Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Your seniors at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur were your true well-wishers, they shared their placement interview questions for you. 🙏

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Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur Placement Interview Questions

Updated 8 Dec 2024

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I was interviewed before Jun 2016.

5 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Test
Experience: the exam had 3 sections. one on probability and statistics, one on algorithms, one on computer science. it is sufficient to ace one section. keep in mind that exam is a very critical component of the selection process, not just a filtering round
Duration: 3 hours
Total Questions: 4

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: typically puzzles and brain teasers will be asked. mostly algorithms, probability based

Round: HR Interview
Experience: if you reach this round, assume you got the offer

College Name: IIT Kanpur
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user image Piyush Singla

posted on 27 Jan 2017

I was interviewed in Dec 2016.

4 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: For CSE and EE students , CPI was not at all seem to be a criteria for shortlisting and almost all who have a decent profile got shortlisted for the test. However, for other department students they shortlisted above 9 CPI students.

Round: Test
Experience: It was a 2 hour test. It consisted of 3 sections-Quant , Machine Learning and Computer Science . Each section had 10 questions and 45 minutes were allotted for each section.
Being from non-CSE background I attempted only 2 sections ie. Quant and Machine Learning. Machine Learning section was fairly easy this time and almost all questions were standard. If someone has done an introductory course on Machine Learning and basic stats , this section was a cake walk for him. However , attempting quant section required some preparation of solving probability puzzles (computing expectations etc.) ,basic linear algebra and geometry base questions.
Duration: 2 hours

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I had 2 rounds of interview. Both were technical ones.
In the first interview , they asked some probability puzzles (from 50 challenging problems in probability book) . Since I had completed that book before , I was able to solve them . Then they asked 1-2 algorithm based questions like formulate an efficient algorithm for solving a particular problem. I was not able to solve them completely but tried to give them the overview of y approach. The interviewer didn't seem to be satisfied though. It lasted for around 20-25 minutes.He told me to wait outside . To my surprise, I was called for the 2nd round.
The second went better than the first round. They again asked questions on computing probability , expectations , constructing a Markov Chain for a a given problem etc. Since I had done 1 course in Fiance also , he asked me questions from it also which were quite easy. Then he began asking algorithms and asked me to explain a sorting algorithm and I chose Quick Sort. While explaining it , I got struck at one point but the interviewer was helping me by giving hints and I was able to explain it fully. The second round was quite exhaustive as it went on for around 45-60 minutes.

Skills: Problem Solving Abilties, Mathematical Aptitude, Algorithmic Approach To Problem Solving, Machine Learning, Statistical Method Basics
College Name: IIT Kanpur
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user image Anonymous

posted on 20 Jan 2017

I was interviewed in Dec 2016.

6 Interview Rounds

Interview Questions

  • Q1. Given coordinates of some points, find a figure that encompasses all of the points. The figure should have the least possible area and be formed by joining poin...read more
  • Q2. Good old standard problem: Playing number game with your friend to select any of the number between 1 to 3. Whoever reaches 20 first, wins. You have to tell the...read more
  • Q3. 2nd interviewer asked me a question on calculating variance, about gaussian distribution and something about my internship.
  • Q4. 3rd were these really cool dudes who started of with a matrix problem where each element was sum of row^2 and e^column. Now I had to prove something about equal...read more
  • Q5. The other one asked me a puzzle about two carts placed on a track with sensor below them. You can start cart with specific speed but afterwards you can control ...read more
  • Q6. 4th interviewers were really senior. They asked me about general stuff like my interns and interests. Then they asked me about Yelp dataset challenge and NLP fe...read more
  • Q7. They also asked some basic questions about libraries featured in Scikit (Python Library on Machine Learning Techniques)
  • Q8. Finally they asked me about flash crash in stock market related to another project in intern.
  • Q9. Row sorted and column sorted matrix problem of finding an element.

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: They shortlist around 300 resume from whole batch for next round.
Tips: Basically add your projects related to Machine Learning and coursework related to Math. GS is one of the companies which reviews resume carefully (At least I think so :P), reason being me selected even after a low CPI. Around 250 to 300 students were shortlisted from resume for second round.
GS is one of the rarest firms that will go through your resume thoroughly. Most important part is that GS is a firm you want to go for if you have a modest CPI and are genuinely interested in global markets.
They hire for Strats and Quants division. So highlight projects related to Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Techniques. Mathematical coursework and internship in related field could be elaborated too. Even students with no internship experience whatsoever were selected due to their background in Machine Learning related coursework.
I have a little or no idea about programming division as it revolves around networking and related projects.

Round: Test
Experience: They started hosting test online on hackerrank. It includes three sections with equal weightage to each of them. You have 45 minutes for individual sections. There are three type of questions asked - MCQ (+10, -3), Fill in the blanks (Numbers upto 2 decimal places; +10, -0) and 2 coding questions in programming section (+20, -0).
Programming - 2 coding questions. Questions about networking, cache and DSA (postfix and prefix expression from stack related algorithms).
Quant - Cattle grazing the circular field tied from a pole at the corner of a rectangular shade with a rope. Some about practical probability problem of die throws. Other about matrices and determinant. Theoretical questions in probability covers a major portion in form of expected value, correlation and covariance calculations. This section had some integer type questions.
Data Sciences - MLT theory should be a stronghold. Particularly confusing theoretical questions. Some of them had 4 statements and then 4 options asking correct statements so you have to be good at multiple topics. Typical question include possible solution to account for missing input data and regularization among others.
Tips: You have to be good at any two of the sections. Quant is quite competitive as the questions are easier and CSE guys can attempt these too from mathematical coursework on prob and stats. Typically whole batch is rooting for this profile because of lesser chance in CS related profile.
A little brushing up old DS notes won't hurt anyone. Specially tree, graphs (algorithms like Bellman Ford, Djikstra and Prim's algo), complexity of standard algorithms and postfix, prefix expression derivation will help a long way. Coding questions demand efficient solution, otherwise you won't be able to clear all test cases because of TLE.
For quant, Prob Stats and Linear Algebra course review is highly recommended. A little aptitude (CAT related although a lot higher standard than that) will help too.
In data sciences, ML lectures will help a lot as most part is theoretical which can be solved if you have your concepts strong. Gaussian distribution, Regularizer, PCA are some of the topics which were asked about.
Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: At first I couldn
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user image Anonymous

posted on 27 Aug 2015

4 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Test
Experience: You are not supposed to know everything. If you do exceptionally well in one or two sections in each paper and even leave third section completely (which I did) then you are through. Third section was mainly for CSE guys. In subjective part Algorithm section had 5 questions and maths section had 4 questions. Questions in maths section were based on probability, linear algebra, differential equation and discrete maths. Randomized algorithm course taught by Baswana sir was really helpful in doing probability questions. Questions were doable if you knew the concepts well. For algorithms part concepts taught in basic Data structure and algorithm course were enough. Questions were based on linked list, binary tree, stack, queue, sorting, Dijkstra etc.
Duration: 75 minutes minutes

Round: Test
Experience: Each section in objective paper had 10 questions and there was negative marking. On the basis of test they selected 75 candidates.
Duration: 75 minutes minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: I was asked about my thesis 3-4 times as I had done some good work in Thesis and had submitted 2 paper based on it. Also as my work was on (Data Compression) Information theory which involves a lot probability and the problems I worked on was of theoretical nature, so I was able to relate it with them. So it was one of my plus point. They asked some questions from topics related to my thesis.

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: They asked some algorithmic puzzles and some probability and other maths puzzles. At no point of time I was asked to write the code (but it totally depends on the team they are looking you for) I just had to tell them how to solve the problem.
Tips: Don’t hurry in interview and take your time to solve the problem. Also at every point keep interviewer engaged and keep telling him in which direction you are proceeding and also why you are doing this.

General Tips: Start preparing from summer itself. If you are targeting quant companies I will advise you start preparing even before for probability and puzzles as you can’t become good in these things overnight. I am not saying you to give 1 -2 hour daily for puzzles rather I will advise you to do just 1-2 puzzles whenever you have time and enjoy it.

Don’t leave everything for the last time you will for sure run short of time so finish the important tasks first. Make goals which are practically achievable.

Skill Tips: Focus on your Study.. Revise the subject that you have studied at the time of Interview
Skills: Technical Skills
College Name: IIT Kanpur
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user image Anonymous

posted on 23 Aug 2015

2 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: Just some basic puzzles like: Given 100 doors all closed if you toggle the state of all multiples of 1 then toggle the state of the multiples of 2 and so on… which doors will be finally open; Given points in a plane describe a data structure to find points within 1 km radius of any given input point; (since I had done regression analysis course) Find the Best linear unbiased estimate of parameters in a linear regression model; Basics of Convex Optimization; Spaghetti Puzzle : find expected number of loops in a spaghetti bowl with n strands if you randomly choose 2 ends and join them together; (this one was a tough one and I struggled a bit while solving this …. But the good this is that the interviewer helps you) Given a pile of n stones you randomly divide it into 2 stacks and multiply the size of the 2 stacks and note the value. Every time you divide the stack you multiply the sizes of the 2 stacks and then note the value. Then sum up all these values. What will this value be? (Ans: n(n-1)/2). There were a total of 5 rounds.

General Tips: Remain calm because things like pre scheduling of interviews can happen and you shouldn’t let that affect you since you have prepared too much for this moment and now is not the time to panic.

Try to surround yourself with friends and maintain a positive attitude. Be friendly with the SPO representatives because they’ll help you A LOT with the interview scheduling. Don’t rush the interview and take your time.
Start your preparation early. Placement is 90% preparation and 10% luck.

College Name: IIT Kanpur
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user image Anonymous

posted on 27 Jan 2015

4 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Test
Experience: Test was mainly based on probability and algo, with some algebra, integration and puzzles. Some questions were on OS and database for CS people.
Duration: 60 minutes

Round: Test
Duration: 60 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: First round was all about probability, algo and tricky mathematical problems, The key was to take your time, keep talking about your approach and try to see if the interviewer gives away any hints.
Tips: Be enthusiastic during the interview. Your enthusiasm matters more than your answer.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The second round was similar to the first round.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The third was a discussion on projects. I told them about my interest in following markets.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: In the fourth round, the interviewer explained the various teams that had come to recruit and asked a question about BST.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: The fifth round was just to check which profile would interest me. When I told him that I was interested in a combination of algo and math, he himself told that the quant profile would be the best for me.

General Tips: Prepare your resume in advance, with ample revision. Make them company specific if possible by talking to alumni.
Prepare according to the company requirements.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Motivation: I got interested in Quant jobs that help integrate technical knowledge with finance. Hence this was my first choice.
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user image Anonymous

posted on 25 Jan 2015

4 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Test
Experience: It was a test checking your logical reasoning with three subjective questions on Probability and three on general algorithm of programming. They were checking our quantitative ability and programming skills as well.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: It was a technical interview in which they started with asking some basic questions on probability such as Moment-generating function of Normal distribution, one algorithm problem and one problem from signal processing. I could not do the last one but rest all went fine.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was an HR interview. They enquired about my programming skills, career interests and future plans.

General Tips: I took it for granted that being from a non-CSE dept they won’t be ask me questions from OOP and related concepts (like Polymorphism and Virtual functions). However, they expected the candidate to be well aware of all that.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
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user image Anonymous

posted on 25 Jan 2015

2 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Test
Experience: I kind of knew how to do all the questions but made a calculation mistake in two qs. Apparently, they shortlisted only those who scored above a certain cutoff (which was high).

1. Given a pointer to the head of a linked list, insert a new node at the end of the list in constant time.

2. Print permutations of a set of integers

3. Standard deviation of length of a chord from a point on a circle in a random direction.

4. Find derivative of f?1(x) at x = 0 given f(x) = Rx

3 (t4 + t3 + t2 + t)dt (use the fact that f?1(f(x)) = x and differentiate both sides)

5. What is the probability that 7m + 7n is divisible by 5 if probability of m being odd is twice as m’s probability of being even and similarly n is thrice as likely to be even than odd. (find the probabilities of m,n being even and odd, then takes each case and find the probability that in each case 7m + 7n ends with a 5 or 0 by taking all possible last digits of 7m and 7n)

6. Function that returns 1 if input binary tree is a binary search tree without using any assignment statements, loops, arithmetic operations in the function. (obviously you use recursion. They defined a BST so you needn’t even have remembered what it was).
Duration: 2 hrs minutes

College Name: IIT KANPUR
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user image Anonymous

posted on 23 Jan 2015

2 Interview Rounds

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Test
Experience: Coding part was very difficult. Ultimately, I landed up with a job on Samsung.
Duration: 45+45+45 minutes

College Name: IIT KANPUR
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user image Anonymous

posted on 18 Jan 2015

3 Interview Rounds

Interview Questions

  • Q1. A nimbu paani wala spends all of his daily income on his daily expenditure except only as much as would enable him to conduct equal business on the next day. He...read more
  • Q2. An IT sector multinational wants to expand its business into more countries. Suggest a strategy. This was the question given in the VC round by the Partner. It ...read more
  • Q3. An IT sector company wants to increase the number of BPOs in India. Devise a metric that will help it rank cities according to their favourability to host this ...read more
  • Q4. The supply chain head in an auto company in India is frustrated about manufacturing stopping frequently because of parts not being readily available at the asse...read more
  • Q5. How many airplanes are flying in the Indian sky at the moment?
  • Q6. How many years will it take the Delhi Metro to break even?
  • Q7. Why not MBA?
  • Q8. Interview-4

Interview Preparation Tips

Round: Interview
Experience: The interviewer also said: "It seems like you are more interested in finance and BCG is only the second option. We don’t like being the second option." All these questions required some delicate handling.

Round: Interview
Experience: This was a sort of stress interview because the interviewer seemed disinterested and dissatisfied with everything i said and kept on demanding for more while impressing that whatever I am coming up with was really of no significance.
Tips: What worked in my favor was I dint get flustered by his attitude, kept smiling and working at the problem objectively. When I would come to the end of one line of thinking and would have no more answers to his “What next” I would frankly tell him that and ask him in return for more suggestions. It resulted in him complimenting my way of thinking at the end and saying that I was one of the best and most practical candidates that he had interviewed that day.

Round: Interview
Experience: 1. Both the above questions were the part of one interview.
2. The interviewer didn't want me to solve the case fully in either instance. He just wanted to see my structure and evaluate my thinking process.

Round: Interview
Experience: Almost all my interviews went well with BCG except the last VC one, because by then I was complete drained out and could hardly think. I also did some minor silly mistakes in a couple of the smaller cases while dealing with numbers, but otherwise everyone seemed to appreciate my structuring of the cases. Some of the interviewers also delved into the HR side frequently.

College Name: IIT KANPUR
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