interview playbook

Walk into the DSA round with a plan

Knowing DSA is half the job. The other half is the round itself: the clock, the talking, the testing. This playbook covers that half, one short page at a time.

first time? read these in order

Start here

  1. Failure-mode clinicThe seven ways a DSA round usually goes wrong. For each one: why it happens, a routine that fixes it, and where to train.
  2. How you are scoredThe four areas interviewers commonly score — problem solving, coding, verification, communication — plus red flags and how to recover.
  3. The 45-minute planSeven phases with minutes: clarify, examples, brute force, optimise, code, test, complexity. What to do and say in each.
  4. What to say, word for wordReady lines for clarifying, thinking aloud, being stuck, taking a hint, stating complexity, testing and admitting a bug.
  5. Day before & day ofCalm, practical checklists for the evening before and the morning of, plus the setup for online rounds.

9 short pages

Every topic

  • you failed before? start here

    Failure-mode clinic

    The seven ways a DSA round usually goes wrong. For each one: why it happens, a routine that fixes it, and where to train.

  • the rubric

    How you are scored

    The four areas interviewers commonly score — problem solving, coding, verification, communication — plus red flags and how to recover.

  • the clock

    The 45-minute plan

    Seven phases with minutes: clarify, examples, brute force, optimise, code, test, complexity. What to do and say in each.

  • communication scripts

    What to say, word for word

    Ready lines for clarifying, thinking aloud, being stuck, taking a hint, stating complexity, testing and admitting a bug.

  • by input type

    Edge-case checklists

    What to ask and test for arrays, strings, linked lists, trees, graphs, matrices, intervals and numbers (overflow).

  • fresher to senior

    What each level must show

    Campus, SDE-1, SDE-2, senior: what the DSA round expects at each level, from the companies' own prep pages.

  • OA, screen, onsite, machine coding

    Format playbooks

    Four playbooks: the online assessment, the virtual screen, the onsite / whiteboard round, and the machine-coding round.

  • india overview

    How India hires, by company type

    Big tech India offices, product startups, fintech / HFT / quant, service-company premium tracks, and campus vs off-campus vs lateral.

  • checklists

    Day before & day of

    Calm, practical checklists for the evening before and the morning of, plus the setup for online rounds.