ARM

Role: Intern

College: Not Specified

Interview Date: 2020 (Virtual)

Interview Type: On-Campus Virtual

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Not Specified

Rounds: 3 rounds

Topics Asked: Aptitude, Digital Electronics, C basics, OS concepts, Computer Architecture (CA) Theory, Circuits, Cache, Pipelining, Memory Hierarchy, Sorting Algorithms, Paging, Virtual Memory, MMU, L1/L2 Caches, ARM Processor Design, Critical Section, Process Synchronization, Process vs Threads, Semaphores, ML Projects.

Experience:

The ARM talent acquisition team visited the campus virtually for an intern role in the verification domain. There were three rounds.

Round 1 (Written Test): This round had a duration of over 2 hours and consisted of 30 aptitude questions and 70 technical questions. Aptitude topics covered Time & Work, Time and Distance, percentages, profit and loss, SI & CI. Technical questions included Digital electronics, C basics & guessing the output, OS concepts, CA Theory, and some numerical questions related to circuits.

Round 2 (Technical Round-1): This round included basic questions on Cache and Pipelining, such as how instruction execution happens in non-pipeline and pipelining architectures, the need for pipelining, and why it's preferred. Questions on Memory Hierarchy and Cache Hierarchy were also asked. Basic sorting algorithms were discussed. The interviewers showed interest in projects done using C & Python; the candidate had projects in Java & Python but none in C.

Round 3 (Technical Round-2): After a brief self-introduction, the interview delved into various topics. Questions included: What is paging? What is virtual memory? What are the different ways to implement concepts of Virtual memory? What is MMU and what does it do? What are L1, L2 Caches and how do they differ? Design of ARM processor. What is a critical section? Why do we need process synchronization mechanisms, what are they, and how are they implemented? What is a process? Differentiate process vs Threads. Why is a Thread called a lightweight process? How many types of Semaphores are present, what are they, and how do they differ? Questions on ML projects were also asked, as the intern role sometimes involves regression tasks.