DSA Roadmap for Placements: A 12-Week Plan for Freshers
By the Codveri team ·
A week-by-week data structures and algorithms plan for campus placements, with what to solve, what to revise and when to take a rated test.
Before week 1
Choose one language (C++, Java or Python) and stay with it. Be comfortable with loops, functions, arrays and basic input and output. Learn Big-O notation in simple terms: how running time grows as input grows.
Weeks 1 to 3: arrays, strings and hashing
Solve 4 to 5 easy problems a day: two-pointer, prefix sums, frequency counting, sorting and binary search. These patterns cover a large share of first-round questions.
At the end of week 3, take a timed test in DSA to see your starting rating.
Weeks 4 to 6: linked lists, stacks and queues
Reverse a list, detect a cycle, merge sorted lists, valid parentheses, next greater element, sliding window maximum. Draw each pointer change on paper before coding.
Weeks 7 to 9: trees and graphs
Learn recursion properly, then tree traversals, height, lowest common ancestor and binary search trees. Move to BFS, DFS, connected components and shortest path on unweighted graphs.
Weeks 10 to 12: dynamic programming and revision
Start with climbing stairs, house robber, coin change and longest common subsequence. Learn to write the recurrence first and code second.
Spend the last two weeks redoing problems you failed, then take a second rated test and compare ratings.
Habits that matter more than the plan
Solve a little every day. Write the brute force first, then improve it. After each problem, note the pattern in one line. Review the notes weekly.