TCS ILP Ultimate Study Guide

One guide. Every ILP exam. Score 100 every time.

2025–2026 Edition

March 2026

17

Topics

254+

Practice Questions

7

Exams Covered

ILP Assessment Structure

The Initial Learning Program (ILP) has the following assessments, in order:

Step 1

Versant

CEFR English

Step 2
FA 1
Foundational

Step 3
FA 2
Best of FA1/FA2

Step 4

PRA 1

Project Readiness

Step 5

PRA 2

Best of PRA1/PRA2

Step 6-9

Sprints

1, 2, 3, 4

Final
HSE
HackerRank

Final Score

Best FA + Best PRA + Case Studies (4 Sprints) + Viva + HSE
Two attempts for FA and PRA — best score counts.

Exam Patterns

Exam	Format	What's Tested
Versant V4SE	Automated AI assessment	Speaking, listening, reading, writing (CEFR B2+ target)
FA Round 1	30 MCQs	10 UI (HTML/CSS/JS) + 5 SQL + 5 PL/SQL + 5 Unix + 5 Java
FA Round 2	Subjective (HackerRank)	Java OOP: class, objects, filtering, case-insensitive (35m) \| Unix AWK: CSV parsing, sum/filter (15m)
PRA	Comprehensive	Everything: Java, JDBC, Servlets, Spring Boot, Angular, Microservices
Sprints 1-4	Team projects (Agile)	Sprint 1: HTML/CSS/JS → 2: JDBC/SQL → 3: Microservices → 4: Angular
HSE	HackerRank Assessment	REST APIs, Java coding — exact format varies by batch

Versant Tips

Speak clearly at moderate pace — the AI evaluates pronunciation, not accent
Practice reading aloud daily and retelling short stories
Search YouTube for "Versant V4SE practice" — free mock tests available
CEFR B2 or above is the target

What to Study for What

Subject	FA	PRA	HSE	Sprints
HTML / CSS / JS	10 MCQs	Yes	—	Sprint 1
JavaScript	Yes	Yes	—	Sprint 1
Unix	5 MCQs + R2	Yes	—	—
SQL	5 MCQs	Yes	—	Sprint 2
PL/SQL	5 MCQs	—	—	—
Java	5 MCQs + R2	Yes	Likely	Sprint 2-3
JDBC	—	Yes	—	Sprint 2
Servlets / Spring Boot	—	Yes	—	Sprint 3
REST APIs / JSON / XML	—	—	Important	Sprint 3-4
TypeScript / Angular	—	Yes	—	Sprint 4
Microservices	—	Yes	—	Sprint 3-4

Study Sections

Web Fundamentals

Tags, forms, tables, semantic elements, attributes.

Selectors, box model, flexbox, positioning, specificity.

Type coercion, closures, hoisting, DOM, output prediction.

Programming

Java (Complete Guide)

Data types, OOP, constructors, exceptions, collections, type conversions.

Types, interfaces, generics, enums. Required for Angular.

Database & OS

SELECT, JOINs, GROUP BY, subqueries, constraints.

Blocks, cursors, procedures, triggers, exceptions.

Commands, permissions, grep, pipes, shell scripting.

Backend & APIs

Connection, Statement, PreparedStatement, ResultSet, CRUD.

Lifecycle, HttpServlet, request/response, sessions, filters.

Spring Boot (CRUD)

Annotations, REST controllers, JPA, CRUD APIs.

REST APIs / JSON / XML

HTTP methods, status codes, JSON parsing, API design.

Architecture, API gateway, service discovery.

Frontend Framework

Components, modules, routing, services, data binding.

Exam Prep & Practice

HSE — Coding Patterns

Java OOP patterns, class/object problems, filtering, sorting, Unix AWK.

HackerRank Tips & Strategy

How HackerRank works, I/O handling, reading questions, hidden test cases, common mistakes.

BizSkills & Versant

Communication skills, Versant V4SE prep, Agile terms.

Videos & Resources

Recommended Videos

TCS ILP FA Exam — Complete Guide

Java OOP Concepts in 30 Minutes

SQL Full Course for Beginners

External Practice — Objective (MCQ)

Best Platforms for MCQ Practice

📝 Sanfoundry — Java MCQs (1000+ questions) Java 📝 Sanfoundry — SQL MCQs SQL 📝 Sanfoundry — Unix MCQs Unix 📝 Sanfoundry — HTML MCQs HTML 📝 Sanfoundry — CSS MCQs CSS 🧩 GeeksforGeeks — JavaScript Quizzes JS 🧩 GeeksforGeeks — PL/SQL Questions PL/SQL

External Practice — Subjective (Coding)

Hands-on Coding Practice

🎯 HackerRank — FA Subjective Mock Practice (Java + Unix) FA R2 💻 HackerRank — Java Practice Problems Java 💻 HackerRank — SQL Practice Problems SQL 💻 HackerRank — Shell Scripting Challenges Unix 🧩 GeeksforGeeks — Java Exercises Java 📖 Javatpoint — Unix/Linux Tutorial Unix 🧩 GeeksforGeeks — Spring Boot Tutorial Spring 🧩 GeeksforGeeks — Servlet Tutorial Servlets 🧩 GeeksforGeeks — JDBC Tutorial JDBC 🅰️ Angular Official Tutorial — Tour of Heroes Angular 📘 TypeScript Handbook — Official Docs TypeScript 📚 StackOverflow — Java Questions (real-world problems) Java 📚 StackOverflow — SQL Questions SQL

Notes & Quick References

Downloadable Cheat Sheets

📋 HTML Cheat Sheet — Interactive reference HTML 📋 CSS Reference — Visual guide to every property CSS 📋 ES6 JavaScript Cheat Sheet JS 📋 Bash/Unix Command Cheat Sheet Unix 📋 SQL Cheat Sheet — All commands at a glance SQL

Discussion & Tips

Share tips, ask questions, or help fellow ILP students. Sign in to comment.