The phone interview consisted of come basic statistics queries: if you have 9 socks in a drawer and 4 are black and 5 are red, what is the likelihood that the third sock you pick is red. Then there was the typical thinking questions of, "How many miles of highways are in the U.S." Its important to ask questions when doing any case study with HSBC. They have a pool of facts to feed you, but will withhold them if you don't ask. for them. Know a great deal about HSBC and why you want to work there.