Problem database last updated: June 20, 2025
5 problems · 0 Easy, 5 Medium, 0 Hard · Ranked #245 of 458
0 Easy
0% · avg 23%
5 Medium
100% · avg 59%
0 Hard
0% · avg 18%
Based on 5 reported problems, smartnews interviews are easier than average - only 0% Hard compared to 18% across all companies. The majority (100%) of questions are Medium difficulty, which is typical for companies that want to see solid fundamentals without excessive trick questions.
Compared to the industry average, smartnews puts unusual emphasis on greedy (40% of problems, 4.7x the industry average), sorting (40% of problems, 2.8x the industry average), hash-table (60% of problems, 2.7x the industry average). If you're short on time, these are the categories to double down on.
The most common topics are hash-table (60%), string (40%), greedy (40%), sorting (40%). Problems below are sorted by frequency, the ones at the top are asked most often.
| Problem | Difficulty | Frequency | Topics | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Largest Palindromic Number You are given a string num consisting of digits only. | Medium | Very Likely | hash-tablestringgreedy | Solve |
Maximal Network Rank There is an infrastructure of n cities with some number of roads connecting these cities. Each roads[i] = [ai, bi] indicates that there is a bidirectional road... | Medium | Very Likely | graph | Solve |
LRU Cache Design a data structure that follows the constraints of a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache. | Medium | Very Likely | hash-tablelinked-listdesign | Solve |
3Sum Given an integer array nums, return all the triplets [nums[i], nums[j], nums[k]] such that i != j, i != k, and j != k, and nums[i] + nums[j] + nums[k] == 0. | Medium | Very Likely | arraytwo-pointerssorting | Solve |
Minimum Deletions to Make Character Frequencies Unique A string s is called good if there are no two different characters in s that have the same frequency. | Medium | Very Likely | hash-tablestringgreedy | Solve |
Largest Palindromic Number
SolveYou are given a string num consisting of digits only.
Maximal Network Rank
SolveThere is an infrastructure of n cities with some number of roads connecting these cities. Each roads[i] = [ai, bi] indicates that there is a bidirectional road...
LRU Cache
SolveDesign a data structure that follows the constraints of a Least Recently Used (LRU) cache.
3Sum
SolveGiven an integer array nums, return all the triplets [nums[i], nums[j], nums[k]] such that i != j, i != k, and j != k, and nums[i] + nums[j] + nums[k] == 0.
Minimum Deletions to Make Character Frequencies Unique
SolveA string s is called good if there are no two different characters in s that have the same frequency.
Frequency scores are based on crowdsourced interview reports. A higher score means the problem has been reported more often in recent smartnews interviews.
Very Likely
75-100%
Likely
50-74%
Sometimes
25-49%
Rare
0-24%
smartnews interviews focus heavily on hash-table, string, greedy problems. If you're short on time, these are the categories to prioritize. The problems on this page are sorted by frequency, so start from the top and work your way down.
Beyond solving problems, practice explaining your approach. smartnews interviewers care about your thought process - how you break down a problem, consider edge cases, and evaluate tradeoffs between solutions. A clean O(n) solution you can explain clearly beats an O(log n) solution you can't articulate.
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smartnews has been reported to ask 5 distinct coding problems. The most common topics are hash-table, string, greedy. 0 are Easy difficulty, 5 are Medium, and 0 are Hard. Problems are sorted by frequency - the ones at the top are asked most often.
Based on 5 reported problems, smartnews interviews are easier than average - only 0% Hard compared to 18% across all companies. 100% of questions are Medium difficulty. Focus on the high-frequency Medium problems first, then work through the Hard ones.
Start with the highest-frequency problems listed on this page. Focus on the core topics: hash-table, string, greedy. Practice solving them under time pressure and explaining your approach out loud. Mock interviews with AI can simulate the real experience.
Simulate a real smartnews coding interview with an AI interviewer. Get a scorecard with specific feedback on your problem-solving, code quality, and communication.
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