On 4 January, I sat in front of my screen thinking,
“Maybe today changes something.”
Not because I was confident.
But because I was tired of waiting.
Infosys SP and DSE roles.
Tier-3 college. Off-campus. CSE 2025 batch.
This is not a success story.
This is just what really happened.
My Background (So You Know Where I’m Coming From)
I’m from a Tier-3 engineering college.
CSE, 2025 batch.
This was an off-campus Infosys drive.
Roles were Specialist Programmer (SP) and Digital Specialist Engineer (DSE).
The offer was supposed to be based on the coding assessment and interview performance.
I prepared thinking I was “good enough.”
That thought itself became my first mistake.
The Reality Check Started Before the Exam
The test center was Galgotias University, Greater Noida.
For me, that itself was hard.
Long travel.
Physical exhaustion.
Mental pressure before the exam even started.
I didn’t say it out loud, but inside I was already tired.
That matters more than we admit.
Mistake 1: I Thought “Normal DSA” Was Enough
What I thought
I believed basic DSA + practice questions would clear the DSE level easily.
After all, DSE is not SP, right?
What went wrong
The Infosys coding test was much harder than expected.
Not tricky-hard.
Not time-pressure-hard.
But conceptually deep and hard.
Real-life proof
The test had 4 coding questions:
Easy
Medium
Hard
Complex
Covering:
Advanced DSA
Graphs
Greedy
Dynamic Programming
This was not “normal DSA.”
What I learned
Infosys doesn’t test how many questions you solved.
They test how deeply you understand problem-solving.
Mistake 2: I Underestimated the Cutoff Game
What I thought
“If I solve 1–2 questions properly, I should be safe.”
That’s how most platforms work.
What went wrong
Infosys gives partial marking, yes.
But the cutoff felt very high.
I genuinely felt it was above 1.5+ questions’ worth of marks, even with partials.
Real-life proof
Even after attempting multiple questions,
I wasn’t confident they’d be enough.
The difficulty jump was brutal.
What I learned
Partial marking doesn’t mean partial effort works.
You still need strong accuracy and speed.
Mistake 3: I Wasn’t Ready for Advanced DSA Under Pressure
What I thought
“I know greedy, graphs, DP… at least theoretically.”
I had read them.
Watched videos.
Solved some problems.
What went wrong
Knowing is different from executing in 120 minutes.
The questions weren’t standard templates.
Real-life proof
I saw problems where:
Greedy logic wasn’t obvious
Graph traversal had twists
DP state definition itself was confusing
My brain froze more than once.
What I learned
If you haven’t solved hard-level problems yourself,
You don’t really “know” advanced DSA.
Mistake 4: I Ignored the Mental Cost of Traveling
What I thought
“Travel is normal. Everyone does it.”
So I ignored it completely.
What went wrong
The long journey drained me.
By the time the exam started:
I was tired
Slightly irritated
Already mentally spent
Real-life proof
I took more time to read questions.
Made small logic mistakes.
Not because I was weak.
Because I wasn’t fresh.
What I learned
For offline exams, energy management is preparation too.
Mistake 5: I Expected Immediate Communication
What I thought
“If I qualify, they’ll mail me.”
Simple.
What went wrong
Days passed.
No mail.
Silence.
Real-life proof
No update meant one thing.
I didn’t clear the test.
That realization hits slowly.
What I learned
In off-campus drives, no response is also a response.
The Silent Struggle No One Talks About
After the exam, I kept thinking:
“Others must have done better.”
“Maybe I’m not Infosys material.”
“Why does it feel harder only for me?”
Friends were posting progress.
Some were confident.
Some were already selected elsewhere.
I compared silently.
Not out of jealousy.
Out of fear.
Fear of being left behind.
That pressure doesn’t show on resumes.
But it stays in your head.
What This Experience Changed in Me
I stopped romanticizing company names.
Infosys didn’t reject me.
I just wasn’t ready for that level yet.
That’s an important difference.
I also stopped assuming:
“DSE is easier.”
“Normal prep is enough.”
Reality doesn’t care about assumptions.
What I’m Doing Differently Now (No Gyaan)
I’m solving more and more problems.
Not random ones.
Not just easy-medium.
But hard questions.
Mainly from:
Not rushing counts.
Not chasing streaks.
Just learning how to think.
Soft Takeaways for Juniors (From a Senior Who Failed)
Infosys tests depth, not coverage
DSE ≠ easy
Partial marking ≠ partial preparation
Offline exams drain energy
Silence after exam hurts, but it’s normal
Most importantly:
Failing one test doesn’t define your worth.
But ignoring why you failed will repeat it.
A Gentle Ending
On 4 January, I didn’t get selected.
But I got clarity.
And clarity is underrated.
If you’re preparing for Infosys SP or DSE,
Don’t fear the exam.
Respect it.
Prepare deeper than you think is necessary.
And if you fail,
Don’t rush to blame yourself.
Sit with it.
Understand it.
Then move forward.
That’s all I’m doing too.
Disclaimer
This article is based on my personal experience as a fresher. Interview patterns, difficulty levels, and results may vary for different candidates and batches.
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