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TCS NQT — Foundation

The section every NQT candidate must clear before any track opens. Three papers, twenty-five minutes each, and no going back.

The pattern and syllabus · 13 sample questions

No negative markingSectionally timedElimination gate

The sitting

1h 15m

total time

65

questions

3

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

Numerical Ability

20 Q

25 min

Quantitative Aptitude · Data Interpretation

2

Verbal Ability

25 Q

25 min

Verbal Ability

3

Reasoning Ability

20 Q

25 min

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

Before you start

The Foundation section of the TCS National Qualifier Test is an elimination gate: fail it and no track opens, however well the Advanced section goes.

  • Three sections, sectionally timed. Numerical Ability, then Verbal Ability, then Reasoning Ability. Twenty-five minutes each.
  • You cannot return to a section once you leave it. The real test goes further and stops you returning to a previous question; this mock lets you move within the section you are in.
  • No negative marking. A guess costs nothing, so leave nothing blank.

The real NQT continues into an Advanced section and a ninety-minute coding round. Take the Foundation + Advanced paper for the aptitude half of that.

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TCS NQT — Foundation: Pattern, Syllabus & Mock Test

TCS NQT — Foundation pattern: 65 questions in 75 minutes across 3 sections. Sample questions, a preparation guide and a free timed mock.

  • Pattern: TCS
  • Duration: 75 minutes
  • Questions: 65
  • Timing: Sectional — each section on its own clock
  • Negative marking: None

The section every NQT candidate must clear before any track opens. Three papers, twenty-five minutes each, and no going back.

  • No negative marking
  • Sectionally timed
  • Elimination gate

Sections

SectionQuestionsTimeKindMarks each
Numerical Ability2025 minMultiple choice1
Verbal Ability2525 minMultiple choice1
Reasoning Ability2025 minMultiple choice1

TCS NQT — Foundation syllabus

Numerical Ability

Verbal Ability

Reasoning Ability

Instructions

The Foundation section of the TCS National Qualifier Test is an elimination gate: fail it and no track opens, however well the Advanced section goes.

  • Three sections, sectionally timed. Numerical Ability, then Verbal Ability, then Reasoning Ability. Twenty-five minutes each.
  • You cannot return to a section once you leave it. The real test goes further and stops you returning to a previous question; this mock lets you move within the section you are in.
  • No negative marking. A guess costs nothing, so leave nothing blank.

The real NQT continues into an Advanced section and a ninety-minute coding round. Take the Foundation + Advanced paper for the aptitude half of that.

How to prepare for this pattern

A guide to the Foundation section of the TCS National Qualifier Test (NQT), the aptitude gate that every candidate has to clear before any track opens.

What the paper looks like

The Foundation paper has three sections, sat in a fixed order: Numerical Ability, 20 questions in 25 minutes; Verbal Ability, 25 questions in 25 minutes; and Reasoning Ability, 20 questions in 25 minutes. That makes 65 questions in 75 minutes. Every question is worth one mark, and there is no negative marking. Each section runs on its own clock, and once you leave a section you cannot go back to it. The real test is stricter still and stops you returning to a previous question; this mock lets you move around within the section you are in. The paper is not adaptive. It works as an elimination gate: fail it and no track opens, however well the Advanced section goes.

How to prepare, section by section

The real NQT continues into an Advanced section and a coding round. The Foundation + Advanced and Advanced Coding mocks cover those.

On the day

With no negative marking, answer every question: a blank is the only answer certain to score nothing. The real test does not let you return to an earlier question, so practise the habit it demands and give every question an answer before you move on, guessing if you have to, even though this mock would let you go back. Numerical Ability is the tightest section at 75 seconds a question; if a calculation is still going after two minutes, pick the likeliest option and move. Unused minutes do not carry over to the next section, so there is nothing to gain by racing: a steady pace that uses the whole 25 minutes beats a fast one that leaves time on the clock.

This mock is modelled on the published Foundation pattern, which several prep portals agree on at 20, 25 and 20 questions of 25 minutes each; CodeKairo is not affiliated with TCS.

Practice questions for the TCS NQT — Foundation test

Ratio 5 : 7 now, 3 : 4 later

The ages of A and B are in the ratio 5 : 7. After 6 years the ratio becomes 3 : 4. What is A's present age?

  1. 25
  2. 30
  3. 35
  4. 42
Show the answer

B. 30 Worked solution

Average of the even numbers to 50

What is the average of all even numbers from 2 to 50?

  1. 24
  2. 25
  3. 26
  4. 28
Show the answer

C. 26 Worked solution

Books borrowed in a week

A library lent 1,200 books in a week. 35% were fiction, 25% non-fiction, and the rest reference. On Monday alone, one sixth of the week's reference loans were made.

How many reference books were lent on Monday?

  1. 60
  2. 72
  3. 80
  4. 96
Show the answer

C. 80 Worked solution

A sum split into two investments

₹2,600 is split into two parts, one lent at 10% and the other at 8% simple interest for one year. If the total interest is ₹230, what is the part lent at 10%?

  1. ₹1,000
  2. ₹1,100
  3. ₹1,200
  4. ₹1,400
Show the answer

B. ₹1,100 Worked solution

How towns kept time before

Railways were the first industry to require a single national time. Before them, every town kept its own clock by the sun, and a difference of a few minutes between neighbouring places troubled nobody. A timetable made those minutes intolerable. Within a generation, the railway companies had imposed a standard time across whole countries — not because anyone had argued for it, but because the trains could not run without it.

According to the passage, how did towns keep time before the railways?

  1. By a national standard
  2. By their own clock set by the sun
  3. By the railway timetable
  4. The passage does not say
Show the answer

B. By their own clock set by the sun Worked solution

A connector showing contrast

Fill in the blank:

The team trained hard all season; ______, they failed to reach the final.

  1. therefore
  2. nevertheless
  3. moreover
  4. similarly
Show the answer

B. nevertheless Worked solution

A parallel list

Choose the correct sentence:

  1. The job requires accuracy, patience and being punctual.
  2. The job requires accuracy, patience and punctuality.
  3. The job requires being accurate, patience and punctuality.
  4. The job requires to be accurate, patient and punctuality.
Show the answer

B. The job requires accuracy, patience and punctuality. Worked solution

Present everywhere

Choose the one word for: present in all places at the same time.

  1. Omnipotent
  2. Omniscient
  3. Omnipresent
  4. Omnivorous
Show the answer

C. Omnipresent Worked solution

The tone of the library passage

The public library is a strange institution by the standards of modern economics. It gives away, free of charge, a service that people would pay for. It admits everyone regardless of what they can spend. And it survives, in most countries, on a budget that would embarrass a mid-sized company. Its defenders no longer argue chiefly about books; they argue about the library as one of the few remaining places a person may sit for an afternoon without being asked to buy anything.

The tone of the passage is best described as:

  1. Dismissive
  2. Sympathetic
  3. Hostile
  4. Neutral and statistical
Show the answer

B. Sympathetic Worked solution

Square roots

16 : 4 :: 49 : ?

  1. 6
  2. 7
  3. 8
  4. 9
Show the answer

B. 7 Worked solution

A four-generation chain

P is Q's brother, R is Q's mother, S is R's father and T is S's mother. How is P related to T?

  1. Grandson
  2. Great-grandson
  3. Son
  4. Nephew
Show the answer

B. Great-grandson Worked solution

Another symbol swap

If '×' means '+', '+' means '÷', '−' means '×' and '÷' means '−', what is the value of:

6 × 4 + 2 − 3 ÷ 5

  1. 5
  2. 7
  3. 9
  4. 11
Show the answer

B. 7 Worked solution

Two easts and two norths

A man walks 1 km east, 1 km north, 1 km east and 1 km north. How far is he from his starting point?

  1. 2 km
  2. 2√2 km
  3. 4 km
  4. √2 km
Show the answer

B. 2√2 km Worked solution

About this pattern

Structure agreed across PrepInsta, FACE Prep, GeeksforGeeks and GUVI: 20/25/20 questions at 25 minutes each. One source reports 76 minutes and 26 for Verbal; the 75-minute split is the majority reading. The coding round is not covered here.

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

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