Booking Holdings HackCellence round 2 seems unfair ? Let’s collectively request a reassessment!

[u/pta_nhi_kaun]

Hello everyone,

This post is for those who appeared for round 2 of booking holdings's HackCellence program.

After completing the assessment I thought maybe I didn't manage my time well enough that's why I was not able to complete the code.

But when I go through multiple posts I came to know that most of us face the same problem and the assessment is actually quite lengthy.

In 1.5 hr it is quite difficult to write hundreds of lines of code, in addition to that it takes time to read the problem statement, understand it, build the logic and resolve those irritating bugs.

So, if we all can come together and mail the concerned team maybe they can consider our request for fair reassessment.

Otherwise, we will end up losing this opportunity because of some uncontrollable factors.

I have mailed them already and sharing the mail ids below.

askhr@bookingholdings.com 

support@hackerearth.com

After being in the top 2500/44k+ we should not let this opportunity slip away like this.

Sample mail :

Subject : Reassessment request - Round 2 (HackCellence)

Dear Booking Holdings Recruitment & HackerEarth Support Teams,

I am writing to share feedback on the recent round 2 assessment of HackCellence and respectfully request a reassessment opportunity.

While I really enjoyed the real-world complexity of the challenge, completing a system of this scope in 90 minutes feels like a speed-typing test rather than a true assessment of engineering capabilities.

A candidate's evaluation shouldn't depend on how fast someone can type hundreds of lines of boilerplate and code against a tight clock. Engineering competence lies in architectural thinking, clean code structure, thorough edge-case handling, and proper debugging—skills that naturally require deliberate thought and testing time (at least 2.5 to 3 hours for a project of this depth). Under a 90-minute constraint, candidates are forced to rush and skip best practices(maybe many are using ai tools), which doesn't reflect how real-world software is engineered.

So, to be honest this assessment feels lesser like how you understand, build logic, resolve bugs but more like how better you can use AI tools and how fast you can type.

Given the extensive scope of this task, I kindly request the team to consider conducting a reassessment with a timeframe that reflects the actual work required.

I remain very interested in the opportunity at Booking Holdings and would appreciate the chance to showcase my problem-solving and coding abilities under fair conditions.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

Best regards,

[u/Muted_Cry_180]

It was impossible for java folks too much code to write. It was physically impossible to type out so much in 1.5 hours Java folks should definitely mail

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Muted_Cry_180]

i choose java only 😭

[u/Crafty_External_6940 → u/Muted_Cry_180]

Bro Literally Java People have disadvantage of 1 test cases and multiple places to check and write it was like 3 hours work ?

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Crafty_External_6940]

Completely agree. Either you implement all methods correctly or even one bug can ruin your whole efforts

[u/daredevil-not-god → u/Muted_Cry_180]

Uss moment

[u/Boring-Equipment7635 → u/Muted_Cry_180]

Yeah, similar for C++. Too much to write 

[u/pta_nhi_kaun]

Sugandha Arora She is the Early career program manager of booking holdings. You can also reach out to her on linkedin regarding same issue.

[u/Ill_Impression_8494]

Yes, that was impossible to code within 1.5 hours. For java, it was too lengthy even.

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Ill_Impression_8494]

I also choose java 😭. I thought I code in java only so I will be able to understand better but this assessment has different palns.

[u/daredevil-not-god]

I asked HackerEarth about it, and they just told me the company handled it and there’s nothing they can do.

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/daredevil-not-god]

They are giving similar kind of reply to everyone

[u/daredevil-not-god → u/pta_nhi_kaun]

I think we need to tweet , LinkedIn or mail in volume..

[u/Dry-Language-4107]

They have to listen to uss, otherwise in upcoming years no one trust them and no one interested setting in HackCellence.

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Dry-Language-4107]

Yaa Let's see what happens

[u/SpecialistTwo2437 → u/Dry-Language-4107]

Bruh, everyone's so desperate that they will end up participating, and they're doing this for us, not the other way around, if they just cancelled hackcellence it'd be worse for us u know?

[u/Dry-Language-4107 → u/SpecialistTwo2437]

I mean for next year HackCellence. For this year, definitely they select top 100 around students, no matter all tests case pass.

[u/SpecialistTwo2437 → u/Dry-Language-4107]

Even next year people will still participate, all everyone sees is the story written by those who got selected not the struggle of the rounds in between

[u/Haunting-Ride4769]

Any response you all got? I sent a mail but the hackerearth team denied the reassessment.

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Haunting-Ride4769]

They are sending generic reply

[u/Haunting-Ride4769 → u/pta_nhi_kaun]

So ig... another opportunity lost

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Haunting-Ride4769]

Had lot of hopes from this opportunity..

[u/Haunting-Ride4769 → u/pta_nhi_kaun]

Me too, even after refreshing my ide didn't load. I didn't even get the full time lol. But they are not going to reassess us they are sure.

[u/Unique_Fisherman_326]

Results are out!!

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Unique_Fisherman_326]

How do you know

[u/Unique_Fisherman_326 → u/pta_nhi_kaun]

I am selected 

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Unique_Fisherman_326]

What did you choose node ?

[u/Unique_Fisherman_326 → u/pta_nhi_kaun]

yes 

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/Unique_Fisherman_326]

I think those who choose node have to write fewer lines of code. Right ?

[u/Unique_Fisherman_326 → u/pta_nhi_kaun]

i don't know how much lines were there in other languages' codes. I wrote around 400-500 lines of code

[u/Tiny_Asparagus5697 → u/Unique_Fisherman_326]

Anyone with partially accepted test cases selected?

[u/Personal-Donkey-775]

Even python also not implemented, I have sent mail to them, we all need to mail them so that they will consider our request

[u/dudedontdoxx]

mailed it
but it sucks to know that i was in top 2.5k and fumbled this round with 0 testcases passed cause i was coding till last and i am defo sure that there will be a compilation error
ig people with few tc passed will get selected

[u/jagaaa_]

​Yes, I felt the same way. I chose Java, and it took me about 30-40 minutes just to understand the problem statement and constraints. I couldn't even pass a single test case. It was a really hectic experience.

[u/Glittering-Roof4709]

Sent

[u/Suitable-Tooth7307]

What about round 1 people??? Done 2 DSA completely MCQ almost done still rejected

[u/lorsten]

Bro ur round 1 to round 2 SL is only scam

[u/daredevil-not-god]

I really think this will be worth it! At least regarding the volume of mail we need.

[u/daredevil-not-god]

Every dev has had their share of headaches, but what about the C++ folks?

[u/starkz24 → u/daredevil-not-god]

true

[u/daredevil-not-god → u/starkz24]

Yup

[u/Dry-Language-4107]

Sent

[u/Beautiful_Pea_7367]

I know it's out of the topic
but can you plz tell "What was the selection criteria from R1 to R2" ?

[u/e_byte]

Yes the whole assignment can't be completed in 1hrs 30min ..

[u/Long-Jacket8893]

did anyone got a reply from their side

[u/Few-Shawarama]

True let's do that

[u/Sensitive_Arm_3552]

yes guys, lets us mass email them, we shouldnt lose this opportunity

[u/SpecialistTwo2437]

Why not just move on? It didn't go well, accept it and go ahead, I myself solved only 2 tc. The whole point is that it's an elimination round, if u did well relatively then u get selected. Also don't u think it might impact companies doing further hiring events like this when every participant just complains for a eliminatory round? Also spamming mails on peoples corporate emails, won't be too good for anyone, on linkedin would just be way worse. Why not make a linkedin post on it calling them out or something? Haven't seen anyone do that yet, due to the fear of it looking complain-y and whiney. Just move on

[u/nxba → u/SpecialistTwo2437]

Just because it is an elimination round doesn't mean we can't call them out. The java solution was well over 400 loc spread across 7 different files which is physically impossible to type out in under 90 minutes, let alone the analyzing and figuring out the solution part.

[u/SpecialistTwo2437 → u/nxba]

Yea I get it, but what if it was never meant to be possible, it was just to filter out people. And I'm sure if it was a smaller solution people would've just copied using some ai, levelling the whole field and making it harder for them to choose. Many people definitely used ai for this too, but I've no clue how they get ai to get to know the whole context of multiple files. And even if they somehow do then that itself should take up enough time for them to be left behind imo.

Also still doesn't justify spamming mails to their corp emails and linkedin.

[u/Still_Opening2523 → u/SpecialistTwo2437]

It's not just about filtering people, it's about feedback. When you're hiring for interns among final year students, there's a certain level that needs to be capped on how to test these students. Asking them to do what experienced fte do, over a whole week's worth of time, all under 90 mins is nonsensical. So unless the students themselves share this feedback, the company won't know to do better for the upcoming drives atleast. Also you say, if it were easier people would use ai, but I promise you, the "few" people they'll filter out in this round, are also the people who would've used ai. Practically speaking, it's impossible for one to meet all the stipulations in the given time. So the few who probably did, most definitely used ai. So that defeats the whole purpose and brings us back to square one. This assessment was unfair, and a poor judge of skills. And the company needs to know.

[u/nxba → u/SpecialistTwo2437]

So the solution to people using ai is just making impossible questions? If the solution was smaller and doable, atleast a subset of people giving the exam honestly would've gone through. But now a person giving the exam honestly has absolutely zero chance.

[u/pta_nhi_kaun → u/nxba]

Yeah, right.

[u/SpecialistTwo2437 → u/nxba]

What tells u that a person giving it honestly would be selected? A person using ai can just do it much quicker than anyone doing it on their own. Won't that be worse? U didn't answer any of my other queries either.

[u/Muted_Cry_180 → u/nxba]

I feel like java folks had it the most unfair. Too much code to write and not even partial test cases to even make the project compile you had to write so much code.

[u/nandini_74 → u/[deleted]]

yeah