📅 Study Plans

Structured roadmaps for 2-week, 4-week, and 12-week preparation.

TL;DR

Pick a plan based on your timeline:

Plan	Time/Day	Best For
2-Week Sprint	3-4 hours	Interview next week
4-Week Standard	2 hours	Interview in 1-2 months
12-Week Deep Dive	1-2 hours	Career preparation

General Principles

1. Pattern Over Quantity

❌ Bad: "I solved 500 random LeetCode problems"
✅ Good: "I mastered 15 patterns and can apply them"

2. Active Practice

❌ Bad: Reading solutions passively
✅ Good: Struggle → Learn → Implement → Review

3. Time-Boxed Problems

Easy: 15 min max
Medium: 25 min max
Hard: 40 min max

If stuck, check hints. Don't spend 2 hours on one problem.

4. Review Cycle

Day 1: Solve problem
Day 2: Review quickly
Day 7: Solve again without help

2-Week Sprint

For: Interview in 1-2 weeks Intensity: 3-4 hours/day (aggressive)

Week 1: Foundation + Core Patterns

Day	Focus	Tasks
1	Setup & Assessment	Take a practice test. Identify weak areas. Set up environment.
2	Arrays & Hashing	Two Sum, Contains Duplicate, Valid Anagram, Group Anagrams
3	Two Pointers	Valid Palindrome, 3Sum, Container With Most Water
4	Sliding Window	Max Subarray, Longest Substring Without Repeat
5	Stack & Binary Search	Valid Parentheses, Binary Search, Search Rotated Array
6	Linked Lists & Trees	Reverse LL, Merge Two Lists, Max Depth Tree, Invert Tree
7	Review + System Design Intro	Review weak problems. Read system design fundamentals.

Week 2: Advanced + Polish

Day	Focus	Tasks
8	Trees & Graphs	Level Order, Validate BST, Number of Islands
9	Dynamic Programming	Climbing Stairs, House Robber, Coin Change
10	Graphs & Backtracking	Course Schedule, Permutations, Subsets
11	Heaps & Intervals	Merge Intervals, Top K Elements, Meeting Rooms
12	Mock Interview #1	Full coding mock (45 min). Get feedback.
13	Behavioral Prep	Prepare 5 STAR stories. Practice out loud.
14	Final Review	Review all patterns. Light practice. Rest.

Sprint Daily Schedule

Morning (2 hours):
  - 30 min: Review yesterday's problems
  - 90 min: New problems (2-3 problems)

Evening (2 hours):
  - 60 min: Pattern study / System Design
  - 60 min: Behavioral prep / Mock interview

4-Week Standard

For: Interview in 1-2 months Intensity: 2 hours/day (sustainable)

Week 1: Foundations

Goal: Solid base in data structures and complexity.

Day	Topic	Problems
Mon	Big O & Arrays	3 easy array problems
Tue	Strings & HashMaps	Two Sum, Valid Anagram
Wed	Linked Lists	Reverse LL, Merge Two Lists
Thu	Stacks & Queues	Valid Parentheses, Min Stack
Fri	Trees (DFS)	Max Depth, Invert Tree
Sat	Trees (BFS)	Level Order Traversal
Sun	Review	Redo any failed problems

Week 2: Core Patterns

Goal: Master the most common patterns.

Day	Pattern	Problems
Mon	Two Pointers	Valid Palindrome, 3Sum
Tue	Sliding Window	Max Subarray, Longest Substring
Wed	Binary Search	Binary Search, Search Rotated
Thu	Fast/Slow Pointers	Linked List Cycle, Middle of LL
Fri	BFS/DFS	Number of Islands, Clone Graph
Sat	Backtracking	Permutations, Subsets
Sun	Review + Mock	Full mock interview

Week 3: Advanced Patterns

Goal: Handle medium-hard problems.

Day	Pattern	Problems
Mon	DP (1D)	Climbing Stairs, House Robber
Tue	DP (2D)	Unique Paths, LCS
Wed	Graphs	Course Schedule, Pacific Atlantic
Thu	Heaps	Top K Frequent, Merge K Lists
Fri	Intervals	Merge Intervals, Meeting Rooms
Sat	Trie & Advanced	Implement Trie, Word Search
Sun	Review + Mock	Full mock interview

Week 4: Polish

Goal: Interview-ready confidence.

Day	Focus	Tasks
Mon	System Design	URL Shortener, Twitter
Tue	System Design	Messaging System, Rate Limiter
Wed	Behavioral	Write and practice 5-7 STAR stories
Thu	Mock Coding	Full mock with timer
Fri	Mock System Design	45-min design mock
Sat	Weak Area Review	Redo problem types you struggled with
Sun	Rest	Light review only. Get sleep.

Standard Daily Schedule

Daily (2 hours):
  - 20 min: Review 1-2 problems from previous days
  - 60 min: New problems (2-3 medium problems)
  - 40 min: Pattern notes / System design reading

Weekly:
  - 1 mock interview (weekend)
  - 1 behavioral practice session

12-Week Deep Dive

For: Career preparation, no immediate interview Intensity: 1-2 hours/day (marathon pace)

Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1-4)

Week	Focus	Goals
1	Data Structures	Arrays, Strings, HashMaps - 15 easy problems
2	Linear Structures	Linked Lists, Stacks, Queues - 15 problems
3	Trees	Binary trees, BST, traversals - 15 problems
4	Graphs Intro	Representations, BFS, DFS - 10 problems

Phase 2: Patterns (Weeks 5-8)

Week	Patterns	Goals
5	Two Pointers, Sliding Window	Master both patterns - 20 problems
6	Binary Search, Recursion	Deep dive - 15 problems
7	Backtracking, DFS patterns	Permutations, combinations - 15 problems
8	Dynamic Programming	1D and 2D DP - 20 problems

Phase 3: Advanced (Weeks 9-10)

Week	Topics	Goals
9	Advanced Graphs	Topological sort, Dijkstra, Union Find - 15 problems
10	Hard Problems	Practice hard-level - 10 problems

Phase 4: Polish (Weeks 11-12)

Week	Focus	Goals
11	System Design	Complete 6 design problems
12	Mock Interviews	4 full mock interviews, behavioral prep

Deep Dive Weekly Schedule

Mon-Thu (1 hour each):
  - 15 min: Review
  - 45 min: New problems

Fri (1.5 hours):
  - System design study

Sat (2 hours):
  - Mock interview OR catch up

Sun:
  - Rest or light review

The Grind 75 Checklist

Based on Grind 75 - the evolution of Blind 75.

Week 1 (Easy)

Week 2 (Easy → Medium)

Week 3 (Medium)

Week 4 (Medium)

Week 5+ (Medium → Hard)

Tracking Progress

Problem Log Template

| Date | Problem | Pattern | Time | Result | Notes |
|------|---------|---------|------|--------|-------|
| 1/1  | Two Sum | HashMap | 12min | ✅ | Easy, no hints |
| 1/1  | 3Sum | Two Pointers | 35min | ⚠️ | Needed hint for duplicates |
| 1/2  | Valid Parentheses | Stack | 8min | ✅ | Pattern clicked |

Weekly Review Questions

Which patterns am I weakest at?
Am I solving problems faster than last week?
Did I review spaced repetition problems?
Am I on track with my plan?

When You're Struggling

Problem Taking Too Long

15-20 min: If no progress, look at hint
25-30 min: Look at solution approach (not code)
Code yourself: Don't copy-paste
Review next day: Solve again from scratch

Pattern Not Clicking

Watch explanation video (NeetCode, Back to Back SWE)
Do 5+ problems of same pattern
Write notes explaining the pattern
Teach someone (rubber duck works too)

Feeling Overwhelmed

Lower intensity - 1 hour is better than 0
Focus on patterns - Not problem count
Take breaks - Burnout hurts more than 1 day off
Mock interviews - Seeing progress helps motivation

The Day Before

✅ Do:
- Light review of patterns (flash cards)
- Review your STAR stories
- Prepare questions for interviewer
- Get 8 hours of sleep
- Prepare your setup (camera, mic, IDE)

❌ Don't:
- Cram new problems
- Stay up late
- Stress about what you don't know
- Skip meals

Good luck with your preparation! 🚀

TL;DR​

General Principles​

1. Pattern Over Quantity​

2. Active Practice​

3. Time-Boxed Problems​

4. Review Cycle​

2-Week Sprint​

Week 1: Foundation + Core Patterns​

Week 2: Advanced + Polish​

Sprint Daily Schedule​

4-Week Standard​

Week 1: Foundations​

Week 2: Core Patterns​

Week 3: Advanced Patterns​

Week 4: Polish​

Standard Daily Schedule​

12-Week Deep Dive​

Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1-4)​

Phase 2: Patterns (Weeks 5-8)​

Phase 3: Advanced (Weeks 9-10)​

Phase 4: Polish (Weeks 11-12)​

Deep Dive Weekly Schedule​

The Grind 75 Checklist​

Week 1 (Easy)​

Week 2 (Easy → Medium)​

Week 3 (Medium)​

Week 4 (Medium)​

Week 5+ (Medium → Hard)​

Tracking Progress​

Problem Log Template​

Weekly Review Questions​

When You're Struggling​

Problem Taking Too Long​

Pattern Not Clicking​

Feeling Overwhelmed​

The Day Before​