Goldman Sachs Coding Interview Questions (2026 Guide)
Goldman Sachs interviews feel different from pure tech companies. There's more math, more optimization, and more finance-flavored problem statements — but under the hood, it's still the same core DSA patterns.
This guide breaks down 325 real Goldman Sachs interview questions: which patterns dominate, the exact difficulty mix, the top 20 problems you should solve right now, and a focused 30-day plan to get you ready.
This guide breaks down 325 real Goldman Sachs interview questions: which patterns dominate, the exact difficulty mix, the top 20 problems you should solve right now, and a focused 30-day plan to get you ready.
📋 Table of Contents
- Overview: What Goldman Sachs Actually Asks
- Top 10 Patterns Asked at Goldman Sachs
- Top 20 Goldman Sachs Interview Questions
- 30-Day Goldman Sachs Prep Plan
- What Makes Goldman Sachs Interviews Unique
- How to Track Your Prep with DSAPrep.dev
- Common Mistakes in Goldman Sachs Prep
- Conclusion: Your Goldman Sachs Roadmap
Overview: What Goldman Sachs Actually Asks
Based on 325 real interview questions from Goldman Sachs, here's what you need to know:
Difficulty Breakdown:
Easy: 24% (77 questions)
Medium: 63% (206 questions)
Hard: 13% (42 questions)💡 Key Insight
Goldman Sachs is heavily Medium-weighted at 63%, with a relatively low Hard share at 13%, which means consistent performance on medium problems matters more than mastering rare brain-teasers.Top 10 Patterns Asked at Goldman Sachs
| Rank | Pattern | Frequency | Questions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Array | 59.1% | 192 |
| 2 | String | 29.8% | 97 |
| 3 | Hash Table | 25.5% | 83 |
| 4 | Dynamic Programming | 22.5% | 73 |
| 5 | Math | 14.5% | 47 |
| 6 | Sorting | 13.5% | 44 |
| 7 | Two Pointers | 13.2% | 43 |
| 8 | Binary Search | 11.4% | 37 |
| 9 | Greedy | 9.5% | 31 |
| 10 | Matrix | 8.6% | 28 |
Pattern Strategy
- Master patterns 1–3 first — covers ~40–50% of Goldman Sachs questions.
- Patterns 4–7 are your insurance — covers another 20–30%.
- Patterns 8–10 are bonus for senior roles or hard rounds.
Top 20 Goldman Sachs Interview Questions
The most frequently asked and recent problems from Goldman Sachs, grouped by difficulty:
🟢 Easy
| # | Problem | Patterns | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | High Five | Array, Hash Table, Sorting | LeetCode → |
| 2 | First Unique Character in a String | Hash Table, String, Queue | LeetCode → |
| 3 | Robot Return to Origin | String, Simulation | LeetCode → |
🟡 Medium
| # | Problem | Patterns | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fraction to Recurring Decimal | Hash Table, Math, String | LeetCode → |
| 2 | Minimum Path Sum | Array, Dynamic Programming, Matrix | LeetCode → |
| 3 | Number of Sub-arrays of Size K and Average Greater than or Equal to Threshold | Array, Sliding Window | LeetCode → |
| 4 | Car Pooling | Array, Sorting, Heap | LeetCode → |
| 5 | Number of Islands | Array, DFS, BFS | LeetCode → |
| 6 | Longest Substring Without Repeating Characters | Hash Table, String, Sliding Window | LeetCode → |
| 7 | Container With Most Water | Array, Two Pointers, Greedy | LeetCode → |
| 8 | Find the Minimum Amount of Time to Brew Potions | Array, Binary Search | LeetCode → |
🔴 Hard
| # | Problem | Patterns | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trapping Rain Water | Array, Two Pointers, Dynamic Programming | LeetCode → |
| 2 | Median of Two Sorted Arrays | Array, Binary Search, Divide and Conquer | LeetCode → |
30-Day Goldman Sachs Prep Plan
Week 1–2 Core Patterns (Focus on Top 3)
- Daily Goal: 2–3 problems from #Array, #String, #Hash Table.
- Day 1–7: Solve 15–20 easy/medium problems.
- Day 8–14: Re-solve Day 1–7 problems from memory (spaced repetition).
- Track: Tag all problems with "Goldman Sachs" in DSAPrep.dev.
Week 3 Mixed Difficulty Practice
- Daily Goal: 1 easy (warm-up) + 1–2 medium (challenge).
- Morning: Review problems from Week 1–2 using the "Due Today" queue.
- Afternoon: Solve 2 new Goldman Sachs–tagged problems.
- Evening: Watch one mock interview video (YouTube: "Goldman Sachs interview").
Week 4 Mock Interviews & Hard Problems
- Monday/Wednesday/Friday: Full mock (2 problems, 90 mins total).
- Tuesday/Thursday: Solve 1 hard problem + review weak patterns.
- Saturday: Review all problems from this month.
- Sunday: Rest or light review.
Self-Assessment — by end of Week 4 you should:
- ✅ Solve 70%+ Goldman Sachs easy problems in <10 mins.
- ✅ Solve 50%+ Goldman Sachs medium problems in <25 mins.
- ✅ Recognize top 5 patterns within 2 mins of reading a problem.
- ✅ Explain time/space complexity without hesitation.
What Makes Goldman Sachs Interviews Unique
📈 Finance Domain Context
Many questions come wrapped in trading, risk, or portfolio management stories, so being comfortable with basic financial terminology makes it easier to map the narrative to a clean DSA model.➗ Strong Math & Probability Flavor
Expect more combinatorics, probability, and numeric reasoning than at most big tech firms, especially for quant-leaning or trading-adjacent roles.⚡ Optimization Really Matters
Because finance systems care about latency and throughput, interviewers pay extra attention to time complexity and constant factors, and often push you beyond the first working solution.🧭 Ethics, Pressure, and Fit
Behavioral rounds test how you act under pressure and how you think about responsibility and ethics in high-stakes environments, so prepare STAR stories around teamwork, pressure, and integrity.How to Track Your Goldman Sachs Prep with DSAPrep.dev
Step 1: Filter by Company
- Open DSAPrep.dev → Filter by "Goldman Sachs" to see all tagged problems in one view.
Step 2: Track Pattern Coverage
- Use the dashboard to find weak areas, for example: "Goldman Sachs DP Problems: 5/25 done (20%)."
- Push low-coverage patterns upward before interview week.
Step 3: Schedule Reviews
- Let spaced repetition resurface older Goldman Sachs questions in your "Due Today" queue.
- Aim for 3–5 review passes per important problem.
Step 4: Mock Interview Mode
- Pick 2–3 random Goldman Sachs mediums that mix arrays, math, and optimization.
- Time-box each to 40–45 minutes and explain aloud as if in a real quant or SDE round.
Common Mistakes in Goldman Sachs Prep
⚠️ Mistake 1: Ignoring Math-Heavy Problems
Why it fails: Goldman Sachs leans more on math, probability, and numeric edge cases than typical big tech interviews.
Better: Mix in problems that involve fractions, precision, rounding, and numeric overflow so you are comfortable with the math layer on top of DSA.⚠️ Mistake 2: Stopping at the First O(n²) Solution
Why it fails: Finance systems care about micro-optimizations, and interviewers expect you to push toward O(n log n) or O(n) where possible.
Better: After every solution, ask "Can I precompute? Can I sort once? Can I use a hash map or prefix sum?" and propose an optimized variant, even if you do not fully implement it.⚠️ Mistake 3: No Spaced Repetition
Why it fails: Solving 50 problems once is less useful than solving 25 problems and revisiting them 3–5 times before interview day.
Better: Use DSAPrep.dev to reschedule Goldman Sachs questions so pattern recognition and numeric reasoning stay fresh.Conclusion: Your Goldman Sachs Interview Roadmap
Today
- Add the top 5 Goldman Sachs problems above to DSAPrep.dev.
- Identify whether your weaker axis is patterns (e.g., DP) or math/probability.
This Week
- Solve 10–15 problems that combine arrays with math, hashing, or optimization.
- For each, write down the complexity and one possible optimization even if not required.
This Month
- Complete 50–70 Goldman Sachs–tagged problems across the top 7 patterns.
- Run 3–4 timed mock interviews with at least one math-heavy or optimization-focused question in each.
- Review every key problem at least twice using spaced repetition.
🚀 Start Today
You will be comfortable with finance-flavored questions, confident with math-heavy logic, and fast at optimizing real-world DSA problems — exactly what Goldman Sachs looks for.→ Start Tracking Goldman Sachs Prep on DSAPrep.dev (Free)