IIT Bombay PHD Research Scholar Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: There were two parts : Aptitude and English.
The Aptitude part consisted of questions related to Maths which were quite easy.
The English section consisted of reading comprehensions.
Tips: Read the questions carefully because some of them might be lengthy.
Apply quick formulas so that you save time on each question.
Duration: 90 minutes

Round: Group Activity
Experience: We were asked to write an essay on a topic.
My topic was "Global Warming".
This was not an elimination round.
Tips: Writing essay requires a good fair of English and also thinking capability.
Divide your essay into paragraphs and don't forget to assign a title to your essay.

Round: Interview
Experience: The technical round was quite simple for me as the interviewer asked me few simple questions related to basic programming. I am not well versed with programming but then I managed because I did study the previous day.
I was not nervous since I knew I would be able to crack the interview in one go. After waiting for hours and hours, my turn came and finally I went up to the interviewer.
Tips: Be confident and communicate well.
The interviewers are more interested in how you communicate to them.
Learn the basics and revise a little before you go to the interview .

Round: Interview
Experience: This was the most simple and funniest round for me as the interviewer asked me only a single question .
The question goes like " Which place are you from?"
Tips: When you get selected for the HR round, just relax.
This is not an elimination round .
The HR's won't ask questions related to your subjects or any academics.
They would only ask some basic information regarding your life experiences and or will you be able to work in a corporate environment.

General Tips: 1. You need to be confident.
2. Drink lots of water.
3. Dont discuss anything with your neighbours during the interview process.
4. Dont overthink.
5. Be positive.
Skill Tips: You should well versed with english and try to communicate well with the interviewer.
Skills: COMMUNCATION SKILLS, PROGRAMMING SKILLS, TECHNICAL SKILLS, WRITING SKILLS
College Name: SRM UNIVERSITY
Motivation: A highly-motivated, productive and customer-focused team player with strong communication, interpersonal,organizational, time management, analytical and problem solving skills. Reliable and dedicated with the ability to grasp and apply new procedures quickly; organize and prioritize tasks to meet deadlines and adapt readily to new challenges.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: CGPA + resume + online test - based shortlisting

Round: Test
Experience: Online Test:Quant, DI, verbal, and coding45 minutes coding + 15 minutes verbal + 30 minutes quant
Tips: Time constraint will be the major problem. CAT preparation would sufficeBrush up your coding skills- concentrate in either C or C++ or whichever language you're comfortable withE.g.: The coding question- Write a function to find if a number is palindromeBrush up through basic data structuresGraph theory and few sorting algorithms
Duration: 90 minutes

Round: Interview
Experience: (2 interviews, 20 minutes each)Resume- basedCoding skills and the approach towards the problem will also be tested
Tips: Be thorough with the work done in your internships and projects. Be ready to answer why you are interested in the company.Maintain your confidence level in the interviews. They also look for good communication skills, and even leadership, which is evident from the way you conduct yourself through the interview.Practice quant questions, prepare answers for all the basic HR questions.Coding, go through sorting algorithms, FOR, Graph theory.Digital IC design is very important courses. You should be through with this courses if you are interested in digital profile.

College Name: IIT Madras

Round: Test
Experience: its pretty easy.
Tips: try to follow indiabix.com and R S Aggarwal aptitude book.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: it was a bit tough experience
Tips: give a smile while you are introducing yourself and speak full truth.don't say anything about your father's occupation or your mother's occupation.only say about yourself.

General Tips: if you don't know anything,dont say strict no...try to divert the topic towards your area of interest.
Skill Tips: be perfect in programming languages.
Skills: programming skills
College Name: KIIT UNIVERSITY
Motivation: my elders especially my family members.

Round: Interview
Experience: Its not an elimination round, you can go with your informal clothes on. Any one who has prepared for day 1 and day2 companies will get through this round. Just read news papers and learn to shoot graphs here and there even if it has got absolutely no facts and definitely practice to write a lot.
Tips: Be prepared with both for and against the topic coz the interviewer keeps changing the topic in between the GD.The topic was same as that of the case study Don’t write bullet-ed points, this makes your cases look small. Try applying your vocabulary spectrum. Try to give exhibits even if you don’t know any facts.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: 12 students on the table, one interviewer.
Tips: Play old school .But don’t wait for your chance, just break into it, but with a gentlemanly attitude. Try giving examples. Throw arbitrary facts to prove your points, if you don’t remember the real figures.

Round: Interview
Tips: Don’t start with your brilliancein your core subject. Tell them you hate your department. Convince them that you won’t ditch them for a Ph.D or an MBA. Tell them you have a friend at Wipro who keeps giving you intel about how great the company is. Look confident and if at times you can be funny, they will appreciate it!!

Skill Tips: 8 and above CGPA is required. Later it was lowered to 7.9, mine was 7.98. They mainly ask HR questions, so being involved in Extra-academic activities gives you more that you can talk of. I had an eye for coding in C++. Helped me on this, but my extra-academics list was enough. Coding was just a bonus. If they are non core its better. But my both the internships were core based. You just have to convince them why you are dropping from core.
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Candidates with CG equal to or higher than 8.0 were selected.

Round: Test
Experience: It was divided in 2 sets of 45 minutes each.
Coding: To write a function to find if a string is palindrome or not. 
Verbal+quant: These were CAT model questions.
Duration: 90 minutes

Round: Interview
Experience: There were 2 rounds of this interview. Both were HR and questions based on resume and some general questions were asked.
Tips: I think I was selected because of my CG, coding skills and communication skills.

General Tips: If you're preparing for core, make sure you start revising your subjects soon. Keep your notes and concentrate on structures.
Skill Tips: I started my preparations in November by going through case study material available in lan and solving CAT questions.
College Name: IIT MADRAS

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: No one would be eliminated in this round. They will provide you ample time - around 40-50 minutes to write a response on a case study. The topic would be new and unheard of, but you can think and write peacefully in that amount of time.
Tips: Make sure you highlight the points made and do remember them for the Group Discussion phase.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: One-third of the guys will get selected for the interviews from each group of 8-10 guys. The topic of the GD would be same as the case study. Now, its time for you to recall the points you made during the writing section. The GD will last for around 15-20 minutes.
Tips: Good communication skills, relaxed but expressive tone. Don’t be silent and try to speak up whenever you get a chance. Try to bring new air into the discussion and think from all the different perspectives. You should speak at least 2-3 times, even if you just say 1-2 sentences each time. That will do. They also individually ask each person to speak, specifically those who could not speak, but you had better not be that guy or girl. There is no need to fight for summarizing the GD. Try to show that you are involved throughout the GD.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: There will be two guys, one from technical and the other HR. They both ask questions at the same time and they discuss among each other as well. They mostly try to detect any fraud or fake thing you did in your project or intern. All the technical questions come from your CV. So, your fate is kind of in your hands only.
Tips: Prepare hard for Projects, Internships etc. Don’t panic. They try to see how you react in a pressure situation and actually behave as if you are not impressing them. Just be calm and keep on speaking. If there is something you want to say and they interrupt you, its better you ask them to give you a chance to explain it in details. Do have a few questions in mind to ask them about your job profile and Wipro. That is the final nail in the coffin.

Skill Tips: A minimum CGPA of 8.0 was mentioned and later they relaxed it to 7.9. They were giving quite some importance to the Internships and Projects undertaken and were trying to judge if you actually did something new and genuine. They were dwelling deep into it. As I said, prepare well for them just like you prepare for BTech Project Viva. They do ask a lot of questions.HR questions should be prepared thoroughly. A background check of Wipro and IT sector companies is a must. Prepare well for group discussions. Try to get background information about the IT sector and the company. Prepare your CV thoroughly.
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

General Tips: KGPians have to be a little more in the know-how of latest trends in IT and programming language landscape. KGPians don’t do group projects much, specially group programming/software project. Be affirmative about your abilities and be more clear in your intent, in interviews.
Skill Tips: Must: minimum CGPA of 8. they reduced the gpa requirement to 7.9 but they maintain final gpa must be 8. Good to have: Some knowledge of programming languages,databases,Algorithms. Any extra-academic involvement helps ,but is not a requirement. Be in touch with discrete math(not requirement). C++,Java programming(may be a little bit of Python). Projects and internships with computer programming as major /critical part. Having lead a bunch of juniors or equals in a project. Decent communication skills is essential.
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Its not an elimination round, you can go with your informal clothes on.
Tips: Any one who has prepared for day 1 and day 2 companies will get through this round. Just read news papers and learn to shoot graphs here and there even if it has got absolutely no facts and definitely practice to write a lot. Be prepared with both for and against the topic coz the interviewer keeps changing the topic in between the GD.The topic was same as that of the case study Don’t write bullet-ed points, this makes your cases look small. Try applying your vocabulary spectrum. Try to give exhibits even if you don’t know any facts.

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: 12 students on the table, one interviewer.
Tips: Play old school .But don’t wait for your chance, just break into it, but with a gentlemanly attitude. Try giving examples. Throw arbitrary facts to prove your points, if you don’t remember the real figures.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Two interviewee were present.
Tips: Don’t start with your brilliancein your core subject. Tell them you hate your department. Convince them that you won’t ditch them for a Ph.D or an MBA. Tell them you have a friend at Wipro who keeps giving you intel about how great the company is. Look confident and if at times you can be funny, they will appreciate it!!

Skill Tips: 8 and above CGPA is required. Later it was lowered to 7.9, mine was 7.98. They mainly ask HR questions, so being involved in Extra-academic activities gives you more that you can talk of. I had an eye for coding in C++. Helped me on this, but my extra-acads list was enough. Coding was just a bonus. If they are non core its better. But my both the internships were core based. You just have to convince them why you are dropping from core.
College Name: IIT KHARAGPUR