Cognizant SDE Sheet: Interview Questions and Answers

Cognizant is a global IT services and consulting company providing technology solutions across industries, including digital, cloud, analytics, and testing. This Cognizant Interview Preparation Sheet is designed to help you prepare effectively by covering frequently asked technical and HR interview questions.

Cognizant SDE Hiring Process

1. Registration & Screening

• Apply via the Cognizant portal (Superset) or campus drives.

2. Online Assessments (Proctored)

• Mandatory rounds that determine your hiring tier (GenC / GenC Pro / GenC Next):
  • Communication Assessment (30–45 mins)
  • Aptitude Assessment (60–90 mins)
  • Technical/Coding Assessment (for select roles/drives)

3. Technical Interview (30–60 mins)

• Core CS: DSA, DBMS, OS, Computer Networks, OOPs
• Live coding (1–2 problems) and/or puzzles

4. HR Interview (15–30 mins)

• Standard HR questions (profile, motivation, relocation, goals)
• Evaluates communication, confidence, and cultural fit.

Online Assessment

General Aptitude Test: Assesses your numerical and logical problem-solving abilities. This section plays a crucial role in shortlisting candidates.

• Quantitative Aptitude
• Logical Reasoning

Practice Sets:

• Cognizant Placement Paper | Aptitude Set 1
• Cognizant Placement Paper | Aptitude Set 2
• Cognizant Placement Paper | Aptitude Set 3
• Cognizant Placement Paper | Aptitude Set 4

Verbal Ability: To check your proficiency in English, they will check your grammar knowledge, for that, we have prepared 5 sets of English Reading Comprehension:

• English Reading Comprehension | Set 1
• English Reading Comprehension | Set 2
• English Reading Comprehension | Set 3
• English Reading Comprehension | Set 4
• English Reading Comprehension | Set 5

Logical Ability: A non-verbal assessment that tests your ability to analyze and interpret problems presented through:

• Images and diagrams
• Patterns and logical relationships

Coding Section

In the Coding section of Cognizant, they asked questions about the below-mentioned topics.

Array

An array is a collection of items stored at contiguous memory locations. The idea is to store multiple items of the same type together. Practice Problem

• Rotate Array [Practice Problem]
• Reverse an Array [Practice Problem]
• Check if Array is Sorted [Practice Problem]
• Move All Zeros to End [Practice Problem]
• Largest Element in Array [Practice Problem]
• Find Second largest element in an array [Practice Problem]
• Print alternate elements of an array [Practice Problem]
• Program to find sum of elements in a given array [Practice Problem]
• Palindromic Array [Practice Problem]
• Count of smaller elements [Practice Problem]
• Find the Index of an array [Practice Problem]
• Element with left side smaller and right side greater [Practice Problem]
• Missing number in array [Practice Problem]
• Count the Zeros [Practice Problem]
• Sort elements by frequency [Practice Problem]
• Counting elements in two arrays [Practice Problem]
• Two Repeated Elements [Practice Problem]
• Elements in the Range [Practice Problem]
• Remove minimum elements [Practice Problem]
• Buildings receiving sunlight [Practice Problem]
• Last duplicate element in a sorted array [Practice Problem]
• Adding Array Elements [Practice Problem]
• Program for average of an array (Iterative and Recursive) [Practice Problem]
• Find whether an array is subset of another array [Practice Problem]
• Program to cyclically rotate an array by one [Practice Problem]
• Rearrange Array Alternately [Practice Problem]
• Sum of Middle Elements of two sorted arrays [Practice Problem]
• Find Duplicate Elements in an Array [Practice Problem]
• Intersection of Two Arrays [Practice Problem]
• Leaders in an Array [Practice Problem]

String

String are defined as an array of characters. The difference between a character array and a string is the string is terminated with a special character ‘\0’.

• Reverse a String [Practice Problem]
• Non Repeating Character [Practice Problem]
• Sum of numbers in string [Practice Problem]
• Remove character [Practice Problem]
• Remove Spaces [Practice Problem]
• Check for Binary [Practice Problem]
• Upper case conversion [Practice Problem]
• Count Substrings [Practice Problem]
• Remove duplicates from a given string [Practice Problem]
• Reverse words in a given string [Practice Problem]
• Program to find Smallest and Largest Word in a String [Practice Problem]
• Return maximum occurring character in an input string [Practice Problem]
• Palindrome String [Practice Problem]
• Check for Binary [Practice Problem]
• Same characters in two strings [Practice Problem]
• Check whether two strings are an anagram of each otherCheck if String is Palindrome[Practice Problem]
• Length of the longest valid substring [Practice Problem]
• Converting Roman Numerals to Decimal lying between 1 to 3999 [Practice Problem]
• Given a binary string, count number of substrings that start and end with 1. [Practice Problem]
• Round the given number to nearest multiple of 10 [Practice Problem]
• Alternatively Merge two Strings in Java [Practice Problem]
• Most frequent word in an array of strings [Practice Problem]
• Alternate Lower Upper String Sort [Practice Problem]
• First Non-Repeating Character in a String [Practice Problem]
• Remove all vowels from a string [Practice Problem]
• Longest Common Prefix using Sorting [Practice Problem]
• Remove consecutive duplicate characters [Practice Problem]

Searching and Sorting:

Searching Algorithms are designed to check for an element or retrieve an element from any data structure where it is stored

Sorting Algorithms are used to rearrange a given array or list of elements according to a comparison operator on the elements. The comparison operator is used to decide the new order of elements in the respective data structure.

• Binary Search [ Practice Problem]
• Linear Search [Practice Problem]
• Bubble Sort [Practice Problem]
• Insertion Sort [Practice Problem]
• Merge Sort [Practice Problem]
• Selection Sort [Practice Problem]
• Quick Sort [Practice Problem]
• Heap Sort [Practice Problem]
• Search insert position of K in a sorted array [Practice Problem]
• Ceiling in a sorted array [Practice Problem]
• Floor in a Sorted Array [Practice Problem]
• Find first and last occurrence of an element in a sorted array [Practice Problem]
• Minimum swaps to sort an array [Practice Problem]
• Rearrange Array Elements by Sign [Practice Problem]

Number Series

A sequence is an ordered list of numbers arranged according to a specific rule or pattern. A series, on the other hand, represents the sum of the terms of a given sequence.

• Odd Game [Practice Problem]
• Program to find LCM of two numbers [Practice Problem]
• Check if a number is Palindrome [Practice Problem]
• Program for Armstrong Numbers [Practice Problem]
• Program for Fibonacci numbers [Practice Problem]
• Primitive Abundant Number [Practice Problem]
• Write a program Perfect Number [Practice Problem]
• Sum of all prime numbers between 1 and N. [Practice Problem]
• program to check whether a given number is even or odd [Practice Problem]
• Program to Check Whether a Number is Prime or not [Practice Problem]
• Program to check if a given year is leap year [Practice Problem]
• Program for factorial of a number [Practice Problem]
• Program for sum of geometric series [Practice Problem]
• Program for N-th term of Geometric Progression series [Practice Problem]
• Automorphic Number [Practice Problem]
• Program to find area of a circle [Practice Problem]
• Find all divisors of a natural number [Practice Problem]
• Program to find GCD or HCF of two numbers [Practice Problem]
• How to swap two numbers without using a temporary variable [Practice Problem]
• Find the Largest Number Among Three Numbers [Practice Problem]
• Given a number N, the task is to find the Prime Numbers from 1 to N [Practice Problem]

Conversions

Conversions involves questions asking to convert a given number from one number system to an equivalent number in another number system.

• Program for Binary To Decimal Conversion [Practice Problem]
• Program to convert a given number to words [Practice Problem]
• Gray to Binary and Binary to Gray conversion [Practice Problem]

Puzzles

• Puzzles are one of the ways to check your problem-solving skills. These are tricky questions that let you think logically. Try to solve these 20 most popular puzzles asked in Interviews

Technical Preparation

Here we covered some questions about each important topics that can be asked in your technical rounds.

• Data Structure & Algorithm:
  • Data Structure: A way to organize and store data efficiently for easy access and modification.
    [Data Structures Mock Test]
  • Algorithm: A step-by-step procedure or set of rules for solving problems or performing calculations, often using recursion.
    [Algorithms Mock Test]
• Database & Management System: A database is a structured collection of interrelated data, organized for efficient retrieval, insertion, and deletion.
  [DBMS Mock Test]
• Operating System: OS is system software that manages computer resources and acts as an interface between hardware and software.
  [Operating Systems Mock Test]
• Computer Networks: A network connects multiple computers and devices to share data and resources, enabling efficient communication.
  [Computer Networks Mock Test]
• Preferable Language: Focus on one language you are most confident in. Mock tests are available for the following popular languages:
  • C Programming Mock Tests
  • C++ Programming Mock Tests
  • Java Programming Mock Tests
  • Python Programming Mock Tests