How to Complete DSA in Just 3 Problems a Day
🚀 Introduction: Most People Ignore the Real DSA Problem
You open LeetCode, glance at the thousands of problems, and feel overwhelmed. There’s fear, confusion, and hesitation.Where do you even begin?How do you know you’re covering everything that matters?
Most people spend months solving problems randomly, hoping they’re getting better. But in reality, they’re just circling the same types of questions, sticking to their comfort zones, and avoiding tough topics.
Let’s flip the script.
What if I told you that solving just 3 problems a day, strategically chosen, could help you cover the entire DSA syllabus in just 2–3 months?
Welcome to the DSA Speedrun — a focused, high-efficiency system that teaches you everything you need to crack top coding interviews without burning out.
Why “3 Problems a Day” Works
The secret to mastering DSA isn’t in doing 10 problems a day or grinding endlessly. It lies in consistency and variety.
The 3-problem strategy works because of the balanced structure:
✅ One Easy Problem – helps you warm up and reinforce the fundamentals
✅ One Medium Problem – pushes your logic and problem-solving thinking
✅ One Hard Problem – challenges you, reveals your weak points, and helps you grow
Hard problems aren’t there to solve perfectly. They are there to expose your gaps and guide your learning journey.
Doing 3 problems daily helps you build momentum, stay fresh, and avoid burnout — which is one of the most common reasons people quit mid-way through their DSA prep.
Full Syllabus Breakdown (DSA Essentials)
Before jumping into the plan, let’s understand what topics every FAANG, product-based company, and top startup expects you to know in DSA.
Choose the language you’re most comfortable with — C++, Java, or Python. If you’re undecided, C++ is highly recommended for beginners because of its Standard Template Library (STL), which makes it easier to solve complex problems efficiently.
Once you’re comfortable with a language, aim to master the following:
- Arrays & Strings
- Hashing
- Two Pointers / Sliding Window
- Linked Lists
- Stacks & Queues
- Recursion & Backtracking
- Binary Trees & Binary Search Trees
- Heaps & Priority Queues
- Graphs (BFS, DFS, Topological Sort, etc.)
- Dynamic Programming
- Greedy Algorithms
- Tries
- Bit Manipulation
- Segment Trees / Advanced Topics
These topics form the core of almost every coding interview. Companies don’t just want you to solve them; they want to see how you approach them under time pressure.
Now imagine solving 3 focused problems a day, rotating through these concepts — in 60–75 days, you’ll have hands-on experience across the entire syllabus.
📅 DSA Speedrun Plan: Week-by-Week Breakdown
Let’s map out your journey. Below is a 4-week rotating plan. After completing this once, restart the cycle with new problems or harder versions.
Week 1: Arrays, Strings, and Hashing
| Day | Easy | Medium | Hard |
| Monday | Reverse Array | Two Sum | Kth Largest Element |
| Tuesday | Palindrome Check | Subarray Sum = K | Maximum Subarray Sum (Kadane’s) |
| Wednesday | Merge Arrays | Group Anagrams | Longest Consecutive Sequence |
| Thursday | Max Element | Sliding Window Maximum | Product of Array Except Self |
| Friday | Count Frequencies | Longest Substring Without Repeat | Minimum Window Substring |
| Saturday | String Compression | Set Matrix Zeroes | Median of Two Sorted Arrays |
| Sunday | Rest / Revision | Revisit Weak Problems | Retest Concepts |
📌 Tip: Don’t skip revision. Sundays are key for reinforcing weak areas and ensuring long-term retention.
Week 2: Linked Lists, Stacks, and Queues
Focus on pointer manipulation and stack/queue logic.
| Day | Easy | Medium | Hard |
| Monday | Reverse Linked List | Detect Cycle | Copy List with Random Pointer |
| Tuesday | Stack Implementation | Valid Parentheses | Largest Rectangle in Histogram |
| Wednesday | Queue using Stack | LRU Cache | Sliding Window Maximum |
| Thursday | Merge Two Lists | Add Two Numbers | Flatten a Multilevel Linked List |
| Friday | Balanced Brackets | Min Stack Evaluate | Reverse Polish Notation |
| Saturday | Weekly Revision | Revisit Mistakes | Explore New Concepts |
Week 3: Trees, Graphs, and Recursion
Tree and graph questions dominate mid to advanced-level interviews. Focus on recursion patterns, traversal techniques, and graph algorithms.
| Day | Easy | Medium | Hard |
| Monday | Inorder Traversal | Level Order Traversal | Serialize and Deserialize Tree |
| Tuesday | Height of Tree | Diameter of Tree | Lowest Common Ancestor |
| Wednesday | DFS on Graph | Clone Graph | Course Schedule |
| Thursday | BFS | Word Ladder | Topological Sort |
| Friday | Recursion Basics | Subsets | N-Queens |
| Saturday | Revision | Code Review | Practice Implementation |
Week 4: DP, Greedy, Tries, Bit Manipulation
This is the final boss week. These are the concepts that differentiate average coders from top 1% performers.
| Day | Easy | Medium | Hard |
| Monday | Fibonacci | House Robber | Longest Increasing Subsequence |
| Tuesday | Coin Change | Partition Equal Subset Sum | Word Break II |
| Wednesday | Job Scheduling (Greedy) | Merge Intervals | Jump Game II |
| Thursday | Bit Basics Single Number | Maximum | XOR of Two Numbers |
| Friday | Trie Basics | Implement Trie | Hard Trie Problem |
| Saturday | Deep Dive | Debugging | Optimization Practice |
🔁 After Week 4
Repeat the cycle with harder versions of the same problems or pick from other platforms. Don’t just stick to LeetCode. Mix in:
- GeeksforGeeks
- CodeForces
- AtCoder
- InterviewBit
- CodeStudio
Every platform teaches you how questions are framed differently, even when the logic is similar. This trains your pattern recognition.
🧾 How to Track Your Progress Effectively
Don’t just solve problems blindly. Track everything to reflect, revise, and improve your skills over time.
📓 Use a DSA Journal
Track every session by noting:
- 📅 Date
- 🔗 Problem name + link
- 🧠 Topic (e.g., Arrays, DP)
- ✅ Solved or not
- ✏️ Notes / Patterns observed
- 🔄 Revisit needed? (Yes/No)
Over time, this will become your personal DSA guidebook, filled with strategies and insights tailored to your strengths and weaknesses.
🧠 The Learn ➝ Solve ➝ Teach Framework
This learning cycle is the fastest way to master DSA:
- Learn – Watch a tutorial, read a blog, or use GeeksforGeeks
- Solve – Try it yourself without copying
- Teach – Explain to someone, write a LinkedIn post, or blog it
If you can teach a concept clearly, you’ve truly understood it.
- 🔥 Pro Tips to Maximize Your DSA Speed run
- ❌ Don’t panic if you fail the hard ones — they’re meant to teach, not crush you.
- ✅ Track your patterns — Sliding Window, Monotonic Stack, Binary Search on Answer — these are gold.
- 🧠 Use the “Discuss” sections — Learn different approaches. Sometimes, the optimal solution is hidden in comments.
- 📅 Be consistent — It’s better to solve 3 problems daily for 75 days than 50 problems in one weekend.
- 🧾 Make flashcards — Save logic like Union-Find, Trie, or Modular Arithmetic tricks for revision.
- 🎯 What You’ll Achieve in 2–3 Months
By the end of this DSA Speedrun, you’ll be able to:
✅ Cover the entire DSA syllabus
✅ Solve 300+ curated problems
✅ Identify and apply common patterns
✅ Build speed and confidence
✅ Perform better in mock interviews and real coding rounds
You won’t just memorize answers — you’ll develop the mindset of a true problem-solver.
📚 Bonus: Best Resources for Each DSA Topic
Here’s a quick reference of what to use for learning:
| Topic | Resource |
| Arrays / Strings | Neetcode, Love Babbar Sheet |
| Trees / Graphs | Take U Forward (YouTube), Striver Sheet |
| DP | Aditya Verma Playlist, Codeforces DP Tag |
| Greedy | GFG, Leetcode Premium Problems |
| Bit Manipulation | Abdul Bari (YouTube), GFG Articles |
| Tries / Advanced | CP Handbook, Stanford Lecture Notes |
Bookmark them, and revisit when you’re stuck.
Final Words: Consistency > Motivation
The DSA Speedrun is not just a strategy — it’s a mindset.
It’s about:
- Learning consistently
- Avoiding burnout
- Building real problem-solving skills
- Preparing for real-world interviews smartly
- Even if you fall behind, don’t quit. Take a break, adjust the pace, but don’t give up.
You don’t need to solve 1000 problems.
You need to deeply understand 300.
So start today. Just 3 problems — one easy, one medium, one hard.
That’s how you win the DSA game.
That’s how you become interview-ready.
That’s how you build a future-proof skill.