Aptitude, Not DSA, Is the Main Filter: What 28 Test Patterns Show

Across the 28 recruitment processes in Astra's campus database, quantitative aptitude appears as a key topic at 16 companies and logical reasoning at 15. Data structures appears at 6. If you are preparing for Indian campus placements with LeetCode alone, you are preparing for the wrong filter.

This is not an argument against learning data structures and algorithms. It is an argument about order. The round that removes most candidates at most companies is the online aptitude test, and it happens before anyone looks at your code.

What the 28 companies list as key topics

Aptitude topics outrank data structures by roughly three to one. That ratio holds because 13 of these 28 companies are mass or volume recruiters, and volume hiring depends on a cheap first filter that scales. Aptitude tests do that job.

Seconds per question

Section counts on their own are misleading. Divide the time by the question count and the purpose of each test becomes clearer.

Four points follow from this table.

Sections under 60 seconds per question are speed tests. Wipro sets 50 questions in 48 minutes and Accenture 50 in 50. These do not contain hard mathematics. They contain ordinary mathematics that you have to do without hesitating. Preparation means drilling and shortcut recall rather than depth, and you should practise with a timer or you will not finish.

Infosys runs two different tests in one paper. Verbal at 52 seconds per question is the tightest section in the dataset and is purely about speed. Logical Reasoning at 210 seconds per question is the opposite, with 10 questions across 35 minutes, which only makes sense if the puzzles are involved. Candidates who pace the whole paper evenly rush the puzzles and then run short on verbal.

The Zoho aptitude round is not a standard aptitude round. 25 questions in 90 minutes gives 3.6 minutes each, and no routine quantitative question needs that. It is a problem solving paper under an aptitude label, which fits Zoho being the only company in the dataset with no CGPA cutoff. It filters on reasoning rather than records.

The Tech Mahindra psychometric section is not something to prepare for. 72 personality items in 15 minutes is built to capture first instinct. Answer consistently and quickly.

The coding rounds are shorter than expected

Two entries stand out. IBM sets 6 problems in 30 minutes, which is five minutes each and points to small self contained problems rather than algorithmic set pieces. HCLTech allows 20 minutes for two. Neither is testing whether you can derive an optimal dynamic programming solution. Both are testing whether you can write correct working code quickly.

At the other end, Microsoft and Intuit allow 90 minutes for three problems and run the whole online assessment as a single coding section, with no aptitude, verbal or psychometric component. For those two companies, DSA first preparation is the right strategy.

How to prepare

1. Start with quantitative and logical reasoning if you are targeting service companies. It is the filter you are most likely to fail and the fastest to improve, because the topic list is finite.
2. Practise at the pace the company actually sets. Preparing for Wipro at 58 seconds per question is a different exercise from preparing for Zoho at 216.
3. Do not skip verbal. It appears at 11 of 28 companies and carries the tightest timing in the dataset, and students often assume they will pass it without practice.
4. Learn pseudocode separately. Infosys, Capgemini and others test it as its own section, and it is not the same skill as writing code in an editor.
5. Save deep DSA work for the companies that weight it, which are the product companies, where the interview rounds cover algorithms and design rather than the assessment.

Practice sets by topic are at aptitude questions by topic, and the round by round breakdown for each company is at useastra.in/campus.

One caveat

Test patterns change between hiring cycles, and several companies run different assessments for different tracks. The Capgemini coding section applies only to the Senior Analyst track, and Mphasis makes coding optional. Treat these numbers as the shape of each test rather than a guarantee of what appears on the day.

Source: Astra campus recruitment database, covering 28 companies hiring in India. Test pattern data verified August 2026.