TCS NQT Previous Year Question Papers PDF with Solutions

Q: Is there a TCS NQT previous year question paper PDF with answers?

Yes. The free 2026 TCS placement paper PDF is at /tcs/tcs-placement-paper-2026.pdf, and the 2024, 2025 and 2026 pages carry worked questions with solutions. These are practice sets rebuilt from candidate reports in the NQT pattern. They are not official or leaked papers.

TCS NQT previous year question papers are practice sets rebuilt from candidate reports of the TCS National Qualifier Test, the single test TCS uses to shortlist freshers for Ninja, Digital and Prime. The reported pattern is one integrated test of about 190 minutes on TCS iON: Foundation (numerical, verbal, reasoning, about 65 questions in 75 minutes) and Advanced (advanced quant/reasoning plus 2-3 coding problems in about 115 minutes). This page covers 2024, 2025 and 2026 sets with worked solutions. The full paper is in the free 2026 TCS placement paper PDF.

TCS NQT exam pattern by role / drive

All three fresher bands sit the same NQT. What changes is how far your Advanced score and interview carry you. The split below is candidate-reported. Confirm timings on your admit card.

Part	Section	Questions	Time	Notes
Foundation	Numerical ability	~20	~25 min	Percentages, ratios, time-work, DI
Foundation	Verbal ability	~25	~25 min	Grammar, RC, vocabulary
Foundation	Reasoning ability	~20	~25 min	Series, puzzles, syllogism
Advanced	Advanced quant + reasoning	~15	~25 min	Harder quant after Foundation fatigue
Advanced	Coding	2-3 problems	~90 min	C, C++, Java, Python
Total		~83	~190 min	Single sitting on TCS iON

Varies by drive: the 2025 and 2026 year pages also describe a 180-minute layout with a separate programming logic MCQ block (10-15 questions) and 1-2 coding problems. If your invite shows that layout, keep the same skills and adjust the clock.

Band	What candidates say maps to it
Ninja	Overall shortlist with a solid Foundation score
Digital	Strong Advanced coding (both problems working, or one solved and a solid partial on the other) plus interview depth
Prime	Standout coding plus a sharp technical panel

There is no public, permanent cutoff table. Candidates often cite that about 20-25% of test takers reach interviews.

What 2026 candidates are reporting

This section is built from candidate discussions in r/PlacementsPrep, r/TCS_India, r/TataConsultServices, r/developersIndia and r/InterviewExperiencess between April and August 2026. We summarise patterns here and do not copy anyone’s post. Treat everything as approximate and candidate-reported, because TCS does not publish section-wise cutoffs or a fixed pattern. For the full section layout and timings, see the TCS NQT 2026 pattern page and the TCS online assessment guide.

Pattern and cutoffs

No major change in 2026. A 2027-batch candidate selected for Prime (July 2026) described the same shape as before: Foundation with 3 sections and Advanced with 2 sections.
Band depends on both parts. Digital and Prime eligibility is reported to depend on Foundation plus Advanced performance and on coding, not on one section alone.
Sectional cutoffs come up again and again. A strong total does not help if one section falls short, so do not skip a Foundation section to save time for coding.

How each section felt (July 2026 on-campus shifts)

Section	What candidates reported
Numerical ability	Very lengthy. Several said they could not finish even half in the roughly 25 minutes given
Reasoning ability	Easy
Verbal ability	Easy. Before the exam, candidates asked mainly about the email-writing task and the sentence completion format
Advanced quant and reasoning	Harder than Foundation
Coding	Many found it difficult

Topics candidates remembered from an August 2026 attempt: ratio and proportion, percentages, number system, direction sense, coding-decoding and seating arrangement.

The takeaway is that numerical ability is a time problem more than a concept problem. Practise long, wordy percentage and ratio questions against a timer, and skip a question early if the setup alone takes more than a minute.

Coding round

Reported question types: a 2026-batch drive had a highest-frequency element (count) problem as Q1 and a DP minimum path cost problem as Q2.
Partial solutions still count. In April 2026 a candidate who solved Q1 fully and passed 4 of 7 test cases on Q2 still got a Digital interview call. Submit a working partial solution rather than leaving a problem blank.

Ninja and Digital interviews

April 2026 interview reports mention questions about internships, other offers, willingness to relocate and why TCS. Digital candidates were also asked whether they would accept a Ninja role if not selected for Digital. Decide your answer before the interview. More questions: TCS HR interview questions.

Practice set modelled on reported topics

These are original questions written to match the topics candidates reported. They are not leaked exam questions.

1. Numerical ability (lengthy ratio and percentage)

A company has 1,200 employees split between its Pune and Chennai offices in the ratio 7 : 5. During the year, 20% of the Pune employees move to Chennai. After the move, Chennai hires new staff equal to 10% of its headcount at that point. No one else joins or leaves. What is the final ratio of Pune to Chennai employees, and by what percent did Chennai’s headcount grow over the year?

Answer

35 : 44, and Chennai grew by 40.8%. Start: Pune 700, Chennai 500. 20% of 700 = 140 move, so Pune 560 and Chennai 640. Chennai hires 10% of 640 = 64, so Chennai 704. Ratio 560 : 704 = 35 : 44 (divide by 16). Growth: (704 − 500) / 500 × 100 = 40.8%.

2. Reasoning (coding-decoding)

In a code language, each letter of a word is shifted forward in the alphabet by its position in the word: the 1st letter by 1, the 2nd by 2, and so on. If CAT is written as DCW, how is PRIME written?

Answer

QTLQJ. P + 1 = Q, R + 2 = T, I + 3 = L, M + 4 = Q, E + 5 = J. Check with the example: C + 1 = D, A + 2 = C, T + 3 = W.

3. Coding (DP minimum path cost)

You are given an R × C grid of non-negative costs. Start at the top-left cell and reach the bottom-right cell, moving only right or down. The cost of a path is the sum of every cell on it, including the first and last. Print the minimum cost. Example grid:

4 1 7
2 8 3
6 1 2

The answer is 15 (4 → 2 → 6 → 1 → 2).

Approach and solution

Each cell can only be reached from the cell above or the cell to the left, so its best cost is its own value plus the smaller of those two. Fill the grid row by row with a single 1D array: O(R × C) time, O(C) extra space. Trying every path is exponential and will time out on larger hidden cases.

def min_path_cost(grid):
    rows, cols = len(grid), len(grid[0])
    dp = [0] * cols
    for i in range(rows):
        for j in range(cols):
            if i == 0 and j == 0:
                dp[j] = grid[0][0]
            elif i == 0:
                dp[j] = dp[j - 1] + grid[i][j]
            elif j == 0:
                dp[j] = dp[j] + grid[i][j]
            else:
                dp[j] = min(dp[j], dp[j - 1]) + grid[i][j]
    return dp[-1]

r, c = map(int, input().split())
grid = [list(map(int, input().split())) for _ in range(r)]
print(min_path_cost(grid))

In C++ or Java, store the running sums in long long or long if cell values can be large, because a long path can overflow a 32-bit int. Also test a single row and a single column, where only one path exists.

4. Coding (highest-frequency element)

Given an array of integers, print the element that appears most often and its count. If two elements tie, print the smaller one. Example: 3 7 3 9 7 1 7 3 → 3 3 (3 and 7 both appear three times, and 3 is smaller).

Approach and solution

Count every value in one pass with a hash map, then pick the highest count, breaking ties by the smaller value. O(n) time, O(k) space for k distinct values.

from collections import Counter

def most_frequent(arr):
    freq = Counter(arr)
    best = max(freq.values())
    value = min(x for x in freq if freq[x] == best)
    return value, best

input()  # first line: n
arr = list(map(int, input().split()))
print(*most_frequent(arr))

In C++ or Java, unordered_map and HashMap do not keep keys in order, so apply the tie rule explicitly instead of taking the first key you see. Negative numbers are allowed, so do not use a fixed-size count array indexed by value.

Year-wise question sets

Each set below is new practice in that year’s reported style. The full sets live on the year pages.

TCS NQT 2026 question set

The 2026 page expects the same Foundation plus Advanced shape with a refreshed question bank and more problem-solving scenarios in coding. The prep advice from 2024-2025 still holds: keep DI and puzzles weekly, and practise two coding problems back to back after a full Foundation mock so you feel the real fatigue.

Q: A’s salary is 25% more than B’s salary. By what percent is B’s salary less than A’s?

Let B = 100. Then A = 125.

B is less than A by 25. As a share of A: 25/125 × 100 = 20%.

Answer: 20%

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

The terms are n² − 1 for n = 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The next is 7² − 1 = 48.

You can also see it from the gaps: 5, 7, 9, 11, so the next gap is 13. 35 + 13 = 48.

Answer: 48

Q (Advanced): Two fair dice are thrown. What is the probability that the sum is 8?

Favourable pairs: (2,6), (3,5), (4,4), (5,3), (6,2). That is 5 out of 36.

Answer: 5/36

Q (Coding): Move all zeros in an array to the end while keeping the order of the non-zero elements. Input 0 4 0 7 2 0 gives 4 7 2 0 0 0.

Keep a write pointer. Copy every non-zero value forward, then fill the rest with zeros.

def move_zeros(a):
    k = 0
    for x in a:
        if x != 0:
            a[k] = x
            k += 1
    for i in range(k, len(a)):
        a[i] = 0
    return a

print(*move_zeros(list(map(int, input().split()))))

Answer: O(n) time, O(1) extra space. Test an all-zero array and a single element before you submit.

Full 2026 notes: TCS NQT 2026 pattern.

TCS NQT 2025 question set

Candidates describe the same Foundation plus Advanced shape on iON in 2025. More write-ups mention long waits between the score and a Digital shortlist for off-campus candidates. Coding still rewards complete solutions over clever half-finished code. Some drives listed programming logic MCQs as a separate block.

Q: A can finish a job in 10 days and B in 15 days. They work together for 4 days, then A leaves. How many more days does B need?

Together they do 1/10 + 1/15 = 1/6 of the job per day.

In 4 days: 4/6 = 2/3 is done. Remaining: 1/3.

B alone: (1/3) ÷ (1/15) = 5 days.

Answer: 5 days

Q: Correct the sentence: “He is one of those engineers who has cleared every round.”

The relative pronoun “who” refers to “engineers” (plural), not “one”. So the verb is plural.

Correct: “He is one of those engineers who have cleared every round.”

Answer: has → have

Q (Programming logic): What does this pseudo-code print?

x = 10
for i = 1 to 4
    if i mod 2 == 0
        x = x + i
    else
        x = x - i
print x

Trace: i=1 gives 9, i=2 gives 11, i=3 gives 8, i=4 gives 12.

Answer: 12

Q: The average of five consecutive odd numbers is 27. What is the largest of them?

For consecutive odd numbers the average is the middle term. So the numbers are 23, 25, 27, 29, 31.

Answer: 31

Q (Coding): Print the first non-repeating character in a string, or -1 if every character repeats. “swiss” gives w.

Count frequencies in one pass, then scan again in order.

from collections import Counter

def first_unique(s):
    freq = Counter(s)
    for ch in s:
        if freq[ch] == 1:
            return ch
    return -1

print(first_unique(input().strip()))

Answer: O(n) time, O(k) space for k distinct characters. “aabb” returns -1.

Full 2025 set: TCS NQT 2025 question paper.

TCS NQT 2024 question set

In 2024 the Foundation section still separated ranks on speed. Coding stayed fundamentals-heavy (arrays and strings) rather than graph or DP problems. Students who only practised hard LeetCode and skipped aptitude were caught out by verbal RC timing. 2024 sets often drill time-work and string reversal.

Q: A train 150 m long passes a platform 250 m long in 20 seconds. What is its speed in km/h?

Distance covered = 150 + 250 = 400 m. Speed = 400/20 = 20 m/s.

20 × 18/5 = 72 km/h.

Answer: 72 km/h

Q: Two numbers are in the ratio 4:7. If 6 is added to each, the ratio becomes 2:3. Find the numbers.

(4x + 6)/(7x + 6) = 2/3, so 12x + 18 = 14x + 12, which gives x = 3.

Answer: 12 and 21

Q: Ravi walks 10 m north, turns right and walks 6 m, then turns right and walks 18 m. How far is he from the start, and in which direction?

North 10 then south 18 leaves him 8 m south. He is also 6 m east.

Distance = √(8² + 6²) = 10 m, towards the south-east.

Answer: 10 m, south-east

Q: Choose the word closest in meaning to “mitigate”: (a) aggravate (b) alleviate (c) postpone (d) ignore

To mitigate is to make something less severe.

Answer: (b) alleviate

Q (Coding): Reverse each word of a sentence but keep the word order. “TCS NQT exam” gives “SCT TQN maxe”.

import java.util.*;

public class Main {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String line = new Scanner(System.in).nextLine().trim();
        StringBuilder out = new StringBuilder();
        for (String w : line.split("\\s+")) {
            if (out.length() > 0) out.append(' ');
            out.append(new StringBuilder(w).reverse());
        }
        System.out.println(out);
    }
}

Answer: O(n) time and space. Trim the input so extra spaces do not create empty words.

Full 2024 set: TCS NQT 2024 papers.

Section-wise topics that repeat

Treat 2024-2026 sets as pattern trainers, not a bank to memorise. Themes repeat far more than exact questions.

Section	Topics that keep coming back	Reported load
Numerical ability	Percentages, ratio/proportion, averages, profit-loss, SI/CI, time-work, time-speed-distance, basic P&C, one-line probability, DI on tables and bar charts	~20 Qs
Verbal ability	Error spotting, sentence completion, synonyms/antonyms in context, short RC, para jumbles	~25 Qs
Reasoning ability	Number/letter series, coding-decoding, blood relations, directions, light seating, syllogisms, statement-conclusion, 3-4 variable puzzles	~20 Qs
Advanced quant + reasoning	Same families at a harder level, after an hour of Foundation	~15 Qs
Coding	Array traversal, prefix sums, frequency maps; strings (palindromes, anagrams, run-length); simple math or simulation; occasional sort + two pointers, basic recursion or a grid DP (2026 reports)	2-3 problems

You do not need CAT-level DI. You need clean arithmetic under fatigue. For a Digital push, candidates say the bar is both coding problems compiling and passing most tests, not one perfect and one blank.

Traps students report:

Spending 8 minutes on one puzzle and leaving ten easy grammar items untouched.
Reading an RC passage twice before looking at the questions. Skim the questions first.
Memorising syllogism tricks without practising them under a timer.
Mixing hours and minutes in time-speed-distance after coding fatigue.

How to use one paper in a timed sitting

Foundation, about 75 minutes. Do easy quant and grammar first (0-20 min), then reasoning and DI (20-50 min), then return to marked questions (50-75 min). Mark every guess.
Advanced, about 115 minutes. Coding problem 1 with samples and two edge cases (0-40 min), coding problem 2 or 3 (40-85 min), then advanced aptitude leftovers and an I/O check (85-115 min). Finish every coding attempt even if it is imperfect.
Review the same day, untimed. Rewrite the cleaner coding solution. List three aptitude topics that stole time.
Map misses to TCS aptitude questions and TCS coding questions.
Log the result as Ninja-safe or Digital-push (both coding problems green and advanced aptitude stable).

Three reviewed papers beat ten skimmed ones. If you miss a DI set, rebuild that chart type the next morning.

FAQs

Is there a TCS NQT previous year question paper PDF with answers?

Yes. The free 2026 TCS placement paper PDF and the 2024, 2025 and 2026 pages carry worked questions with solutions. These are practice sets rebuilt from candidate reports in the NQT pattern. They are not official or leaked papers.

What is the TCS NQT exam pattern in previous year papers?

Candidates describe one integrated test of about 190 minutes on TCS iON. Foundation (about 75 minutes) covers numerical, verbal and reasoning ability. Advanced (about 115 minutes) covers advanced quant and reasoning plus 2-3 coding problems in C, C++, Java or Python. Some drives report a 180-minute version with a separate programming logic section, so the exact split varies by drive.

Which TCS NQT section decides Ninja, Digital or Prime?

Candidates report that a solid Foundation score with an overall shortlist often maps to Ninja. Strong Advanced coding plus interview depth pushes Digital. Standout coding and a sharp technical panel push Prime. TCS does not publish a permanent cutoff table, so treat bands as performance plus interview outcomes.

Which year of TCS NQT papers should I start with?

Start with the 2025 set because it is closest to the current cycle, then 2026 for the expected pattern, then 2024 for extra volume. Review each paper the same day and map misses to aptitude and coding drills.

Is there negative marking in TCS NQT?

Typical cycles students report have no negative marking. Random guessing still burns time, so attempt easy items first and return to marked questions.

What are 2026 TCS NQT candidates reporting about the exam?

Candidate reports from April to August 2026 describe no major pattern change: Foundation with 3 sections and Advanced with 2. Numerical ability was very lengthy and hard to finish in time, while reasoning and verbal felt easy. Coding questions included a highest-frequency element problem and a DP minimum path cost problem, and a solid partial solution on the second problem still led to a Digital interview call for one candidate. Sectional cutoffs matter, so do not skip any Foundation section. Details: what 2026 candidates are reporting.