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Bain Placement Papers 2024

Overview

This page collects Bain placement papers from 2024 with practice questions, worked solutions, and the exam pattern students reported that cycle. Use it when you want drive history: what the first round looked like, which topics repeated, and how to approach solutions. Work the sets below under a timer, then compare with newer material so your prep matches both established Bain patterns and recent shifts.

Bain Aptitude Mock Quiz

Timed placement-style MCQs with score and explanations after you submit. Use it to check speed and accuracy before the real test.

Questions15
Time10 min

Bain exam pattern 2024

Section What shows up Prep focus
Aptitude / logical Quant, reasoning, sometimes verbal Timed sectional accuracy
Coding / programming logic Easy-medium DSA or output-style MCQs Handle tricky inputs
Technical interview OOPs, DBMS, OS, projects Explain aloud
HR Fit, location, intent A few real examples ready

First round: Bain Online Test / SOVA variants
Skills emphasized: Case interviews, experience interview
Languages: N/A for AC; tech affiliates differ

Sample Bain questions with solutions

These are practice-style questions aligned to patterns students report for Bain drives around 2024. They are not leaked live papers. Work them timed, then read the solutions only after you have an answer.

Quantitative aptitude (2024)

Q1: Compound mark-discount

Problem: An article is marked 40% above cost and sold after a 10% discount. Find the profit percent.

Solution: SP = CP × 1.4 × 0.9 = 1.26 CP. Profit = 26%.

Answer: 26%

Q2: Loss to profit shift

Problem: An article sold at 10% loss would give 5% profit if sold for ₹60 more. Find the cost price.

Solution: 0.9P + 60 = 1.05P 60 = 0.15P P = 60 / 0.15 = ₹400.

Answer: ₹400

Q3: Worker scaling

Problem: Eight workers finish a job in 10 days. How many days will 10 workers take for the same job (same pace)?

Solution: Total man-days = 8 × 10 = 80. Days for 10 workers = 80 / 10 = 8 days.

Answer: 8 days

Q4: Distance from speed

Problem: A vehicle travels at 60 km/h for 2.5 hours. How far does it go?

Solution: Distance = speed × time = 60 × 2.5 = 150 km.

Answer: 150 km

Q5: Compound ratio

Problem: If two ratios are 3:5 and 5:7, what is the compound ratio?

Solution: Compound ratio = (3/5) × (5/7) = 3/7, written as 3:7.

Answer: 3:7

Q6: SI three years

Problem: Find simple interest on ₹5000 at 8% per annum for 3 years.

Solution: SI = 5000 × 8 × 3 / 100 = ₹1200.

Answer: ₹1200

Q7: Boat upstream

Problem: A boat’s speed in still water is 15 km/h and the stream is 3 km/h. How long to cover 36 km upstream?

Solution: Upstream speed = 15 − 3 = 12 km/h. Time = 36 / 12 = 3 hours.

Answer: 3 hours

Q8: Mixture milk

Problem: A mixture has milk and water in the ratio 4:1. If 5 litres of water are added to 20 litres of mixture, what is the new milk:water ratio?

Solution: In 20 L: milk = 16 L, water = 4 L. After adding 5 L water: milk 16, water 9. Ratio = 16:9.

Answer: 16:9

Logical reasoning (2024)

Q1: Direction turn

Problem: A person walks 5 km north, then 3 km east, then 5 km south. How far is he from the start, and in which direction?

Solution: North 5 and south 5 cancel. He is 3 km east of the start.

Answer: 3 km east

Q2: Series multiply

Problem: Find the next number: 3, 9, 27, 81, ?

Solution: Each term is multiplied by 3. Next = 81 × 3 = 243.

Answer: 243

Q3: Seating hint

Problem: Five friends sit in a row. A is to the left of B but right of C. D is to the right of B and left of E. Who is in the middle?

Solution: Order from left to right: C, A, B, D, E. The middle seat is B.

Answer: B

Q4: Analogy

Problem: Book is to Reading as Fork is to ?

Solution: A book is used for reading; a fork is used for eating.

Answer: Eating

Coding practice (2024)

Coding Q1: Binary search

Problem: Given a sorted array of distinct integers and a target, return the index of target or -1 if missing.

Approach: Maintain lo/hi. Compare mid with target and shrink the half that cannot contain it. Careful with overflow-free mid and empty arrays.

Complexity: O(log n) time

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Coding Q2: Move zeros

Problem: Move all zeros in an array to the end while keeping the relative order of non-zero elements.

Approach: Two pointers: write non-zeros toward the front, then fill the remainder with zeros. Or swap zeros as you scan.

Complexity: O(n) time, O(1) space

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Coding Q3: Rotate array

Problem: Rotate an array to the right by k steps. Example: [1,2,3,4,5,6,7], k = 3 → [5,6,7,1,2,3,4].

Approach: Normalize k %= n. Reverse the whole array, reverse the first k elements, then reverse the rest. That yields the rotation in place.

Complexity: O(n) time, O(1) space

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Coding Q4: First unique character

Problem: Find the first non-repeating character in a string and return its index, or -1 if none exists.

Approach: Count frequencies in one pass (hash map or array of 26 for lowercase). Second pass returns the first index with count 1.

Complexity: O(n) time

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Coding Q5: Stack with min

Problem: Design a stack that supports push, pop, top, and getMin in average O(1) time.

Approach: Keep a parallel min-stack (or store pairs). When pushing, also push the new minimum. When popping, pop both stacks.

Complexity: O(1) per operation amortized

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Coding Q6: Maximum subarray sum (Kadane)

Problem: Given an integer array, find the contiguous subarray with the largest sum and return that sum. Example: [-2,1,-3,4,-1,2,1,-5,4] → 6 (from [4,-1,2,1]).

Approach: Keep a running sum. If the running sum drops below 0, reset it to 0 before taking the next element (or track the best ending-here value). Track the global maximum as you scan once from left to right.

Complexity: O(n) time, O(1) extra space

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Coding Q7: Reverse a string in place

Problem: Given a mutable character array representing a string, reverse it in place without allocating another array of the same size.

Approach: Use two pointers at the start and end. Swap characters, then move inward until the pointers meet. Watch empty and single-character inputs.

Complexity: O(n) time, O(1) extra space

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Coding Q8: Check prime

Problem: Write a function that returns true if n is prime and false otherwise. Handle n < 2 correctly.

Approach: Return false for n < 2. Trial-divide from 2 to floor(sqrt(n)). If any divisor divides n evenly, it is composite; otherwise prime.

Complexity: O(√n) time

Bain tip: Restate the problem, sketch a brute-force idea, then tighten it. Call out edge cases (empty input, single element, overflow) before you write code.

Deep prep notes for Bain

How the Bain online test / sova variants usually feels

Students usually say the first round is time-tight - easy marks vanish if you sit too long on one hard question. For Bain, skim the paper in a couple of minutes, mark what you can finish cleanly, and protect accuracy. Languages people commonly use: N/A for AC; tech affiliates differ.

Topic weight hints

Area Why it matters at Bain
Case interviews What usually helps you clear the first round
Core CS (OOPs / DBMS / OS) Technical interview depth
Management Consulting awareness Helps in managerial / HR conversations
Communication Explain your approach clearly; keep a few real examples ready for HR

14-Day sprint

  1. Days 1-3: Learn the 2024 pattern and take two sectional mocks
  2. Days 4-7: Closed practice on weak topics from your error log
  3. Days 8-10: Full mocks every other day; review the same day
  4. Days 11-14: Practice explaining projects out loud, light revision, sleep and IDs ready

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