These DSA topics are enough to clear most coding interviews.
Core Data Structures:
1. Arrays & Strings (two pointers, prefix sums)
2. Hash Maps & Sets (frequency, lookup optimization)
3. Stack (monotonic stack, valid parentheses)
4. Queue & Deque (sliding window)
5. Linked Lists (reverse, cycle detection)
Recursion & Trees:
6. Recursion basics & backtracking
7. Binary Trees (DFS, BFS)
8. Binary Search Trees (insert, delete, validate)
9. Tree Traversals (pre/in/post/level order)
10. Lowest Common Ancestor
Searching & Sorting:
11. Binary Search (classic variants)
12. Sorting algorithms (merge, quick, custom comparators)
13. Kth largest / Top K problems
14. Heap / Priority Queue usage
Dynamic Programming:
15. 1D DP (climbing stairs, house robber)
16. 2D DP (grid paths, knapsack)
17. Subsequence / substring DP patterns
Graphs & Advanced Patterns:
18. Graph Traversal (BFS, DFS, cycle detection)
19. Topological Sort (dependencies, scheduling)
20. Union-Find (connected components)
If you can identify patterns, explain trade-offs, and code cleanly,
most DSA parts stop being scary and start feeling repetitive.