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Interview Question for Analyst at Goldman Sachs:
May 31, 2010

2 of 2 people found this helpful

If you were shrunk to the size of a pencil and put in a blender, how would you get out?

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Answers & Comments (45)

2 of 12 people found this helpful

May 31, 2010

by Interview Candidate:

Analytical Problem Solving
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Dec 30, 2010

by ✳✳✳✳✳✳✳✳

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4 of 8 people found this helpful

Dec 31, 2010

by Parmider Sandhu:

If I am the size of pencil, I can easily stick to the side of the container or just stay above the blade. Just wait till the outlet is open and slip out of it. :)
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13 of 19 people found this helpful

Jan 04, 2011

by Bo:

Ask the government to bail me out, hyoh!
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4 of 8 people found this helpful

Jan 05, 2011

by Ian Robertson:

A four day interview with Goldman is very much like being shrunk down in size while dangling above certain death. My answer would be, "Accept a different job offer".
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6 of 8 people found this helpful

Jan 10, 2011

by Br:

I'd write "help me" on the side of the container, sit down and wait the waitress.
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2 of 6 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Marcus:

Run around in the blender fast enough so the centrifugal force pushes you out.
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6 of 10 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Jib:

I would just Erase the Blender!
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7 of 10 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Mark:

As a liquid.
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4 of 6 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Randy:

Is this the Voight-Kampff test from Blade Runner?

As a top level executive I would never allow myself, employees, or company to be placed in such a position. I would allow our competitors to make these kinds of tactical mistakes then capitalize on the.

No. I am not a replicant.
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5 of 6 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Zameer:

1) If I am shrunk to the size of a Pencil then all the articles including Blender would've also shrunk according to my size. Therefore, the possibility to put me in a blender is void :-)
2) I'd convince the blender operator that its not the right place for me to be
3) I'd CLIMB/JUMP OUT
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4 of 6 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Hah!:

Well, first I would devise a SPV designed to skirt SEC reporting requirements. Next I would buy out the blender company regardless of their current unprofitable state. THen I would have Cramer pump my newly purchased blender company on CNBC. I would then cash out of the blender company - or, if that fails. Declare and end to the banking system as we know it and force the federal government to bail me out.

I am goldman sachs, and I am domestic threat to the constitution.
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7 of 9 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Brad:

The square cube law means you could jump out.
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13 of 14 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Eric Egeland:

As a strategic consultant I would say "I don't know but I'll find out how it can be done and if not, why".

I would then analyze the situation (which I did) and found the average pencil is 6" tall and the average blender is 7" from the center of the blade. If you change the measurements to feet, I am about 6 foot and could simply reach up and pull myself out. If you are 5 foot tall you could jump 1 foot in the air and do the same.

Of course this would be followed by a long list of assumptions but given the one sentence question... that seems fair : ).
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9 of 10 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Dano:

I'd ask for someone to pour cream into the blender and allow me to float to the top. I'd then ask that person to turn the blender on to whip the cream, forming butter and buttermilk.

I'd then use the butter to build a staircase to the rim of the blender as well as a drop a huge pile of butter outside of the blender to cushion my fall once I jump out.

I'd also ask for a couple slices of mini-toast so that I can eat it with the butter to celebrate my victorious escape from the blender.
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2 of 5 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by tolikfox:

I'll let you know when I have been shrunked to the size of a pencil, put in a blender and somehow managed to get out.
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4 of 8 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Myles:

This happened to me once. Really not fun.
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0 of 1 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by RobM:

They ask this question because this actually happened to Lloyd Blankfein once.
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0 of 6 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Shaun:

Brad's answer is the right thinking but the wrong conclusion. If you were reduced in size by factor x, then...

Your new volume would be: 1/x

But your new height would be: cuberoot(x) (or, in other words, 1/x^3)

1/x >> 1/x^3 so you would decrease in height by a greater amount than your decrease in size
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6 of 6 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Mike:

Quite simple. A pencil is taller than a blender is wide. Sit on the bottom, place your feet against one wall and your back against the other wall with your hands down at your waist and pressed against the same wall as your back. Use opposing forces between your feet and hands/back to inch your way up. In rock climbing, this is called "chimeny-ing".
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7 of 8 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Elisabeth:

I would draw myself out. Think about it.
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0 of 1 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Asha:

Stand on the center shaft of the blade. The upward thrust during rotation should pop you out
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0 of 1 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Raj:

Get the eraser stuck to your head to pry open the lid and get out.
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1 of 3 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by RstJ:

Dudes, this is Govt Sachs...

"I'd rip the blade off the bottom of the blender, smash out the side of the blender, then go looking for something to kill and eat."

I want the job. Right now.

RstJ
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1 of 2 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Chris:

I would wait until someone came by. Surely they would think "what the heck is a pencil doing in that blender" and lift me out.

I mean really......who wants a pencil in their blender?
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1 of 2 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by you:

I would be concerned as to who shrank me and why they wished to blend me
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1 of 2 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Sunny:

I would do a jumping sidekick as high as possible to create enough leverage and momentum as to topple the blender. Hence, liberation.
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3 of 5 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by R.G.:

The most powerful characteristic of a pencil is the ability to Write and Draw, always find the point of strength in yourself and use it to become successful, in this case I’ll use my drawing power and draw a staircase and use the stairs to get out from the bottom of the blender.
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2 of 2 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Manohar:

By opening the lid.

pls dont ask me how.. if I can shrink to the size of a pencil, I can da mn well open the lid.
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1 of 1 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by Sal:

I still have the same weight, just compressed into a pencil-thin form. So I lean against the wall of the blender, it tips over, and I can patent the process by which I was made pencil-thin. With a few modifications, this could be a huge hit. I'd be able to quit my day job.
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1 of 1 people found this helpful

Jan 11, 2011

by LS Meron:

Pretty easy. The average pencil is about 8 inches long. My blender is about 12 inches high. So, if I were the height of the pencil, I'd just climb up on the blade connection at the center of the blender base (about 2 inches up from the base) and leap to the top edge of the side of the blender and hoist myself over to safety.
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2 of 3 people found this helpful

Jan 12, 2011

by Prateek Sharma:

No one said the blender is turned on, so I will hang out .
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2 of 2 people found this helpful

Jan 12, 2011

by Adrian:

Given the size of a typical pencil, I could position myself horizontally and use my hands and feet to walk up the side of the blender. If the cap is on, I would use one leg to kick out the middle cap once I made it to the top and then climb out starting with the one leg.
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2 of 2 people found this helpful

Jan 13, 2011

by TheGSACK:

jam myself into the blend blades since I am a #2 pencil whose tensile strength exceeds the torque of the blender motor. This will cause the motor to burn out or a circuit breaker to trip; then when the smoke subsides I carefuly open the lid and leave. Remembering to reset the circuit breaker for the next job candidate
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1 of 1 people found this helpful

Jan 17, 2011

by tumza007lnw:

It's impossible that a human would become a pencil.

But, if you would like to compare a pencil as a human, so that a blender would be a obstacle or trouble in work.

Normally, people put pencil into a blender to sharpen it. A sharpened pencil would be better in writing. So that, to be put in a blender means that to improve myself.

If that so, I would not get out or runaway.
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3 of 3 people found this helpful

Jan 18, 2011

by beamreach:

Not sure why many of you think you became a pencil... read the question again :)
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Feb 09, 2011

by jis_98@yahoo.com:

I would wait until they put ice in it and climb out or if it was liquid I would float to the top and climb out. If there was nothing put inside of the blender, I would as the others said........use my legs and arms to climb up the glass and get out. Your right beamreach it doesn't read if you became a pencil it.
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Jul 07, 2011

by Seriously?:

Well, the blender is filled with pina colada's and hotties, so I wouldn't get out.
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2 of 2 people found this helpful

Aug 05, 2011

by Amanda:

You're the relative size of a pencil, not ACTUALLY a pencil.
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Sep 7, 2011

by ✳✳✳✳✳✳✳✳

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Sep 21, 2011

by At Home:

I would draw a door and get out of it!!!
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Sep 23, 2011

by Amused:

This is not a real question. These are intentionally stupid questions that does serve two purposes in two different situations. If the interviewer thinks he/she is too smart, these questions help boost their ego. On the other hand if these are sincere questions, they are meant to judge you personality by observing your approach to the question. You lose either way.
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Jun 13, 2012

by Sam:

overwrite E to U
BLUNDER and leave it to other deal with it.
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Aug 09, 2012

by Prosenjit Roy:

I would just climb out of the blender. I can use the blades to step on and elevate myself to climb out. No one said anything about having started the blender. You have just been put inside. Neither has anyone mentioned that you have been turned into a pencil. Just that you have been shrunk to that size.
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Sep 02, 2012

by Suzanne:

Open the bottom and release the waste.
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