Mercatus Solutions Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: In quantitative aptitude i dont remember the questing exactly but alsomost all questings are similer to the questions in RS Agarwaal.. In reasoning and analytical section they will ask puzzles and if u read shakuntala devi and jimmers puzzle book it is more than sufficient.. In verbal section they have given around 2 passages and 5 questions for each passage dont waste more time in this section because it is time consuming.. they have given some fill in the blanks questions where we have to search for synonyms and antonyms No technical section was there
Total Questions: 75

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Basically i am from Mechanical back ground they dint asked any questions related to software.... They asked questions like how do you update your self regarding your technical knowledge... have you thought of any innovative ideas recent past..

Round: HR Interview
Experience: In HR they asked 2 situation reaction tests. 1)she asked my hobbies and replied playing cricket... she posed a question to me that if i was appointed as cricket team captain for M-Tech mech team how i select my team.... i answered purely by performance no partiality like that.. but she asked to think more then she answered for the questions as... I alone cannot select the team because in M-Tech there may be more that 500 students so i have to take help from some of my friends and this shows attitude towards team work.... 2) She asked one more question like if i am a boss and there are 5 peoples working under me.. my boss given me one work that has to be completed in with in a month... now it is the last day of month and still 25% of work is remaining how i handle that situation... I answered that I will answer to the boss that from next time i will finish 1 months work in 20 days itself so that we will not be facing this kind of problems next time.. then she told ok....

General Tips: Infosys recruitment wont concentrate too much on technical side... they concentrate on logical and analytical thinking and situation reactions etc... so go through puzzles from shankuntala devi and jimmers... and some analytical and logical sections from RS agarwaal
Dont concentrate on technical questions because they wont ask any technical questions... you must prepare well for the written test and Interview will depend on your logical and analytical thinking and situation reactions.. all the best.. hope i will see you in Infosys next year....
College Name: NIT WARANGAL

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Resume based shortlisting initially.

Round: Interview
Experience: 3 rounds of interviews (15-20 minutes each)
 All topics were Metallurgy related
 Heat transfer, Phase diagrams (very basic Fe-C diagram), FEM-based technical questions, are concepts asked.
Tips: If they look interested in a particular aspect, pursue it, and drive the interview.
Be ready to be grilled on the things mentioned in your resume.
 For consulting companies alone (McKinsey and BCG), look at certain case studies. The book "Case in point", is a really good source.
 For most other core companies (like Reliance, Tata Steel, etc.), refreshing Iron and steel and Mechanical Metallurgy courses will help a lot.

College Name: IIT Madras

Round: Test
Experience: PART ONE: Verbal Ability, uses of articles (a, an, the) and a RC. 
PART TWO: logical reasoning, standard IQ type Questions, was simple. 
PART THREE: An essay, one out of two, one choice was nuclear deal and the other was education system in India.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Some regular puzzles were given, which were easy. A discussion on internship work.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: They are looking for people with good aptitude, very good communication skills and strong desire to learn. Also, someone with good academic record and clear career goals.
Tips: Do not panic in the interview.

General Tips: For GD, improve the content by reading and/or discussing among wing mates. Don't be aggressive but be assertive and ENERGETIC.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

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

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Fundae session by seniors and a resume workshop by some company. Also, sent resume to some seniors for their opinions and I think this was an important part of it.
Tips: I suggest Pre-placement talks, are a must. What is more important is not to believe the PPTs completely and ask seniors about the level of fundaes (finance/tech/otherwise) and preparation required to crack the company. There is a lot of good material on ATKEARNEY and other website. Other than that I used the material available for years.

Round: Interview
Experience: Final offers in my division were 12. There were two levels of case interviews. The first interview was to judge if I would be suitable for the Strategy and Operations profile or for the Technology and Integration profile. There were two interviewers. They explained to me both the profiles and asked me what I wanted to choose and why. Then asked me some general HR questions like why consulting, why you etc. Then started off with an informal case study. It was about a new company which wanted to start a new low cost airline and had no experience in this market till now. It has two options: either to acquire an existing company or to build up all processes on their own. I was first asked to qualitatively mention what all aspects I would consider. After that they asked me what new things could this company do. They were pretty satisfied with my answers and I was confident of getting listed in the next round. In the next round there was single interviewer who was looking quite senior. Asked some HR questions. One case study about a consumer durables dealer which was again qualitative. Asked some HR questions that's it.

General Tips: Lack of interaction with seniors throughout IIT stay was one thing for which I had to pay. I had no seniors in my wing and I had no fundae of the amount of preparation required.
So make sure that you have certain information.
College Name: IIT-Bombay

Round: Walk in
Experience: Initial shortlist was Walk-In.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Duration: 50 mins.
Resume based.

General Tips:  Have a good number of projects and know each and every aspect of the projects mentioned
 Have the ability to relate course content to the project development
Skill Tips: They were looking for Product Designers.
College Name: IIT-Madras

Round: Test
Experience: Verbal section was a easy section,It comprised of Comprehension,Spotting errors,Synonyms,Antonyms,Relationship between two given words,Rearranging the sentences.Logical reasoning the second section in which problems on data interpretation,blood relations,syllogism,where there with little bit difficulty.third section was of quant we usual  think it's easy but this was a tough one! with standard problems,percentage,profit loss,speed distance time.....etc.
Tips: While,attempting verbal part always give most appropriate answers.Options may be more confusing and closer one but you have to select the correct one!!!!! Always check for sectional cutoff and if its there then try to attempt each section properly if not then concentrate on section in which you are strong....refer to sites such as IndiaBIX, M4maths, freshersworld for aptitude questions
Duration: 60 minutes
Total Questions: 75

Round: Group Discussion
Experience: GD was not a round included for Capgemini placement test,Pearson versant english test was there once you clear your apti but due to technical faults GD was the round taken.There was a group of 10 people and we were given topic and 5 mins for preparation then GD was started.I was the second one to speak on the topic,I was in the favour of MNC because I really feel that for freshers Indian IT company is not very great start.Rather if one starts with MNC then it gets a brand name associated with them and also global exposure for one.And also Indian IT sectors are largely collaborating with the MNCs so for fresher MNC is a good start than Indian IT company.
Tips: I will suggest you to understand the topic well,jot down the points you want to say and then always initiate for the GD do not argue,just humbly disagree to the topic,do not get personal in it...as soon as you start the supervisor judges you so do not hesitate and just put your points confidently only your English is judged by this...
Duration: 20 minutes

Round: HR Interview
Experience: As I entered they  checked me from top to bottom means how formally you are dressed and shoes,then asked for my resume and started to see and verify each and everything written in it is true and genuine.And both TR and HR interview was taken simultaneously.My interview was the quicker one they just started with name then all above mentioned questions....
Tips: Go properly dressed with shoes polished,do not panic or try to recollect what you  have prepared just be genuine.Write resume neatly and study it well they scan it and ask most questions from it...

Round: Pearson versant English test
Experience: This test consist of two sections firstly the telephonic round in which we were provided with one toll free number and  unique test-id then it was for about 20 mins we talked on telephone.The questions asked were on basic english,like  repeat the sentences,correct the jumbled sentences,complete the sentences,answer in yes or no.Second test was a computer based test for 60 mins in which complete the sentences synonyms,copying the passage,email writing ,listen and write,were few of the questions directed.this test is taken mainly to check your english and writing skills.
Tips: Be clear and loud enough in telephonic test,and search placement papers of every company you sit for.

General Tips: "Try try you will succeed" always believe on this saying and keep giving tests if you failed in one!!
College Name: TERNA ENGINEERING COLLEGE
Motivation: Capgemini is one of good MNC its under top 10 best IT companies also its symbol spade which represented free enivronment to work and moto "People matter,results count".motivated me to join it!

Round: Test
Experience: The aptitude test basically consisted of questions from Data Structures and some other simple algorithms and also on Object Oriented Analysis. The aptitude test was tricky (having negative markings +2/-1 scheme). To cross this test speed and skill are essential.

The next test was a coding exams there were three questions 
1) Given a linked list, link the odd nodes followed by the even nodes in place.
2) Given a dictionary of words find words that are anagrams of each other.
3) Given a binary tree and a node print that node's path from root.
Duration: 95 minutes

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: There were 4 rounds of interviews...
the details are as follows
Interview 1 - This interview was basically DS based interview and certain concepts of networking were touched. I
told them that i am interested in data structures and cryptography so most of the questions came from those areas only.
Interview 2 - Was again technical. The interviewer asked me on Data Structures and a Dynamic Programming problem and some other puzzles to solve.
Interview 3 - This was technical but they evaluated the design skills. Asked me on ER diagrams, class diagrams and
database design and system design and some basic questions from OS. 
Interview 4 - This was also a technical interview mainly on problem solving and DS design (how would you design a DS to handle this situation and so on).

Round: HR Interview
Experience: There was no HR interview as such. They were asking questions in tech interviews such as tell me about yourself and so on.

General Tips: Data Structures, OOPS and OS. Solve a variety of problems. All the best!!!
College Name: NIT WARANGAL

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Got selected because I was relating my experience with the job profile. And knew financials well.

General Tips: Interview question was mainly to gauge my knowledge about insurance sector. I had little idea about the sector but a little research prior to the interview helps. When you are over with the gd/ hr interview and you think there is a good chance of clearing it then make sure u get some knowledge about sector and the company .Read about the sector well and the company as well.
Skills: Economics, Banking
College Name: NA