Blind 75 vs LeetCode patterns: Which wins coding interviews?

The landscape of technical interview preparation has significantly shifted in recent years. Candidates pursuing engineering roles frequently express uncertainty: Where should I begin? Am I focusing on the right problems? The most straightforward approach (practicing hundreds of questions specific to each company) is effective but tedious and demands substantial effort.

This brute-force method has prompted even seasoned engineers at top companies like FAANG, Airbnb, Stripe, Lyft, and Uber to seek smarter strategies that reduce workload while maintaining effectiveness.

The two most commonly adopted strategies are:

• Working through the popular problem set known as Blind 75.

• Mastering problem-solving strategies through specific coding interview patterns, known as LeetCode Patterns.

We initially developed LeetCode Patterns several years ago and have continually updated them as coding interview questions and practices have evolved. In this blog, I compare the coverage and effectiveness of Blind 75 against the 28 coding interview patterns featured in the “Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns” course.

A quick recap on Blind 75 (which you probably already know)#

Blind 75 is a curated collection of 75 interview problems frequently appearing in interviews at top-tier companies and startups. This structured, finite list spans essential topics such as arrays, trees, graphs, and dynamic programming. Its primary advantage is that it eliminates decision fatigue by providing a targeted set of proven problems. Yet, while Blind 75 provides an excellent foundation, its limitations become apparent when interview scenarios deviate from familiar territory, highlighting the need for more adaptable strategies like LeetCode Patterns.

Introducing LeetCode Patterns: A structured approach beyond Blind 75#

LeetCode Patterns is an antidote to memorizing 100s of individual questions, focusing instead on recognizing underlying problem-solving techniques. These 28 patterns categorize common interview questions into distinct, reusable frameworks, like sliding window, two pointers, or backtracking. Engineers can systematically tackle various problems by understanding these foundational patterns, drastically improving interview efficiency and adaptability.

Is Blind 75 good enough for your interviews?#

If technical interview success were as simple as mastering 75 specific questions, landing your dream role would be far easier than it truly is. Interview questions vary significantly depending on role specifics, experience levels, and evolving hiring practices.

Moreover, as Blind 75 gains popularity, interviewers adapt. With AI tools increasingly accessible, interviewers frequently introduce new problem variations or entirely novel questions, reducing the effectiveness of pure memorization.

Do coding interview patterns offer a stronger alternative?#

Rather than memorizing solutions, learning the patterns behind them is more useful, like the sliding window, two pointers, or backtracking. This approach shifts the engineer’s perspective from wondering, “Have I seen this exact problem before?” to confidently asking, “What pattern does this problem follow?”

Yet, does pattern recognition truly deliver on its promise, or is it merely another buzzword? As we delve deeper, I’ll explain where LeetCode Patterns work well, where they fall short compared to the Blind 75, and how you can focus your time more effectively.

Key coding patterns to master for technical interviews#

Before directly comparing Blind 75 and LeetCode Patterns, let’s briefly describe the patterns themselves. Understanding these patterns upfront will make the comparison more tangible and self-explanatory. Mastering these patterns is essential because they represent the fundamental logic underlying most technical interview questions, significantly enhancing your ability to tackle diverse challenges.

Here are the core patterns you should prioritize when preparing for coding interviews. These patterns cover a wide range of scenarios and form the basis for successfully solving most, though not necessarily all, interview questions:

These patterns offer a structured approach, enabling candidates to quickly dissect and solve unfamiliar questions more accurately and confidently.

Rather than randomly solving numerous problems, methodically mastering these patterns provides a solid foundation and significantly improves interview preparedness.

Does Blind 75 implicitly cover all LeetCode Patterns?#

That’s a critical question to tackle at this stage. The underlying premise is intriguing: perhaps Blind 75, without explicitly identifying coding patterns, still implicitly covers all necessary LeetCode Patterns.

If you only work through Blind 75, it’s like training for a marathon on a treadmill. You’ll build up solid stamina, but you’re not really preparing for the twists, hurdles, and unpredictable weather you’ll face on race day. In simple words, the problem with grinding through 75 problems without understanding the patterns is that it doesn’t help you spot or apply those patterns when the question changes. If you’re unaware of what to look for, transferring what you’ve learned to new problems is harder.

However, let’s momentarily set this fundamental problem aside. Even if engineers do not consciously recognize these patterns while using Blind 75, does the set implicitly cover all essential coding patterns adequately?

To systematically evaluate this, I’ve established a clear rubric: for Blind 75 to adequately cover any given pattern, it should include at least one easy, two medium, and one hard problem representative of that specific pattern.

This rubric, “one easy, two medium, one hard,” provides a measurable standard for assessing whether Blind 75 sufficiently represents each LeetCode Pattern.

Score your prep: A smarter way to track progress#

While the 1-2-1 rubric is a solid baseline for measuring coverage, it’s still partially qualitative and leaves the analysis a bit binary. A pattern is either “covered” or not. To give you a more nuanced and actionable picture, I’ve adopted a simple scoring analogy:

• Easy problem: 1 point (a basic foundation)

• Medium problem: 4 points (most valuable for real interviews)

• Hard problem: 6 points (demonstrates true mastery)

With this scoring, a fully covered pattern as per our 1-2-1 rubric yields a maximum score of 15 points, i.e., ((1x1) + (2x4) + (1x6)). This allows us to measure not just if a pattern is touched upon, but how thoroughly it is addressed within Blind 75 or any problem set.

How does this help?

• If a pattern’s score is much less than 15, it’s a sign you need to spend more time on it. Maybe you haven’t seen enough variety, or you’re missing practice at certain difficulty levels.

• A score around 15 means you’ve got that pattern well-covered and balanced.

• If a pattern’s score is higher than 15, you’ve probably practiced it a lot. That’s not a bad thing, especially if it’s a pattern you find challenging or that’s frequently asked by your target companies. But, if you already feel comfortable with that pattern, it might be better to spend your time on other patterns that still need more attention.

How many points until you’re ready?#

As there are 28 foundational coding patterns and the ideal is 15 points per pattern, the maximum “prep score” is 420 points. Think of this as your 100% completion target. If your current list (Blind 75 or any other) only gets you halfway, you instantly know where to focus next.

This scoring system doesn’t just show you how much you’ve done; it reveals how much is left for you to become interview-ready, with clarity that rote list-grinding just can’t provide.

Applying the rubric and scores to measure the efficacy of Blind 75 in covering LeetCode Patterns#

Now that we’ve established a clear rubric, “one easy, two medium, and one hard” problem per pattern, and a simple scoring method that rewards 1 point for each easy, 4 points for each medium, and 6 points for each hard problem, let’s apply this framework to evaluate Blind 75’s effectiveness in implicitly covering LeetCode Patterns.

Before we dive into the analysis, consider the following bar chart. It provides a clear, data-driven snapshot of how well Blind 75 covers each of the 28 essential coding interview patterns. Each bar shows what percentage of the ideal rubric (one easy, two medium, and one hard) is actually achieved within Blind 75.

The bar chart above shows that a few patterns, such as tree depth-first search, sliding window, and topological sort, are adequately covered in Blind 75 according to our rubric, that is, the set includes at least one easy, two medium, and one hard problem for each of these. For these patterns, you can be confident you’re building both depth and breadth in your practice.

Beyond these, Blind 75 does provide robust coverage of several critical patterns, such as dynamic programming, sliding windows, two pointers, and tree and graph traversals.

But, here’s the not-so-good news about Blind 75. 

Unfortunately, the pattern coverage isn’t uniform. Some key patterns, like stacks, fast and slow pointers, cyclic sort, and top K elements, are only represented by a single question each. More concerningly, patterns like custom data structures, hash maps, math and geometry, sort and search, and subsets lack any representation.

This uneven coverage indicates that exclusively relying on Blind 75 could leave candidates inadequately prepared, especially when encountering interview questions requiring deeper or broader pattern recognition.

While Blind 75 effectively serves as an initial foundation, achieving complete pattern mastery clearly demands additional targeted practice. Candidates must proactively identify and strategically address these gaps to ensure thorough and effective preparation.

What score would I give to Blind 75 for coding interview prep?#

Applying the rubric and scoring system we’ve discussed, the numbers tell a revealing story. Out of 75 problems in Blind 75, only 49 actually contributed toward achieving our rubric-mapped pattern coverage. That means a significant portion of the set, more than a third, doesn’t fill a true gap in your preparation.

When we total up the rubric-based points, Blind 75 yields a score of 169 out of an ideal 420 points, which translates to just 40% overall completion for comprehensive pattern-based prep.

Here’s how the actual performance of Blind 75 compares to the ideal:

These numbers reflect Blind 75’s implicit coverage of many crucial patterns, although that coverage isn’t uniformly comprehensive. Moreover, encountering these patterns implicitly without explicitly learning to identify and apply them might not be the most effective preparation strategy. To achieve full readiness, candidates should supplement their study with targeted practice on the patterns that Blind 75 doesn’t adequately address.

How can candidates strategically fill gaps without becoming overwhelmed?#

The 28 coding patterns identified cover nearly all the questions you will likely encounter during interviews. To effectively fill gaps without becoming overwhelmed, I’ve grouped these patterns based on their practical usefulness in your preparation:

• Must-knows: Mastering these patterns prepares you for the most common problems involving arrays, strings, trees, and graphs.

• Very common, high value: Interviewers frequently leverage these patterns for questions around scheduling, frequency counting, next greater problems, and evaluating connections or relationships between elements.

• Solid but situational: These patterns appear less frequently but are valuable for solving specific scenarios, such as directed acyclic graph (DAG) issues or reversing linked lists.

• Finishing line helpers: These are niche patterns particularly useful if you’re targeting roles or companies that frequently include low-level implementation details or geometry-based problems in their interviews.

Working through these categories with a clear plan helps you use your prep time better, so you cover what matters without going in circles. By focusing on weak spots and setting priorities, you can build confidence in tackling various interview questions.

Final thoughts and practical takeaways for effective interview preparation#

Reflecting on what genuinely impacts interview success, it becomes clear that the quality of preparation surpasses sheer quantity. Merely grinding through problems without deliberate intent rarely yields lasting results.

The key takeaways from our analysis are:

• Prioritize pattern recognition: Understanding underlying patterns is more powerful than memorizing specific problems. It provides flexibility and adaptability during actual interviews.

• Blind 75 could be suboptimal: While it might appear as a useful entry point, it’s ultimately a suboptimal strategy if your goal is thorough and efficient preparation. Instead of spending valuable time on a partial solution, going directly to mastering pattern recognition provides a clearer, more comprehensive path to success.

Ultimately, your interview success hinges on how effectively you convert practice into skill. Engineers who excel in interviews and subsequently thrive in their careers prepare thoughtfully, methodically, and strategically.

Wishing you clarity, confidence, and success in your technical interviews and beyond!

Recommended resources to level up your interview prep#

While this blog gives you a data-driven way to measure and close your prep gaps, the right learning tools can accelerate your progress even further. Here are two highly effective resources to complement your study plan:

• Educative’s Personalized Interview Prep: It’s your tailored prep companion that adapts to your skill level and focuses on the 28 essential LeetCode patterns we’ve been talking about. You can work on the patterns that need the most attention, track progress with clear metrics, and know exactly what to tackle next. Whether it’s adding an easy problem to build confidence or a hard one to push for mastery, you’ll always be working on the right problems at the right time.

• Educative’s Mock Interviews: Practicing is not just about solving problems. It is also about handling real interview pressure. Educative’s AI mock interviews let you simulate actual interview conditions, get actionable feedback, and improve in areas like problem-solving speed. This way, you are not only technically prepared but also confident and ready to perform under time constraints.

Want to supercharge your coding interview prep across the biggest tech giants? Dive into our tailored breakdowns to discover how Blind 75 and LeetCode pattern-based strategies perform at:

• Meta

• Microsoft

• Amazon

• Apple

• Netflix

• Google

Each guide reveals which approach offers the most efficient path to mastering the 28 core LeetCode patterns for your target company. Power up your prep—start with the one most relevant to you, then explore the rest and build the ultimate FAANG-ready toolkit.