Coursera Coding Interview Questions
25 Coursera coding interview problems with full optimal solutions — 15 easy, 7 medium, 3 hard. Every problem ships with multiple approaches (brute-force first, then the optimal), complexity tables for each, company-specific tips on what an Coursera interviewer values, and a FAQ section.
- #1easyfoundational
1. Two Sum
Find two indices whose values sum to a target — Coursera uses this to gauge hash-table fluency in a learner-pairing context.
- #2easyfoundational
2. Valid Parentheses
Validate that a string of brackets is well-formed — Coursera uses this to test stack discipline in a course-syntax-checker context.
- #3easyfoundational
3. Merge Two Sorted Lists
Merge two sorted linked lists into one — Coursera uses this to test pointer hygiene in a sorted-content-streams setting.
- #4easyfoundational
4. Remove Duplicates from Sorted Array
In-place dedupe of a sorted array — Coursera tests two-pointer fluency in a learner-history dedupe scenario.
- #5easyfoundational
5. Remove Element
Remove all instances of a value in-place — Coursera uses this to test two-pointer fluency for filtering enrollment lists.
- #6easyfoundational
6. Search Insert Position
Find the insert index in a sorted array — Coursera tests binary-search invariants for ordered course-catalog inserts.
- #7easyfoundational
7. Maximum Subarray
Find the contiguous subarray with the largest sum — Coursera uses this to test Kadane in a learner-engagement streak setting.
- #8easyfoundational
8. Plus One
Increment a digit array by one — Coursera uses this to test carry-propagation cleanliness for grade-encoded counters.
- #9easyfoundational
9. Merge Sorted Array
Merge two sorted arrays in-place — Coursera tests back-fill two-pointer technique for in-place enrollment merges.
- #10easyfoundational
10. Binary Tree Inorder Traversal
Return inorder traversal of a binary tree — Coursera tests recursive-vs-iterative tradeoffs in a course-tree walking context.
- #11easyfoundational
11. Same Tree
Decide if two binary trees are structurally identical — Coursera tests recursive structural compare for course-tree diffing.
- #12easyfoundational
12. Maximum Depth of Binary Tree
Find the maximum depth of a binary tree, a foundational tree-traversal problem Coursera uses to test recursive thinking for hierarchical course-content structures.
- #13easyfoundational
13. Balanced Binary Tree
Determine whether a binary tree is height-balanced, a tree-depth problem Coursera uses to gauge clean recursive design.
- #14easyfoundational
14. Path Sum
Check whether a root-to-leaf path summing to a target exists, a DFS problem Coursera uses to test tree traversal for prerequisite-chain checks.
- #15easyfoundational
15. Pascal's Triangle
Generate the first numRows of Pascal's triangle, an iterative DP warm-up Coursera uses to test basic 2-D array construction.
- #16mediumfoundational
16. Add Two Numbers
Add two numbers represented as reversed linked lists, a carry-propagation problem Coursera uses to test pointer manipulation and edge-case handling.
- #17mediumfoundational
17. Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters
Find the length of the longest substring without repeating characters, a sliding-window classic Coursera uses to evaluate string processing for search and content indexing pipelines.
- #18mediumfoundational
18. Coin Change
Find the fewest coins that sum to a target amount, a bottom-up DP problem Coursera uses to assess dynamic programming skills relevant to course-scheduling optimization.
- #19mediumfoundational
19. Number of Islands
Count connected components of land cells in a grid, a BFS/DFS graph problem Coursera uses to evaluate traversal skills relevant to course dependency graph analysis.
- #20mediumfoundational
20. Course Schedule
Detect if a cycle exists in a directed course-prerequisite graph, a topological sort problem with direct real-world relevance to Coursera's own curriculum dependency engine.
- #21mediumfoundational
21. Word Break
Determine if a string can be segmented into dictionary words, a DP problem Coursera uses to assess text-processing skills relevant to content tagging and search.
- #22mediumfoundational
22. LRU Cache
Design and implement an LRU cache with O(1) get and put, a data-structure design problem Coursera uses to evaluate caching knowledge relevant to content delivery optimization.
- #23hardfoundational
23. Median of Two Sorted Arrays
Find the median of two sorted arrays in O(log(m+n)) time, a binary search hard problem Coursera uses to test candidates' ability to reason about partitioning for analytics pipelines.
- #24hardfoundational
24. Trapping Rain Water
Compute how much rainwater can be trapped between elevation bars, a two-pointer hard problem Coursera asks to gauge O(n) space-optimized reasoning.
- #25hardfoundational
25. Serialize and Deserialize Binary Tree
Design an algorithm to serialize and deserialize a binary tree, a systems-design coding problem Coursera uses to test encoding/decoding logic relevant to course content persistence.