Section checkpoint

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6 questions drawn from the 2 chapters in this section. If most land on the first try, you are ready for the next section. If not, the explanation after each answer says which idea to revisit.

Checkpoint

6 questions · first-try answers earn the most XP

1. Why does the chapter call silence a "silence tax"?

2. Which is scored more heavily: correct optimal code in silence, or slightly worse code that is narrated and tested?

3. What should you do in the final minutes of a coding round?

4. Which signals in a problem statement point toward needing backtracking?

5. When no keyword matches, what does the chapter recommend?

6. Why is stating a pattern guess early useful, even when it turns out wrong?

What this checkpoint covers

How Coding Interviews Work
What interviewers score: clarify, brute, optimize, test.
How to Pick a Pattern
Keywords that hint Two Pointers vs Sliding Window vs Hash.

Next section: Warmup (Code Confidence)