Cisco Placement Test 2026: Section Syllabus and Sample Questions

Cisco’s campus online test covers 50 questions in 60 minutes with no negative marking: two main components, aptitude and technical, across roles that include software engineer and network consulting engineer.

How the Cisco campus test fits the recruitment pipeline

The full Cisco recruitment process for freshers moves through three stages: online test, technical interview, and HR discussion. This article documents the online test in detail: section structure, syllabus, and 15 worked sample questions. For the complete process (eligibility, application channels, CTC bands, interview content), read the Cisco Recruitment Process complete guide.

The test documented here reflects the pattern from the 2019 Cisco campus drive. The section structure and marking scheme have been broadly consistent since then, but Cisco updates weights and question counts by role and drive cycle. Treat the figures below as the documented baseline and cross-check against the current drive notification on Cisco’s careers portal.

Test structure at a glance

Component	Section	Questions	Duration	Marking
Aptitude	Quantitative Aptitude	~20	Shared 60 min	No negative marking
Aptitude	Logical Reasoning	~15	Shared 60 min	No negative marking
Technical	CS / Networking MCQs	~15	Shared 60 min	No negative marking
Total		~50	60 minutes

The test is untimed per section: the 60-minute clock runs across all 50 questions together. This means you can sequence sections however you prefer. A common approach is to knock out the technical MCQs first (discrete right-or-wrong answers), then move to aptitude.

Quantitative Aptitude: syllabus and sample questions

Topics covered

• Percentages, profit and loss, discounts
• Time and work, pipes and cisterns
• Ratio and proportion, partnerships
• Speed, distance, and time
• Simple and compound interest
• Basic probability

Questions sit at class-10 to class-12 arithmetic difficulty. For a broader breakdown of how this section compares across campus tests, see the campus placement evaluation test guide.

Sample questions with worked solutions

• Q1 (Time and Work): A can finish a piece of work in 12 days; B can finish it in 18 days. Working together, how many days will they take?

  • A’s 1-day work = 1/12; B’s 1-day work = 1/18
  • Combined 1-day work = 1/12 + 1/18 = 3/36 + 2/36 = 5/36
  • Days together = 36/5 = 7.2 days
  • Answer: 7.2 days

• Q2 (Profit and Loss): A shopkeeper buys an item for ₹640 and sells it for ₹800. What is the profit percentage?

  • Profit = 800 - 640 = ₹160
  • Profit % = (160 / 640) × 100 = 25%
  • Answer: 25%

• Q3 (Ratio and Proportion): Divide ₹720 between A and B in the ratio 5:4. What does A receive?

  • Total parts = 5 + 4 = 9
  • A’s share = (5/9) × 720 = ₹400
  • Answer: ₹400 (B receives ₹320; total = ₹720 ✓)

• Q4 (Speed, Distance, Time): A train travels 360 km in 4 hours. How long does it take to cover 540 km at the same speed?

  • Speed = 360 / 4 = 90 km/h
  • Time for 540 km = 540 / 90 = 6 hours
  • Answer: 6 hours

• Q5 (Probability): A bag contains 4 red balls and 6 blue balls. One ball is drawn at random. What is the probability it is red?

  • Total balls = 10; red balls = 4
  • P(red) = 4/10 = 2/5
  • Answer: 2/5 (or 0.4)

Logical Reasoning: syllabus and sample questions

Topics covered

• Number series and letter series
• Syllogisms (Venn-diagram logic)
• Blood relations
• Direction sense
• Coding and decoding
• Seating arrangements (linear and circular)
• Analogies and odd-one-out

Sample questions with worked solutions

• Q1 (Number Series): Find the next term: 3, 6, 11, 18, 27, ?

  • Differences between terms: 3, 5, 7, 9 — the gap increases by 2 each time
  • Next difference = 11; so 27 + 11 = 38
  • Answer: 38

• Q2 (Syllogism): All engineers are graduates. Some graduates are post-graduates.

  • Conclusion I: Some engineers are post-graduates.
  • Conclusion II: Some post-graduates are engineers.
  • Analysis: The post-graduates in premise 2 may come entirely from non-engineer graduates. Neither conclusion follows as a certainty.
  • Answer: Neither Conclusion I nor Conclusion II follows

• Q3 (Blood Relation): Pointing to a photograph, Arun says, “She is the daughter of my grandfather’s only son.” How is the woman related to Arun?

  • Grandfather’s only son = Arun’s father
  • Arun’s father’s daughter = Arun’s sister
  • Answer: Sister

• Q4 (Direction Sense): Raj starts from point X, walks 5 km north, turns right and walks 3 km, then turns right and walks 5 km. How far is he from point X?

  • Net north-south movement = 5 km north minus 5 km south = 0 km
  • Net east-west movement = 3 km east
  • Distance from X = 3 km
  • Answer: 3 km

• Q5 (Coding-Decoding): In a certain code, APPLE is written as BQQMF. In the same code, how is MANGO written?

  • Pattern: each letter is shifted forward by 1 in the alphabet (A to B, P to Q, L to M, E to F)
  • M to N, A to B, N to O, G to H, O to P
  • Answer: NBOHP

Technical MCQs: syllabus and sample questions

Cisco’s technical section tests the core CS and networking fundamentals expected from B.Tech CSE, IT, and ECE freshers. The Cisco Networking Academy curriculum covers many of the networking topics that appear here.

Topics covered

• Data structures: arrays, linked lists, stacks, queues, trees, graphs
• Algorithm complexity (Big-O notation)
• DBMS: normalization, SQL basics
• Operating systems: scheduling algorithms, memory management, deadlock
• Computer networks: OSI model layers, TCP/IP, routing protocols, subnetting
• C/C++ output and pointer questions

Sample questions with worked solutions

• Q1 (Data Structures): What is the average-case time complexity of searching for an element in a balanced binary search tree?

  • At each level, half the remaining nodes are eliminated; a balanced BST has height log n
  • Answer: O(log n)

• Q2 (Networking): Which layer of the OSI model is responsible for logical addressing and routing packets across networks?

  • Layer 1 is Physical, Layer 2 is Data Link, Layer 3 is Network, Layer 4 is Transport
  • Routing and IP addressing belong to Layer 3
  • Answer: Network Layer (Layer 3)

• Q3 (Operating Systems): In the Round Robin CPU scheduling algorithm, what parameter most directly determines fairness and response time?

  • Answer: Time quantum (time slice) — shorter quantum improves response time but increases context-switching overhead

• Q4 (Programming): What does the following C code print? int a = 5; printf("%d", a++);

  • a++ is post-increment: the current value (5) is used in the expression, then a is incremented to 6
  • Answer: 5 (after the printf call, a = 6 in memory but was not re-printed)

• Q5 (Data Structures — Stack): A stack has elements (top to bottom): 5, 3, 7, 2. After two pop operations followed by one push of 8, what is the top element?

  • First pop removes 5; top becomes 3
  • Second pop removes 3; top becomes 7
  • Push 8: top becomes 8
  • Answer: 8

Preparing for the 60-minute window

One strategy that works consistently across company tests at this difficulty level is section sequencing. Start with technical MCQs first (discrete right-or-wrong answers), then logical reasoning, then quantitative aptitude. For a similar aptitude-plus-technical format with comparable section weights, the D.E. Shaw recruitment process guide is worth working through alongside Cisco preparation.

The most common failure mode in the quantitative section is not difficulty; it’s running out of time on long calculations. Useful shortcuts:

• For percentages, use fraction equivalents: one-quarter for 25%, one-eighth for 12.5%, one-fifth for 20%.
• For time and work, work-rate addition is faster than LCM methods for most problems.
• For probability, count total and favourable outcomes before setting up the fraction.

Logical reasoning at this level rewards pattern recognition. Number series questions almost always follow one of five families: arithmetic progression, geometric progression, alternating addition/subtraction, squares or cubes, or prime-number sequences. Recognise the family from the first two differences and the answer follows quickly.

The same disciplined step-by-step approach that gets you through 50 placement-test questions in 60 minutes transfers directly to working with AI tools. Both require taking an ambiguous problem, identifying what constraints apply, and eliminating options methodically. TinkerLLM is a self-paced environment at ₹299 where those same reasoning steps apply to AI prompts rather than MCQ options, a low-cost way to test whether that crossover interests you before committing to a longer programme.