Students’ Speak: Clearing the aptitude round in the first attempt is only possible when you practice

By: Ritik Agiwal

Research for every company first and go through previous aptitude papers (available online, company-specific). This research and practice with the previous paper will help you to know the pattern of questions they have been asking for the past few years.

The first thing you need to do is to make your mindset. Now is the time when you are going to build your foundation for the next 3-5 years. Whatever course you are studying the one thing which every company requires is the basic knowledge of your stream/field. There are almost 3-5 rounds of interview which every company takes to find the better candidate for their company. Rounds include - Aptitude, GD, Technical round, HR round.

1. Aptitude -This round will check your calculations, accuracy, focus, speed and problem-solving ability. It is the first and very important round where 50% of candidates rejected for not clearing the cutoff marks. 

Reason: Lack of Practices

Solution: Research for every company first and go through previous aptitude papers (available online, company-specific). This research and practice with the previous paper will help you to know the pattern of questions they have been asking for the past few years. Assess the weightage of every aptitude topic and work accordingly. Practise as much as you can. Clearing the aptitude round in the very first attempt is only possible when you have practiced before the placement process.

2.GD - This will check your communication, presence of mind, your GK and public fear. This is also an important round because once you are done with this round and have cleared it, 90% get chances are that you will get the offer(my personal experience). Many students rejected and sometimes the whole group gets rejected.

Reason: Off-topic discussion, bad/wrong communications, hesitation while speaking

Solution: When the interviewer gives you the topic, he/she will also give you 2-3 minutes of time to think about it. The first thing you are supposed to do is to start the GD with what the topic means and where it has come from then stop speaking. Let 1-2 people speak after you. Till then, think you are in against the topic or in favor of the topic. Once 2 people are done with their views, start speaking again either opposing the fact or favoring the fact. Don't see the interviewer, address the whole group with eye contact and with a louder voice. Speak at least 4-5 times in GD effectively with proper facts and figures. 

P.S.: When you are speaking make sure everyone is listening to you. (This will increase your chances to get selected, don't hesitate, people won't judge you)

3. Technical Interview - This round will check your domain knowledge only. Don't panic if you don't know much. Be specific with what you know and what you don't know in front of the interviewer. It is good not to answer rather than giving the wrong answer. Try to show that you are eager to learn and grow, try to show that this company is the one where you always wanted to be. You should have a smile on your face, you should know everything which is written on your resume, the project you did, your role, your domain keywords.  Give them the accurate answer and that's it. The interviewer is more impressed when you tell them the truth.

4. HR/PI - This will check your overall performance, background and how eager you are to join the company. This is the final round of any interview process. People get rejected here as well.

Reason: Over-confident, lack of company and profile knowledge

Solution: You should work on your communication part specifically for this round, you will be the one who will run the interview, not the interviewer. You should know everything which was written in your resume, your internship, your extracurricular activities, your involvement in various competitions, what you did in 4 years of your graduation, how active you were in college, etc. You should have a smile on your face throughout the interview, they will ask you very tricky questions like ‘Why should we hire you’, ‘What if we say NO to you’. Be ready with every answer and do research well about the company. This will give you confidence and help you to connect the company with your answers.

We have a placement cell in our college. Following are the activities they carried out to help us in our interview process:

1. Company-specific technical, aptitude, GD training
2. Interaction and interview tips session with well-known interviewers and founders
3. Mock Interviews

About the Author:

Ritik Agiwal is currently working in an organization as a sales operations specialist. He completed engineering Computer Science in 2019 from  Chameli Devi Group of Institutions. He is a self-motivator, self-believer and a confident person with never give up attitude.