Samsung coding interview
questions, leaked.
73 problems reported across recent Samsung interviews. Top patterns: array, hash table, dynamic programming. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
Samsung's interview loop hits you with 73 problems across their assessments, and 59% are medium or hard. Arrays dominate the signal they care about: 43 problems, nearly 60% of the entire dataset. You're looking at a pattern-heavy filter that rewards knowing two-pointers and dynamic-programming cold, because half the hard problems combine array work with DP or greedy optimization. If you blank on Burst Balloons or Trapping Rain Water mid-OA, StealthCoder runs invisibly and hands you the solution in seconds. The real edge isn't drilling all 73. It's understanding which 12 to 15 patterns actually predict the rest.
Top problems at Samsung
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Burst Balloons | HARD | 100.0 | 61% | Array · Dynamic Programming |
| 02 | Longest Increasing Subsequence | MEDIUM | 91.3 | 58% | Array · Binary Search · Dynamic Programming |
| 03 | Number of Islands | MEDIUM | 89.5 | 62% | Array · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 04 | Partition Array Into Two Arrays to Minimize Sum Difference | HARD | 89.5 | 22% | Array · Two Pointers · Binary Search |
| 05 | LRU Cache | MEDIUM | 87.6 | 45% | Hash Table · Linked List · Design |
| 06 | Minimum Cost of a Path With Special Roads | MEDIUM | 87.6 | 40% | Array · Graph · Heap (Priority Queue) |
| 07 | Trapping Rain Water | HARD | 85.5 | 65% | Array · Two Pointers · Dynamic Programming |
| 08 | Vertical Order Traversal of a Binary Tree | HARD | 85.5 | 51% | Hash Table · Tree · Depth-First Search |
| 09 | Minimize Deviation in Array | HARD | 85.5 | 54% | Array · Greedy · Heap (Priority Queue) |
| 10 | Maximum Height by Stacking Cuboids | HARD | 85.5 | 60% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Sorting |
| 11 | Substring with Concatenation of All Words | HARD | 83.2 | 33% | Hash Table · String · Sliding Window |
| 12 | Guess Number Higher or Lower | EASY | 83.2 | 56% | Binary Search · Interactive |
| 13 | Mark Elements on Array by Performing Queries | MEDIUM | 83.2 | 48% | Array · Hash Table · Sorting |
| 14 | Count Prefix and Suffix Pairs II | HARD | 83.2 | 27% | Array · String · Trie |
| 15 | Find the Width of Columns of a Grid | EASY | 83.2 | 69% | Array · Matrix |
| 16 | Minimum Number of Operations to Make String Sorted | HARD | 83.2 | 50% | Math · String · Combinatorics |
| 17 | Design Graph With Shortest Path Calculator | HARD | 83.2 | 64% | Graph · Design · Heap (Priority Queue) |
| 18 | Largest 1-Bordered Square | MEDIUM | 83.2 | 51% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Matrix |
| 19 | Two Sum IV - Input is a BST | EASY | 83.2 | 62% | Hash Table · Two Pointers · Tree |
| 20 | Number of Paths with Max Score | HARD | 83.2 | 41% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Matrix |
| 21 | Stone Game IX | MEDIUM | 83.2 | 29% | Array · Math · Greedy |
| 22 | Number of Nodes in the Sub-Tree With the Same Label | MEDIUM | 83.2 | 55% | Hash Table · Tree · Depth-First Search |
| 23 | Maximum Product of Two Elements in an Array | EASY | 83.2 | 83% | Array · Sorting · Heap (Priority Queue) |
| 24 | Faulty Keyboard | EASY | 83.2 | 79% | String · Simulation |
| 25 | Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | EASY | 77.7 | 55% | Array · Dynamic Programming |
| 26 | Is Graph Bipartite? | MEDIUM | 74.5 | 58% | Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search · Union Find |
| 27 | Maximize Distance to Closest Person | MEDIUM | 70.8 | 49% | Array |
| 28 | Two Sum | EASY | 70.8 | 56% | Array · Hash Table |
| 29 | Possible Bipartition | MEDIUM | 66.4 | 52% | Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search · Union Find |
| 30 | Rotting Oranges | MEDIUM | 66.4 | 57% | Array · Breadth-First Search · Matrix |
| 31 | 3Sum | MEDIUM | 66.4 | 37% | Array · Two Pointers · Sorting |
| 32 | Maximum Subarray | MEDIUM | 66.4 | 52% | Array · Divide and Conquer · Dynamic Programming |
| 33 | Palindrome Number | EASY | 61.0 | 59% | Math |
| 34 | Subarray Product Less Than K | MEDIUM | 54.0 | 53% | Array · Binary Search · Sliding Window |
| 35 | Make Sum Divisible by P | MEDIUM | 54.0 | 39% | Array · Hash Table · Prefix Sum |
| 36 | Add Two Numbers | MEDIUM | 54.0 | 46% | Linked List · Math · Recursion |
| 37 | Word Search | MEDIUM | 54.0 | 45% | Array · String · Backtracking |
| 38 | Valid Parentheses | EASY | 54.0 | 42% | String · Stack |
| 39 | Merge Intervals | MEDIUM | 54.0 | 49% | Array · Sorting |
| 40 | Coin Change | MEDIUM | 54.0 | 46% | Array · Dynamic Programming · Breadth-First Search |
| 41 | Sort Colors | MEDIUM | 44.4 | 68% | Array · Two Pointers · Sorting |
| 42 | Word Ladder | HARD | 44.4 | 43% | Hash Table · String · Breadth-First Search |
| 43 | N-Queens | HARD | 44.4 | 73% | Array · Backtracking |
| 44 | Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum | HARD | 44.4 | 41% | Dynamic Programming · Tree · Depth-First Search |
| 45 | Robot Collisions | HARD | 44.4 | 56% | Array · Stack · Sorting |
| 46 | Remove K Digits | MEDIUM | 44.4 | 35% | String · Stack · Greedy |
| 47 | 4Sum | MEDIUM | 44.4 | 38% | Array · Two Pointers · Sorting |
| 48 | Longest Palindromic Substring | MEDIUM | 44.4 | 36% | Two Pointers · String · Dynamic Programming |
| 49 | Find Median from Data Stream | HARD | 44.4 | 53% | Two Pointers · Design · Sorting |
| 50 | Subsets | MEDIUM | 44.4 | 81% | Array · Backtracking · Bit Manipulation |
Frequencies derived from public community-tagged interview reports. Click a row to view on LeetCode.
You have a week, maybe less. You can't out-grind the list above. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the actual Samsung OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Made by a working FAANG engineer who treats the OA the way companies treat hiring: as a game with rules you should know.
Get StealthCoder- array43 · 59%
- hash table14 · 19%
- dynamic programming14 · 19%
- sorting14 · 19%
- two pointers12 · 16%
- string11 · 15%
- breadth first search11 · 15%
- depth first search10 · 14%
- math10 · 14%
- matrix9 · 12%
Samsung's distribution is array-first and DP-heavy. Forty-three array problems mean you can't skip this topic; two-pointers and sorting appear in the hardest problems alongside arrays, so drilling Trapping Rain Water and Partition Array Into Two Arrays should come before graph work. Dynamic programming shows up 14 times across medium and hard, often paired with arrays (Longest Increasing Subsequence, Burst Balloons, Maximum Height by Stacking Cuboids). Hash-table and BFS/DFS tie at 14 and 11 respectively, but they're secondary: Number of Islands and LRU Cache are the exceptions, not the pattern. You'll see 20 hard problems, many combining 3 to 4 topics. Spend 60% of prep time on arrays, two-pointers, and DP. When you hit a hybrid problem you've never solved live, StealthCoder is your hedge: it surfaces a working approach in real time, invisible to the proctor.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Samsung, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Samsung.
Memorizing every problem above in a week is a fantasy. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay that's invisible during screen share. It reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Made by a working FAANG engineer who treats the OA the way companies treat hiring: as a game with rules you should know. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Samsung interview FAQ
How many array problems should I solve before the Samsung OA?+
At least 12 to 15. Arrays account for 43 of 73 problems, so they're the filter. Focus on Trapping Rain Water, Longest Increasing Subsequence, and Burst Balloons first. These three teach you the patterns that repeat across two-pointers and DP combinations Samsung loves.
Should I study dynamic programming or graphs first for Samsung?+
Dynamic programming first. DP appears in 14 problems, many paired with arrays (Burst Balloons, Longest Increasing Subsequence, Maximum Height by Stacking Cuboids). Graphs (BFS, DFS) appear in 21 problems combined, but Number of Islands is the anchor. Master DP-array combos before you touch graph traversal.
What percentage of Samsung problems are hard, and how much should I drill them?+
27% are hard (20 of 73). Don't spend 27% of your prep time on them. Spend 40 to 50%. Hard problems combine 3 to 4 topics: Partition Array Into Two Arrays mixes array, two-pointers, DP, and bit manipulation. Knowing how these topics link matters more than raw hard-problem count.
Is hash-table important for Samsung, or can I skip it?+
Don't skip it, but deprioritize. Hash-table appears in 14 problems, but only LRU Cache and Substring with Concatenation of All Words demand deep design knowledge. Use hash-tables as a tool within array and string problems first. It'll click faster that way.
If I have one week, what's the minimum viable topic list for Samsung?+
Array, two-pointers, dynamic programming, and sorting. These four appear in the top 10 problems and hit 65+ of the 73. BFS and hash-table are secondary. Drill Trapping Rain Water, Longest Increasing Subsequence, Burst Balloons, and Partition Array Into Two Arrays until you can sketch them from memory.