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LeetCode Prep Insights

Practical guides, tips, and stories on coding interviews and smarter LeetCode practice with AI.

215 articles

Stop Guessing: The 'Expand-Contract' Framework for Sliding Window

Left++? Right++? Stop randomly moving pointers. Learn the specific 'Expand vs. Contract' invariant that explains every sliding window problem.

Two PointersSliding WindowInterview PrepAlgorithms

LeetCopilot Team

12 min

11/4/2025

Level Order BFS: How to Keep Depth Boundaries from Blurring

Without a clear marker strategy, answers drift between levels. Here's how to manage depth markers deliberately.

BFSBinary TreesTraversalInterview PrepAlgorithms

LeetCopilot Team

11 min

11/3/2025

Is LeetCode Premium Worth It? A Data-Driven Analysis for 2026

You're debating spending $35/month or $159/year on LeetCode Premium. Is the debugger, company tags, and editorial content actually worth the price tag? We break down the ROI and explore smarter alternatives.

LeetCodePremiumReviewInterview PrepCost Benefit Analysis

Marcus Liu

12 min

11/3/2025

Questions to Ask Before Coding in an Interview: The Senior Engineer's Checklist

Silence is a red flag. The first 5 minutes of an interview determine if you are a 'Code Monkey' or an Engineer. Use this checklist to clarify ambiguity and define scope before you write a single line.

Interview StrategyCommunicationSoft SkillsRequirements GatheringSenior Engineer

Sarah Chen

7 min

11/3/2025

The 'Hidden' Behavioral Questions That Fail 40% of Candidates (And How to Answer Them)

You crushed the coding round. You optimized the DP solution. Then you failed the onsite because you couldn't explain a conflict with a coworker. Here are the behavioral traps engineers fall into and how to survive them.

Behavioral InterviewSoft SkillsCareer AdviceInterview PrepSTAR Method

Dr. Elena Martinez

14 min

11/2/2025

Memoization to Bottom-Up DP: The Conversion That Impresses Interviewers

Interviewers often ask you to rewrite memoized recursion as a DP table. Here's how to do it without losing clarity.

Dynamic ProgrammingMemoizationTabulationGridsInterview Prep

LeetCopilot Team

12 min

11/2/2025

Coding Interview Anxiety: Why Your Brain Freezes and How to Unfreeze It

Your hands shake. Your mind goes blank. You forget basic syntax. Interview anxiety is a physiological response, not a skill issue. Learn the science-backed protocols to hack your nervous system and perform under pressure.

Mental HealthInterview PrepAnxietyPsychologyPerformance

Sarah Chen

13 min

11/1/2025

Your Code Works But Looks Messy: Writing 'Senior' Code in Interviews

Variable names like `mp` and `res` scream 'junior'. Here is how to write production-ready code under a 45-minute timer.

LeetCodeClean CodeInterview SkillsCode QualityBest Practices

LeetCopilot Team

14 min

11/1/2025

Backtracking Permutations: Can You Trace the Recursion Stack?

If you can't see how the stack grows and unwinds, duplicates creep in and base cases fire wrong. Here's how to visualize it.

BacktrackingRecursionInterview PrepAlgorithmsPermutations

LeetCopilot Team

11 min

11/1/2025

AI-Driven LeetCode Roadmaps: Practice the Right Problems

Stop grinding random questions. Use AI-powered roadmaps to sequence your practice by difficulty and topic for faster, stickier interview readiness.

LeetCodeAI RoadmapPractice PlanInterview PrepSpaced Repetition

LeetCopilot Team

10 min

11/1/2025