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Week 5Day 32 of 35

Speed Mode

Solve faster by trusting pattern recognition instead of overthinking every move.

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0 of 4 problems solved

Pattern Focus

Speed Mode

Solve faster by trusting pattern recognition instead of overthinking every move.

Pattern Checklist
  • Can I name the pattern in under 10 seconds?
  • Am I moving fast because I recognize the structure, not because I am guessing?
  • Did I still run one quick sanity test before moving on?
New to DSA? Start here 🧠

Speed Mode is not about rushing blindly. It is about trusting the recognition skills you already built. Once the pattern is obvious, overthinking becomes expensive. You still need to be precise, but the goal is to move with less hesitation and fewer unnecessary detours.

Fast solving comes from fast pattern recognition, not from frantic typing.

How to think about it
  1. 1Read the prompt once and force yourself to name the likely pattern quickly.
  2. 2Sketch the solution skeleton before getting lost in details.
  3. 3Code the cleanest version you can, not the most clever one.
  4. 4Use a small test to confirm, then move on.
🚧Common Mistake

Speed training becomes sloppy if you skip the pattern step. Fast wrong guesses are still wrong guesses.

🔍Problem Hints

Climbing Stairs

Recognize this as Fibonacci: ways(n) = ways(n-1) + ways(n-2). You only need the two previous values so O(1) space works.

Word Break II

DFS with memoization: at each start index try every dictionary word. Cache the list of valid sentences for each start position to avoid recomputing.

Problems

Speed Run: Easy Pattern Match

easy

Speed Run: Medium Pattern Match

medium

Climbing Stairs

easy

Word Break II

hard