Citadel vs TikTok Interview Questions

Citadel lists 101 LeetCode interview questions while TikTok lists 351. They share 60 problems — 59% of Citadel's bank and 17% of TikTok's. Focus on the overlap first, then drill into 41 Citadel-only and 291 TikTok-only questions.

Read the full Citadel vs TikTok preparation guide →

Overview

Citadel

101 questions

Easy 5Medium 60Hard 36
TikTok

351 questions

Easy 34Medium 245Hard 72

Preparation Strategy

Step 1 — Shared core: Solve the 60 overlapping problems first. These are the highest-yield questions for candidates interviewing at both Citadel and TikTok.

Step 2 — Company-specific depth: Add Citadel-specific problems like Longest Non-decreasing Subarray From Two Arrays, Minimum Knight Moves, Palindromic Substrings and TikTok-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

Easy
Citadel
5
TikTok
34
Medium
Citadel
60
TikTok
245
Hard
Citadel
36
TikTok
72

Top Shared Topics

60 Shared Questions

High-priority problems to practice for both Citadel and TikTok.

ProblemDifficulty
Binary Tree Maximum Path SumHard
Delete and EarnMedium
Sliding Window MaximumHard
LFU CacheHard
LRU CacheMedium
Evaluate DivisionMedium
Merge IntervalsMedium
Best Time to Buy and Sell StockEasy
Find the Duplicate NumberMedium
Serialize and Deserialize Binary TreeHard
Insert Delete GetRandom O(1)Medium
Parallel Courses IIIHard
Number of IslandsMedium
Employee Free TimeHard
Robot Room CleanerHard
Find Median from Data StreamHard
Group AnagramsMedium
PermutationsMedium
Merge k Sorted ListsHard
Binary Tree Zigzag Level Order TraversalMedium
Search Suggestions SystemMedium
Trapping Rain WaterHard
N-QueensHard
Design Search Autocomplete SystemHard
Regular Expression MatchingHard
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock IIMedium
Combination SumMedium
Best Time to Buy and Sell Stock IIIHard
Implement Trie (Prefix Tree)Medium
Climbing StairsEasy

Showing top 30 of 60 shared problems.

Unique to Citadel (41)

Problems in Citadel's list that do not appear at TikTok.

ProblemDifficulty
Longest Non-decreasing Subarray From Two ArraysMedium
Minimum Knight MovesMedium
Palindromic SubstringsMedium
Count Palindromic SubsequencesHard
Minimum Equal Sum of Two Arrays After Replacing ZerosMedium
Minimum Operations to Make Numbers Non-positiveHard
Number of Good Binary StringsMedium
Maximum Total Damage With Spell CastingMedium
Best Position for a Service CentreHard
Maximum Length of Repeated SubarrayMedium
Minimum Costs Using the Train LineHard
First Completely Painted Row or ColumnMedium

Unique to TikTok (291)

Problems in TikTok's list that do not appear at Citadel.

ProblemDifficulty
Longest Substring Without Repeating CharactersMedium
Number of Distinct IslandsMedium
Meeting Rooms IIMedium
Subarray With Elements Greater Than Varying ThresholdHard
Text JustificationHard
Decode StringMedium
Longest Palindromic SubstringMedium
Minimum Window SubstringHard
Search in Rotated Sorted ArrayMedium
Subarray Sum Equals KMedium
Top K Frequent ElementsMedium
Minimum Swaps to Group All 1's TogetherMedium

Frequently Asked Questions

How many LeetCode questions do Citadel and TikTok share?

Citadel and TikTok share 60 LeetCode interview questions. 41 problems appear only in Citadel's list and 291 appear only in TikTok's list.

What topics overlap most between Citadel and TikTok?

The most common shared topics between Citadel and TikTok are Array (18 shared questions), Dynamic Programming (9 shared questions), Design (7 shared questions), String (7 shared questions), Hash Table (6 shared questions). Mastering these areas prepares you for both companies.

Which company asks harder LeetCode questions: Citadel or TikTok?

Citadel has 5 Easy, 60 Medium, and 36 Hard questions. TikTok has 34 Easy, 245 Medium, and 72 Hard questions. Citadel has a higher proportion of Hard problems in its interview set.

How should I prepare if interviewing at both Citadel and TikTok?

Start with the 60 shared problems since they cover what both companies ask most often. Then add 20 Citadel-specific and 20 TikTok-specific questions to round out your prep.

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