American Express vs Cognizant Interview Questions

American Express lists 23 LeetCode interview questions while Cognizant lists 29. They share 5 problems — 22% of American Express's bank and 17% of Cognizant's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 18 American Express-only and 24 Cognizant-only questions.

Overview

American Express

23 questions

Easy 8Medium 12Hard 3
Cognizant

29 questions

Easy 18Medium 10Hard 1

Preparation Strategy

Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 5 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both American Express and Cognizant.

Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add American Express-specific problems like Minimum Deletions to Make Character Frequencies Unique, Maximum Equal Frequency, Divide an Array Into Subarrays With Minimum Cost II and Cognizant-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.

Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: American Express skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.

Difficulty Comparison

Easy
American Express
8
Cognizant
18
Medium
American Express
12
Cognizant
10
Hard
American Express
3
Cognizant
1

Top Shared Topics

5 Shared Questions

High-priority problems to practice for both American Express and Cognizant.

ProblemDifficulty
Two SumEasy
Valid AnagramEasy
Longest Substring Without Repeating CharactersMedium
3SumMedium
Longest Common PrefixEasy

Unique to American Express (18)

Problems in American Express's list that do not appear at Cognizant.

ProblemDifficulty
Minimum Deletions to Make Character Frequencies UniqueMedium
Maximum Equal FrequencyHard
Divide an Array Into Subarrays With Minimum Cost IIHard
Minimum Number of Operations to Make Array XOR Equal to KMedium
Maximize the Topmost Element After K MovesMedium
Maximum XOR After OperationsMedium
Find a Value of a Mysterious Function Closest to TargetHard
Equal Sum Arrays With Minimum Number of OperationsMedium
Ugly Number IIIMedium
Percentage of Letter in StringEasy
Divide an Array Into Subarrays With Minimum Cost IEasy
Best Time to Buy and Sell StockEasy

Unique to Cognizant (24)

Problems in Cognizant's list that do not appear at American Express.

ProblemDifficulty
Palindrome NumberEasy
Count Subarrays of Length Three With a ConditionEasy
Smallest Value of the Rearranged NumberMedium
Fibonacci NumberEasy
Longest Palindromic SubstringMedium
Second Highest SalaryMedium
Remove Duplicates from Sorted ArrayEasy
Managers with at Least 5 Direct ReportsMedium
Maximum SubarrayMedium
Reverse IntegerMedium
Product Sales Analysis IEasy
Valid ParenthesesEasy

Frequently Asked Questions

How many LeetCode questions do American Express and Cognizant share?

American Express and Cognizant share 5 LeetCode interview questions. 18 problems appear only in American Express's list and 24 appear only in Cognizant's list.

What topics overlap most between American Express and Cognizant?

The most common shared topics between American Express and Cognizant are Array (3 shared questions), Hash Table (3 shared questions), String (3 shared questions), Sorting (2 shared questions), Sliding Window (1 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.

Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: American Express or Cognizant?

American Express has 8 Easy, 12 Medium, and 3 Hard questions. Cognizant has 18 Easy, 10 Medium, and 1 Hard questions. American Express has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.

How should I prepare if interviewing at both American Express and Cognizant?

Start with the 5 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 18 American Express-specific and 20 Cognizant-specific questions to round out your prep.

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