Best Leetcode Alternative: Introducing Educative 99

I don’t know about you, but I feel like the coding interview prep on LeetCode has really gotten out of control.

When I first learned about LeetCode around 2011, they had about 200 interview questions. When I last checked, this number had ballooned to 2,800 questions. A 10x increase in 10 years is pretty incredible. It’s a staggering amount of resources — bordering on overwhelming for anyone in a time crunch.

This is where LeetCode’s greatest strength has become its greatest weakness.

LeetCode is in an arms race with tech companies as it tries to keep up with an endless onslaught of new coding interview problems. Companies are constantly devising new questions that candidates haven’t seen before, which means that LeetCode must constantly battle to stay current.

On paper, a massive library of LeetCode problems seems like a good thing. But here’s the real issue:

With so many questions to account for, comprehensive preparation has become almost impossible.

There was a time when you could say that you’ve worked your way through LeetCode. Not today. Now even making a dent in the LeetCode catalog is a practically insurmountable feat. If your interview prep strategy is to try to churn through as many LeetCode problems as possible, in order to account for as many different potential interview questions as possible, you will be wasting your time. It simply is not a scalable prep strategy anymore.

So what is the most efficient route to coding interview success? What is the best way to glean the essentials from an exhaustive resource like LeetCode, while eliminating unnecessary work?

The answer is to learn the patterns behind top LeetCode questions.

Here’s the most important thing to remember:

The 2,800 questions on LeetCode are NOT 2,800 unique questions. Rather these 2,800 questions represent just a couple dozen coding interview patterns.

Put another way, I would say that about 95% of all questions on LeetCode fall into 26 distinct categories.

Therefore if you are able to master each pattern, or type of question, you will be in great shape for your interview.

That’s the inspiration behind Educative-99.

Educative-99 was curated by our technical content team as a way to optimize your interview prep. It is designed to help you do the minimum amount of work necessary to still internalize these essential patterns — without having you drill endless practice sets.

Educative-99 is currently available in Python, JavaScript, C++, Java, and Go (with more languages on the way). I hope you give it a try — I’m curious to hear what you think.

But first, I want to talk a bit more about the methodology behind Educative-99. Then I will share a few tips on how to use Educative-99 to optimize your interview prep.

The methodology behind Educative-99#

Educative-99 is a structured set of practice questions (99 in total), specifically curated to help you internalize and practice essential coding interview patterns. It’s a unique resource in the industry because it represents a mix of different patterns AND difficulty levels. That way you are accounting for both the complexity and diversity of the questions.

With the easier questions, you should be able to more quickly identify and apply the right patterns. This pattern-recognition muscle memory will serve you well in an interview setting.

With the more challenging questions, you will likely have to decide between 2-3 possible patterns. That means you will need to go through a discovery process to identify which pattern you should apply, simulating the challenges of an actual interview.

Now, how did we end up selecting these specific 99 questions?

We actually started with 50 questions, and then expanded to 70 questions. But we ultimately decided that these 99 practice problems represent the optimal amount for truly comprehensive prep.

We actually also created Educative-77, available in the same 5 languages.  

• Educative-77 in Python

• Educative-77 in Go

• Educative-77 in C++

• Educative-77 in JavaScript

• Educative-77 in Java

Educative-77 is a slightly consolidated version if you are especially crunched for time.

The original inspiration for Educative-99 was Blind 75, which is a popular list rounding up top LeetCode questions. However, this list isn’t really pattern-oriented — it is based more on popularity. Therefore our technical content team selected 99 representative questions designed to give you hands-on practice with all the essential patterns.

Note that if you solve 30 practice questions, but those questions represent only two or three patterns, then your prep will be incomplete. In contrast, solving 30 questions that represent a solid mix of patterns is a much better use of your time.

We estimate that there is at least a 90% probability that any question you encounter in a coding interview setting will fall into one of the patterns you have learned and practiced using Educative-99.

At the end of the day, if you make your way through Educative-99 and feel confident on the other side, you will most likely be very successful in your interview.

Advice for getting the most out of Educative-99#

I’d like to share a few quick tips for how to take advantage of Educative-99. If you follow this advice, you can be even more efficient with your interview prep time.

1) Take advantage of medium-difficulty questions#

I highly recommend starting with the medium-difficulty interview questions in each pattern. If you can solve a medium-level question easily, you shouldn’t need to practice their easier counterparts. Just remember that not all difficulty levels across all patterns are created equal (e.g. a medium-level cyclic sort problem is probably going to be trickier than a medium-level two pointers problem).

Additionally, if you are in a hurry, you don’t need to go sequentially. Start in the middle and work your way either up or down depending on your confidence in each pattern.

2) Don’t peek at the solution#

If you’re struggling with a question, try to avoid looking at the solution. Go back and try an easier version first, and then revisit the original question once you feel more confident about the pattern.

Memorizing answers to individual questions won’t help you — but internalizing each pattern will.

3) Do the hard questions in a random order#

One last tip: I would encourage you to work through all of the hard questions in a random order. This approach simulates an interview environment.

The hard questions are more likely to fall in the “limbo” state, where you’ll have to choose between two or three possible patterns. There is a good chance you will receive a problem like this in an interview setting, so getting solid practice tackling ambiguous problems is invaluable.

Remember that being confused during your interview prep is a good thing! This is how you will train yourself to puzzle through the question and identify the most optimal pattern to apply. You will want to get comfortable navigating this process before your interview.

Your roadmap to more efficient coding interview prep#

All that said, I hope you give Educative-99 a try. I think you will get a ton of value out of this unique resource.

Last thing: if you need more practice with essential coding interview patterns (a helpful prerequisite for Educative-99), I highly encourage you to revisit these courses:

• Coding Interview Patterns in Python

• Coding Interview Patterns in JavaScript

• Coding Interview Patterns in C++

• Coding Interview Patterns in Java

• Coding Interview Patterns in Go

I am very curious to hear your feedback. Good luck with your interviews — and happy learning!