Grind 75 vs. LeetCode patterns: Effective for TikTok interviews

Data doesn’t lie. TikTok runs on algorithms that predict what you’ll like before you know it. Every swipe, every pause, every micro-interaction feeds a system that constantly learns and adapts. Preparing for a TikTok coding interview should be just as strategic.

You could spend weeks grinding through hundreds of LeetCode problems, relying on curated lists like Blind 75 or Grind 75, and hope you’ve covered enough ground. Or, you could focus on the underlying problem-solving techniques, using LeetCode patterns to prepare for unexpected variations in coding interview questions.

The real question is which of these two strategies prepares you better for the TikTok coding interview?

We’ll explore the answer to this in this blog. I’ll compare Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75 coding questions against the 28 LeetCode patterns from Grokking the Coding Interview Patterns. Along the way, we’ll see the strengths of each approach, the gaps they leave behind, and how a TikTok-focused hybrid roadmap can help you cover all coding patterns without unnecessary effort. By the end, you’ll know exactly how to structure your TikTok interview prep for maximum impact.

Sneak peek: How we evaluated TikTok interview prep strategies

Most discussions about interview prep stop at surface-level advice. Some people claim Grind 75 to be the ultimate coding interview prep source, while others insist that NeetCode 150 is the only way forward. I didn’t want this to be just another opinion piece.  Instead, I used a consistent benchmark that goes beyond simply counting the number of problems in a list.

For each of the 28 coding patterns, I asked a practical question: does this prep set give you enough variety to actually master the pattern? In other words, can you practice it with at least one easy, two medium, and one hard coding problem? This is what I call the 1–2–1 rubric, which I introduced in the first blog of this series: Grind 75 vs. LeetCode Patterns: Most Effective for Interviews?.

To add more clarity to this, I added a scoring system: 1 point for an easy, 4 points each for two mediums (8 total), and 6 points for a hard coding problem. This makes a total of 15 points per pattern. With 28 patterns, the maximum score is 420. The closer a prep strategy gets to this benchmark, the more complete and reliable it is for TikTok interviews.

With this benchmark in place, we can now evaluate how Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75 measure up against it.

The score comparison above makes one thing clear. Neither Grind 75 nor TikTok’s top 75 alone gets you close to the 420-point benchmark. Yet the TikTok-focused roadmap outperforms both by a good margin.

What exactly is this roadmap, and why does it lead to more complete preparation? That’s what we’ll explore next.

We’ll go beyond the numbers to see which LeetCode patterns drive these scores, how well each pattern is covered under the 1–2–1 rubric, and what it takes to close the remaining 35% gap to reach complete TikTok interview readiness.

Grind 75, TikTok top 75, and LeetCode patterns: Quick overview#

Grind 75 is a well-known list of 75 LeetCode problems created to streamline interview preparation. The goal is to cover the most frequently asked patterns and problem types across big tech interviews, like FAANG, in a manageable way. It covers basics like Arrays, Linked Lists, and Trees.

TikTok top 75 is a community-compiled list of questions from LeetCode frequently reported from TikTok coding interviews. It gives direct insight into the company’s style and problem preferences.

LeetCode coding patterns are recurring problem-solving strategies that appear across many interview questions. Instead of treating each problem as unique, these patterns, like Sliding Window, Two Pointers, Binary Search, Backtracking, and Dynamic Programming, provide frameworks you can repeatedly apply. By recognizing which pattern fits a problem, you can quickly narrow down the approach, avoid confusion, and solve it more efficiently.

Can you ace TikTok coding interviews with Grind 75 alone?#

Grind 75 is great when the goal is to target FAANG or to cover the fundamentals, the types of problems that have been asked repeatedly in traditional interviews. However, when it comes to preparing for constantly evolving TikTok coding interviews, relying solely on Grind 75 is not enough.

Grind 75 was created a few years back, and now, in 2025, the tech landscape has shifted significantly, especially with the rise of AI and its impact on problem design. This makes the question not only about TikTok’s interview style, but also about staying relevant to the latest industry trends. To demonstrate this, if we look at TikTok’s 10 most frequently asked coding questions, 6 of them do not even exist in Grind 75 (highlighted in green in the table below). This gap is likely to increase further as the company continues to evolve.

There is also a practical risk in relying too heavily on fixed lists. Solving the same set of questions repeatedly can lead to memorization of solutions instead of building the ability to recognize and apply the underlying patterns. In an interview setting where problems are often modified or presented with unique variations, this approach can leave you underprepared.

How do LeetCode patterns help with TikTok coding interviews?#

If Grind 75 risks locking you into memorization, LeetCode patterns do the opposite. They train you to recognize the underlying techniques that power interview problems, no matter how the question is framed. For TikTok, where problems often look familiar but come with subtle variations, this adaptability is critical.

By learning how to identify and apply these patterns, you shift from asking “Have I solved this exact problem before?” to “Which pattern does this belong to, and how do I apply it here?” That change in mindset makes the difference between struggling with a variation and confidently working through it.

Another advantage is durability. While static lists like Grind 75 can become outdated as problem trends evolve, the 28 core patterns remain relevant across time, companies, and roles. They form a foundation that scales with you, whether you face a TikTok interview today or a new set of challenges tomorrow.

What LeetCode patterns to cover for TikTok coding interviews#

TikTok’s coding interviews, like those at other top tech companies, draw from a set of 28 core coding patterns. To make preparation more practical, I’ve organized these patterns into four categories based on how often they appear in TikTok’s reported questions:

• Must-know patterns: These are the patterns that show up most frequently in TikTok interviews. Getting comfortable with these patterns is a must.

• Very common patterns: These patterns are not as dominant as the first group, but they appear often enough in TikTok’s interviews to make a difference.

• Solid but situational patterns: These appear less often in TikTok interviews, but when they do, they are still important. Recognizing them quickly demonstrates that you can handle a broader range of problem types.

• Finishing-line helpers: These patterns have rarely surfaced in TikTok interviews so far, yet covering them ensures you do not leave any gaps in the interview room.

While some patterns appear more frequently than others in TikTok’s coding interviews, the most reliable strategy is to prepare for all 28. This ensures depth in the areas TikTok leans on while avoiding surprises in less common but still possible questions.

TikTok coding interview roadmap#

Preparing for TikTok coding interviews requires a plan that is both efficient and complete. Relying only on lists like Grind 75 or TikTok’s top 75 leaves gaps, while focusing only on patterns can feel overwhelming. By combining these resources with a structured step-by-step approach, you can cover all 28 patterns with minimal effort. Here’s how:

1. Start with the Grind 75-TikTok overlap: Begin with the questions that appear in both Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75. These represent problems that are both widely practiced and directly relevant to TikTok.

2. Move to TikTok-only questions: Once the overlap is complete, shift to the problems unique to TikTok’s top 75. These questions capture TikTok’s distinct interview style and highlight the variations that are not represented in general-purpose lists.

3. Work through the remaining Grind 75 problems: After finishing the TikTok-specific sets, return to the rest of Grind 75. These problems strengthen your grasp of core data structures and algorithms.

4. Fill the gaps with pattern-focused practice: Finally, measure your progress against the 28 LeetCode patterns. Any pattern not yet fully covered becomes your priority for targeted practice.

Following this roadmap with the 1–2–1 rubric and the 420-point benchmark ensures your TikTok prep is both systematic and complete. You address the company’s unique question style while building strength across all coding patterns.

Step 1: Begin with the Grind 75 × TikTok overlap#

The overlap between Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75 gives you the strongest possible starting point. These problems are both widely recognized as high-value and directly relevant to TikTok’s interviews. By starting here, you ensure that your initial effort is spent on questions that build a solid foundation while also aligning with TikTok’s style.

Let’s place both, Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75 coding problems, next to each other to identify the coding problems that appear in both lists.

The comparison above shows that 21 out of 75 problems are common to both Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75. This overlap is a good starting point for your TikTok interview preparation. Now, let’s look at which LeetCode patterns these problems cover and how effective they are when measured against the 1–2–1 rubric.

In the bar chart below, each bar represents a pattern. The length of the bar shows what percent of the full 15 points you’ve earned for that pattern, while the label highlights how many easy, medium, and hard problems went into that score.

Note: For this calculation, I have only considered the counts that satisfy our 1–2–1 rubric. If a pattern has more questions than required by the rubric, I count only 1 easy, 2 medium, and 1 hard problem. For example, if Dynamic Programming has 10 medium questions, I have included just 2 in this calculation.

From the bar chart above, we can see that 14 out of the 28 LeetCode patterns are already introduced through the Grind 75 × TikTok overlap. Covering half of the patterns at the very first step is a strong start.

The level of coverage is uneven. Patterns like Two Pointers and Sliding Window are partially covered, while others such as Dynamic Programming, Topological Sort, and Tree DFS are underrepresented.

Even with these gaps, this stage is important. Exposure to a pattern at this point means you already know it exists and can recognize it when it comes up again. Later stages or targeted practice using the 1–2–1 rubric can then strengthen it to full coverage. This is what makes the overlap such a valuable foundation for TikTok prep.

Step 2: Tackle TikTok-only questions#

Moving to the TikTok-only set gives you direct exposure to problems that reflect the company’s unique interview style. These questions capture variations and twists that are not represented in relatively general lists like Grind 75. By solving them, you align your preparation more closely with what TikTok interviewers are likely to test, while also broadening your coverage of coding patterns that did not appear in the overlap.

Let’s see which LeetCode patterns are covered by this set.

The list above shows that the TikTok-only coding problems introduce 9 additional patterns, bringing the total to 23 out of 28 patterns (about 82%). This is a significant step forward and indicates that the TikTok-focused roadmap is progressing as expected.

Now, let’s see how well the patterns in this set are covered according to the 1–2–1 rubric. The bar chart below highlights the newly covered patterns in green on the y-axis.

The bar chart above shows that after adding the TikTok-only questions, the pattern coverage improves significantly compared to the overlap stage. Patterns like Two Pointers, Dynamic Programming, and Topological Sort that were partially covered before have now moved much closer to full coverage. Stacks and Greedy Techniques have become well covered at 100 percent, which strengthens the foundation further.

Several new patterns are introduced for the first time here, including Trie, In-Place Manipulation of a Linked List, Graphs, Heaps, Backtracking, Hash Maps, Top K Elements, Sort and Search, and Tree BFS. Some of these are already at strong levels, such as Trie and Graphs, while others, like Heaps and Backtracking, are partially covered.

There are still patterns that remain underrepresented, including Subsets, Custom Data Structures, Merge Intervals, and a few others. At this stage, though, even limited exposure is valuable, as recognizing these patterns now makes it easier to strengthen them in later steps or through targeted practice.

Step 3: Cover the remaining Grind 75 problems#

Once you have worked through the overlap and TikTok-only sets, the remaining Grind 75 problems help you strengthen the fundamentals. These questions may not always reflect TikTok’s exact style, but they reinforce core data structures and algorithms that appear across many companies. At this stage, the value lies in building depth. Even if a problem does not show up word-for-word in a TikTok interview, the concepts it teaches often resurface in different forms.

Let’s see which LeetCode patterns the remaining Grind 75 problems cover.

The list above shows that the remaining Grind 75 problems introduce 3 new patterns, bringing the total to 26 out of 28 (about 93%). This is a promising result and indicates that we are now very close to covering the complete set of LeetCode patterns.

Next, let’s see how well the patterns in this set are covered according to the 1–2–1 rubric.

The bar chart above shows that after adding the remaining Grind 75 problems, the progress becomes clear compared to the earlier stages. Many of the patterns that were only partially covered in the overlap or TikTok-only stages have now reached full coverage. However, there are still some patterns that remain underrepresented. For example, Subsets, Custom Data Structures, Merge Intervals, and Top K Elements.

Step 4: Ensure complete coverage of all 28 patterns#

As we have now worked through all the crucial sets of coding problems in the TikTok prep roadmap, it is time to check which patterns remain uncovered. The bar chart below gives a complete picture of the TikTok-focused roadmap so far.

Looking at the overall picture of the TikTok-focused roadmap, the progress is encouraging. Out of 28 patterns, 12 are now well covered (that’s almost half of the LeetCode patterns). This shows that a large part of the preparation already reaches the level of depth needed for interviews.

Several patterns are in the yellow zone, i.e., partially covered, such as Sliding Window, Heaps, Modified Binary Search, and Hash Maps. Each of these is just a few targeted problems away from being pushed into full coverage. For example, solving one more hard problem or balancing the mix of easy and medium can be enough to close the gap.

The remaining patterns are in the red zone, i.e., underrepresented, including Subsets, Custom Data Structures, Merge Intervals, Top K Elements, Sort and Search, and a few others. Most of these would require two to three additional problems across difficulty levels to move closer to full coverage.

The most important highlight is that two patterns, Cyclic Sort and Bitwise Manipulation, have not been covered at all and will need dedicated attention. Here are some recommended coding problems to practice for Cyclic Sort and Bitwise Manipulation.

Patterns recap for TikTok coding interview prep#

Let’s see how each stage of the TikTok roadmap adds new patterns and strengthens existing ones.

This pie chart shows how the patterns were progressively covered across the different stages of the TikTok-focused roadmap. The overlap between Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75 contributed the most, accounting for half of all pattern coverage. The TikTok-only set added another 32%, which was a significant boost and brought in many new patterns. The remaining Grind 75 problems contributed about 11%, helping to move closer to full coverage. Only 7 percent of the patterns remain outside these sets, which means the roadmap already takes care of the vast majority.

The good part is that we now have clarity on which patterns remain uncovered.

Score summary for TikTok coding interview prep #

Scoring makes it easier to see how close your preparation is to the 420-point benchmark. The chart below shows how each stage of the TikTok roadmap adds to the total, and what remains to be achieved.

The score breakdown shows clear progress across the roadmap stages. The common set from Grind 75 and TikTok contributes 77 points, giving a solid base. The TikTok-only problems add the largest share with 156 points, which makes this stage the most impactful. The remaining Grind 75 problems contribute 39 points, helping to reinforce fundamentals. Together, these bring the total to 272 out of 420. That leaves 148 points still open, which can be earned by closing the gaps in underrepresented patterns through targeted practice.

Final take: Is it Grind 75 or LeetCode patterns for TikTok coding interviews?#

The most critical skill for TikTok coding interviews and coding interviews in general is understanding LeetCode patterns. Patterns allow you to adapt to variations, recognize familiar structures in unfamiliar problems, and avoid the trap of rote memorization. Without them, even hours of practice can leave you unprepared for the twists that TikTok interviewers often introduce.

At the same time, structured lists like Grind 75 and TikTok’s top 75 still hold clear value. Their strength lies in curation. They tell you what problems to practice and remove the friction of endless decision-making. When you combine these lists with the reasoning framework that patterns provide, you unlock the best way to prepare for the TikTok coding interviews.

Patterns give you adaptability. Lists give you direction. Together, they reinforce each other, turning preparation into mastery. This hybrid approach ensures that you cover all 28 patterns while practicing the problems most relevant to TikTok. More importantly, it builds confidence that you are ready for what is common and what is unexpected.

In the end, that balance is what maximizes your chances of walking out of a TikTok coding interview with an offer. Good luck!

Recommended resources to level up your coding interview prep#

While this blog offers 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 discussing. 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.