Dalal Doctor & Associates CA Articleship Interview Questions and Answers

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: Technical Interview
Experience: Technical on paper test questions:(dis was only for 12 among d 26 shortlisted ppl after apti...others directly had interviews)
5 wer selected in this test who wer nw sent for interviews
TECHNICAL INTERVIEW: (pls list the questions asked in all the rounds)
26 shortlisted after apti (14 directly for interviews & 12 had one more technical on paper test...mentioned above)
der wer min 2 technical rounds for each of them...max were 5

- You are given course dependencies
A->B,C
B->D
C->A
D->nothing
The above dependencies mean...if you want to take course A...you should take courses B and C first....To take B,Course D must be taken first....D is an independent course and can be taken without any prior requirements.
Now you are told these dependencies.Come up with an appropriate data structure to represent these dependencies.Then write a code that finds out all the courses that the student can take up...in this case the student can first take course D because its independent.Now that course D has been taken he can next take up B as it depends on B alone...But the courses A and C can never be taken because they depend on each other...So here all the courses that can be taken are B and D.
After i wrote the code....he asked for all possible test cases
-Given an array of length N....It can be filled with nos. only from 1 to N....find which nos are repeated in the array
-Given pointers to two nodes in a binary tree....find their least common ancestor...each node has pointer to only the parent node...not the left and right child..
-In a binary tree(Not necessarily a BST)...suppose the weight of any node is defined as the product of the key value of the node and the level of the node(Root at level 1)...find the node with maximum weight in the binary tree
-A sorted array of size n is right circularly rotated k times and this rotated array is given to you as input...Find out the value of k in log n time .
-There are some processes running at time T....and there are processes running at time T+30.
You have to find out
1)Which processes died at time T+30,which were alive at time T
2)Which are the new processes at time T+30,which were not there at time T
3)Which are the processes that were there at time T and are still running at time T+30
What data structure will you use to represent the process lists and write code to find out the answers to the 3 questions above
-Given a binary search tree...and a target sum...starting at the root...which all paths add up to the target sum?...if there are multiple paths....return the path with least no. of nodes.


College Name: Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute, Mumbai [ VJTI ]

Round: Test
Experience: The test was on amcat platform where you can not skip the question and you have to attempt each and every question.the key thing here is accuracy specially in first two section coz in retail banking and econometric will be new for everyone.I am from Industrial Engg and Management(M.tech) so we have some basic idea of Econometrics.
Tips: Maintain the accuracy and try to give few hours in studying the basic of Retail Banking and Econometric, coz these are the two section where u can take the lead. and never forget that this is the mass rejection process

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: Follow the basic rule of GD and try to give valid example with your point.
Tips: Read the Newspaper and be aware of what is happening around.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: my interview was around 35-40 minutes process in which they as the technical part from my resume
Tips: just be confident and they will try to stress you out.so be calm and compose and try to understand the question properly before start giving your answer
they expect the logic how you attempt the question


Round: HR Interview
Experience: be ready for the puzzles
Tips: The process is going to be time talking so be ready to wait, and dont sound low in the interview coz this is the day u are waiting for your entire life.

Skills:
College Name: NIT Tiruchirappalli

Round: Test
Experience: It was a decent test as normal apti tests but you have to keep little extra knowledge about retail banking and econometrics.
Tips: Just practice well for all aptitude test and boost your speed with accuracy.
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 40

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: It was a good discussion but in between there was a chaos as number of people in my group was too big(14) as far as GDs are concerned.But overall it was good and everyone whosoever wanted, had put their points.
Tips: Don't fight during GD. Make sure that whenever you get chance you utilize it fully and make a very effective point. Also keep in mind it is a GD so you should be humble to others as well.
Duration: 30 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: It was a very weird experience.
After get shortlisted from test late in the night, our GD was early in the morning and then followed by interview. And then something really strange happened.I was waiting for my turn since afternoon and I was the last one to be interviewed. When I was called for my turn, all three panel of interviewers came out of their rooms and they announced the result before taking my interview so it was shocking because as par our campus rule you can not straight away declare the results to candidates before the whole process gets over. It shook me and I was very angry at that time but I kept myself calm and turned that anger into a positive way thanks to my friend who were there with me during that time. All I thought was I will get a chance and now I don't have anything to lose so I have to make a better impact on them than the other guys and convince them to increase their selected candidate list. The interview started with general HR questions, why do you want to join us? Why do you think we should hire you? And then they started asking questions over my project which I mentioned in my resume. After that there were few basic probability questions and some analytical puzzles. And during my interview I said I like to play with numbers so they threw me a multiplication 55555*55555 and it took me around 25-30 seconds to do it so I think that was a really effective part of my interview well at last I got selected in HSBC.
Tips: Don't get panic and never lose your calm. Situations can be more worst than what you thought it to be but be confident on yourself. Sooner or later you will be rewarded for your work. Good luck in advance :)

General Tips: Just be yourself and be confident. Be with those who make you feel comfortable. Keep calm and eventually everything will fall in the right place.
Skill Tips: I would say that patience is not a skill but it is as important as any other skill during your interviews. You might encounter some serious situations which might take you on your nerve so be patient.
During your interviews make sure whatever you know you should be able to communicate it well enough otherwise your knowledge is of no use. At the same time ensure that you don't really show off that you know more. If you know more about that problem be humble to the interviewer as discuss or share your thoughts in a very polite manner. And last but not the least is the analytical skills. You might be asked to decode some case or do guesstimates to be prepared for it. Practice it a lot with your friends or else whichever way you like it to be done.
Skills: Analytical skill, Communication, Patience
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Motivation: My only motivation was to get a analytical job which I was targeting. And apart from it there was a reason in my life to get this job and do something for someone very special. So, this keeps me motivated even today.
Funny Moments: The whole placement process right from companies visiting your campus to giving test and getting shortlisted for the interviews was really stressful but when I look back I cherish all those moments where we all friend sat together abusing some bull shit companies their procedure. How we used to run like a wild animal from one test to another one PPT to another. Those late might discussion talking about our future. Those were the lifetime memories, good or bad, which will stay with us always.

Godd luck again for your placements. :)

Round: Test
Experience: The written test was quite similar to the typical CAT pattern. It contained sections on Reading Comprehension, Data Interpretation and Mathematics.

Round: Technical + HR Interview
Experience: There were 2 interviewers in the first interview, one was a technical guy and the other was from HR. They asked me a few very simple puzzles, a few basic programming questions (swapping the value of two variables etc.), questions related to the development cycle of software products. The HR guy asked stuff like what do you want to achieve in life? Strengths, weaknesses etc.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The third interview was the most important one (and I guess that was the deciding interview). The interviewer started with questions like why finance? Which companies are you sitting for? Then he gave me a case study:

Round: Test
Experience: Basic aptitude test. East to clear.
Duration: 1 hour
Total Questions: 25

Skills: Reasoning Ability, Mathematical Logic, Logical Reasoning, General Knowledge
College Name: Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain

Round: Test
Experience: 4 sections, 15 questions each. Sections on apti, english, programming, technical.
Tips: Time management, complete english and technical first
Duration: 1 hour
Total Questions: 60

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: We were asked which super hero would you like to be. Shared the information. Always present the positives and negatives and emphasize that despite of being negatives
Tips: Think everything through before speaking
Duration: 40 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Prepare well, anything can be asked on the things written on your resume

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Sell yourself. Tell them why you would be the best candidate.
Tips: Tell your advantages of being a fresher that you would be comfortable in any technology

College Name: Acropolis institute of technology and research

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: No. of Interviews: 1
I think they were looking for Mathematical and analytical ability, Awareness about and aptitude for finance related stuff (news items, their analysis, my understanding etc.)

Tips: Being prepared: In markets there is no substitute to knowing your stuff. You can‟t faff your way through as the questions will be technical

Skills: Financial Markets, Aptitude, Analytical Skills, Mathematical Aptitude
College Name: IIM Bangalore