Infosys — Online Assessment pattern
Infosys SP & DSE Hiring Test (Specialist Programmer / Digital Specialist Engineer online coding assessment)
Test structure
Coding Problem 1 - Easy
1 Qs · ~30-40 (suggested; 180-min pool is shared across all 3) min- Arrays
- Strings
- Basic math/implementation
- Linear & Binary Search
- Sorting
- Hashing basics
Coding Problem 2 - Medium
1 Qs · ~45-60 (suggested; shared pool) min- Greedy algorithms
- Stacks & Queues
- Linked Lists
- Trees / BST
- Recursion & Backtracking
- Two-pointer / sliding window
Coding Problem 3 - Hard
1 Qs · ~60-75 (suggested; shared pool) min- Dynamic Programming (knapsack, LIS, subsequence, grid DP)
- Graphs (BFS/DFS, shortest path, union-find)
- Advanced/optimized algorithms
- Complexity optimization to pass all test cases
How the test works
TWO DISTINCT FRESHER TRACKS - don't confuse them. (1) Systems Engineer / SE (mass hiring, ~3.6 LPA): an aptitude-style MCQ test - Logical/Reasoning, Quantitative (Math) Ability, Verbal/English, Pseudocode, Puzzle Solving; commonly ~54 Q/100 min or ~60 Q/120 min (figures vary by cycle). For 2025-26 Infosys made this more adaptive and added English Grammar + a Writing task (short email/essay); no negative marking; every section has its own sectional cutoff. (2) Specialist Programmer (SP, ~9-9.5 LPA) & Digital Specialist Engineer (DSE, ~6.25-8 LPA) - the test named in this request: a single ~3-hour (180 min) proctored CODING round with 3 problems of increasing difficulty (1 Easy, 1 Medium, 1 Hard). This SP/DSE OA is coding-only - there is NO separate aptitude/MCQ section, which is the key thing that distinguishes it from the SE test. How the SP/DSE test works: pure DSA. Q1 is arrays/strings/basic algorithms; Q2 leans greedy / stacks-queues / trees; Q3 is the differentiator - Dynamic Programming and/or Graphs. Languages allowed: C, C++, Java, Python, JavaScript. Scoring is partial and test-case-based (candidate reports: Easy needs ~all cases, Medium ~80%, Hard ~75% to count as fully 'solved'; a brute-force that passes most cases still earns partial marks). Reported marks split is roughly Q1 ~20 / Q2 ~30 / Q3 ~50 - directional, varies by drive. The per-question times above are self-paced suggestions; the 180 minutes is one shared pool. The SAME test streams you into a role: candidate-reported heuristic is 2+ questions solved cleanly -> SP shortlist, ~1-1.5 -> DSE. After the OA come a technical interview (deep-dive on your own OA solutions, DSA, OOP, DBMS, projects; sometimes puzzles) and an HR round. Channels: on-campus, off-campus drives, plus HackWithInfy (coding contest -> SP/Power Programmer fast-track) and InfyTQ (certification -> interview fast-track). Caveats: exact question counts, marks, and cutoffs are NOT officially published by Infosys and shift per cycle/college/drive, so treat all specific numbers as directional and confirm against your own drive notification.
What to prep
- Dynamic Programming end-to-end - knapsack, LIS, subset/subsequence, edit distance, grid DP (this is the make-or-break Q3 topic)
- Graphs - BFS/DFS, shortest path (Dijkstra/BFS), connected components, union-find/DSU
- Core DSA - arrays, strings, hashing, stacks/queues, linked lists, trees/BST, recursion & backtracking
- Greedy algorithms and two-pointer / sliding-window patterns for the medium problem
- Grind LeetCode Medium->Hard, Codeforces, and PrepInsta/HackWithInfy SP-DSE previous-year sets under a timer
- Write full-test-case-passing, edge-case-clean solutions fast in ONE strong language (C++ with STL, Java, or Python)
- Optimize brute force to target complexity - partial credit is real, but role allocation rewards fully solving 2-3
- If routed to the SE/general test instead: quantitative aptitude, logical reasoning, verbal + English grammar, pseudocode MCQs (C/OOP output-prediction), and puzzles
Cut-offs & eligibility (indicative)
Both a sectional cut-off and a total cut-off apply, but Infosys does NOT publish exact values - they vary by drive, college and cycle. Candidate-reported (unofficial) heuristic for SP/DSE: solving 2 or more of the 3 coding problems with high test-case pass rates trends toward an SP interview shortlist (~9-9.5 LPA), while roughly 1 to 1.5 problems trends toward the DSE role (~6.25-8 LPA). For the general SE aptitude test, sectional percentile cutoffs (often cited ~70-80 percentile / 3-4 correct on tougher sections) are similarly unofficial and drive-dependent. Do not treat any of these numbers as guaranteed.
Rehearse it before the real thing
Practice full-length sectional mocks modeled on this pattern, then make sure your resume clears the ATS first.