Notes / Aptitude

Aptitude

22 notes

Overview

Aptitude

If this were a book, this page is the table of contents. Each Part below is a chapter; unwritten chapters are listed as stub rows, not empty files.

Parts

00 — Foundations

Before drilling any section, the reader needs to know what these tests actually gate, how they’re scored, and how to practice without wasting reps. This Part sets up vocabulary and strategy the other four Parts assume.

  • What Aptitude Tests Actually Assess(stub) — why aptitude rounds still exist in MAANG-adjacent pipelines (NQT, off-campus OAs, vendor-run screens) even when the core loop is DSA/system-design
  • Test Format & Scoring(stub) — sectional cutoffs, negative marking math, adaptive vs. fixed-form tests
  • Study & Practice Strategy(stub) — spaced practice, keeping an error log, the speed-vs-accuracy tradeoff

01 — Quantitative Aptitude

The math section: a small set of formula families that cover the large majority of quant questions across vendors (AMCAT, CoCubes, Mettl, in-house Google/Amazon-style screens).

02 — Logical Reasoning

Pattern recognition and structured deduction — the section that most reliably separates prepared candidates from unprepared ones, because the patterns are learnable but rarely taught in a CS curriculum.

03 — Verbal Ability

English-language proficiency under time pressure — grammar correctness, vocabulary precision, and reading speed.

04 — Mock Tests & Exam Strategy

Turning section-level competence into a full-length score — timing discipline, negative-marking calculus, and the vendor-specific patterns that show up in actual MAANG-adjacent pipelines.

  • Full-Length Mock Test Format(stub) — simulating real sectional timing and interface constraints, not just untimed practice
  • Timing & Section Strategy(stub) — time-boxing per section, skip/return heuristics, expected-value math on negative marking
  • Error Log & Review Framework(stub) — post-mock root-causing: careless vs. conceptual vs. time-pressure errors
  • Company-Specific Patterns(stub) — Amazon OA, Google NQT/STEP, Microsoft, and the AMCAT/CoCubes/Mettl vendor screens that gate off-campus MAANG-adjacent pipelines in India — genericize any real screening details before publishing, this is a public site

Metadata

AuthorAmit Singh
Scopeaptitude
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