APITCO Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I started my placement journey by getting shortlisted in Capital One on Day 1. They shortlisted 125 candidates on the basis of resume.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Then, they took a case study interview and reduced the number to 30.

Round: Test
Experience: Then, they again took an aptitude test and selected none of them. But, on the day 2, I sat for the GDs and interviews of Coca Cola and got selected.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Group Activity
Experience: There was initially an interview of about 5 mins in which they asked me to describe a situation where I worked in a team.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Then there was a case study round. It was a slightly involved case on the credit card industry and involved a lot of
calculations. There were 3 different credit card strategies with different rates of interest and credit limits and we had to choose the best strategy for the company. I came up with correct strategy and hence got through the first round. 

The 2nd case was that of Dominos evaluating a new scheme wherein they would offer a 30% discount instead of 100%, in cases where the pizzas could not be delivered within 30 minutes. Next the discount was changed to 70%. I was asked to evaluate the on-time delivery that they can risk not to have in order to make the same profit as they make when they give 100% discount and have 90% on-time delivery. Then I was asked to plot a graph between on-time delivery and the discount offered and interpret it. It was there that I lost track and couldn't come up with the right conclusion. Nevertheless I was selected for the next round.

Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: It was a behavioral interview wherein I had to describe them 3 situations in detail. During the entire interview the interviewer kept writing something on the paper. The key to this round was choosing the right incidents and then describing each and every point in detail. It lasted for about 30 mins. Ideally there were to be only 2 rounds of case interview and one behavioral interview but I was again called for a 3rd case interview round. It was very similar to the 1st case except that the credit card company was replaced by a dish-tv one. This one didn't go very well as I was very much exhausted and hence faltered at several places.

College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: The test was purely based on Data Interpretation. Every page had 3 charts and 5 objective questions based on those charts. There was severe time constraint in the paper and my selectivity among the questions proved beneficial in clearing the cut-off.
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Interview
Experience: Preliminary Case Interview: Duration -10 minutes (Just after the Written Test) - One on One Case Interview.

"Tell me about yourself" was the first question asked to me. I just told him a few things about myself mainly focusing on the financial projects I did. Then he gave me a trivial case study as follows, "There are two economical classes, Prime and Sub-Prime, and I had to give a Motorcycle loan to one of them. Whom should I give?" I was supposed to ask him any information that I would require to solve this case study. Whenever I used to get stuck he gave me hints to work upon. And finally, based on the value he gave me I could compare the profit from both the classes. The main thing about the case study was the way of solving it and how interactive was I with the interviewer.
After this, the next round was held during the placement time. They had given us the link for few practice case-studies. The Case Study given at their website is the most important one. It helps you understand the standard approach they look for in a candidate.

Round: Interview
Experience: 1st Case Interview: Duration – 50 minutes

My interview was of the longest duration compared to others, so if your interview is a lengthy one then be happy :). The case was based on Credit insurance involving simple mathematics to reach a logical conclusion. 
The Case Study: - "Capital One reached its customers for new offers through postal mail. They had 2 kinds of postal services, A class and C class. In A Class, if the customer had changed his address then the postal service would update the address on the letter and it would reach the customer at the new address. In C Class, if the address is changed then the customer would not get the mail. I was supposed to tell which one of the postal service was better in two conditions, 1st when no. of mail to be made is fixed and 2nd when amount to be spend in mailing is fixed."
I found this case simpler than the earlier one. I managed to complete the case in just 20 minutes. The interviewer was very impressed with the speed with which I was able to solve the case. It was enough to make me realize that I had made it.
Tips: The main thing that you need to remember in Case Study of this sort is that you need to speak your mind. It helps the interviewer understand the way you are thinking. So if you have made some calculation mistake he wouldn’t mind that because he knows that you are going in the right direction. This was something the interviewer told me that he liked about
me.

General Tips: The Biggest question that all of us face in final year is "WHAT NEXT". With the options like CAT/GRE/CORE/FINANCE/CONSULTING it becomes extremely difficult to select just one. Initially I had no idea what it was going to be, but after my internship I knew that I wouldn't be going for either core or higher studies. After talking to seniors, I realized that doing MBA after one or two years of work experience would be better - you know what you have to focus on and would also give you a smoother platform to change your field of job if
you are not comfortable in it. So my choices just narrowed down to jobs in either finance or consulting. Looking at the job scenario in our placement season, I knew I had to prepare for all of them. That is one of the reasons I appeared for CAT because it is always good to have an option and also preparing for CAT helps a lot in placement preparation. One needs to be thoroughly prepared for each of the placement processes.

Resume:
A resume is one of the most important things which mark the first impression upon the interviewer. You should devote ample time to work upon it. Every company looks for a different kind of candidate to suit their purpose; make sure your resume fits that profile. Prepare resumes separately for each sector with some minor changes for companies of same sector. Get your resume checked and rechecked by some alumnus in the company you are
applying for.

PPTs:
The best way to know about the company is through its PPT. It gives you the details of the work profile and also tells you what kind of candidate the company is looking for. It is an opportunity to get all your queries, regarding the company and the work profile clarified.

Written Test:
Usually the CAT preparation is more than enough to crack the data interpretation and aptitude tests (excluding the technical tests). Practice plays an important role here to be able to solve the lengthy tests speedily and accurately. People aiming the finance companies must read Economic Times (specially the editorials) regularly to form a broader perspective of the financial situation all over the world.
Group Discussions:
I used to think that GD is just another formal bulla session that we have. But it turned out to be a complete disaster when I had a GD round during an Internship process. It is just not what you speak that matters, but also how well you convey your points, how well you work in a group, do you understand the group dynamics, your body language, and other group etiquette that matter. The most disappointing thing was that when SPO had started this session for GD practice very few people turned up. It is through these sessions that you learn
the Do's and Don’ts of a GD. With every GD session that we used to have, I used to learn some new thing or the other.
Case Studies:
At first case studies seem to be highly intimidating. The workshops on Case Study by SPO helped me clear all my apprehensions, and then the process became a lot easier. Initially we used to solve a case in a group of 2-3 people and afterwards we did it individually discussing the methodology that we adopted and the different solutions that we approached. The discussions were the most important part as we learned what mistake we committed. It helped us frame our mindset in the right direction.
HR Interviews:
To be able to do well in an HR interview one needs to do a lot of introspection about one’s own self. This helps you in answering some very basic questions like your strengths, weakness, your future objective etc. You should be able to modify your answers according to the company profile. I prepared for HR interview in a group of 3. Initially, we gathered all the questions that the interviewer is likely to ask. We divided our answers based on the
company profile and also prepared examples to support our qualities. Finally we conducted 3-4 rounds of mock interviews.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms. For an analyst profile at Capital One, they do look for a consistent academic performance, scholarships, Olympiads etc. So I did make sure to include all my academic achievements in my resume.

Round: Test
Experience: This was the first round and was conducted in September itself, well before the final placement process held in December. The test was based only on Data Interpretation (DI), quite similar to DI questions asked in CAT. It was a 35 minute test comprising of 30 questions. The questions were divided into sets of 4-6 questions, each set based on different data. Typically a set used to have 2 bar graphs/pie charts/line graphs and questions were based on them. Most of the questions were easy but were calculation intensive. Use of calculators was permitted. The cut off was about 22-23 questions. About 80 students were shortlisted for the first case study interview.
Tips: Be accurate. Often it might not be possible to attempt all the questions. So do not spend much time on a particular question.
Duration: 35 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The first interview was relatively short – a one to one case study interview was held on the next day of the written test. The case study was mainly quantitative in nature and was based on calculation of break-even point (concept from Profit and Loss). In the case study given to me, a kiosk owner providing delivery of products to dial-in customers wished to expand his operations by setting up an e-commerce platform on the kiosk’s website. Data about the existing number of customers, new distribution of customers, profit per customer, and cost for setting up the e-commerce platform and scaling up the operations was given. I was asked to carry out break even analysis for different cases.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 24 students got shortlisted for the next interview round which was again a one to one interview. Like the previous interview, this too was mainly focused on the analysis of the quantitative data in the case.
In the case given to me, a bank had two types of credit card customers – ones who paid off their due balance completely within the due date and those who paid only the minimum amount required before the due date and carried forward the remaining amount to the next month. There was a short discussion with the interviewer to identify the sources of revenue and costs for the two types of customers. After all the sources had been identified, I was given the data for all the costs and was asked to calculate the profit/loss the bank makes on each customer. The interview concluded with a short discussion on the possible ways of marketing the credit card. The interview lasted for about 40 minutes and because of a couple of calculation mistakes during the quantitative analysis, I couldn't make it to the next interview round.
Tips: Go through some sample case studies. Get a basic idea of how to prepare for a case study interview. Prepare well for the written test. If you are preparing for CAT, that should be more than enough in almost all the cases.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had my resume which I used for the internship purpose, I used the same resume. While applying in different companies I used the same resume but only ameliorated my areas to make them compatible with the requirements of the profile.

Round: Test
Experience: I had prepared for CAT earlier which helped a lot. All the tests were easier than CAT examination. In the written test for Capital One, we were allowed to use the calculators. The questions asked were pretty simple and were based on graph interpretation. To solve those questions required speed and precision. Nearly 400 people appeared for the written test out of which 80 got selected for the case study round.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The first phase was a preliminary case study round. The topic of the case study was based on comparison between diesel cars and petrol cars, which is more preferable to be purchased. Then we had to perform a break even analysis regarding which car is a better purchase in a particular year. Then they added a clause that if the car was to be purchased with a loan at a given rate of interest, then which is more preferable. They also asked me to guess the constraints that should be put on mileage, servicing and maintenance. The data given was the Distance traveled per year, the cost of servicing, the rate of interest on the loan taken and the rate of depreciation.
25 candidates got selected for the next phase of interviews.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: In the second phase of case study, the case study was held in front of a panel. There were two sets of panels. My case study was about the credit card users, I was told about two types of user the transactors and the revolvers and I had to find out which type of user is preferable among the two considering the given constraints. The constraints given were the amount of money they were allowed to withdraw, the time allocated to pay the dues after each month and so on. We had to do a break even analysis of the case. Due to the lack of time I was asked to do the quantitative analysis only.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: For the next case study the topic was on the spectrum allocation. I was told about the call rates as a function of time and I was asked to comment whether the implementation of the plan would be successful or not. The person taking supervising my case study helped me by dropping hints. He asked to state the number of minutes an ideal user should use so that the plan would be successful. I came up with a figure. He immediately asked me the procedure I would undertake to implement this plan without giving me any data whatsoever, I was terribly confused and could not reply. He then told me that I could ask for any data that I think would prove to be fruitful in getting to the answer. I asked him to give me the distribution of the customers based on the call rates of each customer. This data proved to be helpful and I managed to arrive at the answer.
Tips: In the case study just do your mathematics properly, do not commit mistakes in doing that.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: We had an H.R. interview in which only 2 questions were asked. Both the questions were situation based
questions.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE

Round: Test
Experience: Capital One conducts a DI/DS type quiz which contains questions ranging from compound interest to inflation, before announcing a final shortlist of 200

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: After that there is an online psychometric analysis plus resume based short listing which leaves around 50 candidates for the interview.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: ROUND1:
CASE STUDY: The first study lasted for as long as 20 min. My case was that of dominos evaluating a new scheme wherein they would offer a discount of 30% instead of 100%, in case wherein pizza could not be delivered within 30 min. I was asked how this would change the revenue and the profit. They stressed on the reasoning that I gave in the first half of the study and the calculations in the second half.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: ROUND 2:
CASE STUDY: The second was harder and very extensive. It was a customer acquisition scenario in which a credit card company has to choose from amongst three strategies. They gave me a set of data such as cost of sending out fliers, lending rate, default rate, average spending per customer, annual percentage return etc. and I had to evaluate all the three strategies in term of long term and short term profit and then choose one of them.
Tips: The thing to be kept in mind with the cap one studies is that there is no end point for any study and they will keep asking questions after questions as long as there is time. Hence those who answer correctly and quickly will get to solve more of the case. This is were knowing the jargon really matters, because otherwise a lot of time will be lost trying to understand what each term actually means.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The first question for me was to describe an experience wherein I proposed a creative idea in front of a team and then how I went about convincing people about that idea. Next I was asked to describe a crisis situation which I faced and also my response to it.
The reason for success in this round for me was choosing the right incidents and then reporting them exactly.
Tips: 1.Rehearse with friends for all expected questions such as Tell us about yourself? Why this job? Why this company?
2.Do not cook the script and mug the answers.

General Tips: 1.PPTs:
The best way to start is by getting to know all the jobs that are out such as consulting, analytics, tech, banking and financial services etc. and then deciding about the nature of job that suits you the most.

2.RESUME:
Going through the resume of your seniors is a good way to start. Try to convey variety, team work and leadership and try not to overdo it!

3.CASE STUDIES:
Apart from the routine case studies which the consultancies ask, you might also need to prepare the ones that some of the financial firms love.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I actually made one mistake in my calculations, but was able to identify it on my own and eventually correct it.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: This interview went really well for me – mainly because I had prepared really pretty well for questions to ask the company after going through their site and discussing it with my friends – so I had 4 good questions to ask them. What also helped me was that I could take 2 very big things off my resume to talk about when asked about my experience in a specific HR situation. After I mentioned the outline of my experience in both situations I was asked 5-6 more probing questions to find out more about the incident and I answered them pretty well.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: It involved a lot of calculations. There were 3 different credit card offers with different costs and profits and we had to choose the best offer for the company. I was told later that my formulation of the problem was good since I set it up and then just put the numbers in the same setup to get the answers.

Skill Tips: a) DONOT lie in your resume
b) Know your resume through and through – you should be able to take 5 minutes on even the most insignificant point of your resume
c) Make it as balanced as possible (in terms of academic, extra curricular, etc)
d) Put specific thought into the words used for all your points – don’t be generic anywhere.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Test
Experience: It was basic data interpretation questions. They gave us a graph or a couple of graphs and asked questions based on them. Calculators were permitted, so it was mostly about speed and application.
Tips: Solve CAT level questions for Data Interpretation, which is a more advanced level. That should make these questions relatively easy. Just practice sums as much as possible to crack this first round.
Duration: 35 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The company basically looks for how logically you think as well as how effectively you can communicate while working on a problem. The question will be a relatively straightforward case with basic math involved. There are three rounds of Case Interviews, with varying problem statements, to test your thought and working process
Tips: Ensure you write everything systematically, and keep the conversation going with your interviewer. Tell him/her what you are doing constantly. Double check your work, ask questions and be calm and confident. The process is very relaxed so take your time. If you have a doubt, don't hesitate to get it clarified. Organise your workings clearly so you may come back to it easily. Don't get flustered if you make a mistake, check your working and correct it.

Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: This was the last round of interviews. It was very relaxed. If you've made it this far then you have a very good chance of receiving an offer letter. It's more of an HR Interview with easy flowing conversation. It is to gauge your communication ability and to get a better understanding of what you've done previousy in terms of work, projects, etc.
Tips: Be calm. It's a very relaxed interview with a flowing conversation. Be confident. Don't be afraid to take a moment to think. Ensure you answer the questions in a manner that highlights previous work that you've done, or any other accomplishments. DON'T LIE. Be genuine and calm.

General Tips: I've already said all there is to say earlier. But I'll re-iterate. The interviewers are very nice and relaxed. So just be yourself. Communicate effectively and be organised in your thoughts and workings.
Skill Tips: Don't be nervous. The process is well organised and conducted. It is swift and interesting too. Just stay calm and don't be shy.
Skills: Analytic Thinking, Logic, Communication Ability
College Name: NIT Surathkal
Motivation: I loved the job profile and it was the first company I sat for on campus. I didn't want to continue with any tech related jobs. The company too, has a fantastic atmosphere in the work place.

Round: Test
Experience: It was Data Interpretation.Time constraint. It was important to look for easier questions than solve the ones which were time consuming. Just a notch tougher that DI of CAT.
Tips: Look for easier problems in the paper. Avoid silly mistakes.

Round: Other Interview
Experience: I had 3 interviews all of which were case studies. The difficulty level kept increasing as the interview process moved forward. Became very math intensive. Be sure you be very logical while answering and consider all the basic factors which affect the profitability of a particular change.
Tips: Keep talking to the interviewer. They help. Be confident

General Tips: Be very confident. Try avoiding silly mistakes. Apologize to them if you commit any.
Skills: Basic Econimics, Framing equations out of given data, Making sense of the given data, Basic knowledge of how the products in the case studies work
Duration: 2
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: One of the best in its field.
Funny Moments: I had to have a quick break(Had to pee) in middle of a problem during the 3rd interview. The guy was chilled out and he understood and permitted me. But it was awkward to ask such a thing.