EXL 2026 aptitude
Quantitative, reasoning, and verbal drills with solutions
EXL 2026 Pattern Details
Overview
This page collects EXL placement papers from 2026 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 EXL patterns and recent shifts.
Download / jump links
EXL 2026 coding
DSA practice aligned to EXL online assessments
EXL interview experience
Round structure and tips from student reports
EXL prep guide
Study plan and weekly schedule
EXL 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
Reasoning
A walks 10m North, turns right walks 5m, turns right walks 10m. Direction from start?
Correct answer: East (5m east of starting point)
Verbal
Find synonym of "Enormous"
Correct answer: Huge
Verbal
The idiom "once in a blue moon" means:
It means something that happens very rarely.
Verbal
Antonym of "Optimistic":
Optimistic ↔ pessimistic.
Reasoning
Find the next number: 8, 6, 9, 7, 10, ?
−2,+3 alternating → 10-2=8 → 8.
Quantitative
A man buys an article for ₹800 and sells it at 25% profit. Selling price is:
SP = 800 × 1.25 = ₹1,000.
Quantitative
A is twice as old as B. 10 years ago, A was 4 times as old as B. Find the present age of A.
Correct answer: 30 years
Reasoning
Problem: What is the value of x? Statement 1: x² = 16 Statement 2: x > 0
From statement 1: x = 4 or -4 From statement 2: x > 0 Combining both: x = 4
Quantitative
Find x: 3x + 7 = 22
3x = 15 → x = 5.
Reasoning
Number Series - 37, 47, 58, ?, 79, 95
Correct answer: 70
Reasoning
All pens are books. Some books are papers. Conclusion: Some pens are papers.
No definite overlap between pens and papers.
Quantitative
If the probability of an event occurring is 0.3, what is the probability of it not occurring?
P(not occurring) = 1 - P(occurring) = 1 - 0.3 = 0.7
Quantitative
A person walks 5 km North, then 3 km East, then 2 km South. How far is he from starting point?
Correct answer: 3√2 km
Verbal
Antonym of "Permanent":
Permanent ↔ temporary/brief.
Quantitative
The price of a product is increased by 25%. By what percentage should the consumption be reduced so that the expenditure remains the same?
Correct answer: 20%
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Review
EXL exam pattern 2026
| 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: EXL Online Test
Skills emphasized: Aptitude, SQL, communication
Languages: SQL, Python, Excel
Sample EXL questions with solutions
These are practice-style questions aligned to patterns students report for EXL drives around 2026. They are not leaked live papers. Work them timed, then read the solutions only after you have an answer.
Quantitative aptitude (2026)
Q1: 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
Q2: 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
Q3: 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
Q4: 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
Q5: 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
Q6: 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
Q7: CI vs SI hint
Problem: Find compound interest on ₹10,000 at 10% per annum for 2 years, compounded annually.
Solution: Amount = 10000 × (1.1)² = 10000 × 1.21 = ₹12,100. CI = 12100 − 10000 = ₹2100. (SI for same period would be ₹2000; the extra ₹100 is interest on first-year interest.)
Answer: ₹2100
Q8: Clock angle
Problem: What is the angle between the hour and minute hands at 3:00?
Solution: At 3:00 the hands are exactly 90° apart (one quarter of the circle).
Answer: 90°
Logical reasoning (2026)
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 (2026)
Coding Q1: 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
EXL 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: 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
EXL 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: 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
EXL 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: 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
EXL 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: 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
EXL 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: Valid parentheses
Problem: Given a string containing only ‘()[]’, decide whether the brackets are balanced and correctly nested.
Approach: Scan left to right with a stack. Push opening brackets. On a closing bracket, the stack top must be the matching opener. At the end the stack must be empty.
Complexity: O(n) time, O(n) space
EXL 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: Two Sum
Problem: Given an array of integers and a target, return indices of two numbers that add up to the target. Assume exactly one solution and you may not use the same element twice.
Approach: Walk the array once. For each value x, check whether target − x was seen earlier in a hash map of value → index. If yes, return both indices; else store x.
Complexity: O(n) time, O(n) space
EXL 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: Longest substring without repeating characters
Problem: Given a string s, find the length of the longest substring without repeating characters. Example: ‘abcabcbb’ → 3 (‘abc’).
Approach: Sliding window with a map (or last-seen index) of characters. Expand the right pointer; when a duplicate appears inside the window, move the left pointer past the previous occurrence.
Complexity: O(n) time
EXL 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 EXL
How the EXL online test usually feels
Students usually say the first round is time-tight - easy marks vanish if you sit too long on one hard question. For EXL, skim the paper in a couple of minutes, mark what you can finish cleanly, and protect accuracy. Languages people commonly use: SQL, Python, Excel.
Topic weight hints
| Area | Why it matters at EXL |
|---|---|
| Aptitude | What usually helps you clear the first round |
| Core CS (OOPs / DBMS / OS) | Technical interview depth |
| Analytics & Operations Management awareness | Helps in managerial / HR conversations |
| Communication | Explain your approach clearly; keep a few real examples ready for HR |
14-Day sprint
- Days 1-3: Learn the 2026 pattern and take two sectional mocks
- Days 4-7: Closed practice on weak topics from your error log
- Days 8-10: Full mocks every other day; review the same day
- Days 11-14: Practice explaining projects out loud, light revision, sleep and IDs ready