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TEST DATE : 11 Sept 2005
LOCATION : CHENNAI
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HI friends
This is Elavarasan, I thank u all for Ur help. When I got the call
letter I had no hope of doing it, but the valuable information that u
all gave made me to clear Infosys Aptitude test, but…I didn’t do the
Interview well, sorry not even fine! All because
of my carelessness. In this mail I am giving u the way how I prepared
for the written test and along with that my Interview questions. I
hope u all would have
got enough “aptitude test” question papers so I am leaving that.
Preparation
I got the hall ticket on 31st August 2005. A week before that I went
through about 100 puzzles in Shakuntala Devi’s “Puzzle to puzzle you”.
I found that very boring and took many days to go through. As soon as
I got the hall ticket I send a mail requesting for help to all my
mailing groups. I received lot of help from the groups. I seriously
prepared for the exam for about 4 days. In that 4 days I finished two
books of Shakuntala devi ( “puzzles to puzzle you” and “more puzzles”
). Then I took George Summers’ puzzle book. It was very tough and I
lost my hope and concentration. I spent 2 days in George Summers, but
I was able to go through only 17 problems in that. Then I had four
days left. I started to prepare previous year question papers. I first
started with the latest one i.e., 2005 papers, then I worked
out 2004 question papers. I noticed many question were repeating and
gave an extra attention to the repeating questions. I also went
through R.S.Agarwal for
problems on age, time and work, time and distance and clock. This is
all I did.
The Exam
My exam venue was at Meenakshi College, Chennai. When the question
paper was given I found most of the questions were from previous test
papers. I was able to answer many questions without solving them (but
I neatly presented the steps in the
paper), because I solved those questions many time while I was
preparing for the test. But even then it was highly impossible for me
to answer the entire question set in time. I left 3 questions. The
English section was very easy and I completed that very quickly.
The result
I didn’t have any hope of getting selected. But to my surprise I found
my name in the
notice board and time for the Interview was printed next to that as
2:00 P.M. As it was very crowded, I just saw my name and the time, but
didn’t see the
Venue!!!!!
Interview
For interview, I just went through my project. The next day I dressed
well and went to Meenakshi College exactly at 2.00 P.M for attending
Interview. Only after going there I came to know that the venue was at
Infosys campus which is about 30 K.M
from the college. I felt “Oh my God, I made a very big mistake!” and
immediately phoned Infosys but both the phone numbers were busy!
Without knowing what to
do I dove to Infosys campus (In the heavy traffic ofChennai city).
After clearing the security I went to the interview block. I was 1hr
late for the interview.
I met the coordinator for 2 o clock batch and apologized him for my
mistake. He was very kind and spoke to me calmly. Then came a senior
officer (He
must be a senior HRD manager), He was very angry on me and he didn’t
seemed to be convincing. I was already scared about the interview,
added with that his
tension made me feel very bad. I was immediately called for the
interview (I didn’t even have a second to wash my dusty face or comb
my hair!!).
In the interview panel there were twoladies. Here I use L1, L2, and
ME, for the
interviewers and me. And… here is my interview.
ME-- Good Evening mam.
L1 and L2-- Good Evening.
ME-- I am extremely sorry for being
late. I should have been here by 2 o clock but I taught the venue was
at Meenakshi College and I went there, only after going there I came
to know that the venue is here, that is why I am late mam.
L2-- Didn’t you see
ur venue yesterday?
ME-- Mam there was heavy rush at
Meenakshi College yesterday, so once I saw my name and my interview
time I left.
L1-- didn’t u consult with any others?
ME-- no mam.
ME—just now I came here so may I have
some water mam?
L1—sure have some and make comfort.
ME—Thank you mam
L1—So, Ela..va…rasan Ariv….ala…gan, is
this the way others call u?
ME –Yes mam, but few of my friends call
me as “Prince”.
L1 – Prince! Why?
ME – because... (L2 interrupted and said
to L1 that the word “Elavarasan” in Tamil means Prince)
L2 – Ok Elavarasan,
tell us about you.
ME – I started with my home town, then
about my family, then about my education about my hobbies and finally
the prizes won in competitions.
L2 – What do u
think as ur greatest strength Elavarasan?
ME – I think, my greatest strength is my
commitment to work. If I am committed to do something I make sure that
it has completed. (After a pause) I don’t care
about the amount of work I have to put forward or the amount of time
it takes to complete the task.
L2 – So, ur greatest weakness?
ME – mam I think it is time management.
I concentrate much on fine details and always leave time.
L2 – Have u faced any problem because of
that? ME –
yes mam, even while preparing for my exams if I struck up in a topic I
wouldn’t move to next topic.
L1 – Elavarasan, let us think that u
have joined the company and after joining the company you are asked to
go to California, where there is a threat that Bin
Laden is going to attack California. All the seniors don’t want to go
because of the threat so you are chosen, because you are a fresher.
So, what will u do in such a situation?
ME – I’ll go to
California.
L1 – what? Is that practical? Be pragmatic are u ready to risk Ur life
for a company?
ME – mam I am practical. If the death is
going to come for a man it will come to him, no matter where he is
even if he stays in India he will face death.
L2 – Then you are ready to go into a
burning house?
ME – mam it’s a burning house, I know it
is burning so, I will not go in. But going to California is not like
that, there is a threat that’s all. It may happen or it may not
happen.
L1 – Will ur
parents accept this and send u to California?
ME – mam we all do believe in God. If he is my protector then I
believe that he will protect me at California too. (After a while)
L2 – Think of a scenario in which u are the only person in ur college
selected to do a project. That requires a lot of preparation and work.
If u do that u will gain a lot of technical knowledge. At the same
time you are chosen by ur principal to do another project which is not
very important for u but very important for ur principal. He wanted u
to do it. Both of the project requires heavy work and heavy
preparation, and u need to submit a report about Ur projects daily.
What will u do in this situation?
ME – mam, firstly
I’ll talk to my principal and will tell him about my situation.
L2 – If he is very adamant that u must
do that project?
ME –I’ll take both the project and try
to do them, that’s all I can do
L1 – How can it be possible to allocate
time in such a tight schedule between two different projects?
ME – I know it is very difficult but
there is no other go, so, I have to do that so...
L1 – Won’t u try any other method?
ME – no, mam first I’ll speak to him; if
he compels me I will do the work.
L1—try to solve this puzzle (she game me
puzzle in a small bit of paper) The puzzle read like this “ Starting
with 1 half cup of coffee and 1 half cup of tea, if u take 1 teaspoon
of tea and mix it to the coffee and then u take a teaspoon of that
mixture and mix it with the tea. At last what will be more coffee or
tea? “. It is very easy puzzle; the answer is both the content remains
same. But I taught in a different way and answered wrongly!!!
ME – mam coffee will be more.
L1 – (with a smile) Justify it.
ME – If u takes a teaspoon of tea and
put it into coffee… (I shouldn’t have used “put” here) tea gets
diluted. If u take a teaspoon of that mixture and add it to tea, that
would have had more coffee in that than tea.
L1 – try this puzzle.
She gave me another simple puzzle “If the only sister of your mother’s
only brother has only one child then what is the relationship between
u and that child?” Can you imagine a simplest puzzle than this? But my
mind worked in a different way and answered completely wrong. The
actual answer is “yourself”, but I in a hurry answered “my cousin”!!!
ME – mam , it is my cousin.
L1 and L2 – what? (At the same time)
L1 – may be u have to read it again
Elavarasan.
ME – (After a while) I think it should be my cousin.
L1 – how?
ME – If my mother’s brother had a sister
then, she must be my mother’s sister too, hence her child must be my
cousin. L2 –
(with lowered voice as if I have done the interview badly) Elavarasan,
do u have any question?
ME – Hmmm no mam.
L1 – Ok , you may leave now.
ME – Thank u mam (and left the room, I
was about to close the door, some think blinked in my mind only then I
realized that the answer to the last puzzle was just “me”, I again
felt “Oh my God another big mistake”)
After my interview was over I was asked to sit in a place and my ID
was taken to get signed from the HR manager. He was no other than the
person who was angry
at me when I went late. He went to my interview panel and spoke for a
while with the interviewers. This made me sure that I would not be
selected. After a while he came with the very same angry face and gave
my ID to my coordinator. He called out my name and asked me to return
the ID to the security.
My Advice
So, friends, don’t ever be careless like me and loose a valuable
moment in your life. It will be a very big lose.
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