IIT Interview and Test Experience : .........................................................................................................

BY Shivam Agarwal:: Hi ReadersI write this post primarily to provide in ormation to !ATE "SE#E"E aspirants a$o%t the admission process at vario%s IITs and &ITIE. 'et me ass%re yo% %p ront that the in ormation I provide here is $ased solely on my experiences and apart rom a ew memory slips here and there everything else wo%ld $e ine.()* 'et me provide a little relevant in ormation a$o%t mysel to set the context. +y name is Shivam Agarwal. I had completed my B.Tech in Electronics , "omm%nication rom I+S Engineering "ollege* !ha-ia$ad in ./0/ ollowing with a semester1long teaching at !yan Bharti Instit%te o Technology* +eer%t and 0.2 years stint at In osys. I appeared in !ATE in the year ./0. in "omp%ter Science 3yes* yo% have noticed it right* my B.Tech and !ATE disciplines are di erent4 and scored 5/6 with ran7 08.. A lot o good articles and s%ggestions are availa$le on the internet a$o%t how to prepare or !ATE and I don9t want to digress rom the topic now. So to 7eep it short* I start with the topic now.I had applied or the ollowing instit%tes and co%rses:04 Seven older IITs or +.Tech in "omp%ter Science.4 IIT1+ or +S:4 IISc or +Sc3Engg4;4 &ITIE24 IIT1< or =<TT* "omp%ter Technology3EET4*"omm%nication in Bharti School. IIT1+ +S Interview The irst call or interview came rom IIT1+ or the +S co%rse which was slated or .>th and .6th April. The written test consisted o ollowing two parts which were held in s%ccession:04 The irst part consisted o a$o%t 0/ ?%estions* 2 o which were technical and the rest were aptit%de type. The time allotted was ;2 min%tes. The ?%estions were very simple and pro$a$ly I will recall these and the other interview ?%estions in a separate post..4 The second part was s%$@ective in nat%re with 02 ?%estions o which only 2 need to $e attempted. The ?%estions were to%gh and a ew were a$le to solve even three with convictionAAThe res%lts were o%t a ter a$o%t : hrs and 28 candidates o%t o .2/ who attended were selected or interviews to $e cond%cted on the same and the next day.The interview was not a stressed one and the panel comprised o a$o%t 6 pro essors 3 don9t worry* only 01. were active at a time $ased on the area o interest o the candidate4 . Bpon entering they tried to ease the candidate and as7ed to choose the avo%rite s%$@ect rom a list o 615 s%$@ects.I chose "omp%ter Architect%re and was as7ed ?%estions li7e 9 wor7ing o T'B9*9I physical and virt%al addresses are same then will there still $e a need or a T'B9* 9Chy do we need cache memory9* 9!ive a scenario in " programming where relative addressing mode is %sed9 etc. . They started $y as7ing the $asics and then tended to shi t towards ?%estions involving thin7ing on the spot as the disc%ssion evolved and this was con irmed when I disc%ssed with other ellow interviewees.(%t o these ;/ were selected in a res%lt that was declared a ter a month. However as compared to previo%s years this was an exceptional case and they generally select less then ./ st%dents or the +S program. IIT1) "SE Interview

+y second call came rom IIT). They called a$o%t 2// candidates in general category. There was a written test o ..2 hrs 3 I don9t exactly remem$er this4 d%ration starting 8 A+. It consisted mainly o Dro$a$ility* D%--les* T(". The res%lts were anno%nced at : D+ and they shortlisted >/ st%dents or interviews slated to start on the same day. I was not selected there so I will re?%est a riend to %pdate this later. &ITIE Interview The &ITIE interviews were held on 8100 +ay and mine was sched%led on 0/ +ay. They called >// st%dents* .// on each day. The arrangements were very good and the st%dents managed everything there. In the morning the entire gro%p was given a presentation on &ITIE#D!<IE and then st%dents were divided into gro%ps o seven or !<. The !< was o 0/ min%tes d%ration and consisted o very general topics and mine was E Technology creates a divide $etween %r$an and r%ral IndiaE. The disc%ssion went on very smooth* than7s to the co%nselling $y seniors there* and at last they as7ed gro%p 3not everyone4 to give the s%mmary.The interviews were ta7en individ%ally and everyone was allotted a panel and a tentative time. +y panel had : mem$ers incl%ding the dean academics. They as7ed vanilla ?%estions li7e 9intro9* 9reason to move to management9* 9 inal year pro@ect9* 9 a$o%t my wor7 in the company9* 9a$o%t the client that I was wor7ing or9 etc.The res%lts came on 05 +ay. The wait list 0 was activated on 2 F%ne and wait list . was activated on 0> F%ne. They generally ill seats till the commencement o co%rse. IIT1< "SE Interview I attended the IIT< "SE 3+"S4 interview on .0st +ay. They called candidates a$ove gate score 6>2. There was no written test. The interview panel consisted o .1; pro essors3it varied across panels4 and they as7ed or . areas o interest. It was a $it stress type and they were partic%larly interested in <ata Str%ct%res and algos. I mentioned (perating Systems and "omp%ter Architect%re as my areas o interest. They as7ed me a$o%t op1amp3as I have an electronics $ac7gro%nd4 * drew a circ%it and as7ed me to ind it9s o%tp%t* o%r conditions o deadloc7* drew the diagram o o%r cars in deadloc7 on a crossing and as7ed me to explain the o%r conditions with re erence to the diagram. They also as7ed me how to ind a loop in a lin7ed list and the n%m$er o registers present day microprocessors have. IIT1< ".Tech Interview I also attended the ".Tech interview 3EET4 on 0> +ay. Gor this co%rse the c%t o was a score o 6>/. There was only an interview component and the panels were constit%ted o single ac%lty mem$er. I was as7ed a$o%t the memory hierarchy* message passing* ran7 o a matrix and a ew other ?%estions involving hit and miss rates o caches. The res%lt came a wee7 later. IIT1< =<TT Interview The =<TT interviews were held on two days vi-. 02th and 0>th o +ay.0/5 st%dents

were shortlisted or interview and the c%to was 60/ or "S and 65/ or E". (n the irst day the candidates were interviewed in their respective areas $y the IIT ac%lty. I was interviewed $y Dro . Ansh%l )%mar* the co%rse coordinator and every panel was constit%ted o a single Dro . . He as7ed me the topic on which I wo%ld li7e to $e interviewed %pon. I mentioned "omp%ter Architect%re as my avo%rite topic. He then as7ed a$o%t memory hierarchy* need or two level cache* miss and hit rate* similarity $etween the mathematical relation and the data$ase relation. A ter the interview on the irst day :: people were selected or the second ro%nd o interview. The second ro%nd was sponsor9s interview where in the morning the representatives rom o%r companies vi-.. TI* "adence* ST* "ypress and a ew pro essors introd%ced %s to their pro@ects and the competencies re?%ired or them. Then we were as7ed to ill o%r pre erences or the companies#pro@ects in which we were interested. Then everyone was interviewed $ased on their irst o%r choices. The selected candidates were intimated a$o%t a wee7 later. Apart rom these I had also attended Bharti School9s interview or the comm%nication programme. However I was not a$le to recall m%ch rom comm%nication so the pro essor there advised me not to @oin the programme as it was a p%re comm%nication one:4. .......................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................BY Avval +y Fo%rney rom !ATE ./0. to IIT<+y In o&ame H AvvalAIR 1 ./2!ate Score 1 5/."%rrently St%dying 1 +.Tech3"S4 at IIT< +y ExperienceI passed o%t my B.Tech in ./0/ and @oined a mass recr%iter company. Soon reali-ed that it was not meant or me and started loo7ing or a way o%t. Go%nd the answer in masters. So* I prepared or the exam on wee7ends* called in sic7 or a month $e ore !ATE and wrote it. The day the res%lt came o%t* I p%t down my papers. It was one o the most memora$le days o my li e. &ext came the phase o applying to the vario%s co%rses. I applied to the ollowing colleges#co%rses:IISc 1 +.Tech 3"omp%tational Science4 and +Sc.3Engg.43"SA4IITB 1 +Tech 3RA : yr4IIT< 1 +"S and F"AIIT) 1 +Tech 3"S4IIT+ 1 +Tech 3"S4 IIT)!D 1 +Tech 3"S4 and +Tech 3IT4IITRIIT! At that point* I tho%ght that the hard part was over and that things sho%ld wor7 o%t smoothly rom then. B%t I was wrong. Altho%gh the ran7 was good eno%gh or me* it wasn9t good eno%gh to get me a direct admission.Yo% see I9m not that great in +athematics* and I made a mista7e o ignoring +aths d%ring !ATE prep as well. '%c7 was in my avor at the !ATE exam since they didn9t as7 many ?%estions rom +aths* $%t the l%c7 had started to r%n o%t at the next phase o selection. It t%rned o%t that all the colleges were only interested in testing my 7nowledge o +ATHSAAA IISc 1+.Tech3"omp%tational Sc4 The very irst test was that o IISc. I don9t completely remem$er everything $%t

AGAI)* it had a$o%t :/ ?%estions. +ost o them were o 00#0.th std +aths ?%estions. Tho%gh they had mentioned testing programming s7ills etc as well* I remem$er at least .2#:/ ?%estions to $e rom maths and the rest covered everything else.Yo% can re er to this lin7 or sylla$%s:http:##www.serc.iisc.ernet.in#admissions#+TechIAdmissionsIBroch%reI./0. .pd As expected* I screwed %p that test and didn9t get shortlisted or the interview. IIT) The next thing was IIT). Cell* a ter as7ing many people I was o the impression that IIT) written test and interviews were s%pposed to $e the to%ghest* and all I9d heard rom everyone was that yo% o%ght to $e excellent in +aths esp. in depth 7nowledge o Dro$a$ility related topics was mandatoryJ that ma@ority o their ?%estions wo%ld $e rom pro$a$ility etc. I was not con ident. Dl%s* I wanted a good shot at IIT <elhi. I always pre erred <elhi or several reasons. I didn9t wanna ris7 my chances o screwing %p <elhi* so decided to ch%c7 )anp%r and oc%s on preparing or <elhi.B%t one thing I came to learn was that )anp%r was worth a shot. The paper 3as I heard rom everyone else4 was ?%ite similar to the act%al !ATE paper and &(T %ll o maths li7e I expected it to $e. So* the lesson to $e learnt is that don9t give %p all that easily. <o give it a try at least. IIT)!D The pl%s point at )!D was that they gave 6/K weightage to the !ATE score and :/K to the interview. So* I was ?%ite hope %l to get it. They didn9t have any separate written exam. F%st an interview. I was the irst one to $e interviewed on my day. It was a panel o three pro s. They started $y as7ing why I wanted to p%rs%e +Tech. They were interested in 7nowing whether I was there @%st to get a $etter @o$ or i I wo%ld go into a more academic oriented research wor7#Dh< etc. They as7ed me my avorite s%$@ect. They didn9t seem to $e happy to hear <B+S. (ne sarcastically even moc7ed me saying E(hA research wor7 in <B+SAE. The other panelists as7ed me some $asic de initions rom conc%rrency and transaction* which I answered properly. The moc7ing pro started as7ing me ?%estions rom maths. They were $asic de initions rom "alc%l%s. St% li7e %nctions* contin%ity* di erentia$ility etc. All I co%ld thin7 was EChy can9t +aths leave me aloneEA Anyway* I answered whatever I co%ld remem$er. Then another panelist* a lady pro as7ed me to mention my next avorite s%$@ect. I promptly said* EAlgorithmsE. She mentioned the pro$lem statement o the Travelling Salesman Dro$lem and as7ed me how wo%ld yo% go a$o%t solving s%ch a pro$lem. Trying hard to recollect* all I co%ld recall was that it was an &D complete pro$lem and I didn9t 7now what co%ld $e a good sol%tion. So I started telling her a$o%t <i@7stra9s algo altho%gh the two pro$lems were %nrelated. She switched trac7s as7ing me ?%estions a$o%t <i@7stra9s. She mentioned a$o%t negative edges and negative cycles in directed graphs. She $ecame happy to hear the term Bellman Gord algo and let me go.AS it t%rned o%t* I cleared that interview and got selected in +Tech3"S4. IIT< 3F"A4

The res%lts o )!D weren9t anno%nced $y this time. I went or the interview. Tho%gh I was sched%led to $e interviewed $y noon* I had to wait till 6 pm or my t%rn to come. This was a horri$le experience. F"A is o ered $asically $y the +aths department @ointly with the "S dept. They wanted candidates who had good 7nowledge o +aths. Chen I entered* they as7ed me* E)ya padha haiLE I mentioned <B+S and Algo. They as7ed me to solve some p%--le related to sorting in linear time with a certain constraint. I was %na$le to wor7 o%t the sol%tion at that time and o%nd my con idence dying exponentially. They started as7ing ?%estions rom +aths. +ostly topics rom linear alge$ra* de initions rom vectors and matrices* their applications etc. It was so not my dayA I got very nervo%s and screwed the interview. The interviewers were clearly disappointed and let me go. I 7new I didn9t stand a chance. Ta%ght me a lesson a$o%t the importance o +athsA IITB The interview date clashed with that o IIT< +"S interview dates* so I didn9t appear or that $eca%se I pre erred a two year program at IIT< over the : year program at IITB. IIT< 3+"S4 This interview was sched%led a$o%t a wee7 a ter the F"A interview. I was completely shattered a ter the F"A interview. I REA''Y wanted to get this one 3esp. a ter having sacri iced my shot at IIT) and IITB4AA To $oost my con idence* the res%lt o the )!D interview had $een declared $e ore that and I was in. In the preceding wee7 $e ore the +"S interview* I had prepared several sorts o Algorithm ?%estions ready to mention it as my avorite s%$@ect. 3I was told that IIT< interviewers as7 o%r avorite s%$@ects and as7 ?%estions only rom those areas and so I was advised to prepare a co%ple o s%$@ects thoro%ghly4. However* the scene was somewhat di erent rom my expectation.I was never as7ed my avorite s%$@ect. I had two panelists. They started $y as7ing why I wanted to p%rs%e higher ed%cation a ter two years o wor71ex. To that* I answered* ESir* I reali-ed that I was not learning anything any moreE. They seemed to li7e that answer. &ext* started the technical part. (ne o them started as7ing me ?%estions a$o%t hamming distance and started raming a tric7y pro$lem involving hamming distance and pro$a$ility. I told him that pro$a$ility wasn9t my strong s%it. The other panelist then started as7ing me ?%estions rom discrete maths. '%c7ily* I was good in those ?%estions. She as7ed me ?%estions li7e di erence $etween %nctions and relationsJ what are the possi$le maxim%m %nctions#relations rom one set to anotherJ to derive those expressionsJ mathematically prove why the max. no. o %nctions wo%ld $e more#less than the max no. o relations etc. I correctly proved and derived all the res%lts. They seemed happy and let me go. I had a eeling I wo%ld get this one and I did. The day I got in was one o the happiest days o my li eA I hope this experience is o some help to all yo% people striving to get into a good co%rse.(ne piece o advice I wo%ld give is to &(T stop st%dying a ter !ATE res%lts. ..........................................................................................................................................

........................................................................BY =in7al =ishnoi Dost !ate Experience ./0. Today I am going to share my Dost !ate Experience ./0.. It will $e very help %l to st%dents who cleared !ate ./0: and also or others. Dlease eel ree to as7 any ?%estion. I wo%ld also say* please add yo%r experience too. Gollowing are my details:&ame: =in7al =ishnoi!ate Ran7 , Score: .02 * 686Branch , Year: "SE1./0. I applied or IISc Bangalore +.Tech*IISc Bangalore +Sc 3S%per "omp%ter4* IIT +adras +S3: year Drogramme4* IIT +%m$ai RA3: years4* IIT )anp%r* IIT <elhi 3RA and TA4 * IIT <elhi Interdisciplinary* IIT )haragp%r3"S#IT4* IIT Roor7ee. "all Grom: IISc Bangalore +Sc3S%per "omp%ter4 or written test and Interview* IIT +adras +S3: year Drogramme4* IIT +%m$ai RA3: years4* IIT )anp%r +.Tech*IIT <elhi 3RA and TA4 * IIT <elhi Interdisciplinary* IIT )haragp%r* IIT Roor7ee. "olleges Chich got converted: IIT )anp%r* IIT )haragp%r3IT4* IIT +adras +S 3I did not give exams or IIT <elhi and IIT +%m$ai4 +y Experience: Girst Exam was in April or IISc Bangalore : Gor this exam they ro%ghly call %pto 8// !ate Ran7. !eneral seats or this program1me are aro%nd 02.It is very good opport%nity or those who got more than ;// ran7. S%per comp%ters is a very good ield and it also deals with parallel comp%ting.I did not 7now the ormat o the exam* so was not a$le to clear written test. Critten test consisted o :/ ($@ective ?%estion and time alloted was aro%nd ;2 min. The written test has no ?%estion related to gate* and consisted o .5 +ath pro$lems and 01. " program. The +ath pro$lem were rom 0.th sylla$%s. Topics were :<1"o1ordinate !eometry* .1< "o1ordinate !eometry* "omplex n%m$ers* Trignometry*etc. +y s%ggestion is to those who have greater than ;// ran7* can give their %ll e ort or this exam. +y written test was not clear* so I don9t have 7nowledge a$o%t interview. Some one having experience o Interview can share his experience. &ote: IISc +.Tech ta7es direct admission. I yo% are %nder >/ ran7* yo% can apply or that. 'ast year (B" ran7 .5/ and S" 05// got direct admission or this program1me in the last list3 This data is as per my 7nowledge4 +y second exam was or IIT +adras +S : year programme. I g%ess they also call %pto 0/// gate ran7* again a good opport%nity or high ran7ers. There were . written tests* one $eing 0 ho%r test and other 0.:/ hr test. Girst written had o$@ective and EGill in $lan7E type ?%estions. It was easy test. M%estions were o type aptit%de* !ate pattern etc. Aro%nd 02 ?%estions were there. Second test was 0.:/ hr s%$@ective. The ?%estions were mainly rom +aths and some choice was given3li7e yo% have to

attempt 2 o%t o 6 ?%estions4. It was $it di ic%lt. I attempted aro%nd :.2 pro$lems o%t o 2. I will let yo% 7now i I remem$er the ?%estions.I cleared this exam and got selected or Interview. I will share Interview experience in next $log. &ote that or IIT madras ta7es directly or +.Tech programme. I yo% are %nder .// ran7* yo% can gra$ seat in it38/K chances4. To see the IIT +adras +S paper* see this post.. http:##%se %l1 in o1collection.$logspot.in#./0:#/:#post1gate1experience1@o%rney1to1iit.html +y third Exam was or IIT )anp%r +.Tech programme. IIT 7anp%r also had written and Interview. They call %pto 2;/ !eneral ran7* 00// (B" ran7 and :2// S"#ST ran7. The witten test was ..2 hrs exam with all o$@ective ?%estions* $%t it was a $it to%gher than !ATE exam. Critten test is ollowed $y Interview. I will share %ll experience o this in another $log.'ast Interview was or IIT )haragp%r. They generally call %pto >// !eneral ran7 and 00// (B" ran7* $%t the interview weightage is :/K. It was an easy Interview. Dlease do apply or $oth "SE and IT or this college. Here is my $log or general s%ggestions. Dlease have a loo7 at this page. It may help yo% to decide %rther.