IBM
Written Test
The written test consists of two sections each of 45 minutes duration
Section#1
This is the aptitude section consisting of 45 questions to be attempted in 45 minutes. As is in all the exams, this section is based on the MBA pattern of examination.
Section#2
his is the technical section. There is a separate paper for hardware and software. Candidates have to mention beforehand whether they want to write the software or the hardware paper.This section also carries 45 questions to be completed in 45 minutes.
Interview
There are two rounds of interviews, viz., the technical and and the HR round
Technical and Personal Round for Software Candidates
Mainly subjective questions in C, Operating Systems, DBMS, Data Structures are asked interspersed with some on the candidate's personal background.
.Typical questions in C and Data Structures
1. WAP to interchange 2 variables without using the third one
2. Explain quick sort and merge sort algorithms amn derive the time-constraint relation for these.
3. Explain binary searching, fibonacci search
4. General questions on binary trees, transversals
5. General questions on graphs and their representation.
Typical Questions on Operating Systems
1. Demand paging, page faults, replacement algos, thrashing, etc
2. Paged segmentation and segment paging
In this section, case studies are presented are presented before the candidate to percieve his reaction and his/her communication skills are tested. IBM expects teamwork and teamspirit from the candidates and their answers should reflect this attitude
Typical question is
You are a project manager of a big multinational project. There is a person X, assigned to you who has the best technical skills required for the project, even better than you. But he wishes to be the project manager ,which the management does not permit, due to which he threatens to quit. All others in the group are not as competent. Talk yourself out of this situation pretending that the interviewer is the disgruntled employee and explain the necessary action.
(1 vote)
It has 4 sections in its
It has 4 sections in its paper: (1 hr test)
(i) verbal (10 mins)
This will consist of filling up prepositions in the blanks.
e.g. 1. he had been singing for a very long time, but until now he has never been seen ____ the opera house
options: (a)at (b)in (c)on (d)none
2. the sea food did not agree ____ him.
options: (a)with (b)on (c)for (d)in
There will be atleast 2 of these questions.
Then there would be few other 'fill in the blanks'.
Then there is a comprehension. Our passage was from "Origin of Species".
It was fairly easy, but don't read the passage first, read the questions first and then find the answers from the passage.
They are mostly in sequential order from passage paragraphs.
This part is easy, u will get through if u have basic knowlege and skills of english.
(ii) Quantitative (25 questions, 30 mins)
This part is fairly easy.
First question was on venn diagrams (credit card holder problem).
Its a bit lengthy but if u can manage it u get 4-5 questions right straight away.
then there are questions on direction, 4-5 questions on data sufficiency, 4-5 ques on replacing 0 and 1 by * & #, age problems etc
They r quite easy just remember the clock is ticking.
(iii) Attention to details (10 mins)
This section be careful...this section is very easy but be attentive to details, I would suggest do this right after the verbal.
There will be 2-3 questions on similarity like
234222272451 23422272451 234222272451
find any dissimilarity.
then there will problem on relation- father, son like that
then replacing + by *, - by + and so on...
last question will be on case study.
they had given us a criteria list for admmission and few biodatas for considering whether their applications will be accepted.
(iv) Technical (10 mins)
this portion will contain checking output, choosing correct answer etc.
It will be based on DBMS, C, unics commands and may few other topics...
Essay writing:
They will provide 15 mins after aptitude test for writing this passage. About 300 words. Now don't think thats enough time, u hardly get any, trust me. Start writing the moment u get the signal, but don't beat around the bush, be clear in expressing ur ideas and their justifications. Ur aptitude marks most probably don't include essay marks. But they do pay importance to this.
128 were selected from 200-220 after aptitude test.
Next is the GD round, now we were never prepared for GD as we thought there won't be any GD, but surprisingly we had and 94 were selected out of 128.
There were 12 in a group, and all the girls would be selected here, so boys u all have to open the zip of ur mouths and talk. Don't sit Dumb. U lose points for that. Don't wait for too long for others to finish.
They check ur communication skills and ur ideas. Just remember u have to talk.
If u get through this u will face Tech+hr interview and mostly they will be conducted by the People who conducted ur GD.
Now, this is totally a matter of luck, in which panel u get...
If they ask u technical questions they are generally Not plain easy, so u have to be well prepared in technical, which I was not.
As I had already got a job offer from Cognizant, I wasn't looking forward to any job in IBM. So I hadn't taken any preparation at all.
But U guys don't do this, my interview was mainly on HR so it was easy, though they tried to crack me with stress questions,
but they couldn't.
There were 2 men in my panel,
It was as follows:
me: good afternoon, sir.
sir: good afternoon take ur seat.
me: thank u, sir.
sir: i didn't get time to read ur essay, tell me about it in brief.
me: explained (they were satisfied)
sir: tell us something about urself
me: told (stress on ur extracurricular activities if u have good ones, now I was in news reading and also some simple research work)
sir: u said u did researchwork, would like to do research in IBM?
me: right now I would like join, learn and grow with the industry and in future I might think about switching to that. BLAH BLAH
sir: have u got any other job offer?
me: yes sir, from cognizant.
sir: why do u want to join IBM, cognizant is the fatest growing company now?
me: explained(< Trust me always go through the press releases or news of the company u r sitting for, because if u talk about those they really get impressed,
Just visit The Company's Home Site, U can get all details there>>)
sir: Ok, what is ur favourite subject?
me: Principles of programming language
sir: tell me diff b/w structure in C and C++?
me: told
sir: tell me a func where u don't have to define a body?
me: pure virtual func
sir: explain that.
me: (that was the only thing I couldn't recall)
sir: anyway, tell me about header files
me: BLAH BLAH
< >
sir: Ok, lets say I give u a job Not challenging, a job that class 12 boy can do, would u do it?
me: well a job is only as challenging as u make it, and i think there 's no harm in starting with a class 12 job, I can surely work my way up.
sir: tell me a phase of ur life where u went through a big change.
me: from my school to college..BLAH BLAH
sir: are u mobile?
me: absolutely
sir: ok, lets say I send u to jungle rural place and tell u set up an IT workshop, what will the 3 most important challenges u will be facing?
me:<>
(i) requirement analysis: planning, gathering info on what is necessary to get the job done, framework etc
(ii) man power= local technically ignorant people + technically experienced people --> Managing them Together
(iii) handling unexpected events that r bound to occur in any large scale job
They were totally impressed with this answer.
sir: u have any question for me?
me: sir can u tell me about the training program in ur company?
sir: BLAH BLAH, any more questions?
me: yes sir, can u tell me more about 10 yr pact made b/w IBM and Idea cellular and Aditya birla?
sir: BLAH BLAH, anymore?
me: no sir.
sir: thank u
me: thank u
Results came after an exhaustive wait till 8:30 pm. 66 were selected from 94.(Final Selection 66 from 200-220) Luckily my name was there.
Only thing u got to remember is that be confident at all times during ur interview, even if u have said something wrong or couldn't answer
something don't lose ur confidence... atleast don't show that in ur attitude. Keep ur head cool, body language calm and be confident and if u have good communication skills u will get through. The interviewers are always friendly and smiling so u be the same way.
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