Morgan Stanley — Aptitude & Technical: Pattern, Syllabus & Mock Test
Morgan Stanley — Aptitude & Technical pattern: 53 questions in 70 minutes across 3 sections. Sample questions, a preparation guide and a free timed mock.
- Pattern: Morgan Stanley
- Duration: 70 minutes
- Questions: 53
- Timing: Sectional — each section on its own clock
- Negative marking: None
A short aptitude block, a long computer science block, then pseudocode. Technical weight sits at the front.
- CS-heavy
- Dedicated pseudocode section
- Sectionally timed
Sections
| Section | Questions | Time | Kind | Marks each |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aptitude | 16 | 20 min | Multiple choice | 1 |
| CS Fundamentals | 30 | 30 min | Multiple choice | 1 |
| Pseudo Code | 7 | 20 min | Multiple choice | 1 |
Morgan Stanley — Aptitude & Technical syllabus
Aptitude
- 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
- Number & Letter Series
- Coding & Decoding
- Blood Relations
- Direction Sense
- Syllogisms
- Seating & Puzzles
- Analogies & Classification
- Mathematical Reasoning
CS Fundamentals
Pseudo Code
Instructions
Morgan Stanley's technology assessment leans hard on computer science: thirty of its fifty-three questions are fundamentals.
- Aptitude is only sixteen questions in twenty minutes — the fastest section of the paper.
- Pseudo Code is a named section of its own, seven questions in twenty minutes. Read the whole routine before you trace it.
- Sectionally timed.
The three-problem coding round that follows is not part of this paper.
How to prepare for this pattern
A guide to the Morgan Stanley aptitude and technical assessment pattern, where computer science carries most of the weight: thirty of its fifty-three questions are fundamentals.
What the paper looks like
Three sections, sat in a fixed order: Aptitude, 16 questions in 20 minutes; CS Fundamentals, 30 questions in 30 minutes; and Pseudo Code, 7 questions in 20 minutes. That is 53 questions in 70 minutes. Each section has its own clock and closes when you leave it. The paper is not adaptive. No source documents the real marking or cut-offs, so this mock scores one mark a question with no negative marking. Morgan Stanley runs different tests by division and region, and four incompatible patterns are reported; this one follows the only variant with explicit per-section timings. The three-problem coding round that follows is not part of this paper.
How to prepare, section by section
- Aptitude is eight quantitative and eight logical questions at 75 seconds each. Keep the quick arithmetic topics sharp, Percentages, Ratio & Proportion, Time & Work and Probability, alongside Number & Letter Series, Syllogisms and Seating & Puzzles.
- CS Fundamentals is sixteen questions on data structures and algorithms and fourteen on operating systems, databases and networks, at a minute each. Work through Data Structures & Algorithms and OS, DBMS & Networks until the answers are recall rather than reasoning: the cost of the standard operations, scheduling, normalisation, SQL and the OSI layers. The Stack, Queue, Heap and Hash Table hubs pair each structure with problems, and solving problems along the DSA roadmap makes the trade-offs familiar from use.
- Pseudo Code is seven questions in twenty minutes, nearly three minutes each. Practise Pseudocode tracing with a written table of variable values, and Recursion problems for the recursive routines.
On the day
The time per question varies more than in most papers, so change pace between sections. In Aptitude, at 75 seconds a question, skip anything long on the first pass and return to it. In CS Fundamentals, a minute each suits recall; if you do not know an answer, reason it out briefly, choose, and move on. In Pseudo Code the time is generous for a reason: read the whole routine before you trace it, and trace carefully rather than quickly, since one misread loop bound changes the output. With no negative marking in this mock, answer every question before each section closes.
This mock is modelled on one published variant of Morgan Stanley's assessment, whose marking and cut-offs are documented nowhere; CodeKairo is not affiliated with Morgan Stanley.
Practice questions for the Morgan Stanley — Aptitude & Technical test
Three times as old, twelve years apart
The ages of two brothers differ by 12 years and the elder is three times as old as the younger. What is the elder brother's age?
- 12
- 15
- 18
- 24
Show the answer
C. 18 Worked solution
Foot is to man
Foot : Man :: Hoof : ?
- Bird
- Fish
- Horse
- Snake
Show the answer
C. Horse Worked solution
Runs needed to raise the average
A cricketer has an average of 48 runs in 12 innings. How many runs must he score in the 13th innings to raise his average by 5?
- 93
- 103
- 113
- 123
Show the answer
C. 113 Worked solution
The son of the daughter of my uncle's father
Introducing a boy, a girl said, 'He is the son of the daughter of the father of my uncle.' How is the boy related to the girl?
- Brother
- Nephew
- Uncle
- Son-in-law
Show the answer
A. Brother Worked solution
A queue from two stacks
A queue is built from two stacks: enqueue pushes onto stack A, and dequeue pops from stack B, refilling B by emptying A into it whenever B is empty. What is the amortised cost of one dequeue?
- O(1)
- O(log n)
- O(n)
- O(n log n)
Show the answer
A. O(1) Worked solution
What threads do not share
Two threads belong to the same process. Which of these does each thread keep private?
- The code section
- The global data section
- The list of open files
- The stack and register set
Show the answer
D. The stack and register set Worked solution
Sparsest AVL tree
What is the minimum number of nodes in an AVL tree of height 4, counting the height of a single node as 0?
- 7
- 11
- 12
- 15
Show the answer
C. 12 Worked solution
The port DNS uses
Which well-known port does DNS use by default?
- 20
- 25
- 53
- 110
Show the answer
C. 53 Worked solution
The sort that needs a buffer
Which of these comparison sorts needs O(n) auxiliary space in its usual array implementation?
- Heapsort
- Insertion sort
- Merge sort
- Selection sort
Show the answer
C. Merge sort Worked solution
TRUNCATE against DELETE
Which command removes every row of a table while keeping the table itself, and is classed as DDL rather than DML?
- DELETE
- DROP
- TRUNCATE
- UPDATE
Show the answer
C. TRUNCATE Worked solution
Tower of Hanoi
What is the minimum number of moves needed to solve the Tower of Hanoi puzzle with 6 disks?
- 31
- 36
- 63
- 64
Show the answer
C. 63 Worked solution
Halving until one
In the pseudocode below / is integer division: any fraction is discarded. What is printed?
Integer n, count
Set n = 100
Set count = 0
While n > 1
Set n = n / 2
Set count = count + 1
End While
Print count- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
Show the answer
B. 6 Worked solution
Reversing a number
/ is integer division and MOD is the remainder. What is printed?
Integer n, r
Set n = 4021
Set r = 0
While n > 0
Set r = r * 10 + (n MOD 10)
Set n = n / 10
End While
Print r- 1204
- 1240
- 4021
- 12040
Show the answer
A. 1204 Worked solution
About this pattern
Follows the one variant with explicit per-section timings (16/20, 30/30, 7/20 plus coding). Morgan Stanley genuinely runs different tests by division and region, and four incompatible patterns are reported; marking and cut-offs are documented nowhere.
Modelled on the published pattern; not affiliated with Morgan Stanley. Every sitting draws a fresh paper from the aptitude bank.
The Morgan Stanley interview process, round by round · Morgan Stanley coding questions