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Round 1:First Consisted of 3 sections as follows :section 1 :Quantitative aptitude (30 mcqs - 30 minns)section 2: Technical mcqs major questions were based on sql and data...
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Round 1 First Consisted of 3 sections as follows : section 1 :Quantitative aptitude (30 mcqs - 30 minns) section 2: Technical mcqs major questions were based on sql and data ware house concepts (drill up drill down) (25-30 mcqs) section 3 : 2 coding questions (Easy(Array based)- solving atleast 1 coding question will get you shorlist) time for section 2 and 3 was - 60 mins
Round 2 We had only one interview and it was skype interview, first they asked me to introduce myself. The interview was more of a behavioral/Situational based was for me. For other people, they asked questions on each and every subject od sc fundamental (OOPs, OS, Data Structure, DBMS, etc). plus projects and about the technologies you have used in your projects. So coming back to my interview, They first introduced them self and started the interview by asking me to tell them more about the projects i had mentioned in my cv. After that they asked me the challenges i had faced while implementing the projects, how did i made my teams, How do i managed working in teams. What do i think i/my team mates should have done to kind of ignore the problems we have faced in project. did you applied the things you have learned from first team project to the next i have done, etc. i had two technical questions in my interview : Normalization, what is hive(bcz i have done hadoop ) The problem i faced in the interview is i couldn't see them bcz they turned off their camera and when we explained them something its silent for some time we feel like they are hearing s or not. For other people they could see their panel i dont know why my panel turned off their camera. (panel were of 2 people) People who were asked technical questions got selected (4 out of 23 ) So why they didn't asked technical stuff to everyone i dont know. Its all luck. All the best guys !
About This Question
This is a reported interview question from a shell interview for a data science role during the phone screen round reported in 2021.
It covers the following topics: Arrays, Sql .
Difficulty rating: Easy
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About Shell Interview Reports
This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at Shell. LeakCode aggregates interview reports from 10+ sources, including 1Point3Acres, Glassdoor, LeetCode Discuss, Blind, Reddit, Indeed, and Nowcoder. Each report is translated where necessary, deduplicated against existing entries, and tagged by company, role, round type, and reporting date.
Use this question as one calibration data point, not a memorization target. Companies typically rotate their question pools every 2-4 months; the exact wording of a 2024 question may differ from what you encounter today. The underlying pattern, difficulty level, and follow-up depth at Shell are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the Shell interview process typically includes a recruiter screen, one or two technical phone screens, and a 4-5 round on-site loop covering coding, system design (at L4+ levels), and behavioral. Reports tagged on LeakCode show the round-by-round distribution and typical difficulty calibration. To browse questions filtered by round type and seniority, use the company hub linked above.
How To Practice This Type of Question
Solve similar problems on LeetCode under timed conditions (25-35 minutes per medium difficulty). The goal is pattern recognition: recognize the underlying technique (sliding window, two-pointer, BFS, memoized recursion, etc.) within 60-90 seconds of reading. Strong candidates verbalize their hypothesis out loud before coding, then iterate based on feedback. Weak candidates dive into implementation immediately, lose time on the wrong approach, and run out of time for follow-ups.
Companies update their question pools every 2-4 months. The exact wording of any given question may have been retired by the time you interview. Focus your prep on the pattern, not the specific problem. The patterns that appear in Shell reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your Shell Round
Apply the standard interview round template: clarify requirements (2-3 minutes), state your approach out loud and confirm direction with the interviewer (3-5 minutes), code with narration (15-25 minutes), test with concrete examples including edge cases (5 minutes), discuss optimization or trade-offs if time permits (5 minutes). This template is universally accepted across FAANG and adjacent companies; deviating from it produces weaker interviewer feedback signal.
The single most predictive failure mode in Shell reports tagged "no hire": not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers are explicitly trained to weight this. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's written notes.