BNP Paribas interview prep

5 practice questions on the topics candidates reported from BNP Paribas interviews, with answers. The questions are ours; each one links to the interview report that names its topic.

Practise them as a timed round 8 roles open at BNP Paribas

DSA 3

DSAEasy

Prices over six days are [7, 1, 5, 3, 6, 4]. Buying once and selling once later, what is the best profit?
1. 5
2. 6
3. 4
4. 0
Show the answer

A. 5

Buy at 1, sell at 6. One pass keeps the lowest price so far and the best price minus that low, O(n). Selling at 7 is impossible because 7 comes before 1.

This topic is named in a candidate’s interview report: Software engineer intern on-campus interview, 2024, on Code360.
DSAHard

What is the largest product of a contiguous subarray of [2, -5, -2, -4, 3]?
1. 20
2. 30
3. 24
4. 240
Show the answer

C. 24

[-2, -4, 3] gives 24, and [2, -5, -2] gives 20. Keep both the largest and the smallest product ending at each index, because a negative number turns the smallest into the largest; swap them when the current number is negative.

This topic is named in a candidate’s interview report: Software engineer intern on-campus interview, 2024, on Code360.
DSAMedium

Intervals [1, 3], [2, 4], [6, 7], [9, 12] and [11, 13]. Which overlap no other interval (sharing an end point counts as overlapping)?
1. [6, 7] only
2. [1, 3] and [6, 7]
3. [6, 7] and [9, 12]
4. None of them
Show the answer

A. [6, 7] only

Sort by start; an interval is isolated when it starts after the largest end seen so far and ends before the next interval starts. [1, 3] and [2, 4] overlap, as do [9, 12] and [11, 13]. Sorting makes it O(n log n).

This topic is named in a candidate’s interview report: Software engineer intern on-campus interview, 2024, on Code360.

Java 1

JavaEasy

In System.out.println("hi"), what are System, out and println?
1. A package, a class and a keyword
2. System is a class in java.lang, out is its public static field of type PrintStream, and println is a method of PrintStream
3. System is an object, out a method and println a field
4. Three keywords of the language
Show the answer

B. System is a class in java.lang, out is its public static field of type PrintStream, and println is a method of PrintStream

out is a static field, so it is reached through the class name with no System object. It is a PrintStream wired to standard output; System.err is another PrintStream for errors, and System.setOut can replace out.

This topic is named in a candidate’s interview report: Java developer intern interview, Chennai, 2019, on GeeksforGeeks.

DBMS and SQL 1

DBMS and SQLEasy

customer has the names Balaji, Abhay, Shobana and Saba. With a case-sensitive comparison, which names does this return?
```
SELECT name FROM customer WHERE name LIKE '%ba%';
```
1. Balaji, Shobana and Saba
2. Saba only
3. Shobana and Saba
4. Abhay, Shobana and Saba
Show the answer

C. Shobana and Saba

% matches any run of characters, including none, so the pattern means "ba" anywhere in the name. Shobana and Saba contain lower-case "ba". Balaji starts with "Ba", which a case-sensitive comparison does not match, and Abhay has "bh", not "ba". MySQL's default collations are case-insensitive and would add Balaji.

This topic is named in a candidate’s interview report: Java developer intern interview, Chennai, 2019, on GeeksforGeeks.

Prep for other employers

All employers

DSA 3

Prices over six days are [7, 1, 5, 3, 6, 4]. Buying once and selling once later, what is the best profit?

What is the largest product of a contiguous subarray of [2, -5, -2, -4, 3]?

Intervals [1, 3], [2, 4], [6, 7], [9, 12] and [11, 13]. Which overlap no other interval (sharing an end point counts as overlapping)?

Java 1

In System.out.println("hi"), what are System, out and println?

DBMS and SQL 1

customer has the names Balaji, Abhay, Shobana and Saba. With a case-sensitive comparison, which names does this return?

Prep for other employers