COBOL Interview Questions

Dear readers, these COBOL Interview Questions have been designed especially to get you acquainted with the nature of questions you may encounter during your interview for the subject of COBOL Programming Language. As per my experience, good interviewers hardly plan to ask any particular question during your interview.
Normally questions start with some basic concept of the subject and later they continue based on further discussion and what you answer:

What do you know about COBOL?

List some features of COBOL.

Name the divisions in a COBOL program.

What are the different data types available in COBOL?

What is 'IS NUMERIC' clause?

What are 66 and 88 level used for?

What is the difference between subscript and index?

What is the difference between SEARCH and SEARCH ALL?

What is the difference between performing a SECTION and a PARAGRAPH?

What is a scope terminator?

What are the file opening modes in COBOL?

What is the maximum size of a numeric field we can define in COBOL?

What is the difference between CONTINUE and NEXT SENTENCE?

Why we can not define occurs clause at 01 level?

What is the mode in which you will OPEN a file for writing?

What is the difference between Call By Content and Call By Reference?

What is a linkage section?

What will happen if you code GO BACK instead of STOP RUN in a stand alone COBOL program?

How is sign stored in a COMP-3 field?

What is the difference between comp and comp-3?

What is the purpose of Identification Division?

What is the difference between static call and dynamic call?

What is Redefines clause?

What is the Purpose of Pointer Phrase in STRING command?

What is 77 level used for?

What is binary search?

What is the use of EVALUATE statement?

Can I redefine an X(10) field with a field of X(20)?

What is COMP-1 and COMP-2?

What is the function of Accept Verb?

What is a Compute Statement?

How do you define the files referred to in a subroutine program?

What divisions, sections and paragraphs are mandatory in a COBOL program?

Where does AREA B in COBOL start from?

Where does the FILE-CONTROL paragraph appear?

What is the difference between Perform With Test After and Perform With Test Before?

What is LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION?

What are the access modes of START statement?

What is the difference between PIC 9.99 and PIC9v99?

Can a Search be done on a table with or without Index?

Why is it necessary to open a file in I-O mode for REWRITE?

What are literals?

What will happen if you code GO BACK instead of STOP RUN in a stand alone COBOL program?

What is the mode in which you will OPEN a file for writing?

Where does the FILE-CONTROL paragraph appear?

What is the length of PIC 9.999?

Which cobol verb is used for updating a file?

If 123 value is moved to a PP999 PIC clause, then what is edited value taken?

Where can we specify OCCURS clause?

How many bytes does a S9(7) SIGN TRAILING SEPARATE field occupy?

What is Next?

Further, you can go through the examples which you have practised with the subject and make sure you are able to speak confidently on them. If you are fresher, then the interviewer does not expect you to answer very complex questions, rather you have to make your basics very strong.
It really doesn't matter much if you could not answer a few questions, but it matters how you answered, the ones that you did. So just be confident during your interview. We at tutorialspoint wish you all the very best.