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Accenture

Accenture — Cognitive & Technical

One shared clock across every section, and you may move between them freely. The pseudocode block is the largest.

The pattern and syllabus · 13 sample questions

One shared clockMove between sections freelyNo negative marking

The sitting

1h 18m

total time

78

questions

5

sections

None

negative marking

Start the test

The clock starts as soon as you click. Your paper is drawn fresh, so a second sitting is a different set.

Proctored sitting

  • Laptop or desktop only, with a webcam. Phones and tablets can't start a test.
  • The test runs full screen, with the site's navigation hidden.
  • Your webcam stays on and is checked on your computer — nothing is recorded or uploaded.
  • Leaving full screen, switching tab or window or minimising blurs the paper — and so does the camera seeing no one, someone else, a phone, or you looking away. The clock keeps running.
  • Each is a warning; the third ends the sitting. It is graded so you can review it, but marked disqualified and never counted as your best.
  • Pasting, copying, right-click and printing are off.

The paper

1

Verbal Ability

17 Q

17 min

Verbal Ability

2

Reasoning Ability

18 Q

18 min

Number & Letter Series · Coding & Decoding · Blood Relations · Direction Sense · Syllogisms · Seating & Puzzles · Analogies & Classification · Mathematical Reasoning

3

Numerical Ability

15 Q

15 min

Quantitative Aptitude · Data Interpretation

4

Pseudo Code

18 Q

18 min

Pseudocode · Programming Fundamentals

5

Networking, Security & Cloud

10 Q

10 min

OS, DBMS & Networks

Before you start

Accenture's paper is the odd one out, in a way that changes how you should sit it.

  • One shared timer for the whole paper. There is no per-section clock.
  • You may move between sections freely — so sweep the easy marks across every section first, then come back.
  • Pseudo Code is the biggest single block, larger than any of the three cognitive sections.
  • No negative marking.

The coding round and the AI-graded communication assessment are not part of this paper, and neither is the Common Applications and MS Office block, which this bank does not cover.

AI InterviewGet started

Accenture — Cognitive & Technical: Pattern, Syllabus & Mock Test

Accenture — Cognitive & Technical pattern: 78 questions in 78 minutes across 5 sections. Sample questions, a preparation guide and a free timed mock.

  • Pattern: Accenture
  • Duration: 78 minutes
  • Questions: 78
  • Timing: Free — move between sections until the paper's clock ends
  • Negative marking: None

One shared clock across every section, and you may move between them freely. The pseudocode block is the largest.

  • One shared clock
  • Move between sections freely
  • No negative marking

Sections

SectionQuestionsTimeKindMarks each
Verbal Ability1717 minMultiple choice1
Reasoning Ability1818 minMultiple choice1
Numerical Ability1515 minMultiple choice1
Pseudo Code1818 minMultiple choice1
Networking, Security & Cloud1010 minMultiple choice1

Accenture — Cognitive & Technical syllabus

Verbal Ability

Reasoning Ability

Numerical Ability

Pseudo Code

Networking, Security & Cloud

Instructions

Accenture's paper is the odd one out, in a way that changes how you should sit it.

  • One shared timer for the whole paper. There is no per-section clock.
  • You may move between sections freely — so sweep the easy marks across every section first, then come back.
  • Pseudo Code is the biggest single block, larger than any of the three cognitive sections.
  • No negative marking.

The coding round and the AI-graded communication assessment are not part of this paper, and neither is the Common Applications and MS Office block, which this bank does not cover.

How to prepare for this pattern

A guide to the Accenture Cognitive and Technical Assessment pattern, which runs on a single clock and so rewards a different approach from most placement papers.

What the paper looks like

Five sections: Verbal Ability, 17 questions; Reasoning Ability, 18 questions; Numerical Ability, 15 questions; Pseudo Code, 18 questions; and Networking, Security & Cloud, 10 questions. That is 78 questions on one 78-minute clock, budgeted at a minute a question (17, 18, 15, 18 and 10 minutes). There is no per-section timer: you may move between sections freely and return to any of them until the clock runs out. Each question is worth one mark and there is no negative marking. The paper is not adaptive. Pseudo Code ties Reasoning Ability as the largest block, at 18 questions, and is bigger than Verbal or Numerical. The real paper also has a twelve-question Common Applications and MS Office block on a 90-minute clock; this mock omits that block and reduces the time to match. The coding round and the AI-graded communication assessment are not part of it.

How to prepare, section by section

On the day

The single clock is what matters. Make a first pass through every section answering only what you can do quickly, then come back for the longer questions; with free movement there is no reason to sit stuck in one section while easy marks wait in another. Pseudo Code questions take longer than they look, so give them a fair share of the second pass rather than the last few minutes. With no negative marking, keep the final two minutes for putting an answer against every blank question, in every section.

This mock is modelled on the well-documented Pattern A of the Accenture assessment, less the MS Office block, not on the newer game-based pattern; CodeKairo is not affiliated with Accenture.

Practice questions for the Accenture — Cognitive & Technical test

The central claim about sleep

For most of the twentieth century, sleep was treated as an absence: the hours in which nothing happened. That view has been overturned. The sleeping brain consolidates the day's learning, clears metabolic waste and rehearses motor sequences. What looks like inactivity is in fact a second shift. The practical consequence is uncomfortable for a culture that prizes long hours — cutting sleep to gain working time is a trade that reliably loses more than it gains.

What is the central claim of the passage?

  1. Sleep is an active process, so cutting it to gain working hours is a poor trade.
  2. People in the twentieth century slept more than people do today.
  3. The brain does nothing useful during sleep.
  4. Long working hours are the main cause of poor sleep.
Show the answer

A. Sleep is an active process, so cutting it to gain working hours is a poor trade. Worked solution

A blank after 'because'

Fill in the blank:

The match was cancelled because the ground was ______ after the storm.

  1. dry
  2. waterlogged
  3. level
  4. spacious
Show the answer

B. waterlogged Worked solution

Avoiding redundancy

Choose the correct sentence:

  1. Please repeat that again.
  2. Please repeat that.
  3. Please again repeat that once more.
  4. Please re-repeat that.
Show the answer

B. Please repeat that. Worked solution

The odd flier

Which one does not belong?

Sparrow, Parrot, Eagle, Bat

  1. Sparrow
  2. Parrot
  3. Eagle
  4. Bat
Show the answer

D. Bat Worked solution

My mother's brother's daughter again

Pointing to a woman, a man said, 'She is the daughter of my mother's only brother.' How is the man related to the woman?

  1. Brother
  2. Cousin
  3. Uncle
  4. Nephew
Show the answer

B. Cousin Worked solution

Letters in alphabetical order

If the letters of the word MASTER are arranged in alphabetical order, which letter is fourth?

  1. M
  2. R
  3. S
  4. T
Show the answer

B. R Worked solution

Ratio 3 : 5 now, 3 : 4 later

The ages of A and B are in the ratio 3 : 5. After 9 years the ratio becomes 3 : 4. What is B's present age?

  1. 9
  2. 12
  3. 15
  4. 20
Show the answer

C. 15 Worked solution

Seven consecutive numbers

The average of seven consecutive numbers is 20. What is the largest of them?

  1. 21
  2. 22
  3. 23
  4. 24
Show the answer

C. 23 Worked solution

A local that hides a global

What does this C program print?

#include <stdio.h>

int x = 10;

void f(void) {
    int x = 20;
    x = x + 1;
    printf("%d ", x);
}

int main(void) {
    f();
    printf("%d", x);
    return 0;
}
  1. 11 10
  2. 11 11
  3. 21 10
  4. 21 21
Show the answer

C. 21 10 Worked solution

Leaving the loop early

What is printed?

Integer i, s
Set s = 0
Set i = 1
While i <= 20
    If s > 15 Then
        Break
    End If
    Set s = s + i
    Set i = i + 1
End While
Print s
  1. 15
  2. 21
  3. 28
  4. 36
Show the answer

B. 21 Worked solution

Aliasing against slicing

What does this Python program print?

a = [1, 2, 3]
b = a
b.append(4)
c = a[:]
c.append(5)
print(len(a), len(b), len(c))
  1. 3 3 4
  2. 3 4 5
  3. 4 4 4
  4. 4 4 5
Show the answer

D. 4 4 5 Worked solution

Largest possible natural join

R(A, B) holds 200 tuples and S(B, C) holds 100 tuples. What is the maximum possible number of tuples in the natural join of R and S?

  1. 0
  2. 100
  3. 200
  4. 20000
Show the answer

D. 20000 Worked solution

GROUP BY with HAVING

Table employee:

emp_iddeptsalary
1Sales30000
2Sales50000
3HR40000
4HR60000
5IT45000

What does this query return?

SELECT dept
FROM employee
GROUP BY dept
HAVING AVG(salary) > 40000;
  1. HR and IT
  2. HR only
  3. Sales and HR
  4. Sales, HR and IT
Show the answer

A. HR and IT Worked solution

About this pattern

Follows the well-documented Pattern A: 17 verbal, 18 reasoning, 15 numerical, 18 pseudocode, 10 networking and cloud, all on one 90-minute clock. The 12-question MS Office block is omitted and the time reduced to match. A newer 2026 pattern replaces the cognitive sections with games; that is not modelled.

Modelled on the published pattern; not affiliated with Accenture. Every sitting draws a fresh paper from the aptitude bank.

The Accenture recruitment process, round by round · Accenture coding questions