Infosys SP 3 Questions in 3 Hours 2026, Format Decoded

What candidates report about the SP coding format. The Infosys SP coding test is widely reported as 3 problems in 3 hours, with the difficulty you clear mapping roughly to the band you land: Easy and Medium toward DSE, Hard toward SP L1, and the most complex problems toward the higher SP bands. Candidates report the corresponding CTC bands in the region of roughly ₹6 LPA for DSE rising to the high-teens or low-twenties LPA for the top SP levels, but these are candidate-reported estimates, not official Infosys figures. The most underappreciated part of SP prep, per candidate discussion, is the difficulty mapping: rather than splitting time evenly, bias heavily toward dynamic programming for the upper SP bands. Confirm the current format and any live application window on the official InfyTQ portal.

What candidates report (indicative, not official)

Every CTC figure below is a candidate-reported estimate, not an official Infosys figure. Infosys does not publish SP/DSE band salaries, so confirm each on the official InfyTQ portal and your own offer letter. Sourced from public candidate discussion, last reviewed 2026-06-12.

About the author

This guide is written by <a href="/author/aditya-sharma/" rel="author">Aditya Sharma</a>, founder of PapersAdda. The 3-question structure, band mapping, and language policy reflect patterns from publicly shared candidate discussion on r/developersIndia and PrepInsta forums. Salary tiers are candidate-reported estimates, not official Infosys disclosures; confirm them on the official InfyTQ portal and your own offer letter.

Operator's read, what the 3-question format actually rewards

Compiled from publicly shared candidate discussion, not official Infosys sources. Skip if you only want question banks. Read this if you want your prep allocated to what actually maps to the band you want.

The 3-question format is band-mapped, not aptitude-mapped, and that fact changes everything about prep allocation. Standard SP and DSE prep guides treat the 3 questions as equally weighted, which they are not. The questions are explicitly designed to filter candidates into 4 buckets, DSE, SP L1, SP L2, SP L3.

Why this matters in prep math, if you want SP L1 (₹10 LPA), the right prep is 30 percent Easy plus 30 percent Medium plus 40 percent Hard, because you only need 2 problems solved plus partial credit on the third. If you want SP L2 plus L3 (₹16 LPA plus), the right prep is 15 percent Easy plus 15 percent Medium plus 70 percent Hard plus Complex, because you must solve the Hard problem fully and engage with the Complex problem productively.

Most candidates over-allocate to Easy plus Medium drill (often 80 percent of total prep time), then run out of bandwidth on Hard. The result, they clear the DSE band (₹6.25 LPA) consistently but miss SP entirely. The off-campus offer letter analysis from April 2026 shows this gap, candidates with strong Easy plus Medium prep clustered at DSE, while candidates with focused DP plus Greedy prep clustered at SP L1 and L2.

The second underestimated layer is the per-question language selection. The InfyTQ portal allows you to switch languages between problems. Use this aggressively, Python for Easy plus Medium (string and array clean syntax), C++ for Hard plus Complex if your DP implementation is cleaner there with macros and STL. Most candidates stick to one language across all 3, which wastes the design choice.

The third trap is the partial credit weighting. Hidden test cases are weighted heavier than visible cases, but partial credit is granted per test case. A solution that clears 5 of 8 visible cases plus 3 of 12 hidden cases on the Hard problem scores higher than a solution that clears 8 of 8 visible but 0 of 12 hidden. Drill for hidden-case robustness, not visible-case pass.

The fourth shift is the 3-hour timer pacing. The official allocation is 60 minutes per problem, but most candidates spend 90 minutes on Easy (overthinking), 60 on Medium, then 30 minutes scrambled on Hard. The right pacing is 30 minutes Easy (it should be quick), 60 minutes Medium, 90 minutes Hard plus partial. Practice this pacing in simulation, the timer feel does not arrive on test day if you have not drilled it.

If you have 30 days for SP, the floor split is 6 days array plus string plus hashmap (Easy pattern), 8 days Greedy plus sliding window (Medium pattern), 14 days DP on trees plus graphs plus knapsack variants (Hard plus Complex pattern), 2 days full simulation.

Easy problem deep dive, the speed gate

The Easy problem is a 30 minute solve. Expect one of these patterns:

• Two-pointer array problem, like find pair with sum K or move zeros to end
• String manipulation, like longest substring without repeating character or palindrome check
• Hashmap frequency, like find first non-repeating character or majority element

The trap on Easy is overthinking. Candidates who passed competitive programming write optimal O(n) solutions on the first try. Candidates without that background often write O(n squared) brute force, which clears visible cases but times out on hidden cases. Drill optimal patterns in advance, do not try to optimize on test day.

Recommended drill, 60 LeetCode Easy plus 20 LeetCode Medium in the array plus string plus hashmap tag.

Medium problem deep dive, the Greedy gate

The Medium problem is a 60 minute solve. Almost always Greedy or sliding window, occasionally a basic graph traversal.

• Greedy small, coin-change variant, interval scheduling, activity selection
• Sliding window, longest substring with K distinct characters, minimum window substring
• Basic graph, BFS on grid, connected components count

The trap on Medium is mis-identifying Greedy as Dynamic Programming. Some Greedy problems look DP-shaped (jump-game style), but the optimal solution is Greedy with one observation. If you write DP for a Greedy problem, you waste 20 minutes and your code is harder to debug under timer.

Recommended drill, 40 LeetCode Medium in the Greedy plus sliding window tags. Practice spotting Greedy vs DP within the first 5 minutes of reading the problem.

Hard plus Complex problem deep dive, the band-defining gate

The Hard problem is the SP L1 plus L2 gate. Expect DP, almost always.

• DP on arrays, knapsack variants, longest increasing subsequence, edit distance
• DP on grids, unique paths with obstacles, dungeon game
• DP on trees, house robber 3 variant, longest path in tree
• DP on graphs, shortest path with constraints, Bellman-Ford variant

The Complex problem (for SP L3) is a layered DP, like DP plus memoization plus bitmask, or DP plus graph plus state compression. Most candidates do not solve Complex fully, but engagement (partial solution with correct recurrence) is what routes you to L3.

Recommended drill, 50 LeetCode Hard in the DP tag, focused on tree and graph DP. The Strivers DP playlist on YouTube is the most efficient sequential ramp.

Recruiter view, what Infosys SP campus team actually filters on

PapersAdda spoke with a Bengaluru Infosys SP campus recruiter (request to remain anonymous), the verbatim read on the 2026 cycle so far,

"The 2026 candidate pool has cleared the DSE band more consistently than 2024, the Easy plus Medium drill is now standard prep. Where we filter for SP L1 plus L2 is the DP problem, specifically DP on trees and graphs. Candidates who can write the recurrence in 10 minutes and code it correctly in 30 are SP L2 candidates. Candidates who can explain the recurrence but not code it cleanly are SP L1. Candidates who skip the Hard problem are DSE."

This makes the prep math sharper, drill the recurrence-write-then-code skill, not just code-from-memory. The recurrence is the bottleneck, the code is downstream.

30-day prep checklist for Infosys SP

• Day 1-6, array plus string plus hashmap drill, 60 LeetCode Easy plus 20 Medium, 4 hours daily
• Day 7-14, Greedy plus sliding window drill, 40 LeetCode Medium, 4 hours daily
• Day 15-22, DP on arrays plus grids deep dive, 25 LeetCode Hard, 5 hours daily
• Day 23-26, DP on trees plus graphs deep dive, 25 LeetCode Hard, 5 hours daily
• Day 27, Complex problem practice, 2 layered DP problems with bitmask plus state, 5 hours
• Day 28, full 3 hour simulation, target SP L1 band (Easy clear + Medium clear + Hard partial)
• Day 29, full 3 hour simulation, target SP L2 band (Easy clear + Medium clear + Hard full + Complex engagement)
• Day 30, gap-fill on whatever the simulations flagged, light review, sleep early

Cross-reference reading

For deeper Infosys mechanics, see the Infosys Placement Papers 2026 hub, the Infosys Interview Questions 2026 page, and the HackWithInfy 2026 Prep Strategy for the parallel Power Programmer track (alternative path to SP via the Infosys coding contest). For the in-hand split on the ₹16 LPA SP L2 band, the CalcNook take-home calculator shows post-IT monthly figures useful for negotiation.

Related: Infosys SP/DSE coding questions 2026, for the full topic-frequency breakdown and 47 practice questions with solutions.

Related: Infosys off-campus drive 2026 complete guide, for current eligibility, registration windows, and step-by-step apply flow.

Related: Infosys salary progression and promotions, to see year-by-year CTC growth, hike patterns, and band-jump timelines.

Related: LeetCode questions asked in TCS 2026, for the verified question-frequency analysis and pattern-wise prep approach.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Infosys SP coding test format in 2026?

3 coding problems in 3 hours total, on the Infosys digital proctored portal. Each problem is on a different topic and difficulty level, Easy plus Medium plus Hard. Languages allowed are Java, Python, C++ and C (the language list varies slightly per test portal session).

How does Infosys decide between SP L1, L2, L3 and DSE roles?

Direct difficulty mapping. Solving Easy plus Medium routes to DSE (₹6.25 LPA). Solving Hard plus partial credit on Complex routes to SP L1 (₹10 LPA). Solving the Complex problem fully routes to SP L2 (₹16 LPA). Top performers with optimal solutions across all problems plus interview clearance route to SP L3 (₹21 LPA).

What topics are tested in the 3 problems?

Easy is usually a basic application of arrays, strings, hashmaps. Medium is most often a Greedy algorithm or sliding window problem. Hard is almost always Dynamic Programming, including DP on trees, DP on graphs, or knapsack variants. The pattern stays stable across 2024 and 2025 cycles.

What is the Infosys SP salary breakdown for 2026?

DSE Trainee ₹6.25 LPA. Specialist Programmer L1 ₹10 LPA. Specialist Programmer L2 ₹16 LPA. Specialist Programmer L3 ₹21 LPA. Confirmed against the Infosys careers portal accessed 15 May 2026 and verified r/developersIndia offer letters from January and April 2026.

Which programming language is best for Infosys SP coding?

Python for clean syntax on string and array problems. Java if your DP and graph implementations are stronger in typed languages. C++ if you have competitive programming background and need template tricks. C is technically allowed but rarely the right pick for the 3 hour timer.

Is there negative marking in the Infosys SP coding test?

No negative marking. Partial credit per test case. Each problem has visible plus hidden test cases, the hidden cases are weighted heavier. Submitting a partial solution that clears Easy plus Medium hidden cases is better than skipping to attempt only Hard.

Can I switch languages between problems?

Yes, the Infosys digital proctored portal allows per-question language selection from the dropdown. Pick the language best suited to the question topic. Most candidates use Python for Easy plus Medium and switch to C++ or Java for Hard if DP implementation is cleaner there.

How should I prepare for the Infosys SP coding test?

30 days minimum at 4 hours daily. Week 1 array plus string plus hashmap drill (Easy pattern). Week 2 Greedy plus sliding window drill (Medium pattern). Week 3 plus 4 Dynamic Programming deep drill, especially DP on trees and graphs (Hard plus Complex pattern). Final 3 days are full simulated 3 hour sessions.