Apple vs Cisco Interview Questions
Apple lists 300 LeetCode interview questions while Cisco lists 87. They share 58 problems — 19% of Apple's bank and 67% of Cisco's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 242 Apple-only and 29 Cisco-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 58 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Apple and Cisco.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Apple-specific problems like Design Hit Counter, Longest Common Prefix, Rotate Array and Cisco-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Apple skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
58 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Apple and Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Reverse Linked List | Easy |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Top K Frequent Elements | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Product of Array Except Self | Medium |
| Valid Palindrome | Easy |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Reverse Words in a String | Medium |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Subarray Sum Equals K | Medium |
| Number of 1 Bits | Easy |
| Move Zeroes | Easy |
| Insert Delete GetRandom O(1) | Medium |
| Min Stack | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Compare Version Numbers | Medium |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Pascal's Triangle | Easy |
| Max Points on a Line | Hard |
Showing top 30 of 58 shared problems.
Unique to Apple (242)
Problems in Apple's list that do not appear at Cisco.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Design Hit Counter | Medium |
| Longest Common Prefix | Easy |
| Rotate Array | Medium |
| Valid Sudoku | Medium |
| Course Schedule II | Medium |
| Course Schedule | Medium |
| Kth Largest Element in an Array | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | Medium |
| Reverse Integer | Medium |
| Time Based Key-Value Store | Medium |
| Lowest Common Ancestor of a Binary Tree | Medium |
| Subarray Product Less Than K | Medium |
Unique to Cisco (29)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at Apple.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Apple and Cisco share?
Apple and Cisco share 58 LeetCode interview questions. 242 problems appear only in Apple's list and 29 appear only in Cisco's list.
What topics overlap most between Apple and Cisco?
The most common shared topics between Apple and Cisco are Array (19 shared questions), Hash Table (8 shared questions), Two Pointers (8 shared questions), Sorting (6 shared questions), String (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Apple or Cisco?
Apple has 76 Easy, 178 Medium, and 46 Hard questions. Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. Apple has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Apple and Cisco?
Start with the 58 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Apple-specific and 20 Cisco-specific questions to round out your prep.