American Express Interview Questions, Process, and Tips for Freshers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: My resume had a couple of projects and a paper publication added to it, which was a part of my second year intern at TCS Innovation Labs.

Tips: I believe that the resume shortlist to appear for the test is just a formality and not a big deal to get through. Most of the students are allowed to appear for the test which is where, the main shortlisting occurs.
Although, the company does cut off people from certain departments. For example, none of the Agriculture and food engineering students were shortlisted for appearing for the test.
Also, from what I have heard, the company runs resumes through a program to take out the shortlist. Hence, certain key words such as "Scholar" or "Conference" may get you a good chance to get through the shortlisting.

Round: Test
Experience: The test is mainly quant based and how fast you can think and rationalize. They expect excellent speed; they ask you 20 questions to be answered in 30 minutes.
Tips: Normally, if a student is asked to appear for this right after his JEE examination, he would be able to get through it easily. But since our analytical thinking goes way down once we actually get in, it has to be worked upon again. I'd suggest you to solve all the quant questions of any CAT preparatory book for the American Express test. The test questions are quite similar to those that the CAT students prepare for.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: In general, the American Express interviews are considered to be pretty peaceful compared to the interviews of other companies. I was just asked about my work at TCS Innovation Labs and the paper I would be publishing based on that work and the courses I have done in Data Analytics and what all do I know in it. They do not test the knowledge you say you possess.
Tips: While I was preparing for my interview, I was told to read about Amex and its products. Secondly, and most importantly, I was aksed to read a lot about credit card frauds and suggest ways of preventing that. Even during my time, a lot of people were asked about this and judged severely on that. This is a must must if you would be appearing for its interview.

Also, you would do well if you are able to connect with the interviewer. For instance, if both of you have been a part of the same inter IIT or have the same tastes, etc.

Also, the interviews are that peaceful that you are able to direct the interview in your favour. There are certain parts of your CV that you can easily talk about and certain parts that you would want to avoid. If you are able to think on your feet, it is easy to re direct the interview in your favour and the things that you would like to talk about; in my case, it was my work at TCS.

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: The main decision whether you have to be taken in or not is decided in your first round of interview after which, the puzzle interview is just a formality and to find out whether you are able to think on your feet or not. Not a big deal, pretty easy.
Tips: Nothing to be worried about, the puzzles asked are pretty easy and most probably, you would have already heard them if you have a nag of solving puzzles.

General Tips: Do not worry or stress yourself much. The interview is pretty easy if you have an edge in the skills that the company wants. I had started studying Data Analytics in my second year summer vacations, just 1 hour a day for hardly about a month. Which gave me enough of an edge. The main hurdle lies in getting through the test round where about 300 people are simply cut off.
Skill Tips: You should be able to code efficiently. Knowledge in Python and SQL is a big plus.
Also, I had done a course on Coursera called "Machine Learning" of Stanford University. Today, the company does not expect a lot of knowledge in Data Analytics from students which is why this course gave me the edge I needed to get through the interview. It's a pretty easy course and not very demanding. I would recommend this if you want to find out even whether you'd be interested in Data Analytics or not.
I was asked about the things I know and whether I have ever implemented them.
Skills: Analytics And Coding
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Kharagpur
Motivation: American Express is known to have a good working culture and is currently the third best company to work for in India. The internship stipend is largest compared to any other company in India along with accommodation and travel. The company has a well structured internship program and also has good challenging work to offer.
Funny Moments: After the test, I was not shortlisted for the interview round.. Which broke my heart.
Just after the presentation, I walked up to the person presenting and handed him a hard copy of my resume asking him to at least give me a shot at the interview if they think my profile is good enough.
I believe that this was a turning point of this entire experience. I believe, at that moment itself, I gained their favour to take me in. Which is probably why my interview was peaceful, which is probably why I could get through even though my interview was the last among a bunch of 25 students..

Round: Test
Experience: The test was a very simple aptitude test consisting of questions on simple math and probability.
Tips: No specific preparation required for this test.
Duration: 45 minutes
Total Questions: 20

Round: Guesstimate Interview
Experience: Most of the interview revolved around my CV. It lasted for almost 30min. Much was discussed about my projects/experience and achievements indicated in my resume. Others were asked questions Guesstimate questions.
Tips: Do not stammer anywhere. Be prepared for general questions like "Introduce yourself", "Why American Express" etc.
These answers also played a major role in my selection.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Nothing much apart from my resume. Other questions on POR's etc. Guesstimate questions were asked.

General Tips: Be confident. Know about everything in your CV. Have complete understanding of whatever you have done.
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Kharagpur
Motivation: The work culture was very good as told by the previous interns. And the work profile was very close to my area of interest. Amex also has a wide range of projects even for an intern.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: They shortlisted pretty much everyone who took a probability course.
Tips: Well, take a probab course.

Round: Test
Experience: This was an Online test, consisting of questions from logical reasoning and probability. IMHO, it was very easy to score full marks in the test, but i am not very sure if they considered it for the final interview shortlist.
Tips: Brush up on probability, esp inferential statistics et al.
Duration: 30 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The usual Run-Me-Through-Your-Resume happened. I found the interview very interesting and quite challenging. It first started with a simple question in combinatorics, the interviewer kept adding incremental questions to the first problem until it became something interesting,a Poisson process, afaik.

They also asked me to calculate square roots of certain numbers by hand correct to 3 decimal places.
Tips: Think out loud. And clarify your queries as they come. I asked for a few hints then and there, and they obliged. I think they look at your thinking process more than the mistakes you commit during the interview, which may simply arise due to fear and/or lack of confidence.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: This was a standard puzzle question.I told them I had seen this before so they modified it a little, and i used back tracking to arrive at the answer.
2-3 small puzzles later, they asked me about my previous internships, esp about one which was in the domain of ML and Computer Vision. They asked me what problems i faced and how i over came them.
After this, they started telling me about the profiles available, they asked me if I had any questions for them. The interviewers were very friendly, and they were sharing some anecdotes as well.
Tips: Pay attention to the PPT/Profile Summary document/Campus Talk. If you are interested in Analytics, its better to do some project or internship in that area, before hand, a small reality check to gauge your interest in Analytics. They ask for a knowledge of Python/SAS/Hive/Excel. Do mention if you have used any of these at some point of time to handle big data or to do data processing.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: This was the final interview, though the order isn't always followed. They asked me about my life before college and now. Asked me about my peer group, professors, environment in general.
Some personal questions followed. And, finally they asked me for a location preference, and that was it.
Tips: Well, just talk naturally.

General Tips: Dress formally. And keep a smiling face.
Skills: Maths(esp Probability), Basic Aptitude Topics Like Combinatorics
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: Their profile was good based on feedback from seniors, and I was interested in the field, so I applied.

Round: Test
Experience: Easy, time was sufficient, Mostly Quantitative Aptitude
Tips: Chill and steam on till the end
Duration: 45 minutes
Total Questions: 15

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: Question was simple I forgot to take into account a factor in my equation but was able to correct my answer immediately upon given a hint

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Nothing special routine HR Questions

General Tips: Relax know yourself and your resume back and front
Skill Tips: A programming background helps
Skills: Quantitative Aptitude
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: To get PPO and pursue an MBA abroad also the stipend is not bad
Funny Moments: When he asked me how much I wanted AmEx I told him that I told the Microsoft Interviewer that I would take an offer from AmEx irrespective. This was before I got interviewed for Microsoft.

PS I got offers from both AmEx and Microsoft

Round: Test
Experience: Very difficult.
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 20

Round: Interview
Experience: Data analysis questions, questions on resume - internship and project.

Round: Interview
Experience: Data analysis questions, questions on resume - internship and project.

Skill Tips: Read up about company. HR prep, resume prep, company groundwork.
Skills: Multivariate data analysis, Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra, Machine learning, Algorithms, Python, R
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: 20 students were shortlisted on the basis of the resume.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interview was a mix of HR and technical interview.

The HR interview was based on simple HR questions – questions about me, my motivations in life. My strengths and weaknesses and work preferences. A major part of my interview focused on questions related to my internship.

In the technical round they asked me questions related to the bank reconciliation statement, effect of various entries on passbook and cashbook and questions related to contra entries.
Tips: My advice is that one should be prepared for any question about their resume. In case you have mentioned any subjects in your resume you should be prepared for the same.

College Name: Lady Shri Ram college

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Resume was the key criteria in the selection procedure. All students were asked to submit their resume to the placement cell and on the basis of it 10 students were selected.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: There was no written test and there was directly an interview round. In the interview they inquired about me and my family. They also inquired about my interests to which I replied politics. They were looking for a person who has views about different things happening in the society rather a person who remains in his/her shell.

College Name: Lady Shri Ram College

Round: Curriculum vitae submission
Experience: Only an initial shortlist of around 30 students was done based on CV.
Tips: Mention your academic credentials, math/statistics based work done (if any).

Round: Test
Experience: It consisted of two subjective questions based on probability theory and some common understanding of credit card division (like 'What is score card?'). Students were free to ask any specifics in the questions. One question was solely based on conditional probability and the second one was intuitive with general probability fundamentals.Quantify your results, don't leave them halfway through. State your assumptions clearly.
Tips: Quantify your results, don't leave them halfway through. State your assumptions clearly.
Duration: NA minute
Total Questions: 2

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: 10 students were shortlisted. The interview started with a general overview of the CV and common questions like 'Why American Express?". Then they discussed about my project and internship, why I opted FRM and why I did not apply for higher studies. It concluded with a case study question on credit card division and a puzzle.
Tips: Practice puzzles and case study questions. One must have good communication skills.Have a good understanding of your projects, especially if it is based on statistics/quant/pattern recognition.The people who come for interview know their stuff very well.

General Tips: At one point of time, the interviewer himself was trying to convince me that Iam better suited for the profile offered by Nomura because of my interest in finance. Luckily,I had done some good background study of the company and stated a few facts about thefirm which made them realize that my FRM is also a very good asset for their credit carddivision as it involved credit risk management. It was a very peaceful/friendly interview. Beconfident with your resume and use the hints they give you during the case interview.
Skill Tips: "Practice puzzles and case study questions. One must have good communication skills.Have a good understanding of your projects, especially if it is based on statistics/quant/pattern recognition.The people who come for interview know their stuff very well."
Skills: Probability
College Name: IIT Kharagpur