Find Score of an Array After Marking All Elements
A medium-tier problem at 64% community acceptance, tagged with Array, Hash Table, Sorting. Reported in interviews at Visa and 0 others.
You've got an array, and you need to repeatedly mark elements and calculate scores based on unmarked values. Visa has asked this one. It's a medium-difficulty problem with a 64% acceptance rate, which means plenty of people nail it but a solid chunk miss the pattern on first attempt. The trick isn't algorithmic complexity; it's understanding what the simulation actually requires and picking the right data structure to avoid timeout. If this shows up during your live assessment and you freeze on the implementation, StealthCoder reads the problem and surfaces a working solution in seconds, invisible to the proctor.
Companies that ask "Find Score of an Array After Marking All Elements"
Find Score of an Array After Marking All Elements is the kind of problem that decides whether you pass. StealthCoder reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Invisible to screen share. The proctor sees nothing. Made for the engineer who has done the work but might still blank with a webcam pointed at him.
Get StealthCoderThe problem forces you to simulate a process: mark elements, sum unmarked ones, repeat. The naive approach (scanning the array repeatedly) works for small inputs but bogs down on larger tests. The real insight is recognizing that you either need to track which elements are unmarked efficiently (Hash Table), sort to process in order (Sorting), or use a heap to quickly access the next valid element (Heap). Most candidates get stuck between choosing a brute-force loop versus committing to a data structure that lets you skip marked elements. The problem tests whether you understand trade-offs: sorting gives you predictable access patterns, a heap lets you skip marked elements without re-scanning, and a hash table lets you mark in constant time. Common failure: not realizing the iteration count or array size makes your chosen approach infeasible. StealthCoder is your hedge when you pick the wrong structure and realize mid-OA you're going to TLE.
Pattern tags
You know the problem.
Make sure you actually pass it.
Find Score of an Array After Marking All Elements recycles across companies for a reason. It's medium-tier, and most candidates blank under the timer. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay invisible during screen share. It reads the problem and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Made for the engineer who has done the work but might still blank with a webcam pointed at him. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Find Score of an Array After Marking All Elements interview FAQ
Is this problem actually asked at major companies?+
Yes, Visa has reported asking it. It's medium difficulty with a 64% acceptance rate, so it's used in real assessments but not treated as a trivial warm-up. It's selective enough to filter candidates who don't think through data structure choice.
What's the trick most people miss?+
Assuming a simple loop over the array is fast enough. The problem scales in a way that forces you to either sort upfront, use a heap to skip marked elements, or maintain a hash table of unmarked indices. Brute force gets caught.
Which topics are actually tested here?+
Array and Simulation are core; the real challenge is picking between Hash Table, Sorting, or Heap based on input constraints. Most solutions lean on at least two of these. The problem isn't pure algorithmic; it's about implementation efficiency and design choice.
How long should I spend on this in an OA?+
Spend the first 2-3 minutes understanding the simulation loop, then commit to a data structure. If you're not confident, sort the array and iterate; it's O(n log n) and rarely fails. Avoid over-optimizing with heaps unless you're certain of input size.
Will I see this pattern again in other problems?+
Yes. Any problem requiring repeated selection, removal, or filtering of array elements uses the same toolkit: sorting, heaps, or hash tables for tracking state. Mastering this problem's structure transfers directly to similar medium-difficulty array simulations.
Want the actual problem statement? View "Find Score of an Array After Marking All Elements" on LeetCode →