Vardhaman Plastochem Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Test
Experience: The test was conducted through Cocubes. It was moderately difficult. Some of the questions are time taking. We need to be decisive in attempting such questions.
Tips: Need to manage time properly. Should assess and choose which questions to attempt and which ones to leave.
Duration: 1 hour
Total Questions: 30

Round: Test
Experience: The three questions are of three different levels.

1. You will be given two numbers. The first one is the starting point and the second one is the ending point of a range of integers. You have to count the number of integers in that range which are divisible by the first number.

Ex : INPUT : 3 18
OUTPUT : 6

2. You will be given a number. You have to find the sum of the digits. If the sum exceeds 9, you have to add the digits of the sum recursively until you a get a single digit sum.

EX : INPUT : 9999
OUTPUT : 9

Explanation: 9999 => 9 +9+9+9=36 => 3+6 =9

3. You will be given an array of characters which include ( L, R , or a number in the range '0' to '9'). A ball is kept on a line of integers initially kept at zero. The ball has to execute the instructions sequentially as follows:
(i) If an 'L' character is encountered, the ;position of the ball has to be decremented.
(ii) If an 'R' character is encountered, the position of the ball has to be incremented.
(iii) If an integer (in the range '0' to '9) is encountered , we have to go to that index in the array and execute the instruction present in that index.

Finally, after all the instructions are executed, you have to print the final position of the ball.

EX : INPUT :
Number of instruction : 5
Instructions: LR1R2

OUTPUT : 3

Explanation :
(i) Initially, the ball is at 0. Since the 0th index in the array is 'L' , the ball moves to 0-1= -1 position.
(ii) The 1st index is 'R' hence, the position of the ball is -1 +1 = 0 position.
(iii) The 2nd index is '1', hence we have to go to index 1 in the array which is 'R', hence the new position is 0+1 =1.
(iv) The 3rd index is 'R', hence the new position is 1 +1 =2.
(v) The 4th index is '2' , hence we have to go to 2nd index is '1' , hence we have to go again to 1st index , which is 'R' hence the final position is 2+1 =3.

Tips: We need to solve all the three the problems to have better chances of clearing this round.
Duration: 1 hour
Total Questions: 3

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: The interview was focussed majorly on coding. It went for about 45min with around 10 coding problems given to solve. Some basics of Computer networking are also tested in this round.
Tips: Be prepared with some basics of networking. As the company's main focus is on Telecom, good knowledge in telecom and networking would be a big advantage.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: This round was focused on the aptitude and reasoning skills. Some puzzles were given in this round. These puzzles are of moderately complex and are more common ones in interviews. Like the (find the heavier ball among three balls using a balance in min no. of attempts).
Tips: Sometimes the interviewer tries to confuse. You need to be confident with your answers and explaination.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The interview was more of a traditional HR round. Majorly concentrated on the final year project, personal strengths and weaknesses.

Skills: Coding Skills, Computer Networking, C Language Basics
College Name: G Pulla Reddy College of Engineering & Technology

Round: Test
Experience: It was a simple aptitude test in which around 150 students cleared the test.
Duration: 1 hour
Total Questions: 40

Round: Test
Experience: Three programs were given and we had to write the code in either java ,c or c++ and get the required output.Around 90 students cleared this round.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Questions: 3

College Name: VIT Vellore

Round: Test
Experience: There were 40 aptitude questions of variable difficulty. More questions revolved around topics like time and work, distance, speed, time, profit loss, age etc.
Tips: A regular and prior preparation will go a long way in determining a good test score.
Use tricks to solve the questions and calculations should be fast.
Duration: 30 minutes
Total Questions: 40

Round: Test
Experience: The questions weren't that tough when it came to programming. An example would be conversion of temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa. This was a question in my paper. So I'm hoping the difficulty would be more or less the same.
Tips: Do certified programming courses. They help you a lot in cracking good jobs.
Duration: 45 minutes
Total Questions: 3

Round: Puzzle Interview
Tips: This can be tough if you can't imagine scenarios and situations. So make sure you inculcate critical problem solving thinking in your everyday life. I feel that's the best way to do things in this round.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: This was a short interview so not much happened.
Tips: Whatever you do just know your stuff properly.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was a simple interview. Basic questions and their basic answers helped me get through it.
Tips: The tip would be to stay positive in your approach while answering the questions

Skills: Technical Skill, Interpersonal Communication, Aptitude
College Name: VIT Vellore

Round: Test
Experience: There were 40 aptitude questions of variable difficulty. More questions revolved around topics like time and work, distance, speed, time, profit loss, age etc.
Tips: A regular and prior preparation will go a long way in determining a good test score.
Use tricks to solve the questions and calculations should be fast.
Duration: 30 minutes
Total Questions: 40

Round: Test
Experience: The questions weren't that tough when it came to programming. An example would be conversion of temperature from Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa. This was a question in my paper. So I'm hoping the difficulty would be more or less the same.
Tips: Do certified programming courses. They help you a lot in cracking good jobs.
Duration: 45 minutes
Total Questions: 3

Round: Puzzle Interview
Tips: This can be tough if you can't imagine scenarios and situations. So make sure you inculcate critical problem solving thinking in your everyday life. I feel that's the best way to do things in this round.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: This was a short interview so not much happened.
Tips: Whatever you do just know your stuff properly.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: It was a simple interview. Basic questions and their basic answers helped me get through it.
Tips: The tip would be to stay positive in your approach while answering the questions

Skills: Technical Skill, Interpersonal Communication, Aptitude
College Name: VIT Vellore

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