Private Credit Interview Prep: A 2-Week Study Plan

You have an interview at a private credit firm in two weeks. You know finance — EBITDA, leverage, the basics. But you have not prepared specifically for private credit, and you can feel the gap between "I understand finance" and "I think like a lender."

This plan closes that gap. Two weeks, structured by day, moving from foundational concepts to case studies and deal preparation. Every day has a specific focus, and by the end, you will be able to answer the questions that actually get asked in private credit interviews.

The plan assumes 2-3 hours of preparation per day. Adjust based on your schedule, but do not skip sections — they build on each other.

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Week 1: Build the Foundation

Day 1: Understand What Private Credit Is (and Is Not)

Your first task is to build the right mental model. Private credit is not equity investing. It is not banking. It is lending — and the lender's perspective changes how you evaluate everything.

Focus areas:

• What private credit is and how it differs from other asset classes
• The lender's core question: "will I get my money back?"
• How private credit fits within the broader leveraged finance ecosystem
• Why candidates from equity or banking backgrounds frame things wrong

Read: What Is Private Credit? What the Job Actually Is

Practice: Write a 60-second answer to "What is private credit?" that avoids textbook definitions and emphasizes the lender's perspective.

Day 2: Learn the Capital Structure

Understand where different types of debt sit, what the risk and return trade-offs are, and how structure changes the lender's position.

Focus areas:

• Senior secured, unitranche, first lien, second lien, mezzanine — what each means for the lender
• How seniority affects pricing, covenants, and recovery
• When unitranche makes sense vs. a split-lien structure
• The concept of attachment and detachment points

Read: Unitranche vs First Lien vs Mezzanine

Practice: If given a $50M EBITDA business acquired at 9x, sketch the capital structure with 50% equity and 50% debt, split between senior and mezzanine. What leverage is each tranche? What is the equity cushion for the senior?

Day 3: Master Cash Flow Analysis

This is the most important technical skill. Everything in private credit flows from whether the business generates enough cash to service its debt.

Focus areas:

• Bridging from EBITDA to free cash flow
• Maintenance capex vs. growth capex
• Working capital dynamics and cash traps
• EBITDA addbacks and how to challenge them
• Cash interest coverage as the key ratio

Read: Cash Flow Analysis for Private Credit

Practice: Take a public company's financials and walk through the EBITDA-to-FCF bridge. Estimate what leverage a private credit lender would be comfortable with.

Day 4: Understand Covenants and Documentation

Covenants are the lender's enforcement mechanism. Documentation governs what the borrower can do with the business over the life of the loan.

Focus areas:

• Maintenance vs. incurrence covenants
• Headroom and why it matters
• Key restrictive covenants: restricted payments, permitted debt, permitted investments
• EBITDA definitions and how they can be manipulated
• Leakage pathways and structural protections

Read: How to Discuss Covenants in a Private Credit Interview and Documentation Risk in Private Credit

Practice: Write a 60-second answer to "What documentation risks would you look for?"

Day 5: Learn the Good Credit vs. Good Business Distinction

This is the conceptual foundation of lender thinking. It separates candidates who frame from the equity seat from those who frame from the lender seat.

Focus areas:

• Why a strong business can be a weak credit
• What characteristics make a credit good: cash flow predictability, conversion, low cyclicality, structural protection
• The four combinations: good business/good credit, good business/bad credit, etc.
• How to apply this framework in case studies

Read: What Makes a Good Credit vs a Good Business

Practice: Pick three well-known companies (one defensive, one cyclical, one high-growth). Assess each as a credit — not as an equity investment.

Day 6: Master Debt Sizing

This is one of the most commonly tested technicals. Be ready to size debt using the three-constraint framework.

Focus areas:

• The three constraints: leverage, coverage, and downside resilience
• How business characteristics drive the appropriate leverage level
• Why coverage is often the binding constraint
• How to present debt sizing in an interview

Read: How to Size Debt in a Private Credit Interview

Practice: Given a $40M EBITDA services business with 70% cash conversion and moderate cyclicality, size the senior debt. Walk through leverage, coverage, and a downside stress test.

Day 7: Review and Consolidate

Use this day to review everything from Week 1. Go back through your notes and practice answers.

Consolidation exercises:

• Write 60-second answers to: "What is private credit?", "What makes a good credit?", "How would you size debt?", "How do you think about covenants?"
• Time yourself — each answer should be under 90 seconds
• Identify gaps: which topics do you feel weakest on? Revisit those articles

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Week 2: Apply, Practice, and Sharpen

Day 8: Downside Risk Analysis

Move from concept to application. Learn the systematic framework for analyzing what breaks a credit.

Focus areas:

• The four-layer downside framework: revenue drivers, cash flow impact, covenant trip, recovery
• How to quantify downside scenarios
• Common mistakes in downside analysis

Read: How to Analyze Downside Risk in a Private Credit Case Study

Practice: Take the business you sized on Day 6. Build a downside case: assume 20% EBITDA decline. What happens to leverage, coverage, and liquidity?

Day 9: Recovery Analysis and Sponsor Dynamics

Complete your analytical toolkit with the final two layers: what happens in default, and how sponsor behavior affects the credit.

Focus areas:

• Enterprise value recovery methodology
• Recovery waterfall and capital structure positioning
• Sponsor incentives and where they diverge from the lender
• Equity cures: when they help and when they are cosmetic

Read: Recovery Analysis and Sponsor-Backed Lending

Practice: For your Day 8 downside, estimate recovery in a severe case. Apply a distressed multiple to trough EBITDA and run the waterfall.

Day 10: Prepare Your Deal Walkthrough

This is critical. You need one or two deals you can walk through with confidence and depth.

Focus areas:

• The five-part framework: business, transaction, merits, risks/mitigants, outcome
• How to select the right deal(s) to discuss
• Anticipating follow-up questions
• Framing from the lender's seat, not the banker's

Read: How to Walk Through a Deal in a Private Credit Interview

Practice: Prepare a full three-minute deal walkthrough. Record yourself. Listen back. Are you framing from the lender's perspective? Are you discussing risks with mitigants?

Day 11: Market Knowledge and Industry Context

You need to speak credibly about the private credit market — current conditions, competitive dynamics, and trends.

Focus areas:

• Current deal volume and pricing trends
• How rate changes affect private credit
• Private credit vs. BSL competition
• PIK trends and what they signal
• Dry powder and deployment pressure

Read: Private Credit Market Overview for Interviews in 2026 and PIK vs Cash Pay

Practice: Write a 60-second answer to "Tell me about the private credit market today."

Day 12: Case Study Practice

Simulate a real case study. Find a company (or use a hypothetical), build the credit assessment, and present a recommendation.

Focus areas:

• Business assessment, cash flow analysis, structure evaluation
• Downside case with covenant and recovery implications
• Recommendation with conditions and key risks

Use the Free Credit Investment Memo Framework as your template. Work through each section as if you were presenting to an investment committee.

Day 13: Mock Interviews

Practice answering questions out loud. Ideally, find a friend or colleague to ask the questions. If not, record yourself and review.

Cover these question types:

• "What is private credit?" — foundational
• "Would you lend to this business?" — judgment
• "How would you size the debt?" — technical
• "Walk me through a deal." — experience
• "What is the private credit market doing right now?" — market awareness
• "Why private credit?" — motivation and fit

Read: Private Credit Interview Questions: What You'll Actually Get Asked for question archetypes and what interviewers are really testing.

Day 14: Final Review

The day before the interview. No new material. Just review and practice.

• Re-read your deal walkthrough notes
• Practice your 60-second answers one more time
• Review the market overview
• Prepare questions to ask the interviewer (deal flow, team structure, portfolio management approach, sector preferences)
• Get sleep

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What This Plan Does Not Cover

This plan focuses on the credit and technical side of private credit interviews. You also need to prepare for:

• Behavioral and fit questions — "Why this firm?", "Walk me through your resume", "Tell me about a challenge you faced"
• Firm-specific research — know the firm's strategy, recent deals (if public), AUM, sector focus, and competitive position
• Modeling — some firms include a model test. Practice building a three-statement credit model with debt schedules

For the comprehensive question bank covering all categories, see the Private Credit Interview Guide.

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Start with the Free Credit Investment Memo Framework — it gives you the structure to practice building credit assessments from Day 1. For the full 80-question interview prep with model answers, deal walkthrough guidance, and cheat sheets, see the Private Credit Interview Guide.