Company OA Research, Aptitude Rounds and the 48-Hour Plan

An assessment invitation arrives on a Wednesday: "Please complete the assessment within 5 days." Most students react in one of two ways. They take it immediately, unprepared, to get it over with, or they spend four days solving random problems and then take it tired.

There is a better use of those days. Candidates who took the same company's assessment in recent months have often described it publicly: the platform, the sections, the difficulty, the kinds of problems. A couple of hours of research turns four days of generic practice into focused preparation.

• Where to find reports about a company's assessment, and how to judge them.
• Why you should prepare for patterns, not leaked questions.
• How to synthesise reports with AI.
• How to prepare for aptitude sections.
• A 48-hour plan, a 24-hour plan and a day-of routine.

Search with the company name, the role or level ("SDE intern", "fresher", "graduate"), "online assessment" or "OA", and a recent year. Collect five to ten reports. Note the date, role and platform of each.

• Recency. A report from three years ago may describe a different process.
• Role. An internship assessment may differ from a full-time one; a data role from a backend role.
• Consistency. One report saying "very hard dynamic programming" is an anecdote. Five reports mentioning graph problems is a pattern.
• Exaggeration. People who failed sometimes describe tests as harder; people who passed sometimes as easier.

You will sometimes find lists claiming to be a company's "actual OA questions", or offers of "leaked" questions in groups. Avoid them:

• Many employers require candidates not to share or use assessment content. Using leaked questions can be treated as a violation, with the same consequences as other integrity breaches (article 23).
• Question pools are large and change, so you may memorise questions that do not appear.
• Memorised answers do not survive a slightly changed problem, and they do not help in the interview that follows.

What reports are good for is the shape: the platform, the number and type of sections, the time, the difficulty and the patterns. That tells you what to practise.

Paste your collected reports (trimmed, with usernames removed) and ask for a synthesis that keeps track of evidence:

Below are [N] candidate reports about [company]'s online assessment for[role/level], each with its date and source type. Using ONLY these reports:1. Summarise the format: platform, sections, number of questions, time.   Note where reports disagree, and which reports are most recent.2. List the problem patterns or topics mentioned, with how many reports   mention each.3. Describe the difficulty as reported, quoting reports.4. What should I prioritise in the next 48 hours, given my weakest patterns   are [list]?5. What is uncertain or contradictory that I should not over-prepare for?Do not add information about the company from outside these reports.[paste reports]

How to check it: look at the counts in point 2 against your reports. If the assistant mentions a topic no report mentions, remove it. Give more weight to recent, role-matched reports.

For many services companies and large-intake drives, aptitude carries as much weight as coding, and it is strictly timed. Common areas:

How to prepare:

• Short timed sets every day (for example 20 questions in 25 minutes), not long reading sessions.
• A formula sheet you built yourself while practising, reviewed daily. Writing it yourself is what makes it stick, and you will not have it during the test.
• Mock tests in a format close to the company's, from practice platforms or books.
• Review every wrong answer: was it a concept gap, a calculation slip or time pressure? Add it to your error log.
• Skip strategy: in a timed section, if a question will take much longer than average, mark it and move on. Return only if time allows. Check whether there is negative marking first.

AI is useful for explaining a method you got wrong and generating similar practice questions, but check its arithmetic: assistants make calculation mistakes, especially in long numerical problems.

I got this aptitude question wrong. Here is the question, my working and thecorrect answer. Explain the fastest correct method in steps, then give methree similar questions with answers hidden at the end, so I can try them first.Show all arithmetic so I can check it.[question, my working, correct answer]

When the invitation arrives with a few days to go, schedule the test for a time you will be fresh, and work backwards.

48 to 24 hours before

1. Read the invitation and instructions fully: platform, sections, duration, deadline, rules (article 23).
2. Research (60 to 90 minutes): collect reports, synthesise them, decide your priorities.
3. Platform warm-up (60 minutes): two or three problems in the platform's practice area, using its input format and editor.
4. Focused practice (2 to 3 hours): your weakest of the likely patterns, using the hint ladder from article 25. For aptitude-heavy tests, timed sets on the likely topics.

24 hours before

1. One full timed mock (60 to 120 minutes) in conditions like the real test: no phone, timer, the same number of problems, ideally in the platform's editor.
2. Review the mock: which strategy steps you skipped (reading all problems first? brute force first? edge cases?).
3. Recall your templates for your top patterns by writing them once from memory.
4. Run the set-up checklist from article 23: device, connection, browser, camera, room, ID.
5. Stop studying in the evening and sleep. Tired problem-solving is slower and sloppier; a late-night cram costs more than it gains.

On the day

1. A 20 to 30-minute warm-up: one or two easy problems or a short aptitude set. Nothing new.
2. Set-up: plug in, close everything, notifications off, water nearby, rough paper if allowed.
3. During the test: the strategy from article 24. Read all problems first, cap time per problem, brute force first, keep the last ten minutes for edge cases.

• Write a short reflection the same day: what the format was, which strategy steps you followed, what you would do differently. Do not record or share the actual questions where the employer's terms forbid it; note the patterns and your mistakes.
• Update your tracker: status "Assessment done", the date, and when you expect to hear.
• Practise what went wrong using the hint ladder.
• Keep applying. Results can take days or weeks.

Ishita receives an assessment invitation from a capability centre: five days, on a platform she has not used.

• Research: eight reports from the last six months. Six describe 3 sections (aptitude, CS multiple-choice, 2 coding problems). Five mention arrays or strings and one mention of graphs. Difficulty "easy to medium".
• Plan: aptitude timed sets on percentages and time and work (her weak areas); a fundamentals revision of database normalisation and operating system scheduling for the multiple-choice section; medium array and string problems with the hint ladder; an hour on the platform's practice area.
• 24 hours before: a 90-minute mock with two string problems and 20 aptitude questions, then rest.
• On the day: a 20-minute warm-up and the checklist. She finishes both coding problems and leaves one aptitude question unanswered.

Two weeks later she is invited to interviews. Her reflection notes go into her preparation for the next company's assessment.

• Taking the assessment immediately, unprepared.
• Studying random topics instead of what recent reports show.
• Hunting for leaked questions.
• Trusting one dramatic report over several consistent ones.
• Reading aptitude theory instead of doing timed sets.
• Cramming until late the night before.

• Next: The 72-Hour Company Research System does the same kind of focused preparation for interviews.
• For aptitude and the full placement process, see Indian Fresher Placement and Coding Interview Preparation.
• For a longer study plan, see Your 12-Week DSA Study and Revision Plan.