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Unpopular opinion: LeetCode hard problems are rarely asked in real interviews

Nandini GuptaNandini Gupta
7/22/2025
498

Based on my experience (gave ~25 interviews at various companies), here's the actual difficulty distribution:

  • Easy: 10%
  • Medium: 75%
  • Hard: 15%

And that 15% "hard" is usually just a medium problem with one extra twist. Pure hard problems like median of two sorted arrays or regular expression matching? Never seen them in an actual interview.

Instead of grinding hards, I'd recommend:

  1. Be really fast at mediums (solve in 15-20 mins)
  2. Know the patterns well
  3. Handle edge cases cleanly
  4. Communicate clearly

Thoughts?

unpopular-opinionleetcodedifficultystrategy

Comments (6)

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Smriti Bansal
Smriti Bansal11 months ago

Thanks for sharing this breakdown, Nandini. Do you think coding bootcamps should adjust their curriculum to focus more on medium problems then?

Kajal Yadav
Kajal Yadav8/21/2025

I don't think it's just about the problems. Practicing those communication skills during problem-solving is equally important. How you explain can make or break the interview.

Nina Liu
Nina Liu8/18/2025

Hmm, I've had a different experience. During my Google interview, I faced a couple of problems that were straight out of LeetCode Hard. But maybe it depends on the role or team?

Sachin Ahuja
Sachin Ahuja8/12/2025

Honestly, I feel like hards help in building problem-solving skills. Even if not directly asked, they make mediums feel easier over time.

Sachin Ahuja
Sachin Ahuja8/11/2025

Just curious, what do you mean by 'know the patterns well'? Like specific algorithm patterns or a broader problem-solving approach?

Urvi Iyer
Urvi Iyer8/9/2025

I totally agree! I've been practicing mediums and realized that the core concepts are often the same. Once you get those down, the 'hard' twists aren't that bad.