Cognizant GenC — Aptitude: Pattern, Syllabus & Mock Test
Cognizant GenC — Aptitude pattern: 80 questions in 100 minutes across 3 sections. Sample questions, a preparation guide and a free timed mock.
- Pattern: Cognizant
- Duration: 100 minutes
- Questions: 80
- Timing: Sectional — each section on its own clock
- Negative marking: None
Eighty questions in a hundred minutes, with reasoning the biggest section by some way.
- No negative marking
- Reasoning-heavy
- Sectionally timed
Sections
| Section | Questions | Time | Kind | Marks each |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numerical Ability | 25 | 35 min | Multiple choice | 1 |
| Logical Reasoning | 35 | 45 min | Multiple choice | 1 |
| Verbal Ability | 20 | 20 min | Multiple choice | 1 |
Cognizant GenC — Aptitude syllabus
Numerical Ability
- Number System
- Percentages
- Profit & Loss
- Ratio & Proportion
- Averages
- Problems on Ages
- Time & Work
- Time, Speed & Distance
- Simple & Compound Interest
- Permutations & Combinations
- Probability
- Mixtures & Alligation
- Mensuration
- Tables & Charts
- Caselets
Logical Reasoning
- Number & Letter Series
- Coding & Decoding
- Blood Relations
- Direction Sense
- Syllogisms
- Seating & Puzzles
- Analogies & Classification
- Mathematical Reasoning
Verbal Ability
Instructions
The aptitude round of the GenC assessment. The same paper feeds both GenC and GenC Next; performance decides which offer follows.
- Logical Reasoning is the largest section at thirty-five questions, and carries the most marks.
- Sectionally timed, in a fixed order.
- No negative marking.
The communication assessment that precedes it and the cluster-based technical round that follows are not part of this paper.
How to prepare for this pattern
A guide to the aptitude round of the Cognizant GenC assessment, a long paper in which reasoning outweighs everything else.
What the paper looks like
Three sections, sat in a fixed order: Numerical Ability, 25 questions in 35 minutes; Logical Reasoning, 35 questions in 45 minutes; and Verbal Ability, 20 questions in 20 minutes. That is 80 questions in 100 minutes. Each question is worth one mark, so Logical Reasoning, the largest section, carries the most marks. There is no negative marking. Each section has its own clock and closes when you leave it, so a section cannot be revisited. The paper is not adaptive. The communication assessment that comes before it and the technical round that follows are not part of this paper.
How to prepare, section by section
- Numerical Ability is arithmetic with a share of data interpretation. Cover Percentages, Profit & Loss, Ratio & Proportion, Averages, Time & Work, Time, Speed & Distance and Simple & Compound Interest, and practise Tables & Charts and Caselets for the data questions.
- Logical Reasoning deserves the largest share of your preparation. Half its questions come from Number & Letter Series, Coding & Decoding, Blood Relations and Direction Sense, topics where a practised method makes each question quick. The other half comes from Syllogisms, Seating & Puzzles, Analogies & Classification and Mathematical Reasoning, where drawing the arrangement or the Venn diagram is what saves time.
- Verbal Ability is a minute a question: Sentence Correction, Fill in the Blanks & Para Jumbles, Synonyms & Antonyms and Reading Comprehension.
On the day
No negative marking means every question should carry an answer when its section closes. Numerical Ability allows 84 seconds a question and Logical Reasoning about 77, so neither is a sprint, but forty-five minutes of reasoning is long: take the series and coding questions at speed to leave time for the arrangements. Verbal Ability comes last, when you are tired, and allows only a minute each, so answer the grammar items first and the passages after. A section's unused minutes are lost when you leave it, so spend them checking your doubtful answers rather than moving on early.
This mock is modelled on one published GenC breakdown whose section timings are internally consistent, although the overall shape is contested and several incompatible patterns circulate, one replacing reasoning with game-based tasks; CodeKairo is not affiliated with Cognizant.
Practice questions for the Cognizant GenC — Aptitude test
Five children, three years apart
The sum of the ages of five children born at intervals of 3 years each is 50 years. What is the age of the youngest?
- 4
- 6
- 8
- 10
Show the answer
A. 4 Worked solution
A new observation is added
The average of 6 observations is 12. A new observation is included and the average becomes 13. What is the new observation?
- 13
- 16
- 19
- 22
Show the answer
C. 19 Worked solution
Revenue at two shops
Shop X sells 300 units at ₹40 each; Shop Y sells 250 units at ₹50 each. Both give a 10% discount on the listed price.
What is the combined revenue after the discount?
- ₹20,250
- ₹21,150
- ₹22,050
- ₹24,500
Show the answer
C. ₹22,050 Worked solution
Equal annual instalments
A sum of ₹1,000 is to be repaid in two equal annual instalments at 5% simple interest on the outstanding amount. What is each instalment, to the nearest rupee?
- ₹525
- ₹537
- ₹550
- ₹564
Show the answer
B. ₹537 Worked solution
A numerical analogy
9 : 81 :: 12 : ?
- 120
- 132
- 144
- 156
Show the answer
C. 144 Worked solution
M, N, O and P
M is the sister of N, N is the brother of O, and O is the daughter of P. How is M related to P?
- Son
- Daughter
- Sister
- Mother
Show the answer
B. Daughter Worked solution
If CAT is DBU
In a certain code, CAT is written as DBU. How is DOG written in that code?
- EPG
- DPH
- FQI
- EPH
Show the answer
D. EPH Worked solution
Round a rectangle
A person walks 20 m north, 30 m east, 20 m south and 30 m west. How far is he from the starting point?
- 0 m
- 20 m
- 30 m
- 50 m
Show the answer
A. 0 m Worked solution
Cubes with one painted face
A painted cube is cut into 64 equal smaller cubes. How many have exactly one face painted?
- 8
- 16
- 24
- 36
Show the answer
C. 24 Worked solution
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?
- Sleep is an active process, so cutting it to gain working hours is a poor trade.
- People in the twentieth century slept more than people do today.
- The brain does nothing useful during sleep.
- 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
Two blanks with a contrast
Fill in the blanks:
The proposal was ______ in ambition but ______ in detail.
- modest … thin
- grand … vague
- grand … precise
- weak … poor
Show the answer
B. grand … vague Worked solution
Pronoun agreement
Choose the correct sentence:
- Everyone must bring their own pen.
- Everyone must bring his or her own pen.
- Everyone must bring they own pen.
- Everyone must bring theirs own pen.
Show the answer
B. Everyone must bring his or her own pen. Worked solution
About this pattern
Follows placementpreparation.io's breakdown (25/35, 35/45, 20/20), whose sub-timings are internally consistent. Cognizant's overall shape is genuinely contested — four incompatible patterns circulate, one of which replaces reasoning with game-based tasks.
Modelled on the published pattern; not affiliated with Cognizant. Every sitting draws a fresh paper from the aptitude bank.
The Cognizant recruitment process, round by round · Cognizant coding questions