Goldman Sachs Interview Experience | Off-Campus Internship 2021

First Round (Aptitude Test): This round was conducted on the Hackerrank platform and it was of a time duration of 1 hour 30 minutes. There was video proctoring in this round. The test had a total of 6 sections consisting of 66 questions:

1. Numerical Computations – 8 questions
2. Numerical Reasoning -12 questions
3. Comprehension – 10 questions
4. Abstract Reasoning – 12 questions
5. Diagrammatic Reasoning – 12 questions
6. Logical Reasoning – 12 questions

The marking scheme was +5 and -2. I was able to attempt around 35 questions. On 20 August, I received a mail that I have cleared the first round of assessment. On 10 March 2021, I received a mail stating that the technical assessment round is scheduled for 21 March.

Second Round (Technical Assessment): The Technical Round was of 2 hours 15 minutes and was conducted on HackerRank.  It comprised of 5 sections:

1. Programming – 30 minutes: 2 easy to medium level questions (for me, one was based on the array and the other was based on binary tree).
2. Computer Science – 20 minutes: 7 MCQs based on Computer Science subject topics like OOPs, OS, DSA (mainly sorting algorithms).
3. Quantitative Aptitude – 25 minutes: Math-related MCQs. There were a total of 8 questions.
4. Advanced Programming – 45 minutes: 1 question on advanced Data Structures (for me, based on the graph).
5. Subjective  – 15 minutes: 2 essay-type questions.

The criteria for passing the second round was to clear at least 3 of the 6 sections (including CGPA as a section) in the technical assessment. I attempted one coding question properly, most of the MCQs, and both the subjective questions.  

You can find the sample test here:

1. https://www.hackerrank.com/test/b9do889r1jt/f01fcb3877d6427963e49d214cb6f4ba
2. https://www.hackerrank.com/test/jbict2bdi2/2b5d0357018560038b3849fedc999f1e

On 21th March, I received a mail that said I have cleared the technical assessment and my panel interviews will be scheduled in the upcoming weeks. On 1st April, I received my interview date which was 5th April. All my interviews were conducted on the same day with Zoom as the video-conferencing platform.

First Interview Round: First, there was a brief introduction. Then, moving on to DSA, using HackerRank CodePair as the live coding platform, he asked me to code the solution for ‘Convert a Binary Tree into its Mirror Tree’. I have to write whole code including main function. I approached the question using the concept of recursion and later discussed the time and space complexities with him. He asked me if I had any questions and that was the end of the first interview.

Second Interview Round: After an introduction, we discussed my projects for about 10-15 minutes. I was asked to explain in detail one of my projects. Then he asked me to write the code for finding the first occurrence of a substring in another circular string. After that, I had to write the code for the number of count of target value in a sorted array. I first discussed the bruteforce approaches with him and then moved to optimized approaches.

He was satisfied with it and the round ended with me asking him the questions I had.

Third Interview Round: This was an HR+Tech interview. The interviewer started by giving his introduction and a brief insight into what GS does. He then asked for my introduction. And why do I want a software job while my branch is EE. He then jumped to resume-based questions, and he asked me to explain some projects and achievements I had mentioned on my resume. After, he asked me about the differences between C++ and Python and then some behavioural questions. Then he asked me about the type of compiler I use for C++ language. The interview was for about 15-20 minutes. Finally, he asked me if I had any questions for him and I asked him about the best part of working at GS. This was the end of the third interview.