Cisco vs Samsung Interview Questions
Cisco lists 87 LeetCode interview questions while Samsung lists 65. They share 20 problems — 23% of Cisco's bank and 31% of Samsung's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 67 Cisco-only and 45 Samsung-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 Cisco and Samsung.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Cisco-specific problems like House Robber, Predict the Winner, Lucky Numbers in a Matrix and Samsung-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Samsung 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 Cisco and Samsung.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Rotate Image | Medium |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Move Zeroes | Easy |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Remove K Digits | Medium |
| Maximum Product of Two Elements in an Array | Easy |
| Two Sum IV - Input is a BST | Easy |
| Edit Distance | Medium |
| Permutations | Medium |
Unique to Cisco (67)
Problems in Cisco's list that do not appear at Samsung.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| House Robber | Medium |
| Predict the Winner | Medium |
| Lucky Numbers in a Matrix | Easy |
| Spiral Matrix | Medium |
| Fizz Buzz | Easy |
| Snakes and Ladders | Medium |
| Number of Valid Words in a Sentence | Easy |
| Maximum Difference Between Increasing Elements | Easy |
| Find Third Transaction | Medium |
| Implement Router | Medium |
| Word Search II | Hard |
| Find the Largest Area of Square Inside Two Rectangles | Medium |
Unique to Samsung (45)
Problems in Samsung's list that do not appear at Cisco.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Cisco and Samsung share?
Cisco and Samsung share 20 LeetCode interview questions. 67 problems appear only in Cisco's list and 45 appear only in Samsung's list.
What topics overlap most between Cisco and Samsung?
The most common shared topics between Cisco and Samsung are Array (13 shared questions), Two Pointers (6 shared questions), String (5 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (5 shared questions), Sorting (4 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Cisco or Samsung?
Cisco has 24 Easy, 50 Medium, and 13 Hard questions. Samsung has 12 Easy, 36 Medium, and 17 Hard questions. Samsung has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Cisco and Samsung?
Start with the 20 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Cisco-specific and 20 Samsung-specific questions to round out your prep.