Arcesium Software Engineer online assessment with negative marking and coding questions

My process started with an online assessment that lasted about 80 minutes. The first 15 minutes were a technical multiple-choice section with negative marking, so every guess felt costly. Next came assessment-style questions where I had to read a code snippet and choose the correct output.

Then there were two coding questions. The assessment was split into clear sections: MCQs to filter quickly, output prediction, then longer coding tasks. I made it through the time limits, but the scoring model, especially the negative marks, made the early section unforgiving.

I wasn't brought to an offer after the online stage. What stayed with me was how the test combined language understanding, like tracing outputs, with coding under pressure. The format was the hardest part for me. Getting through each section cleanly mattered more than anything else.

Location: New Delhi. Overall feedback: negative. Offer status: no offer.