u/michaelnovati replied ·
This is my area of expertise - FAANG interviewing (DS&A, SD, behavioral specifically). Also disclosure that my company has fairly expensive coaching, mentorship, practice etc... for these interviews **BUT** I'm giving this answer with my personal hat on and not suggesting that.
The most common issue I see is people practicing LeetCode alone by themselves and fiddling with problems until the tests pass.
It can feel like the interviews are a game to beat, but DS&A is really about testing your problem solving process and communication of that process.
So some advice is to:
1. Follow a consistent problem solving process (you can google around).
2. Practice speaking out load through that process when you practice.
3. Don't underestimate easy and medium problems, don't skip too far ahead to hard ones.