Atos|Syntel Logical Reasoning: Recruitment Test Questions 2026

The Atos|Syntel online aptitude test places logical reasoning at the centre of its candidate filter. Most students who miss the cutoff stumble on the same three question types: number series, coding-decoding, and syllogisms.

Syntel to Atos|Syntel: company context

Syntel was an IT services company founded in 1980 and headquartered in Troy, Michigan. In 2018, Atos completed its acquisition of Syntel, and the combined entity now operates as Atos|Syntel. Campus recruitment and technical delivery for India continue under that brand, with major delivery centres in Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, and Bengaluru.

The Atos careers page lists current open roles and campus recruitment dates. Placement papers and test patterns from pre-2018 Syntel drives remain broadly relevant because the logical reasoning syllabus has not materially changed post-acquisition.

For the full aptitude test pattern covering all three sections (quantitative, verbal, and logical reasoning combined), see the Atos placement papers 2026 guide.

Logical reasoning section: format and syllabus

The logical reasoning section of the Atos|Syntel test typically runs 15 to 25 questions within the broader online aptitude test. Difficulty is easy to moderate across the question set. Negative marking is not confirmed in most Atos|Syntel drives (the standalone Atos entity applies negative marking in some formats; verify the exact scheme with your campus placement cell).

Question type	Frequency in reported drives	Difficulty
Number and letter series	High	Easy to moderate
Coding-decoding	High	Easy
Syllogisms	Moderate	Moderate
Rankings and class positions	Moderate	Easy
Data sufficiency	Moderate	Moderate
Odd man out	Low to moderate	Easy
LCM and timer problems	Low	Moderate
Direction problems	Low	Easy
Calendar and day-of-week	Low	Moderate

Series and coding-decoding together account for the largest share of LR questions in reported Atos|Syntel drives. Syllogisms and data sufficiency follow. Prioritise these four types first in your preparation.

Worked examples with verified answers

All 9 examples below are re-derived from first principles. One answer in widely-shared legacy study materials (a sequence question that appeared in pre-2018 Syntel papers) was arithmetically wrong; that question has been removed from this set.

Progressive accumulation

• Q1: A monkey starts climbing a 20-foot tree. Each hour it climbs 3 feet and slips back 2 feet. How many hours does it take to reach the top?

  Options: A) 16 hrs, B) 17 hrs, C) 18 hrs, D) 19 hrs

  • Net gain per complete hour: 3 minus 2 = 1 foot.
  • After 17 complete hours: 17 feet. The monkey has not yet reached the top.
  • In the 18th hour it climbs 3 feet: 17 + 3 = 20 feet. It reaches the top before any slip.

  Answer: C) 18 hours

Rankings and class positions

• Q2: Mr Rex is 13th from the front and 17th from the back in his class. In the passed-candidates list he is 8th from the front and 13th from the back. How many students failed?

  • Total students: 12 (ahead of Rex) + Rex + 16 (behind Rex) = 29.
  • Passed students: 7 (ahead) + Rex + 12 (behind) = 20.
  • Failed: 29 minus 20 = 9.

  Answer: 9 students failed

Coding-decoding

• Q3: In a code, “lion” is written as “mhpm”. How is “tiger” written?

  Options: A) uhish, B) uhhds, C) uhhfs, D) uhhfq

  • Derive the rule from the example before attempting tiger.
  • l (position 1, odd) to m: shift one letter forward.
  • i (position 2, even) to h: shift one letter backward.
  • o (position 3, odd) to p: shift one letter forward.
  • n (position 4, even) to m: shift one letter backward.
  • Rule confirmed: odd-position letters shift forward by one; even-position letters shift backward by one.
  • Apply to tiger: t(1) becomes u, i(2) becomes h, g(3) becomes h, e(4) becomes d, r(5) becomes s.

  Answer: B) uhhds

Syllogisms

• Q4: Given: (i) Some hands are noses. (ii) All noses are throats. (iii) All throats are hands. Conclusions: I. All noses are hands. II. Some hands are throats. Which conclusions follow?

  • From (ii) and (iii): All noses are throats (UP) combined with All throats are hands (UP) gives All noses are hands (UP + UP = UP). Conclusion I follows.
  • From (i) and (ii): Some hands are noses (PP) combined with All noses are throats (UP) gives Some hands are throats (PP + UP = PP). Conclusion II follows.

  Answer: Both Conclusions I and II follow

Odd man out

• Q5: Find the odd one: A) 123, B) 235, C) 135, D) 358.

  • Rule check: does the last digit equal the sum of the first two?
  • 123: 1 + 2 = 3. Last digit = 3. Rule holds.
  • 235: 2 + 3 = 5. Last digit = 5. Rule holds.
  • 135: 1 + 3 = 4. Last digit = 5. Rule fails.
  • 358: 3 + 5 = 8. Last digit = 8. Rule holds.

  Answer: C) 135

Data sufficiency

• Q6: What is AJ’s share in the profit earned by AJ, RJ, and VJ?

  • Statement I: VJ and RJ together made 75% of the total investment.
  • Statement II: RJ’s share in the profit was three-fifths.
  • Profit share equals investment share (given in problem setup).
  • Statement I alone: VJ + RJ = 75%, so AJ = 100% minus 75% = 25%. This resolves the question without Statement II.
  • Statement II alone: gives RJ’s share but not VJ’s share separately, so AJ cannot be isolated. Not sufficient alone.

  Answer: Statement I alone is sufficient (Option 1)

Iterative cycle puzzles

• Q7: A beggar collects cigarette stubs and makes one cigarette with every 7 stubs. He starts with 49 stubs. How many cigarettes can he smoke in total?

  Options: A) 6, B) 7, C) 8, D) 9

  • Round 1: 49 stubs divided by 7 = 7 cigarettes smoked, producing 7 new stubs.
  • Round 2: 7 stubs divided by 7 = 1 cigarette smoked, producing 1 stub. Not enough for another.
  • Total: 7 + 1 = 8 cigarettes.

  Answer: C) 8

LCM timer problems

• Q8: Device A beeps every 60 seconds. Device B beeps every 62 seconds. They beep together at 10:00 AM. When do they next beep together?

  Options: A) 30 min, B) 31 min, C) 32 min, D) 33 min

  • LCM(60, 62): 60 = 2^2 x 3 x 5; 62 = 2 x 31. LCM = 2^2 x 3 x 5 x 31 = 1860 seconds.
  • 1860 divided by 60 = 31 minutes.

  Answer: B) 31 minutes after 10:00 AM (i.e., 10:31 AM)

Alternating-difference series

• Q9: Find the missing number: 8, 2, 14, 6, 11, ?, 14, 6, 18, 12.

  Options: A) 2, B) 3, C) 4, D) 5

  • Differences between consecutive pairs: 8 minus 2 = 6; 14 minus 6 = 8; 11 minus ? = 6; 14 minus 6 = 8; 18 minus 12 = 6.
  • Differences alternate 6 and 8 throughout the series.
  • The third difference must equal 6: 11 minus ? = 6, so ? = 5.

  Answer: D) 5

Preparation strategy

A three-week focused plan covers all nine question types without overlap.

Week	Focus area	Daily target
1	Series and coding-decoding: number series, letter series, symbol coding	20 questions; identify the rule before checking the answer
2	Syllogisms and data sufficiency: Venn-diagram approach for syllogisms; two-statement protocol for DS	15 syllogisms, 10 data-sufficiency questions
3	Full-mix timed sets with all 9 types	1 set of 25 LR questions in 20 minutes per day

Two principles save time on test day. For syllogisms, draw a Venn diagram rather than reasoning verbally; the visual check eliminates errors in some, all, and no conclusions. For data sufficiency, always test Statement I alone first, then Statement II alone, then both combined. Students who jump to combining statements miss cases where one statement was sufficient on its own.

Coding-decoding questions reward rule-derivation over trial-and-error. Deriving the odd/even shift rule in Q3 above took roughly 20 seconds and made the answer direct. Guessing from options would have been slower and less reliable.

The Virtusa recruitment process guide covers a comparable LR-heavy aptitude test from a company in the same cluster. The Virtusa interview questions guide has additional coding-decoding and series examples worth working through once the core types are solid.

The data-sufficiency approach in Q6 (identifying which single statement resolves an ambiguity without the other) maps directly to debugging AI outputs: you isolate which input variable drives an unexpected result rather than changing everything at once. TinkerLLM builds that reasoning habit at ₹299, with structured exercises that train you to trace an LLM’s behaviour back to its inputs rather than pattern-match prompts from a list. For additional free LR practice beyond this article, IndiaBix has a drill bank that covers all nine types above.