Citadel vs Microsoft Interview Questions
Citadel lists 101 LeetCode interview questions while Microsoft lists 192. They share 39 problems — 39% of Citadel's bank and 20% of Microsoft's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 62 Citadel-only and 153 Microsoft-only questions.
Overview
Preparation Strategy
Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 39 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Citadel and Microsoft.
Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Citadel-specific problems like Longest Non-decreasing Subarray From Two Arrays, Minimum Knight Moves, Delete and Earn and Microsoft-specific problems from the exclusive lists below.
Step 3 — Difficulty tuning: Citadel skews harder in our data. Budget extra time for Hard problems if you are targeting that company.
Difficulty Comparison
Top Shared Topics
39 Shared Questions
High-priority problems to practice for both Citadel and Microsoft.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Binary Tree Maximum Path Sum | Hard |
| Sliding Window Maximum | Hard |
| LRU Cache | Medium |
| Merge Intervals | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock | Easy |
| Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree | Hard |
| Evaluate Reverse Polish Notation | Medium |
| Number of Islands | Medium |
| Sudoku Solver | Hard |
| Find Median from Data Stream | Hard |
| Group Anagrams | Medium |
| Validate Binary Search Tree | Medium |
| Permutations | Medium |
| Merge k Sorted Lists | Hard |
| Binary Tree Zigzag Level Order Traversal | Medium |
| Trapping Rain Water | Hard |
| N-Queens | Hard |
| Regular Expression Matching | Hard |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock II | Medium |
| Combination Sum | Medium |
| Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock III | Hard |
| Climbing Stairs | Easy |
| Letter Combinations of a Phone Number | Medium |
| Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Hard |
| House Robber | Medium |
| 3Sum | Medium |
| Sqrt(x) | Easy |
| Word Search | Medium |
| Search a 2D Matrix II | Medium |
| Container With Most Water | Medium |
Showing top 30 of 39 shared problems.
Unique to Citadel (62)
Problems in Citadel's list that do not appear at Microsoft.
Unique to Microsoft (153)
Problems in Microsoft's list that do not appear at Citadel.
| Problem | Difficulty |
|---|---|
| Two Sum | Easy |
| Merge Sorted Array | Easy |
| Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Medium |
| Add Two Numbers | Medium |
| Longest Palindromic Substring | Medium |
| Single Element in a Sorted Array | Medium |
| Valid Parentheses | Easy |
| Maximum Subarray | Medium |
| Search in Rotated Sorted Array | Medium |
| Reverse Nodes in k-Group | Hard |
| Merge Two Sorted Lists | Easy |
| Roman to Integer | Easy |
Frequently Asked Questions
How many LeetCode questions do Citadel and Microsoft share?
Citadel and Microsoft share 39 LeetCode interview questions. 62 problems appear only in Citadel's list and 153 appear only in Microsoft's list.
What topics overlap most between Citadel and Microsoft?
The most common shared topics between Citadel and Microsoft are Array (19 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (8 shared questions), Backtracking (6 shared questions), Depth-First Search (5 shared questions), String (5 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.
Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Citadel or Microsoft?
Citadel has 5 Easy, 60 Medium, and 36 Hard questions. Microsoft has 55 Easy, 109 Medium, and 28 Hard questions. Citadel has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.
How should I prepare if interviewing at both Citadel and Microsoft?
Start with the 39 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Citadel-specific and 20 Microsoft-specific questions to round out your prep.