🎧 TCS NQT Experience
TCS NQT is one of the most widely attended examinations which is conducted by Tata Consultancy Services. Successful candidates can get a job in TCS with a package of more than 3 lakhs. We value experiences of successful candidates and interview them regularly. A transcript of such a successful candidate from Mumbai is shared below.
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TCS NQT Beginning
I am happy to share my experience about TCS NQT. I have been preparing for TCS NQT for over a year since I was in college. Even though I come from a technical background, I was really scared. The exam tests on English, reasoning ability, and numerical ability, besides programming. I have been practicing from RS Agarwal for a long time. The questions on verbal ability were from various topics like grammar, word completion, sentence completion, error identification, and meanings of Words. There are also large passages of comprehension, from which there are questions. So, reading comprehension forms an important part of this test. Framing complete English sentences is important for the TCS NQT exam. I found being comfortable in English helps to easily detect most of the answers. However, practice is needed. I did not want to take any risk. I practiced grammar, prepositions and synonyms. I also practiced active and passive voice. I tried to improve my knowledge of spelling. I found there can be many difficult words that I did not know. In such cases I needed to rely on my guess. With more practice, my guesses became better. However, I did not want to miss any scoring opportunity in this section. So, I made sure I get daily practice on various different types of English questions.
Keep reading: TCS NQT Aptitude Questions »
TCS NQT Arithmetic
The TCS NQT exam also evaluates an arithmetic ability. With regards to aptitude, there are many questions from the number system, LCM, HCF, divisibility, and fractions. There are also questions from mensuration. Like in geometry, we have questions from areas, shapes and perimeters. Being good in mathematics definitely helps. Finding multiples and factors of different numbers is often crucial for the questions. It may not be obvious that we have to find a factor. It also may not be obvious in the question that we have to find a multiple. But finding a common factor or a common multiple often helps to solve the question. We used to learn factors and multiples when we were children. The same concepts are still in very much use in the TCS NQT exam. We need to be confident and easily use these logics whenever required. I tried to solve various problems in as many different ways as possible.
Keep on reading: TCS NQT Aptitude Guide »
Percentages, Mixtures, Ratio
I practiced questions from percentages, mixtures, and ratio and proportion. Questions on these topics can be from a variety of real-life scenarios. Milk and water is a very good example of mixture. Volumes of different containers is also very good example of ratio. Ratio and proportions with mixtures can be combined to give various complex questions. Often, we need to find the proportion of a particular element in the mixture. Or find the ratio of an element after mixing it multiple times. These questions can take time. The questions I found sometimes challenging. Sometimes I thought I found the correct answer when it was not. I learned I can expect a completely new scenario which I have not practiced. So, I needed it to be ready. I was ready for the TCS NQT exam to give me surprises. So, I practiced more.
Time and Work
I also practiced several questions on work and time. This one of the categories of questions that I found the toughest as there were very trick scenarios that can come in the exam. If there are multiple workers, the problem can get complex. Each worker might not have the same efficiency. Each one of them can take different times to do the same job. Now what happens if they start working together? The problem can get more complex as more workers join in. What would happen if one of the workers suddenly left? Who will do that work? What happens if another worker then leaves? The remaining work will be done by the remaining workers. How long will they take? So you see there is no end to the amount of complexity that the question can have. I kept practicing with various levels of difficulty and various problems.
Mensuration, Geometry
Problems can be of various shopkeepers trying to mix products. The question can be finding the LCM and HCF and then do something with those results. For mensuration, the questions can be related to any types of shape. The question can be regarding area, volume, length, or distance. Remembering the various formulas for mensuration can come in handy. I revised my 12th standard books. I also revised my 10th standard books. I practiced the questions from those books. I wanted to be ready. Mensuration is something I used to love. So, I did not want to miss out on the opportunity. I wanted to score 100% in mensuration. Same for geometry. Geometry in real life is very interesting. The questions can be related to the length of a shadow. Or the road traveled by a man. One question can have multiple parts in the TCS NQT exam. Each part needs to be solved individually. Only then can we get the final answer. Any slippage in any part can lead to an incorrect answer. So, I made sure I was careful.
Time and Distance
Also, questions from speed, time and distance are crucial. Many of the questions may seem from a class 10 standard, but they can often get very tricky. I practiced for months from different books and various online resources. I also referred books of higher studies for mechanics and worked on complex problems that can come in the exam. There can be so many various different scenarios to create a question on this topic. Relative speed is very important. Also, time with respect to speed is crucial. Finding the distance traveled by someone in a given time is often required. Or how fast does one have to go to reach a particular distance. The question can also be how long will it take, how many hours, and how many minutes to traverse a distance. Based on that, there may be a second or third part to the same question.
Profit and Loss
There are also questions from profit and loss. The TCS NQT exam often mixes real life scenarios with such problems. I practiced from the practice exams of various government exam. I still did not feel confident of my preparation. Questions on profit can come from various real-life scenarios. A dishonest shopkeeper is a very good example. Or a business, where multiple partners are involved. Any situation where profit needs to be divided is important. In TCS NQT, the percentage of profit is often important in various questions. Profit can also be expressed in fractions. In such scenarios we need to be able to solve fractions. I started preparing myself with all kinds of questions. I am very grateful to my teachers and various online resources who guided me. I realized the more I practiced, the better I became. I asked myself how much more do I have to practice? It is then that I realized that I need to stop worrying about my preparation. That I only needed to solve as many problems as possible. This would help me improve. There is no such thing called 100% preparation.
Averages, Algebra
The TCS NQT syllabus also includes averages and equations. Questions on these topics can be from a variety of scenarios. With regards to equations, there can be a multiple of factors which can make the equations very long and complex. The equations can be in the power of two, in the power of three, or in the power of four. It can be more than that as well. We do not always need to solve an equation. But we have to use the equation to derive a logical conclusion. This is where our analytical skills come into play. TCS wants to assess a candidate on their analytical skills. The equations can often look very scary. But it is important to remember various variables can cancel out each other. The equation can thus become very simple. I used to be afraid of equations. I am still afraid of equations. But I learned how to handle them gradually. I tried to focus on speed and accuracy during my preparation.
Age Problems
The most important topics I found difficult to get confident in are age problems. Problems related to age are one of the trickiest that can come in a time bound exam. Members in a family are of different ages. There can be a variety of questions based on family. The more the number of members in the family, the more complex the problem. It is often helpful to write down on a piece of paper while doing our analysis. I learned to assign different variables to different people. I learned to form multiple equations. Often the equations seemed not related to each other. But on careful analysis, I was able to solve the variables. Still, I found I needed more practice in this area. So, I took various aptitude tests and kept on practicing.
Probability, Clocks
Problems on probability are also complicated. But I practiced a lot and I gradually started feeling comfortable. There are also various problems on time and clocks and calendar. Problems such as difference between hours and minutes and angles between the hands of a clock are very important. I suggest to practice these. If you are not confident in these types of problems, you need to practice more. You will have to solve such problems in a very limited amount of time in the main exam.
Number System
I often thought to myself, what if I could not complete these problems in the exam? And then I practiced more. There are also questions on series and progressions. For example, there are many numbers given. What will be the next number? Or how to fill in the blanks with the number? These are not straightforward for me, but I kept on practicing. I asked myself how hard could it get? Especially the clock problems I found myself gradually growing in confidence.
Statistics
There were also problems on mean median, mode, variance and standard deviation. I look for various practice problems on these topics. It helped me gain many new information and gain some new knowledge. I was not aware of many of these terminologies. But as I came to learn I understood. There is a completely new field of study called statistics which I was not good at. I got a lot of interest as I practiced. It is good to see how real life problems can be solved. I also started practicing without using a calculator when possible. It slowed me down. But I tried to get faster. Often I could not finish my practice exams within time. So I thought to myself I should train myself and try to become much faster.
TCS NQT Aptitude Tips
The next question obviously is how can I get faster? I started challenging myself with various practice exams and harder questions. There is also another topic called Data Interpretation. This is a very tough topic, but we can get used to it with practice. We have to analyze and interpret the data. The data can come in various forms and sizes. There is no fixed pattern to it. But our job is to interpret the data and answer the questions. We need to be able to interpret the data effectively to arrive at the correct answer. Sometimes the data may not come in a clean form. We need to process the data and transform it accordingly so that we can use it. This is called data cleansing.
TCS NQT Practice Challenges
Challenging myself with different forms of data, I started to understand the scenarios. This section of the exam is very unpredictable. So only if we practice and develop our skill beforehand, we can succeed. I came to know data interpretation is very popular nowadays. It is asked in various exams. It is a very effective way of knowing a candidate. We can easily assess a candidate on his or her abilities by this section of the exam. Data interpretation skills can be developed by interpreting different sizes up data and practicing a lot. I took various practice exams and I gradually found myself getting the skill. Pie charts are very common. These charts help us understand the data visually. The data can also be in tables. The data can also be in graphs. Thus, the data can come in different forms.
TCS NQT Data Exposure
I wanted to learn how tough the data can get. So I started gathering various datasets over the Internet and started analyzing them. I came to realize data is very important nowadays. All big organizations rely on data. This is why data interpretation is important in the exam. What is the common types of questions? Mathematical functions are often used to derive answers from the data. Then using that answer, for another question, we have to find the answer. With many steps, this can get complex. But with more practice, the TCS NQT exam gets under control. You need to be strategic and methodical in your practice. There are many candidates for this exam every year. Only a few of the candidates succeed. So practice is very important for this exam. Learning is also very important. I often felt like how much more do I have to study? Then I thought of the job that I was going to get. Then I thought of the salary I was going to get. I thought about the health insurance and benefits from TCS.
Advanced Number System
Another field of study is simplification of rational and irrational numbers. We have to handle fractions and play with them. The numbers can be rational as well as irrational. We find it difficult to compare fractions if they do not have the same denominator. So, I learned that trick. We have to make the same denominator. There can be various problems on this topic with similar logic. For most of the cases, the denominator and numerator play an important role. The more I practiced, I realized there is no end to the difficulty of the problems. But the TCS NQT is tough. Even though it is less tough than TCS Digital, I still did not want to take my chances. So, I kept on practicing.
TCS NQT Coding Topics
The TCS NQT exam includes coding knowledge evaluation and assessment. I practiced various coding problems in C programming. I also brushed up my skills in Java programming. I tried to become comfortable in algorithms and data structures as well. I repeatedly practiced some of the common problems like Fibonacci and palindrome. I also looked for expert solutions from those who have participated in coding contests like HackerEarth. I wanted to be the top in programming. I did not want to miss out the opportunity to score 100% in hands-on programming. Eventually I cracked TCS NQT. I cannot express how happy I felt. All my hard work paid off. I cannot express in words my sense of satisfaction and gratitude. I finally became a part of one of the world’s largest software organizations. I realized that I need to be constantly upgrading myself and learning continuously. This would ensure any further assessments if TCS might take, I will be able to pass. However, the fact that I passed the TCS NQT hurdle is a great achievement for me right now.
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