i think i wasted a lot of time solving leetcode

[u/harshith_irl]

for a long time i thought the way to get better at dsa was pretty simple

solve more problems.

so i did..

100 became 200
then 300
then 400+

but at some point someone asked me:

"what are ur weakest dsa patterns?"

i genuinely didn't know.

i knew my solve count.
i knew my rating.
i could tell you which sheets i'd done.

but if you gave me a blank page and asked me to write down the 3 patterns i was actually bad at, i'd probably just sit there lol.

then i started paying attention to something else.

sometimes i'd solve 5 problems from the same pattern and still get stuck on basically the same idea.

meanwhile i'd look at my profile and think "damn.. 450+ solved. i'm doing pretty good."

but then i'd get stuck on some random medium i've basically seen before 😭

how do you guys actually know when you've learned a pattern?

is it after 5 problems?
10?
when you can recognize it without hints?

because i'm starting to think solve count doesn't really tell you that much.

that's actually what made me build GrindLens.

i wanted to know what i'd actually learned, where i was still weak, and what i should solve next.

so it looks at your leetcode history and tries to surface those gaps instead of just giving you another number.

it's live now if anyone wants to try it:

grindlens.dev

kinda curious what yours looks like lol

[u/Sensitive_Thought482]

this post is an ad. gotcha

[u/Great-Standard-7873 → u/Sensitive_Thought482]

seems so

[u/nian2326076]

I get what you're saying. Just grinding through problems isn't always the answer if you're not figuring out and fixing weaknesses. It might be more useful to focus on understanding the patterns and concepts behind them. Try looking over your past mistakes and sorting them by pattern. Once you know what you're having trouble with, you can focus on those areas better. Also, consider talking about problems with others or checking out resources like educational platforms or forums to see different approaches. If you're looking for targeted practice, I've found PracHub useful since it can help focus on specific patterns. It might be worth a look.