The In-Tray is Banking Judgment Lab's free bank of one-minute commercial credit files. Each gives a short setup, a few numbers and four possible calls; once you choose, every option shows how far it sits from a senior banker's read, with a short note on why. It has two shelves: one on the eight chapters of How Bankers Think, and the Groundwork, on the general knowledge a commercial banker works from.

No. There is no right answer printed and no score. Each option is labelled by its distance from the senior read — with it, stands up, or off the line — because most credit files have more than one defensible call.

What is the placement?

Twenty-four files, three from each chapter of How Bankers Think, drawn fresh each time. It takes about twenty minutes and ends in a card of eight rows showing where your calls sat against a senior banker's. The card lives only at its own address; nothing about your answers is stored.

Candidates preparing for commercial banking and credit interviews, analysts and relationship managers in their first years on a lending desk, students of professional accounting and finance qualifications who want to see the syllabus on a lending desk, and anyone who wants to test their read of a business against a senior banker's. It is free and needs no signup.

What does the Groundwork cover?

The general knowledge underneath the book's chapters, mapped on five questions every loan answers — the borrower, the loan, the bank, the economy and the conduct — from cash conversion and debt service cover to audit opinions, capital, collateral values, conflicts of interest and money laundering.

THE IN-TRAY172 FILES · 2 SHELVES · FREE

The In-Tray.

Two shelves of one-minute files. Every call is read against a senior banker's — not right or wrong, but how far from the senior read.

ONE MINUTE A FILE · NO SIGNUP

THE PLACEMENT · 24 FILES · ABOUT 20 MINUTES

START THE PLACEMENT

OR ONE CHAPTER AT A TIME · SIX FILES EACH

HOW IT READS A CALL

Each file is a few lines and four possible calls. Make one, and every option opens with how far it sits from the senior banker’s read — and a short note on why, naming the chapter of How Bankers Think it comes from.

There is no right answer printed anywhere. Most of these files have more than one defensible call; what differs is how close each comes to the one a senior banker would make.

WITH THE SENIOR READ
STANDS UP
OFF THE LINE

FIVE KINDS OF FILE

THE CALL
A situation and four moves. Which one would a senior make?
THE FIRST QUESTION
A few numbers on the page. Which do you ask about first?
WHAT THEY HEAR
Something said across the table. What does the other side hear?
SIGNAL OR NOISE
Something changed in a borrower’s file. Does it mean anything?
THE NUMBER
A sum to work out from the file. The read shows the working.

THIS WEEK’S FOUR

Four files from four chapters, to read here. They change each week.

WHAT THEY HEAR · CHAPTER 8

You tell a founder: 'We'd want the covenant package tightened before we extend.'

What does the founder hear?

WHAT THEY HEAR · CHAPTER 2

Mid-answer, the interviewer adds a fact: 'The largest customer has just given notice.' The candidate replies: 'That doesn't change much. The order book is still strong.'

What does the panel hear?

THE FIRST QUESTION · CHAPTER 4

A manufacturer applies to renew its facilities.

Net profit: US$5.0m
Operating cash flow: US$4.8m
Inventory days: 70 → 72
Receivable days: 45 → 44

Is there anything to chase?

SIGNAL OR NOISE · CHAPTER 6

A borrower who has paid on time for nine years asks to move its monthly management accounts to quarterly.

Signal or noise?

4 FILES · PICK A CALL ON ANY OF THEM

THE EIGHT TRAYS

THE SECOND SHELF · THE GROUNDWORK

Every commercial loan answers five questions: who borrows, what is lent, who lends, in what conditions, and by what rules. Each is a tray here, cut into four or five squares, with nothing left out and nothing counted twice.

THE WHOLE MAP → · ONLY THE SUMS → · THIRTY DAYS, ONE A DAY →

WHAT IT IS NOT

Not a test with a pass mark, a level or a ranking. The placement ends in a card of eight rows, one per chapter, showing where your calls sat against the senior read. Nothing on it goes up a scale.

Not the book, either. A note under each file names the chapter it comes from; how that chapter works is in the chapter.

FROM THE BOOK

Every file here is hung on one of the eight chapters of How Bankers Think, and on the framework that chapter names. The eight frameworks →

QUESTIONS

What is the In-Tray?: The In-Tray is Banking Judgment Lab's free bank of one-minute commercial credit files. Each gives a short setup, a few numbers and four possible calls; once you choose, every option shows how far it sits from a senior banker's read, with a short note on why. It has two shelves: one on the eight chapters of How Bankers Think, and the Groundwork, on the general knowledge a commercial banker works from.
Is it scored?: No. There is no right answer printed and no score. Each option is labelled by its distance from the senior read — with it, stands up, or off the line — because most credit files have more than one defensible call.
What is the placement?: Twenty-four files, three from each chapter of How Bankers Think, drawn fresh each time. It takes about twenty minutes and ends in a card of eight rows showing where your calls sat against a senior banker's. The card lives only at its own address; nothing about your answers is stored.
Who is it for?: Candidates preparing for commercial banking and credit interviews, analysts and relationship managers in their first years on a lending desk, students of professional accounting and finance qualifications who want to see the syllabus on a lending desk, and anyone who wants to test their read of a business against a senior banker's. It is free and needs no signup.
What does the Groundwork cover?: The general knowledge underneath the book's chapters, mapped on five questions every loan answers — the borrower, the loan, the bank, the economy and the conduct — from cash conversion and debt service cover to audit opinions, capital, collateral values, conflicts of interest and money laundering.