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Cognizant Interview Experience | On Campus

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Cognizant is one of the biggest MNCs’ which comes to recruit huge number of students each year both On-campus and Off-campus. In our college, Cognizant announced its On-campus examination on 1st Septemper, 2019. I am sharing my interview experience with you guys. 

Round 1: First Qualifier (platform used- AMCAT) 
The first round comprised of 62 MCQ questions including verbal, aptitude, logical reasoning and Automata fix (7 questions) . All of this to be completed within an alotted time of 2 hours including the registration process. 

There were 22 questions in the verbal section- Vocabulary, Grammar and Reading Comprehension. 

There were 16 questions in the Quantitative aptitude section which further includes 3 major sections:- Basic Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Engineering Mathematics. 

There were 24 questions in the Logical reasoning section. The questions include deductive, inductive and abductive reasoning. 

Last but not the least, in the automata fix section there were 7 questions of which 5 of them were given to debug and the rest 2 were to write a basic program and to complete a function of a given code. 

Suggestion:- The questions in each and every section is of easy to medium level of difficulty. If you have a good practise then you need not to worry much. Just to ace your skills, practise from brainly  and M4maths because almost majority of the questions were common from there (In my case, some of the questions were common from the above mentioned sites. So while attempting few questions I could just select the answers directly by looking at the questions since I had practiced well).But the key skill you need to crack any company exam in AMCAT platform is ‘time management’ and good amount of practice. 

[ After two days, a list mentioning the names of the candidates clearing Round 1 was announced by the compnay and was informed by the Placement cell of our college. My name was in the list. So it was the time to prepare myself for round 2] 

Round 2: Technical Interview 

Our technical interview was alotted on 7th September, 2019. The selected candidates were informed to report to the college premises with original documents along with their carriculam vitae. After the validation process, we were allotted panels. After an hour, my name was called. I entered the room and a volunteer asked me to go to the table number 22. Now the interview started. 
 

  1. Since I was an ECE student, he spontanously asked me “What is a transistor ?” I answered it. Then He asked few questions on communication but I could not answer properly. I told him that I have more interest in data science than ECE subjects, trying to push him to my comfort zone.
  2. He looked into my CV and asked me what were my favourite subjects. As mentioned, I told him Data Science, Database Management System and Digital Electronics. It seemed through his expressions that he was quite impressed with my certifications.
  3. Surprisingly he started asking me questions from the subjects which were not mentioned in my CV. He started asking me questions on Microprocessors and Microcontrollers- what is the difference between MP and MC along with examples? I answered. He then asked for more specific examples which we use in our daily life that has MP and Mc in it. I answered. He asked me to describe in brief about assembly language and to write any code using it. I started writing while he stopped me.
  4. He asked me what are the universal gates and why they are called so. I was always confident on the points which I mentioned on my CV. I aswered it gracefully explaining him in details with all possible diagrams supporting why they are called universal. He then asked me to describe XOR gate along with truth table and circuit diagram. I did it. Throughout the process, he was asking whether I was sure or not. But I was confident enough to tell “Yes Sir, I am sure”.
  5. Now he took the rough sheet and drew a table, and asked me to write few SQL queries. Among them I knew 4 and the fifth one I was not sure. He gave me a hint for it and finally I did it. He smiled.
  6. Then he asked me about what are the programming languages I knew. I answered that I know C, C++ and basics of Python and R, but I am more confident in C which I have mentioned in my CV. He asked me to write a code in C to print the even numbers from an user input array. He asked me to explain my code. I explained. He smiled and told me to wait outside in the waiting room.

Suggestion:- You should be knowing each and everything that you are mentioning in your CV. Be frank to the Interviewer and don’t show off anything. And don’t believe in the say ‘Answering every question of the interviewer will assure your chances of selection’. Preapre yourself and be good to your basics from tutorialspoint , geeksforgeeks etc. All they observe is your attitude, behavior and problem solving capability during the stressed situation as ‘An engineer is a professional and a professional is someone who can do his best even in the worst situation.’ If you don’t know any answer, tell him frankly that you don’t know. Accepting your shortcomings are always presentable. Try explaining with block diagrams or in a analytical way to support your answer which you are not confident. And have a smile on your face always. 

[After an hour, the names of the selected candidates were announced and I got selected for the final round- HR] 

Round 3: HR Interview 

After the TR round I was moved to another room where a group of selected candidates had been waiting. Our documents were submitted. Within a few minutes, I was called for the interview. I am listing down the questions below:- 
 

  1. How was your day?
  2. Tell me about Cognizant.
  3. What made you to choose Cognizant?
  4. Can you tell me the annual revenue of Cognizant? [I didn’t know the answer and I clicked a wrong guess. He corrected me]
  5. What are the things you think you will be liking in Cognizant more than other It firms?
  6. As I can see in your CV that you have a good career as a writer, your stories have been published also, then why are you not proceeding your career with it? [Tricky question where I explained the difference between passion and profession and honestly I was prepared to answer this question]
  7. Do you have any problem in reallocaton? [You should be answering a big NO, but if you say yes, good to give a firm reason behind it]

He asked me to sign a declaration and suggested me to wait outside for the documents verification process. After the verification process I was asked to leave for the day. 

Suggestion:- It doesn’t mean that if you qualify for the HR round you are going to get the job 100%. Although the chances are quite less for rejection, but rejection happens even in the HR round as well. Be confident and speak with clarity. Have a good communication skill and try to answer the tricky questions in an intelligent way. Don’t go by the social site platforms and websites where they publish ‘how to answer HR interview questions’ because out of 100 students 80 of them will follow it. So there will be no difference among your answers. Have a varient answer and deliver it with a decent smile. 

[After 2 weeks, the final list of the students who got the job offer was published by the Placement cell of our college and BINGO! I jacked the offer.]
 


Last Updated : 06 Jul, 2021
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