Cognizant interview process

In this article, we will share details about cognizant interview process, and share your preparation tips to crack cognizant interview rounds.

About Cognizant

Cognizant is leading American multinational company that provides digital solutions, technology transformation, and business consulting and operations services. It specializes in
Interactive, Intelligent Process Automation, Digital Engineering, Industry & Platform Solutions, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud, Data, Healthcare, Banking, Finance , Fintech, Manufacturing, Retail, Technology , and Salesforce. Cognizant is ranked under 194 in Fortune 500 companies (2020). Cognizant headquarter is located at Teaneck, New Jersey, and offices are located in 160+ different cities around the world. As of Q2, 2020, there are 240,000+ people working in Cognizant in different locations around the world. Cognizant is part of the NASDAQ-100 and trades under CTSH.

Interview process at Cognizant

Cognizant hires both fresher and experienced professionals for various roles and departments. For fresher hiring, Cognizant visits various college campus in their final placements, conduct walk ins and mega placement drive. For experienced hiring, Cognizant mainly hires through applying via career website, hr consulting companies and employee referral program.

Cognizant interview process for fresher

Cognizant interview process for fresher consists of 3 main stages.

Written test
Group discussion
Technical round
HR round

Cognizant written test interview round

In Cognizant written test interview round, a written test is conducted among all the candidates. Objective of cognizant written test is to filter out of students who have sharp problem solving skills.

In order to appear for the Cognizant written test, you should be eligible.

Eligibility Criteria for Freshers in Cognizant process

Minimum 60% marks in Class 10, 12, and B.Tech
No backlogs in your studies
Education gap can be of maximum 1 year

Syllabus of Cognizant written test

Quantitative Aptitude
Logical Reasoning
Verbal Ability
Coding test
English writing test

Section	No. of questions	Time Allotted(in mins)
Quantitative Aptitude	16	16
Logical Reasoning	24	24
Verbal Ability	22	22
Coding	7	20
English writing test	2	20

Syllabus of Coding test at Cognizant

Input and Output
Functions and Scope
Data Types
Command Line Theory
Arrays
Variables
Registers
Polymorphism
Abstraction
Loops
Trees
Queue
Linked Lists

Syllabus of Quantitative Aptitude Test at Cognizant

Number System
HCF & LCM
Percentages
Allegations and Mixtures
Ratios, Proportion and Averages
Work and Time
Series and Progressions
Time, speed, distance
Equations
Reasoning
Geometry
Arrangement & Series
Profit & Loss
Problem on Ages
Probability
Clocks and Calendar
Permutations and Combinations

Syllabus of Verbal Ability test at Cognizant

Reading Comprehension
Fill in the Blanks
Spotting Error
Error Correction
Sentence Correction
Sentence Selection
Sentence Completion
Analogy
One word Substitution

Syllabus of Logical Reasoning test at Cognizant

Arrangements
Syllogisms
Coding Decoding
Number series
Cryptarithmetic
Clocks and Calendar
Data Sufficiency
Most logical choice
Puzzles
Logical Deduction

Syllabus of English Writing test at Cognizant

Introduce yourself
Writing email to client

How to crack Cognizant written test

Cognizant written test is preliminary stage in its interview process. It is very important to crack this test in flying color. If you score exceptionally well, then it will add to extra advantage to you in later stages.

Below are some of the preparation tips for Cognizant written test.

Practice well: Just like any other exam or test, you can only clear them, once you have good understanding of topics, and have practice atleast 100 times before appearing in the real exams. Make sure, if in case you have any doubts regarding concept understanding, you get them clarified by reading good books(like RS aggrawal) or by taking right online course for aptitude preparation.
Mock test: Once you are good with concept understand, we recommend you to take mock test on similar pattern. We recommend online platforms and mobile app for aptitude preparation.
Coding test practice: Coding paper covers important concepts which were part of your syllabus of first year computer science course mostly. Make sure you brush up you coding test papers, and also practice on programming fundamenals, questions on C, C++, Java etc, have understanding of oops concepts, database and networking. Question can be asked like write a code to find GCD of number, or write a code for bubble sort.
Written test: For written test, we recommend doing self practice, and then checking quality of your answer, and improving it. Remember, it is not important how long you write, but clearly you write that will help other people understand you. You can also contact Xamnation for mentorship and essay review.

Cognizant Group discussion round

This round is taken in some interview process. In GD round, you are given a topic and asked to discuss it with panel. There are 8-10 candidates in one GD panel. GD round is typically of 10-15 minutes

How to prepare for GD round at Cognizant

Know about the topic. It is advisable to read newspaper for atleast 1 hour daily for last 3 months. Make sure you have basic knowledge of most common topics in country especially in field of science and technology
Practice well. It is important that you have mock GD practice. For this, make a note of noting down important points, gathering data related to topics etc.
Maintain decency in GD. Sometimes GD round become very noisy, because all of the candidates want to speak at same time and make a loud statement, It is better to keep mouth shut and wait for other candidates to cool down. Then you can make your point.
Build on other candidate point. Objective of Group discussion, is to let candidate come to common consensus. If any candidate is making a good point, acknowledge his/her, and built your point over that. This will show you as a good team player.

Cognizant technical interview round

Once you qualify written exam, you will now have to pass through Cognizant technical interview round.

This round consists of one or more face to face interviews on technical subjects understanding. Following technical understanding will be tested.

Computer Science basics like Oops concepts, Data base
Programming fundamentals. Knowledge of languages like C, C++, Java and Python
Understanding of some advance topics like operating system, networking

Along with above, some questions may be asked on latest technologies and software trends. For example: questions on blockchain, Artificial Intelligence etc

Syllabus of technical interview round

Computer Science basics

Object Oriented Programming

Class
Object
Encapsulation
Inheritance
Polymorphism
Abstraction

Data base/SQL

Data base
Table
Relational database
Different type of join
Basic sql operation like select, update, delete, insert etc
Database lock
NoSQL

Programming basics

Basic syntax
Variable and data types
String, Number, Casting
Operator
Loops
Data structure
OOPS
Error handling

Practice questions for Cognizant technical interview round

Write a program to display prime numbers
Given a code snippet, optimize it
Difference between primary key and composite key?
Why unique key is different from primary key?
Explain about Joins?
Explain Normal forms with examples?
What is abstraction?
What is the use of virtual keyword?
Difference between abstract method and interface?
Differentiate POP and OOP?

More: Cognizant technical interview questions

How to prepare for Cognizant technical interview round

Cognizant technical interview round is most important round in whole interview process. You are expected to be well versed with computer science fundamentals, and should articulate them well to the interviewer. Here are some of the preparation tips for Cognizant technical interview round.

Knowledge of programming language. Make sure that you have understanding of atleast one programming language. It is not required for you to be good in all programing languages, but you should have done enough practice in one of the programming languages like C++, Java or python. You can tell the interviewer that you have know python (for example) more than C++. This will help you and interviewer as well.
Knowledge of your CV. Make sure whatever you have written on your CV regarding past projects, internship is true and you have thorough understanding of that. You will be asked questions on your past project and work experiences like what you did, what technology you used, what kind of thing you created, what success you got etc.
Knowledge of Company. Make sure you read about Cognizant, like what kind of work/projects it is doing currently.
Knowledge of latest happening in technology front. You should have basic understanding of latest current happening in technology sector, like latest trends like AI, Big data etc

Cognizant HR interview round

HR round is final stage in interview process.

Below are some of the preparation tips for HR interview round at Cognizant

1 . Check whether you can fit with company culture or not. HR will ask you questions based on your hobbies, how you deal with stress, long work hours, frequent travelling, annoying customers or irritating boss. They want to understand how you adapt to difficult situations, which often come in their company.

Adaptability. Questions are frequently asked on relocation and that the profile is not exactly similar to expectation. Here also, recruiter wants to understand whether you are okay with change.
Salary negotiation. Question are asked on salary expectation and joining period. Make sure that you know their average salary for the given position well in advance.

Sample HR interview questions

Tell me about yourself?
What is your family background?
Tell me about your final year project
Tell me about your summer internship?
What is your biggest weakness?

More: Cognizant HR interview questions

Important points in Cognizant interview round

Speak confidently.
Never add anything in your resume which you are not perfect with.
Don’t Panic.
Prepare your field of study courses well.
Don’t lie in your CV or in front of interviewer
If you don’t know any question, ask interviewer to ask another question
If you are good with your communication skills (verbal , body language, soft skills etc) you nail 60% of your interview.
A very important factor for your selection, be confident while you answer( truth or a lie). Remember there is a thin line before you overdo it. Refrain from being too confident/ over confident
Listening to interviewer is more important that answering them. Make sure you understand questions well, before you attempt to answer it. If not , do not hesitate to ask on clarification.
Smile. Pleasantly. Even if you are nervous. Nobody wants to hire a dull employee.

End Note

In the article, we have explained complete interview process of Cognizant and shared preparation strategy to crack the interview. This article is based upon interviews of candidates who have recently appeared in Cognizant interview process, and online research. If you have appeared in recent Cognizant interview and would like to share your experience, please write to us.

Xamnation is offering online learning program to help candidates prepare for aptitude test and interview process .We have online lectures, material course and test preparation pack available. You can contact us at rakesh@xamnation.com to know more on this.

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