HCL Previous Year Question Papers PDF with Solutions

HCL previous year question papers are practice sets for HCL’s Graduate Engineer online assessment, rebuilt from candidate reports of 2024, 2025 and 2026 drives. The reported pattern is about 90 minutes: aptitude (15-18 questions, ~45 min), technical MCQs (5-7, ~20 min) and 1-2 coding problems (~25 min). This page gives the pattern, new worked questions for each year, and the topics that repeat. The free PDF is linked below.

HCL exam pattern by role / drive

All numbers below are candidate-reported. HCL does not publish one permanent pattern for every college, so the mail you get wins.

Drive / stage	Section	Questions	Time	What it tests
GET online assessment (campus, pool, off-campus)	Aptitude	15-18	~45 min	Quant, logical, verbal
	Technical MCQ	5-7	~20 min	Programming, DS basics, DBMS, OOP
	Coding	1-2 problems	~25 min	Arrays, strings, basic algorithms
Some pool drives (Feb 2025)	Group discussion	-	varies	Speaking, one clear point
	Paper-pen domain test	varies by drive	varies	Python/Networking or Automation/Selenium track
Interviews	Technical	live problem + theory	~30-45 min	Linked list, hashing, SQL, OOP, project
	HR	-	~20-30 min	Why HCL, relocation, shifts

Working total for the OA: ~25-30 items in ~90 minutes. Languages commonly allowed: C, C++, Java, Python. Negative marking is often reported as absent, but it is not consistent across drives.

Cutoffs (older candidate-reported tables): about 60-65% overall, about 50-55% in aptitude and technical, and at least one coding problem solved. A good total with a blank coding section still fails.

Year-wise question sets

The section shape has held steady from 2024 to 2026. What changes is the question bank and, on some pool drives, the extra rounds after the OA. The questions below are new practice items written in each year’s reported style.

HCL 2026 question paper pattern and practice

The 2026 drives keep the three-section OA: aptitude, technical MCQs and 1-2 coding problems in about 90 minutes. Coding stays at service-company level. Arrays, strings and light stack/queue problems, scored on test cases. Pattern printing is less common now.

Q: A shopkeeper marks an item 40% above cost price and then gives a 15% discount on the marked price. What is his profit percentage?

Let cost = 100. Marked price = 140. Selling price = 140 × 0.85 = 119.

Profit = 119 − 100 = 19 on a cost of 100.

Answer: 19% profit

Q: Find the next number: 3, 8, 15, 24, 35, ?

Differences are 5, 7, 9, 11, so the next difference is 13. Another view: the terms are n² − 1 for n = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. For n = 7: 49 − 1 = 48.

Answer: 48

Q: Table Employee(id, name, dept, salary). Which query returns the highest salary in each department?

Group rows by department and take the maximum of each group:

SELECT dept, MAX(salary) AS top_salary
FROM Employee
GROUP BY dept;

WHERE cannot filter on an aggregate. Use HAVING if you need a condition such as HAVING MAX(salary) > 50000.

Answer: SELECT dept, MAX(salary) FROM Employee GROUP BY dept;

Q: Coding. Given an integer array, print the second largest distinct element. Print -1 if it does not exist. Example: [12, 35, 1, 10, 34, 1] gives 34.

Keep the largest and second largest in one pass. Skip values equal to the largest so duplicates do not count twice.

def second_largest(a):
    first = second = None
    for x in a:
        if first is None or x > first:
            first, second = x, first
        elif x != first and (second is None or x > second):
            second = x
    return -1 if second is None else second

print(second_largest([12, 35, 1, 10, 34, 1]))  # 34
print(second_largest([10, 10, 10]))            # -1

Complexity: O(n) time, O(1) extra space. Sorting also works but costs O(n log n).

Answer: 34 for the example

Full 2026 notes and samples: HCL placement 2026.

HCL 2025 previous year question paper

The 2025 OA used the same 25-30 questions in 90 minutes, with an updated question bank. The bigger change was on some pool campuses. A February 2025 GET pool ran OA, then GD, then a handwritten domain paper with track choices, then technical and HR. Candidates also reported more weight on explaining code in interviews.

Q: A train 240 m long crosses a 360 m platform in 30 seconds. What is its speed in km/h?

Distance covered = train + platform = 240 + 360 = 600 m.

Speed = 600 / 30 = 20 m/s = 20 × 18/5 = 72 km/h.

Answer: 72 km/h

Q: A can finish a job in 15 days and B in 20 days. They work together for 4 days. What fraction of the job is left?

One day together = 1/15 + 1/20 = 4/60 + 3/60 = 7/60.

Four days = 28/60 = 7/15 done. Left = 1 − 7/15 = 8/15.

Answer: 8/15

Q: Statements: Some laptops are phones. All phones are tablets. Conclusions: I. Some laptops are tablets. II. All tablets are phones.

The laptops that are phones are also tablets, so I follows. “All phones are tablets” does not make all tablets phones, so II does not follow.

Answer: Only I follows

Q: In OOP, defining two methods with the same name but different parameter lists in one class is called what?

That is method overloading. It is resolved at compile time, so it is compile-time (static) polymorphism. Overriding is different: same signature in a subclass, resolved at run time.

Answer: Method overloading

Q: Coding. Return the index of the first non-repeating character in a string, or -1 if none. Example: “swiss” gives 1.

Count characters first, then scan again for the first count of 1. This is the frequency-map theme from 2024-2025 interview notes.

from collections import Counter

def first_unique(s):
    cnt = Counter(s)
    for i, ch in enumerate(s):
        if cnt[ch] == 1:
            return i
    return -1

print(first_unique("swiss"))  # 1 ('w')
print(first_unique("aabb"))   # -1

Complexity: O(n) time, O(k) space for k distinct characters.

Answer: 1 for “swiss”

All 2025 worked questions: HCL placement papers 2025.

HCL 2024 previous year question paper

The 2024 OA followed the standard pattern: 25-30 questions in 90 minutes across aptitude, technical and coding. Aptitude leaned on percentages, averages, time-work and series. Interview notes from 2024-2025 repeat linked list reversal, character frequency and SQL GROUP BY.

Q: A salary is raised by 25% and then cut by 20%. What is the net change?

Let salary = 100. After +25%: 125. After −20%: 125 × 0.8 = 100.

Answer: No change (0%)

Q: The average age of 6 students is 18 years. When the teacher is included, the average becomes 20. What is the teacher’s age?

Total with teacher = 7 × 20 = 140. Total of students = 6 × 18 = 108.

Teacher = 140 − 108 = 32.

Answer: 32 years

Q: If CAT is coded as 24, how is DOG coded?

CAT = 3 + 1 + 20 = 24 (sum of alphabet positions). DOG = 4 + 15 + 7 = 26.

Answer: 26

Q: Which normal form removes partial dependency of non-key attributes on part of a composite key?

1NF needs atomic values. 2NF adds that every non-key attribute depends on the whole primary key, which removes partial dependency. 3NF then removes transitive dependency.

Answer: 2NF

Q: Coding. Reverse the order of words in a sentence, collapsing extra spaces. Example: “HCL hires freshers” gives “freshers hires HCL”.

def reverse_words(s):
    return " ".join(s.split()[::-1])

print(reverse_words("HCL  hires freshers"))  # freshers hires HCL

split() with no argument drops repeated and leading spaces. In C or Java, reverse the whole string and then each word for O(1) extra space.

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

Answer: “freshers hires HCL”

All 2024 worked questions: HCL placement papers 2024.

Section-wise topics that repeat

HCL reuses themes more than exact questions. Treat each paper as a stamina trainer for three separate clocks.

Section	Topics that keep coming back	Questions (candidate-reported)
Quant	Percentages, profit and loss, ratio, averages, time and work, speed and distance	Part of 15-18 aptitude
Logical	Number series, syllogisms, blood relations, coding-decoding, seating	Part of 15-18 aptitude
Verbal	Synonyms, antonyms, sentence ordering, short RC	Part of 15-18 aptitude
Technical MCQ	OOP pillars, SQL and normalization, arrays/linked lists/stacks/queues, complexity	5-7
Coding	Second largest, rotate array, pair sum, reverse words, anagram, frequency map, balanced brackets	1-2
Technical interview	Reverse a linked list, palindrome check with two pointers, character frequency, max salary per department	Live
Pool track (if named)	Handwritten Python or networking basics, or Selenium locators and waits	Varies

How to use one paper in a timed sitting

45 minutes, aptitude. Do percentages, ratio and averages first. Give a seating puzzle 45 seconds, then skip and come back.
20 minutes, technical MCQs. Answer the one-liners (OOP, SQL, complexity) fast. Do not rewrite code in your head for a single MCQ.
25 minutes, coding. Get one complete, passing submit before you touch a second problem. Handle the empty array and duplicates.
Untimed review. List the three quant types that ate the clock. Rewrite the coding solution cleanly in your interview language.
15 minutes. Explain the four OOP pillars with one class, and write one JOIN and one GROUP BY query.
If your mailer names a paper-pen track, add 20 minutes of handwritten Python or Selenium notes. Skip this otherwise.

Two full sittings a week for two weeks beat a pile of random papers.

FAQs

Is there an HCL previous year question paper PDF?

Yes. A free HCL placement paper PDF (2026 pack, which includes 2025-style drills) is here, and the 2024, 2025 and 2026 year pages carry worked questions. These are practice sets rebuilt from candidate reports, not official HCL papers.

What is the HCL online assessment pattern in previous year papers?

Candidate-reported for Graduate Engineer drives: about 90 minutes and 25-30 items. Aptitude 15-18 questions in about 45 minutes, technical MCQs 5-7 in about 20 minutes, and 1-2 coding problems in about 25 minutes. Your drive invite is the binding pattern.

What cutoff do HCL papers need?

Older candidate-reported tables cite about 60-65% overall, about 50-55% sectional in aptitude and technical, and at least one coding problem solved. HCL does not publish one cutoff for every drive.

Which HCL year paper should I start with?

Start with 2026 and the dedicated exam-pattern page, then 2025 for more worked aptitude and coding, then 2024 for extra volume. The section shape has stayed the same across 2024-2026, so older sets are still useful.

Do HCL previous year papers cover the GD and paper-pen round?

Only partly. A February 2025 GET pool added a group discussion and a handwritten domain paper with track choices (Python/Networking vs Automation/Selenium). Practise that by hand only if your mailer names a track.

HCL placement papers hub

Eligibility, rounds, salary and FAQs.

HCL exam pattern 2026

Sections and timings.

HCL 2026

2026 pattern and samples.

HCL 2025

2025 worked questions.

HCL 2024

2024 worked questions.

Aptitude questions

Timed quant and reasoning.

Coding questions

Array and string drills.

Online assessment

OA format and platform.

Interview experience

Candidate stories.

Preparation guide

Week-by-week plan.