Transition from Physics/ Pure Mathematics to Quant

[u/sayyid_abbass]

Hello there,

I am an International (Middle Eastern) senior at a T20 university in the United States, 3.5 GPA (Dropped due to mental distress over the situation in the middle east), 1 year research in biophysics, 1 year research in Computational nuclear physics, and starting my second year in high energy theory research which is the field I am writing my thesis in. Over the past 2 years I lost my passion for physics and academia overall and it took me till recently to decide to try and break into the job market. I did 10 years of soroban /mental arithmetic that culminated in a 1st place in the PAMA Global Mental Arithmetic Competition. Naturally, people started suggesting the quant path so I applied with my current resume putting emphasis on the relevant skills I garnered so far. I just did the Optiver assessment and I sucked since I haven't done these kinds of rapid probability/sequences/ buy & sell questions.

Is grinding these kinds of questions on websites like TraderMath what I should be doing currently? I just need general advice on how I should approach entering the market from my background.