The short answer: the 80 in 8 is a mental arithmetic test of 80 questions in eight minutes, with no calculator. Candidates consistently report that it is multiple choice with four options, that a right answer scores +1 and a wrong one -1, and that the pass line sits somewhere around 55 net. The newest twist is that the 2026/27 invites candidates have quoted do not list it at all.
The Format at a Glance
| What candidates report | How settled it is | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 80 questions, 8 minutes | Every source agrees |
| Question types | +, -, × and ÷ on whole numbers, decimals and fractions, including missing-number forms | Five or more sources agree |
| Answer format | Multiple choice, four options | Seven sources agree, none disagree |
| Calculator | Not allowed | Every source that mentions it |
| Scoring | +1 correct, -1 wrong | Most sources; one says -2 for a wrong answer |
| Skipping | Contested | Three different versions in circulation |
| Pass mark | Not published | Reported lines run from 55 to 70 |
Eight minutes for 80 questions is six seconds each, with no time back for the hard ones.
What Optiver Says Officially
Very little about the test itself, and quite a lot about the rules around it.
The Europe FAQ says that "assessments can only be completed once every 8 months". If you have already sat the tests for a similar role in that window, your earlier results are reused and you will not get a new invite. Optiver also says it is "unable to offer assessment resets or retakes within 8 months once an attempt has been started", and that it cannot give specific feedback at the early stages.
The tests run on what Optiver calls the Optiver Assessment Portal. After them comes an initial behavioural interview with a recruiter, and later a final day. The FAQ does not name the 80 in 8, give a question count or state a cutoff, and neither does any other official Optiver page we have seen.
So treat every number below as reported, not confirmed.
Answer Format and Question Types
The multiple choice question comes up constantly, and the answer is about as settled as anything gets for this test. Seven separate sources, from a 2018 Reddit thread ("the mental math is multiple choice") to prep sites updated this year, describe four options per question. We found no source saying answers are typed in.
Two sources also say you cannot go back: choosing an answer moves you straight on.
The questions are the four operations, and they are not all whole numbers. Candidates describe decimals to two or three places, fractions, and missing-number forms such as 66 × ? = 138.6. That one is 138.6 ÷ 66, which is 2.1.
Multiple choice changes the game less than people hope. It lets you sanity-check an answer by magnitude or last digit, but only if the wrong options are far enough apart. Candidates rarely describe the distractors in detail, so we would not build a strategy around eliminating them.
Scoring and Skipping
Most sources give +1 for a correct answer and -1 for a wrong one. OpenQuant (2023) is the one outlier, putting the penalty at -2.
Skipping is where the reports genuinely split:
- You cannot skip. Two prep sites say every question needs an answer before you move on.
- A skip costs -1. JobTestPrep, TestHQ and a 2022 Reddit thread ("+1 point for correct, -1 for incorrect or skip") say it is scored like a wrong answer.
- Unanswered questions score zero. QuantPrep and 80in8.com say this.
Our reading, and it is only a reading, is that the test forces an answer on each question you see, so questions you never reach before time runs out are not counted. Nobody has confirmed that. The practical upshot is the same under every version: a wrong answer costs you, so a guess only pays when you can narrow four options to about two.
The Pass Mark
Optiver does not publish one. Several prep sites say so themselves before quoting a number anyway.
The figure repeated most often is 55 to 56 net. QuantVault, TestHQ, JobTestPrep, SpaceComplexity, QuantPrep and Extern all land there. Reddit threads are looser: "55+ I believe" and "forums suggest around 65" (2022), and "65 or 60" (2018). A handful of sites say 60 to 70. For a "competitive" score, the common claim is 70 or more.
Be careful with that apparent agreement. Prep sites copy one another, so six sites saying 55 is not six independent measurements. And a single cutoff may never have existed: the bar could vary by role, office and year, and the arithmetic test is one gate among several.
It helps to see what the numbers demand. Suppose you answer at 95% accuracy, a good but realistic rate under pressure. To net 55 you need to answer about 61 questions (58 right, three wrong), which is 7.9 seconds each. To net 70 you need about 78 (74 right, four wrong), which is 6.2 seconds each. That second pace leaves almost no time on the harder decimal questions.
We would aim for 70 in practice, precisely because nobody knows where the line is.
Is It Still Used in 2026?
This is the part most guides get wrong, in both directions.
Candidate reports from the 2023 cycle (for Summer 2024 internships) describe a sequence that opens with the 80 in 8 and moves through Zap-N, NumberLogic, Beat the Odds and a personality questionnaire. That matches most of what has been written about Optiver for years.
The 2026/27 reports look different. One candidate posted their invite text listing five modules: Beat the Odds (25 minutes), NumberLogic (25 minutes), Likelihood-list, Intervals and Orderbooks. A quant research intern candidate in August 2026 listed the same five. A blog post from July 2026 lists six, adding Zap-N. None of them includes the 80 in 8. A software engineering invite from the same summer listed only a HackerRank coding test and Zap-N.
On the other side, QuantVault says Optiver "still runs the 80 in 8 as of the 2026 cycle", but cites no invite. Two other sites say the same without evidence.
So its status is unconfirmed. It may have been dropped, it may be sent separately, or it may depend on the role or office. Your invite will tell you. Either way, we would still train arithmetic speed: every module candidates describe for the 2026 cycle is timed, and Orderbooks and Intervals both reward quick, accurate numbers.
The Rest of the Assessment
The 80 in 8 was only ever the opening module. Here is what candidates report about the others, with the disagreements left in:
- NumberLogic. Number sequences. Commonly reported as 26 questions in 25 minutes with five options and a calculator allowed. QuantVault says about 15 questions.
- Beat the Odds. Probability questions. Sizes conflict: 20 questions at 90 seconds each, 10 in 15 minutes, or about 30 in 45 minutes. The 2026 invite gives 25 minutes.
- Zap-N. Short cognitive games. One quoted invite describes "1 or more short neuro assessment games. Each game lasts between 2 and 15 minutes".
- Likelihood-list (new for 2026). Rank outcomes from most to least likely. Reported as 15 questions at 90 seconds each.
- Intervals (new for 2026). Give a lower and upper bound for an unknown quantity, where tighter correct ranges score more. Reported as 18 questions at 60 seconds each.
- Orderbooks (new for 2026). Find profitable combinations of buys and sells. Reported as 20 questions in about eight minutes, though the invite text says about 15.
Candidates report that traders and researchers get the arithmetic and probability modules, while software engineers get a HackerRank coding test and Zap-N instead. For the interviews that follow, see our Optiver interview guide, and for how other firms screen, our quant online assessments guide.
How to Practise
Our free 80 in 8 simulator gives you the pace and the penalty: 80 questions, eight minutes, +1 and -1. It is not a replica, and you should know where it differs.
It uses typed answers rather than four options, so there is no elimination to lean on. Its questions are whole numbers with a small share of percentages, so it does not train the decimals and fractions candidates report. And a skip costs you nothing, which is the most generous of the three skipping rules in circulation.
That means a strong simulator score measures integer speed well and decimal speed not at all. Pair it with the mental math trainer for volume, and work decimals and fractions by hand. Here are eight in the reported style. Give yourself six seconds each.
- 66 × ? = 138.6. Divide: 138.6 ÷ 66 = 2.1.
- 0.35 × 480. Split it: 0.3 × 480 = 144, plus 0.05 × 480 = 24. 168.
- 7/8 of 312. 312 ÷ 8 = 39, then × 7. 273.
- 14.4 ÷ 0.6. Scale both by 10: 144 ÷ 6. 24.
- 1,000 - 386.25. Count up: 13.75 gets you to 400, then 600 more. 613.75.
- 3/4 + 5/6. Twelfths: 9/12 + 10/12. 19/12, or 1 7/12.
- 48 × 25. Divide by four, multiply by 100. 1,200.
- ? ÷ 12 = 17.5. 17.5 × 12 = 175 + 35. 210.
Four to six weeks of short daily sessions is the usual prescription, and we agree with it. Our mental maths questions guide covers the decomposition tricks in more depth.
Where This Guide Goes Wrong
Every format detail here is second-hand. Optiver can change the test between cycles without telling anyone, and the 2026 reports suggest it just has.
The sources are also weaker than their number suggests. Much of the prep-site material traces back to the same few forum threads, and the forum threads themselves are anonymous. Where we give a figure that only one or two sources support, we have said so.
The pass mark is the least reliable number of all. If it was ever fixed, it was never published, and the arithmetic test has always been one module among several. We would not count on a great arithmetic score to rescue a weak Beat the Odds.
Recruiting Notes
Nothing in this guide guarantees an assessment format, an interview or an offer. Test formats, scoring and cutoffs described here are candidate-reported and can change between cycles. For estimated pay by role, see our Optiver salary guide, and for the intern programme itself, our Optiver internship guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Optiver 80 in 8 multiple choice?
By every candidate report we found, yes, with four options per question. Seven separate sources describe it that way, going back to 2018, and none says answers are typed. Optiver has not confirmed the format officially.
What is a good score on the Optiver 80 in 8?
Optiver publishes no pass mark. The most repeated figure is about 55 to 56 net, with other reports ranging up to 70, and 70 or more is commonly called competitive. Many of those figures are copied between prep sites, so we would aim for 70 in practice rather than trusting any single line.
Does Optiver still use the 80 in 8?
It is unconfirmed. The 2026/27 invites that candidates have quoted list Beat the Odds, NumberLogic, Likelihood-list, Intervals and Orderbooks, with no 80 in 8. One prep site says it is still used in 2026 but cites no invite. It may have been dropped or may vary by role.
Can you use a calculator or paper in the 80 in 8?
No calculator, according to every source that addresses it. Two prep sites say pen and paper are allowed, but at six seconds a question there is little time to write anything down.
Is there negative marking in the 80 in 8?
Yes. Most reports give -1 for a wrong answer against +1 for a right one, and one source says -2. How skipped or unanswered questions are scored is disputed, so train as if a blind guess costs you.
Can you retake the Optiver 80 in 8?
Not quickly. Optiver's Europe FAQ says assessments can only be completed once every eight months, results are reused for similar roles within that window, and it cannot reset an attempt once started. Treat your first sitting as the real one.
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