Capital One vs Microsoft Interview Questions
Capital One lists 47 LeetCode interview questions while Microsoft lists 192. They share 20 problems — 43% of Capital One's bank and 10% of Microsoft's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 27 Capital One-only and 172 Microsoft-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 20 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Capital One and Microsoft.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Capital One-specific problems like Simple Bank System, Block Placement Queries, Minimum Operations to Write the Letter Y on a Grid and Microsoft-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Capital One skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
20 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Capital One and Microsoft.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Text Justification | Hard |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| Simplify Path | Medium |
| Largest Rectangle in Histogram | Hard |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Palindrome Number | Easy |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Add Strings | Easy |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Merge Two Sorted Lists | Easy |
| Meeting Rooms II | Medium |
| Rotate Array | Medium |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Reverse Nodes in k-Group | Hard |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | Medium |
Unique to Capital One (27)
Problems in Capital One's list that do not appear at Microsoft.
Unique to Microsoft (172)
Problems in Microsoft's list that do not appear at Capital One.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Single Element in a Sorted Array | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Capital One and Microsoft share?
Capital One and Microsoft share 20 LeetCode interview questions. 27 problems appear only in Capital One's list and 172 appear only in Microsoft's list.
What topics overlap most between Capital One and Microsoft?
The most common shared topics between Capital One and Microsoft are Array (11 shared questions), String (6 shared questions), Math (6 shared questions), Matrix (4 shared questions), Linked List (4 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Capital One or Microsoft?
Capital One has 9 Easy, 28 Medium, and 10 Hard questions. Microsoft has 55 Easy, 109 Medium, and 28 Hard questions. Capital One has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Capital One and Microsoft?
Start with the 20 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Capital One-specific and 20 Microsoft-specific questions to round out your prep.