OpenSeeSame - TCS touchstone Mock written test

Open SeeSame is a preview of the TCS TouchStone Assessment platform. This site greatly enables candidates to pre-assess their aptitude skills. And the real secret is that if a student practices open seesame questions regularly with different login name, he can really gather all the TCS touch stone questions. So better prepare openseesame before you attend TCS written test. To take a mock TCS written test at openseesame, follow the step by step instructions given below.

Step 1: Register with Open SeeSame

1. To register as a new user, type the following URL in your browser (supported browsers are IE 7 and IE 8):https://openseesame.tcs.com/
2. Click on 'Register here'. Complete the Registration form. Click on Submit button. On successful registration, a verification link is sent to your email id.
3. Click on the verification link from your mailbox and follow the instructions provided.

Step 2: Login to Open SeeSame Portal

1. Once the verification is complete, you may login at https://openseesame.tcs.com/ with your email ID and your chosen password.
2. After logging in, you can view your account details on the Profile Details tab. (In case you have a valid DT/CT Reference Number, please enter the same and click on the Update button. Your DT/CT Reference Number is a unique number that you may receive on applying to the TCS careers portal)

Step 3: Fill Portfolio

1. Choose the Portfolio link to fill your details.
2. Login to the Portfolio site with your Open SeeSame credentials.
3. Please complete Personal, Contact and Education tabs completely. Completing your Portfolio helps us understand you and your aspirations better.
4. Please click on the Save button after completion of each tab on your Portfolio.
5. You are now ready to book a Preview on Open SeeSame.

Step 4: Book Preview

1. Click on the Book a Preview tab. Click on the Book Preview button. You can now view the Open SeeSame preview schedule.
2. Choose a Preview from the calendar and click on the Book Preview button to reserve.
3. Now you can view the booked preview in the Your Preview tab.
4. Click on Check your Computer to see if your computer has the configuration required for the preview.
5. The following are the prerequisites that are required in your computer to take a Preview.

Browser	IE 7 or IE 8
Pop up allowed	Yes
Screen resolution 800X600 or above	Yes
Windows installed	Yes
System time	Current

Step 5: Preview Open SeeSame

1. To take the Open SeeSame preview, login to https://openseesame.tcs.com/ and click on the Your Preview tab. You can see a list of your booked previews.
2. Choose Begin Preview link that appears against your reservation. This will launch the Preview.
3. Use the same credentials as the Open SeeSame portal access details to begin the preview.
4. Preview Open Seesame.
5. In case of any difficulty, please email chennai.openseesame@tcs.com with subject field containing
   a succinct description of the problem.

IGATE written test pattern

     Igate is one of three top IT companies which offers best services to its employers and it is really cool to work in Igate. You need to work only for four days in a week and only for 7 hours a day. Pretty interesting! May be you are fascinated about the company and wish to get placed in Igate. So in this post I will mention about the hiring process and written test pattern of Igate. Remember though it is cool to work in Igate, getting into it is really tricky.

     So the hiring process consists of the following rounds.

• Written Test
• Technical interview
• HR interview
• Phone interview

Written test

    The round which you have to prepare most for IGATE is the written test round. It's pretty easy but needs common sense and fast answers. Find the pattern below.

• The written test is for 1 hour
• It consists of 50 questions of which 20 will be aptitude, next 20 will be from english(GRE) and 10 logical reasoning
• No negative marking
• There is a sectional cut-off
• Cutoff will be around 30 for on-campus and around 37 for off-campus 
• So if you have cleared the written, then you are on your way
• Eliminations will be in written test only
• A person who have cleared written will attend all the three interviews (i.e) no elimination in technical of HR interviews.
• Pay most attention to written test for IGATE

Technical interview

    In Igate, technical interviews have a slight variation. There will be two interviewers on the same panel and you have to satisfy both. This requires practise to impress both the members and do practise it. Prepare the following for IGATE technical interview.

• Fundamental programming
• Data structures
• Your field of interest

HR interview

      This is the easy part of the recruitment process. The HR 's of Igate are so polite and you don't have any stress interviews. Be confident and prove yourself

Phone interview

      You may likely have a phone interview with senior persons in the company and this decides your selection into the company. Pay attention to phone etiquettes, manners and environment you speak. 

3 Simple techniques to crack your next interview

1. Impress the interviewer in Tell me about yourself question
          The interviewer starts every interview with the formal tell me about yourself question. And this is a great chance to prove yourself and impress the interviewer. Before you go for an interview, prepare yourself for such a question and shortlist the points which you feel great about yourself. Show how you are eager to work for the company and how you have worked well in the past. Your sign of good work in past will tell the interviewer that you will work good in the future. And he does not like to miss you. Make an impressing story about yourself for the next interview and see how this simple thing makes your interview so easy.
2. Be humble and practice humble assertiveness
         In an interview, what matters is your attitude. The way you handle the situation on the interview hour is the key thing which plays a major role in  getting the job. Remember the following quote always.
   
   What matters in your interview is ATTITUDE and not aptitude.
3. Ask questions at the end of an interview
         You should ask some questions to the interviewer at the end of an interview to show that you are passionate about this job. But always remember the above said advice(technique 2) even if you ask questions. This is the end of your interview and hence subconsciously your interviewer decide whether to hire you or not based on the questions you ask. Use the opportunity to grab your job.

CSC Technical written pattern

Computer science corporation is a leading software company. Familiarize yourself with CSC campus recruitment  procedure. And in this post, I shall discuss about the technical written test only. Even though CSC recruits students from circuit branches like ECE and EEE, the technical written test consists of questions solely from computer science background. And the real thing happening in CSC  is that most non-CS graduates are eliminated in the technical written test. So if you are attending CSC, make sure you study the following things.

Let us first familiarize with the pattern.

• It consists of 75 questions
• Time limit will be 1 hour
• Questions are of objective types only
• Cut off will be mostly around 35(tentative depending upon the college)
• Questions will be from computer science core subjects only regardless of your background (the painful reason for elimination)

So let you be prepared and crack the written test by preparing the following subjects. I am damn sure that this preparation will surely help you clearing the technical written test.

1. C language
            In C programming, they test your debugging skills, so prepare C debugging questions instead of reading a C programming book.
   
2. Object oriented programming concepts
           Prepare C++ and java basic concepts. It is best to prepare from a school text book for java and c++ as it will cover all basic concepts clearly.
   
3. Data structures and Algorithms
           There will be nearly 10 questions from data structures and algorithms and don't forget to revise it.
   
4. Data Base Management systems concepts
           Prepare all basic definitions in DBMS(standard text books) and you will be really interested in learning it. There will be atleast 10 DBMS questions in technical written.
   
5. Networking concepts
           Since networking is included for ECE and EEE students, you find this section very easy and helps you to clear the written test easily.
   
6. Fundamentals
           Just revise the fundamental Computer science techies such as Memory, CPU, RAM, ROM, Operating System and it helps you a lot in technical written test.

Preparation is the key to success and with preparation, you can surely crack the CSC technical written test. 

Inplace algorithm to reverse a C style string

      In the last post, we have seen an effective algorithm to multiply a number by 7. In this post we shall see about an  effective algorithm to reverse a string. This is a classic interview question and well expect this question in your technical interview even at google, microsoft, yahoo, etc.

     In this algorithm, the interviewer mainly notices that is your algorithm inplace (i.e) can it do without using any extra memory? Thus we shall find a way to reverse a string without using additional string. The algorithm is given below.

Step 1: i = 0; j = length of string - 1
Step 2: swap string[i] and string [j]
Step 3: increment i and decrement j
Step 4: Go to step 2 if i < j

Thus a C++ code to reverse a C style string is given below:

void strrev(char *str)
{
  int n= strlen(str);
  for(int i = 0, j = n-1; i < j; i++,j--)
  {
    //swap a[i] and a[j]
    a[i] = a[i] ^ a[j];
    a[j] = a[i] ^ a[j];
    a[i] = a[i] ^ a[j];
  }
}

Fastest way to multiply a number by 7

Top companies like microsoft, google asks algorithm oriented questions to test the analytical skill of the candidate. Here is one such question.

Given a number N, devise an algorithm to multiply N by 7?

        Well we obviously think that N * 7 is the answer. But it is not. Remember multiplication is a tedious process. It needs many registers and takes some time to produce the output.Therefore we have to reduce the time complexity. The interviewer looks exactly the best possible answer and let us find it now.

       The bitwise operators are very fast enough and hence our intution tells us that the answer should involve bitwise operations. We know that we can multiply a number by 8 just by left shifting the number 3 positions. So we can use it to multiply N by 7. The working method is given below.

N * 7 = N * (8 - 1)
          = N * 8 -N
N * 7 = N << 3 - N

Thus a function in C to multiply N by 7 is given below.
int mul_by_seven ( int n)
{
  return (n << 3) - n;
}

In any technical interview the interviewer tries to find out how you work out solving a problem and hence talk aloud while you think.