I cleared the written test for M.Tech Research in CDS at IISc Bangalore. After that, I was scheduled for an interview with a three-member panel. It lasted for 50 minutes.
Upon arriving at the IISc Bangalore campus for the interview, we were allowed inside after 8 am. My degree certificate and Aadhar were checked before allotting me the room and panel.I had to wait for around 3 hours before my interview. My preferences were DREAM Lab, MARS Lab, and VCL Lab.The interviewers looked at the form that I had filled out, read all that was written to me, and proceeded to ask me some basic questions based on my responses. I mentioned having studied C++, data structures, and scheduling algorithms.
The first professor asked me a question about finding an element in an unsorted array. He kept asking me basic questions throughout this time. Another professor asked me a question about scheduling algorithms. He asked me to prove mathematically my assertion that SJF is optimal and that no other algorithm can give a better performance than it. The third professor asked me questions on system calls, user/kernel mode, and whether the addition expression in C++ program also has some underlying system call.
Though I could not clear the interview, it was an enriching experience for me. It helped me gain more confidence and to look at things from a different perspective.