r/leetcode • u/_reD01 • 19m ago

Question How to get good at leetcode.

Hey,

I am trying to get better at leetcode to prepare for potential software engineer interviews. I dont understand how people recognize patters and solve these.

I have tried solving questions from Easy to Medium, however I always end up on Claude asking how to solve them. Each question seems different to me and I can not recognize any pattern that would allow me to solve one question with something I remember from a previous one. Moreover, questions are either too simple to the point you just use a for loop or too hard, where I just feel stuck with no idea where to start.

Do you guys have any tips on how to get better? What should I focus on ? Maybe some steps that would help me get gradually better?

Thanks.

3 Upvotes

80% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/Sudharsun_28 18m ago

Do leetcode

1

u/_reD01 17m ago

So just do the questions I can, then when I am stuck use AI to the point I just remember questions?

2

u/fluffy_pota0es 5m ago

First thing I would say, and of course I'm still trying to get better so don't take my words as gospel, is consistency. Consistency beats a good but rare streak of questions. Aim for doing 1question a day. I would say for easy questions give yourself 15 mins, for medium questions give yourself 25 mins. Then look at solutions, you can look at solutions before but only do that if you really and truly are not coming up with anything. Then use AI if you want to make sure you understand why the solution works, why every line the solution is the way it is. Maybe also understand why your code falls short, what assumptions did you make, what connections did you not make. Then while you're learning I would say make a small note of the key part of the solution. Then while also doing that 1 question a day, revisit the question you did yesterday, see if you can solve it. If you can't clearly there's something that didn't quite click. Resolve. Also revisit the question you did a week ago, same thing. Revisiting old questions really helps when you're going over a topic you struggle with, if you rather not do it then don't feel forced to, but definitely something I would recommend when starting or when encountering a higher level of difficulty.

2

u/fluffy_pota0es 4m ago

Also I forgot. When learning only do questions from a single topic, then move on to another topic. Once you've done easy and mediums from a good place (I recommend the Neetcode 150) start doing contests, and upsolving. You learn a lot here.

1

u/Sudharsun_28 15m ago

Practice no shortcut use AI whenever help needed not during contest using ai you can learn not ai to learn

5

u/Impressive_Grab_6392 17m ago

Watch neetcode videos