Persistent Systems test pattern: the objective round and the coding ladder
Persistent Systems describes an early-careers campus program rather than a test: a faculty development program, a two-month self-learning Train and Hire program it says improves readiness for its campus hiring drive, pre-joining enablement, and hyperscaler certifications, across a talent community it puts at more than 250 universities. The selection process itself is not on those pages. What is reported, by prep sites and candidates, is a process with more technical weight than most campus drives: an objective round in which computer science is the largest section, a coding round, and a harder coding round that only top scorers are invited to.
This page keeps Persistent's own statements apart from the reports, prints the two reports' figures where they differ, maps the sections to the December Code subjects that prepare for them, names what the site does not cover, and ends with a practice set from pages whose samples are already public.
December Code is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Persistent Systems. This page summarises how Persistent Systems campus hiring is publicly described, from the sources listed at the end, checked on 29 September 2026. Where a detail comes from prep sites or candidate reports rather than Persistent Systems itself, the page says so. The notification or test invitation for the drive you are sitting is the source of truth, and where it differs from this page, it is right.
How the process runs
A round is marked official when Persistent Systems describes it on its own pages, and commonly reported when the description comes from prep sites and candidate reports.
- 1
Application through the campus drive or the careers siteofficial
Persistent's early-careers page routes candidates through campus drives and its careers site, and describes Train and Hire as a two-month self-learning program designed to raise student readiness before the drive.
- 2
Objective roundcommonly reported
One report gives 44 questions in 50 minutes: 20 computer-science questions in 20 minutes on operating systems, DBMS and SQL, computer networks, computer architecture and data structures; 12 English comprehension questions in 15 minutes; and 12 logical-ability questions in 15 minutes. An older report describes the same content on the AMCAT platform with puzzles and a few coding problems at the end.
- 3
Subjective (coding) roundcommonly reported
Reported as two coding problems in 45 minutes at a high bar, in C, C++, Java, Python, Ruby or C#, graded on test cases.
- 4
Advanced coding round and Super Achiever testcommonly reported
Reported as an invitation for top performers: two harder problems in 60 minutes on trees, graphs and dynamic programming, with a further Super Achiever test for the best. Reports tie these rounds to a higher-grade offer; this page does not describe the terms.
- 5
Two technical interviews, then HRcommonly reported
Reported as two technical interviews on the project, a programming language, object-oriented concepts, SQL, networking, operating systems and live coding, then an HR interview on communication, fit and career plans.
What the test asks, and what prepares you for it
4 of 5 sections map to a December Code subject. The rest are named below, not glossed over.
| Section | What it tests | Prepare with |
|---|---|---|
| Computer sciencecommonly reported | Operating systems, DBMS and SQL including advanced SQL, computer networks, computer architecture and data structures and algorithms. Reported as 20 questions in 20 minutes, the largest section. | Operating SystemsDBMSSQLComputer NetworksDSA |
| English comprehensioncommonly reported | Synonyms, antonyms, sentence formation and reading comprehension. Reported as 12 questions in 15 minutes. | |
| Logical abilitycommonly reported | Reasoning, seating arrangements, series, puzzles and data analysis. Reported as 12 questions in 15 minutes. | Aptitude |
| Coding roundcommonly reported | Two problems in 45 minutes on arrays, strings, recursion and standard data structures, at a bar reports describe as high for a campus drive. | DSAJavaPythonC |
| Advanced coding roundcommonly reported | Two problems in 60 minutes on trees, graphs and dynamic programming, by invitation. | DSA |
Computer science first, aptitude second
The reported objective round is unusual in its weighting: 20 of its 44 questions are computer science, and the reasoning section is only 12. The computer-science content is the full core, operating systems, DBMS with SQL that reports call advanced, networks, architecture and data structures, at a minute a question. A student who prepared aptitude alone is under-prepared for Persistent, and one who has kept the core subjects warm is most of the way there. Five of the section's six areas have hubs on this site; computer architecture does not.
The English section is a fifth of the round and outside this site's scope; the logical section is the aptitude December Code measures. Both reports agree there is no negative marking, so nothing should be left blank.
The coding ladder
Reports describe the coding round as harder than a mass recruiter's: two problems in 45 minutes with a real bar, in any of six languages. Then an invitation-only round of two problems in 60 minutes on trees, graphs and dynamic programming, and a further test for the strongest. The plan that follows from a ladder is the same as for Virtusa's: prepare thoroughly for the first round and let the score decide whether the second matters. Arrays, strings, recursion and the standard structures are the first round's reported families; trees, graph traversal and the classic dynamic-programming shapes are the second's.
December Code's DSA diagnostic shows which of those families is weak, and its pages carry the questions with worked solutions. It does not execute code, and the coding rounds do; the site prepares the reasoning, not the typing under a timer.
The interviews, and what Persistent itself says
Two technical interviews are reported, which is more than most drives, and their content is the objective round spoken aloud plus the project: a language you claim, object-oriented concepts with an example, SQL queries, networking and operating-system basics, and a problem to code live. Candidates report that the second interview goes deeper on whichever area the first found weak. The HR round is described as conventional.
Persistent's own contribution to preparation is the Train and Hire program, a two-month self-learning course it says is designed for its campus drive; a student whose college is in Persistent's campus network should ask the placement cell about it. The drive open to you, its eligibility and its dates are Persistent's to announce; the reports on this page describe past cycles.
What December Code covers here, and what it does not
The diagnostic and practice cover DSA, Operating Systems, DBMS, SQL, Computer Networks, Aptitude, OOP, Java, Python, C: the subjects behind 4 of the 5 sections above. It does not cover the following, and no page here pretends to:
- English comprehension: a full section of the objective round.
- Computer architecture, which reports list in the computer-science section and which December Code has no subject for.
- The coding rounds' execution: two problems in 45 minutes, then two in 60. December Code prepares the data-structure reasoning in MCQ form and does not run your code.
- The higher-grade offer tied to the advanced rounds, which reports describe and Persistent does not.
What could not be confirmed from Persistent Systems
- Every count and duration on this page (44 questions in 50 minutes across three sections; two coding problems in 45 minutes; two advanced problems in 60) comes from prep sites. Persistent describes its campus program, not its test.
- Whether the objective round still runs on AMCAT: an older report says so, the newer one does not name a platform.
- The number of technical interviews, which reports give as two.
A practice set for Persistent Systems campus hiring
Topic pages in the subjects this process tests, each with the questions interviewers ask and one question from the bank exactly as the diagnostic asks it. Nothing is published for this page: every sample was already public on its topic page.
- Time and space complexity interview questionsThe data-structure questions in the objective round are mostly complexity.
- Recursion and backtracking interview questionsRecursion is a reported family of the first coding round.
- Array and two-pointer interview questionsArrays and strings are the first coding round's other families.
- Binary tree and BST interview questionsTrees are the first family of the advanced round.
- Graph interview questionsGraph traversal is the second family of the advanced round.
- Dynamic programming interview questionsDynamic programming is the third, and the hardest.
How the diagnostic asks it
One public question per subject, the same one its hub shows. The answer is marked because these are public; in a sitting you choose first, then see why each option is right or wrong.
Which of the following operations on an unsorted array of n integers takes O(n) time in the worst case?
- 1Finding the maximum elementcorrect
- 2Appending an element at the end when spare capacity already exists
- 3Reading the element at index k
- 4Reading the array's length
In an unsorted array the maximum could be anywhere, so every element must be examined: O(n). Indexed reads are O(1) because the address is computed from the base and the index; appending into existing spare capacity just writes one slot, O(1); and the length is stored, so reading it is O(1). Only a sorted array would let the maximum be read directly.
Which of these is NOT one of the four conditions that must all hold for a deadlock to occur?
- 1A resource can be held by only one process at a time
- 2A process holds some resources while waiting for others
- 3Processes wait for one another in a closed cycle
- 4Resources can be taken away from the processes holding themcorrect
A deadlock needs mutual exclusion (a resource is held by one process at a time), hold and wait (processes hold some resources while waiting for others), no preemption (resources cannot be forcibly taken back) and circular wait (a cycle of processes each waiting for the next). Resources that can be taken away is the opposite of no preemption, so it is not a condition; in fact, allowing preemption is one way to prevent deadlock. The other three options are conditions.
Measure it
Knowing the pattern tells you what is coming. A diagnostic tells you what you would get wrong.
10 DSA questions across its topics, easy to hard, about fifteen minutes. You get a readiness figure with the arithmetic shown, the topics you missed named, and a practice set sized for today. Free: 1 diagnostic a month and 15 problems a day. No card.
Sources, and when they were checked
Pattern last verified 29 September 2026, against the pages below. Patterns change between drives and cycles; when a source changes, this page changes and the date moves with it. A source marked official is Persistent Systems’s own; the others are the established prep sites and candidate reports the “commonly reported” details come from.
- officialPersistent Systems: Early careers campus program· the campus program's components, including Train and Hire; no selection process is described
- officialPersistent Systems careers· the careers site with its Early Careers Program entry
- prep siteccbp.in: Persistent recruitment process 2025· the 44-question objective round, the coding ladder and the two technical interviews; last updated 26 December 2025
- prep siteGeeksforGeeks: Persistent Systems recruitment process· the older AMCAT-based description of the objective round and the interview topics; last updated 23 July 2025