Top Two Pointer LeetCode Questions Asked in Microsoft Interviews
The two-pointer technique is one of the most commonly used approaches in Microsoft software engineering interviews. It helps optimize problems involving arrays and strings by reducing time complexity compared to brute-force solutions.
Many interview questions require using left and right pointers, fast and slow pointers, or sliding window variations to efficiently process data.
In this guide, we have compiled commonly asked two-pointer based LeetCode problems reported in Microsoft interviews. These questions will help you understand important patterns used in solving real interview problems.
Practicing these problems will improve your ability to write optimized and clean solutions, which is a key factor in clearing coding rounds.
Below is the curated list of two-pointer LeetCode questions asked in Microsoft interviews.
| Sl.No | Question | Difficulty | Frequency | LeetCode Link |
|---|
| 1 | Trapping Rain Water | HARD | 85.90% | Solve |
| 2 | Longest Palindromic Substring | MEDIUM | 77.10% | Solve |
| 3 | Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | EASY | 73.40% | Solve |
| 4 | Maximum Subarray | MEDIUM | 71.10% | Solve |
| 5 | Longest Increasing Subsequence | MEDIUM | 71.00% | Solve |
| 6 | Maximal Square | MEDIUM | 71.00% | Solve |
| 7 | Jump Game | MEDIUM | 69.80% | Solve |
| 8 | Climbing Stairs | EASY | 69.80% | Solve |
| 9 | Generate Parentheses | MEDIUM | 68.60% | Solve |
| 10 | Coin Change | MEDIUM | 68.40% | Solve |
| 11 | Word Break | MEDIUM | 60.60% | Solve |
| 12 | Jump Game II | MEDIUM | 59.10% | Solve |
| 13 | Unique Paths | MEDIUM | 56.90% | Solve |
| 14 | Regular Expression Matching | HARD | 56.10% | Solve |
| 15 | Pascal's Triangle | EASY | 55.40% | Solve |
| 16 | Word Break II | HARD | 53.30% | Solve |
| 17 | House Robber | MEDIUM | 53.00% | Solve |
| 18 | Longest Valid Parentheses | HARD | 48.70% | Solve |
| 19 | Palindromic Substrings | MEDIUM | 46.70% | Solve |
| 20 | Edit Distance | MEDIUM | 45.70% | Solve |
| 21 | Maximum Product Subarray | MEDIUM | 45.50% | Solve |
| 22 | Decode Ways | MEDIUM | 45.30% | Solve |
| 23 | Minimum Path Sum | MEDIUM | 44.30% | Solve |
| 24 | Wildcard Matching | HARD | 41.60% | Solve |
| 25 | Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | MEDIUM | 38.90% | Solve |
| 26 | Maximal Rectangle | HARD | 36.10% | Solve |
| 27 | Unique Paths II | MEDIUM | 35.30% | Solve |
| 28 | Unique Binary Search Trees II | MEDIUM | 35.30% | Solve |
| 29 | Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum | HARD | 30.70% | Solve |
| 30 | Interleaving String | MEDIUM | 28.10% | Solve |
| 31 | Unique Binary Search Trees | MEDIUM | 26.80% | Solve |
| 32 | Palindrome Partitioning | MEDIUM | 25.00% | Solve |
| 33 | Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock III | HARD | 17.70% | Solve |
| 34 | Paint House | MEDIUM | 5.00% | Solve |
| 35 | Number of Dice Rolls With Target Sum | MEDIUM | 1.72% | Solve |
| 36 | Largest BST Subtree | MEDIUM | 1.61% | Solve |
| 37 | Frog Jump | HARD | 1.56% | Solve |
| 38 | Coin Change 2 | MEDIUM | 1.49% | Solve |
| 39 | Triangle | MEDIUM | 1.48% | Solve |
| 40 | Cheapest Flights Within K Stops | MEDIUM | 1.38% | Solve |
| 41 | Longest Increasing Path in a Matrix | HARD | 1.34% | Solve |
| 42 | Longest Palindromic Subsequence | MEDIUM | 1.26% | Solve |
| 43 | Knight Probability in Chessboard | MEDIUM | 1.25% | Solve |
| 44 | Split Array With Same Average | HARD | 1.17% | Solve |
| 45 | Perfect Squares | MEDIUM | 0.99% | Solve |
| 46 | Palindrome Removal | HARD | 0.88% | Solve |
| 47 | Partition to K Equal Sum Subsets | MEDIUM | 0.86% | Solve |
| 48 | 4 Keys Keyboard | MEDIUM | 0.84% | Solve |
| 49 | Android Unlock Patterns | MEDIUM | 0.79% | Solve |
| 50 | Super Egg Drop | HARD | 0.76% | Solve |
You can also track your progress and practice these questions using our tool:
Microsoft LeetCode Interview Questions Tracker
How to Prepare for Two Pointer Questions
To perform well in Microsoft interviews, focus on understanding when and how to apply the two-pointer technique.
Some important patterns include:
- Using left and right pointers for sorted arrays
- Applying fast and slow pointers for cycle detection
- Solving substring problems using sliding window technique
- Reducing time complexity from O(n²) to O(n)
Consistent practice will help you quickly identify patterns and improve your problem-solving speed during interviews.
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