Goldman Sachs | Associate | Offer
Question Details
Edit: Answering some of the common questions. Tier-1 college. 3+ YOE. Associate(SDE 2) role. Also, I believe it\'s all luck and persistence. You should be prepared for any questions/situation. How to tackle any...
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Edit: Answering some of the common questions.
Tier-1 college.
3+ YOE.
Associate(SDE 2) role.
Also, I believe it\'s all luck and persistence. You should be prepared for any questions/situation.
How to tackle any questions?
There are tons of articles regarding it. In addition to these, you should always look at the given constraints or ask the interviewer. This actually helps in deciding on the algorithm.
I\'ll pen down my interview experience for GS.
In total there were 6 rounds.
Round 1:
Hackerrank Test - 2 questions. time limit - 120 mins.
- Unable to recall exact questions, but it had something to reach from cordinate A to B. similar to https://leetcode.com/problems/reaching-points/description/
- LIS
After a month or so I got a call for coderpad round.
**
Round 2 Coderpad round**
Two easy coding questions were asked.
After three days, I enquired for the feedback and was told that I\'ve been selected for superday round.
**
Round 3 DSA**
- https://leetcode.com/problems/rotting-oranges/description/ - First I asked some generic corner scenarios. Gave an O(nm)
solution using bfs.
2. There were some follow up question on how did I came to bfs solution. I explained him my thought process and how the pattern aligns with the above approach. He was happy with explaination.
3. https://leetcode.com/problems/kth-largest-element-in-an-array/description/ - First I gave O(n*k)
solution which is based on finding the 2nd or 3rd largest element, then I gave an O(nlogn) solution, and then came up with the O(nlogk) solution.
**
Round 4 DSA+DB**
- https://leetcode.com/problems/minimum-number-of-refueling-stops/description/ - This question was actually tricky. First I came up with a greedy approach, which I proved will not work. Then using recursion I found overlapping subproblems, and gave him a dp approach. He said to optimize it. I then implemented a O(n) bfs solution addressing all the bounds.
- https://leetcode.com/problems/maximum-xor-of-two-numbers-in-an-array/ - I first gave O(n^2) solution. Later, I came up with a O(n)
solution using bit and trie.
3. one DB question.
**
Round 5 System Design**
1. In depth resume grill.
2. design an API. I walked them through all the concepts which are used.
3.
Follow up question, How authorisation and authentication works. I walked them through core concepts and flow.
Interviewers were happy with my design.
**
Round 6 Hiring Manager round (30 mins)**
In depth resume grill.
some basics question like why gs and all.
some basic behavioral questions.
verdict I eventually called the hr after 2 days regarding feedback. She said I\'m selected and it\'s a long process in gs so a confirmation will come in a week or so.
I hope this helps all the champs who are working hard!!
About This Question
This is a reported interview question from a goldman interview for a swe role during the oa round reported in 2024.
It covers the following topics: Arrays, Graph, Greedy, Bit Manipulation, Binary Tree, Trie, System Design, Dynamic Programming, Queue, Heap, Behavioral, Recursion .
Difficulty rating: Easy
Topics
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About Goldman Interview Reports
This question was reported by a candidate who interviewed at Goldman. LeakCode aggregates interview reports from 10+ sources, including 1Point3Acres, Glassdoor, LeetCode Discuss, Blind, Reddit, Indeed, and Nowcoder. Each report is translated where necessary, deduplicated against existing entries, and tagged by company, role, round type, and reporting date.
Use this question as one calibration data point, not a memorization target. Companies typically rotate their question pools every 2-4 months; the exact wording of a 2024 question may differ from what you encounter today. The underlying pattern, difficulty level, and follow-up depth at Goldman are the higher-signal extractions to take from this report.
For broader preparation context, the Goldman interview process typically includes a recruiter screen, one or two technical phone screens, and a 4-5 round on-site loop covering coding, system design (at L4+ levels), and behavioral. Reports tagged on LeakCode show the round-by-round distribution and typical difficulty calibration. To browse questions filtered by round type and seniority, use the company hub linked above.
How To Practice This Type of Question
Solve similar problems on LeetCode under timed conditions (25-35 minutes per medium difficulty). The goal is pattern recognition: recognize the underlying technique (sliding window, two-pointer, BFS, memoized recursion, etc.) within 60-90 seconds of reading. Strong candidates verbalize their hypothesis out loud before coding, then iterate based on feedback. Weak candidates dive into implementation immediately, lose time on the wrong approach, and run out of time for follow-ups.
Companies update their question pools every 2-4 months. The exact wording of any given question may have been retired by the time you interview. Focus your prep on the pattern, not the specific problem. The patterns that appear in Goldman reports consistently are the ones worth investing in; one-off niche problems are not.
During Your Goldman Round
Apply the standard interview round template: clarify requirements (2-3 minutes), state your approach out loud and confirm direction with the interviewer (3-5 minutes), code with narration (15-25 minutes), test with concrete examples including edge cases (5 minutes), discuss optimization or trade-offs if time permits (5 minutes). This template is universally accepted across FAANG and adjacent companies; deviating from it produces weaker interviewer feedback signal.
The single most predictive failure mode in Goldman reports tagged "no hire": not asking clarifying questions. Interviewers are explicitly trained to weight this. Strong candidates ask 3-5 clarifying questions even on problems that look obvious; weak candidates dive into code immediately. The clarifying-question check is often the first signal recorded in the interviewer's written notes.