Prepare for and practice interview questions from MSCI across topics like SQL, Algorithms, Analytics and more.

MSCI Interview Questions

MSCI Interview Guides

Data Structures & Algorithms

Find the missing integer from a array of consequtive integers

Find the Missing Number

Given an integer N, write a function that returns all of the prime numbers up to N

Prime to N

String Subsequence

Write a function to determine whether or not two rectangles overlap.

Rectangle Overlap

Given an array and a target integer, write a function that returns the indices of two integers in the array that add up to the target integer.

Target Indices

Statistics

What are the assumptions of linear regression?

Assumptions of Linear Regression

What are confidence intervals and how are they useful

Confidence Interval Explanation

What is the difference between Logistic and Linear Regression?

Linear vs Logistic Regression

Machine Learning

Bank Fraud Model

Decision Tree Evaluation

Brainteasers

How would you answer when an Interviewer asks why you applied to their company?

Why Do You Want to Work With Us

What do you tell an interviewer when they ask you what your strengths and weaknesses are?

Your Strengths and Weaknesses

Data Modeling

Design Poker Schema

When an interviewer asks a question along the lines of:

<ul>
<li>What would your current manager say about you? What constructive criticisms might he give?</li>
<li>What are your three biggest strengths and weaknesses you have identified in yourself?</li>
</ul>

How would you respond?

When asked about your strengths in an interview, what is an effective way to respond?

When asked about your strengths in an interview, what is an effective way to respond?

Your Strengths and Weaknesses I

Which of the following is an acceptable strategy when discussing weaknesses in an interview?

Which of the following is an acceptable strategy when discussing weaknesses in an interview?

Your Strengths and Weaknesses II

When an interviewer asks you a question along the lines of:

<ul>
<li>Why did you apply to our company?</li>
<li>What are you looking for in your next job?</li>
<li>What makes you a good fit for our company?</li>
</ul>

How should you respond?

When asked 'What are you looking for in your next job?' in an interview, how can you tie the company's employee benefits into your response?

When asked 'What are you looking for in your next job?' in an interview, how can you tie the company's employee benefits into your response?

Why Do You Want to Work With Us I

How can company values be used effectively in an interview when asked 'What makes you a good fit for our company?'

How can company values be used effectively in an interview when asked 'What makes you a good fit for our company?'

Why Do You Want to Work With Us II

When responding to the question 'Why did you apply to our company?' during an interview, what aspect should you highlight?

When responding to the question 'Why did you apply to our company?' during an interview, what aspect should you highlight?

Why Do You Want to Work With Us III

Describe a data project you worked on. What were some of the challenges you faced?

Describing a data project and its challenges

Hurdles In Data Projects

Analytics

What are the assumptions of linear regression?

Which assumption of the residuals of the standard linear regression model can not be overcome by increasing the sample size?

Regression assumptions

Given a string, write a function to determine if it is palindrome or not.

Note: A palindrome is a word/string that is read the same way forward as it is backward, e.g. <code>&#39;reviver&#39;</code>, <code>&#39;madam&#39;</code>, <code>&#39;deified&#39;</code> and <code>&#39;civic&#39;</code> are all palindromes, while <code>&#39;tree&#39;</code>, <code>&#39;music&#39;</code> and <code>&#39;person&#39;</code> are not palindromes.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>word1 = &#34;tree&#34;
word2 = &#34;radar&#34;
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>def is_palindrome(word1) -&gt; False
def is_palindrome(word2) -&gt; True
</code></pre>

Given a string, write a function to determine if it is palindrome or not.

String Palindromes

What is the difference between Logistic and Linear Regression?

When would use one instead of the other in practice?

Create a class named <code>LRUCache</code> that implements the behavior expected of a Least Recently Used (LRU) Cache.

The <code>LRUCache</code> class implements the following methods:

<ul>
<li><code>__init__(self, capacity)</code> - initializes the object and takes in a capacity parameter specifying the maximum capacity of the cache.</li>
<li><code>get_if_exists(self, key) -&gt; Any|None</code> - gets a value based on a key. If the key exists, returns the associated value. If the key has expired or did not exist in the first place, returns <code>None</code>.</li>
<li><code>put(self, key, value)</code> - places a value inside the cache. In the case wherein the cache is full, invalidates the least recently used element. When two keys collide, the older value should be invalidated in place of the new one.</li>
</ul>

Example:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>cache = LRUCache(2)
cache.put(&#34;sample&#34;, 55)
cache.get_if_exists(&#34;sample&#34;) # returns 55
cache.get_if_exists(&#34;key&#34;) # returns None
cache.put(&#34;hello&#34;, 10) 
cache.put(&#34;sample&#34;, 9)
cache.put(&#34;world&#34;, 5)
cache.get_if_exists(&#34;hello&#34;) # returns None
</code></pre>

Notes:

<ul>
<li>It is assured that the value in the <code>put</code> method will never receive a <code>None</code> value. Moreover, it is assured that the capacity will always be &gt; 0.</li>

<li>All operations must be O(1).</li>

<li>Aside from Python’s standard dictionary implementation (<code>{}</code>), you may not use any other built-in data structures.</li>
</ul>

LRU Cache 1

Given an array and a target integer, write a function <code>sum_pair_indices</code> that returns the indices of two integers in the array that add up to the target integer. If not found, just return an empty list.

Note: Can you do it on \(O(n)\) time?

Note: Even though there could be many solutions, only one needs to be returned.

Example 1:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>array = [1 2 3 4] 
target = 5 
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>def sum_pair_indices(array, target) -&gt; [0 3] or [1 2]
</code></pre>

Example 2:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>array = [3]
target = 6 
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>Do NOT return [0 0] as you can&#39;t use an index twice.
</code></pre>

Let’s say that you work at a bank that wants to build a model to detect fraud on the platform.

The bank wants to implement a text messaging service in addition that will text customers when the model detects a fraudulent transaction in order for the customer to approve or deny the transaction with a text response.

How would we build this model?

Let’s say that you work at a bank that wants to build a model to detect fraud on the platform.

The bank wants to implement a text messaging service that will text customers when the model detects a fraudulent transaction in order for the customer to approve or deny the transaction with a text response.

Which statement is true?

Let's say that you work at a bank that wants to build a model to detect fraud on the platform.

The bank wants to implement a text messaging service that will text customers when the model detects a fraudulent transaction in order for the customer to approve or deny the transaction with a text response.

Which statement is true?

Given an integer <code>N</code>, write a function that returns a list of all of the prime numbers up to <code>N</code>.

Note: Return an empty list there are no prime numbers less than or equal to <code>N</code>.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>N = 3
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>def prime_numbers(N) -&gt; [2,3]
</code></pre>

<h1>Binary Tree Validation</h1>

You are given the root of a binary tree. You need to determine if it is a valid binary search tree (BST).

A valid BST is defined as follows:

<ul>
<li>The left subtree of a node contains only nodes with values less than or equal to the node’s value.</li>
<li>The right subtree of a node contains only nodes with values greater than or equal to the node’s value.</li>
<li>Both the left and right subtrees must also be binary search trees.</li>
</ul>

Given the function <code>def is_valid_bst(root: Node) -&gt; bool:</code>, return True if the binary tree is a valid BST. Otherwise, return False.

<h3>Example:</h3>

Input:

<img src="/s3/questions/9664817c-3e12-4a40-9236-8382b13f55a0.png" alt="image"/>Converted Binary Tree.png

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>def is_valid_bst(Node(3)) -&gt; True
</code></pre>

Given the root node, verify if a binary search tree is valid or not.

Binary Tree Validation

The Fibonacci sequence is a series of numbers in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones, usually starting with 0 and 1. It is often used in algorithm examples, and is defined by the following formula: F(n) = F(n-1) + F(n-2), with F(0) = 0 and F(1) = 1.

Your task is to implement the Fibonacci algorithm in three different methods:
1. Recursively
2. Iteratively
3. Using Memoization

Example 1:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>n = 5
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>fibonacci(n) -&gt; 5
</code></pre>

Example 2:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>n = 10
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>fibonacci(n) -&gt; 55
</code></pre>

The Fibonacci sequence starts as follows: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55…

This question requires the implementation of the Fibonacci sequence using three different methods: recursively, iteratively, and using memoization.

Implementing the Fibonacci Sequence in Three Different Methods

Let’s say you work as a data scientist at a bank.

You are tasked with building a decision tree model to predict if a borrower will pay back a personal loan they are taking out.

<ol>
<li>How would you evaluate whether using a decision tree algorithm is the correct model for the problem?</li>

<li>Let’s say you move forward with the decision tree model. How would you evaluate the performance of the model before deployment and after?</li>
</ol>

What is a confidence interval for a statistic? Why is it useful to know the confidence interval for a statistic and how do you calculate it?

You have an array of integers, <code>nums</code> of length <code>n</code> spanning <code>0</code> to <code>n</code> with one missing. Write a function <code>missing_number</code> that returns the missing number in the array.

Note: Complexity of \(O(n)\) required.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>nums = [0,1,2,4,5] 
missing_number(nums) -&gt; 3
</code></pre>

Given a list of integers, identify all the duplicate values in the list. Assume that the list can contain both positive and negative numbers, and the order of the list does not matter. A number is considered a duplicate if it appears more than once in the list. Return a list of the duplicate numbers.

Example 1:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>nums = [1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3]
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>find_duplicates(nums) -&gt; [1, 2, 3]
</code></pre>

The numbers 1, 2, and 3 all appear more than once in the list, so they are considered duplicates.

Example 2:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>nums = [1, -1, 2, 3, 3, -1]
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>find_duplicates(nums) -&gt; [-1, 3]
</code></pre>

The numbers -1 and 3 both appear more than once in the list, so they are considered duplicates. Note that the order of the output does not matter.

Example 3:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>nums = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>find_duplicates(nums) -&gt; []
</code></pre>

None of the numbers in the list appear more than once, so there are no duplicates.

This problem involves identifying duplicate numbers in a list of integers. The function should return a list of the duplicate numbers.

Find Duplicate Numbers in a List

Write a function <code>fib</code> which takes an integer <code>n</code> and returns the nth fibonacci number. For this question, <code>fib</code> MUST be recursively defined.

Note: <code>for</code> and <code>while</code> keywords are disabled for this question, as well as <code>functools</code>. Any workarounds around this restriction is prohibited.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>n = 4
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>def fib(n) -&gt; 3
# the sequence is [1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8...]
</code></pre>

Implement a dynamic recursive fibonacci function.

Impossibly Iterative Fibonacci

You are given a binary tree of unique positive numbers. Each node in the binary tree is represented as a dictionary with the following keys:

<ul>
<li><code>data</code>: integer value stored in the node</li>
<li><code>left</code>: reference to the left child (or <code>None</code>)</li>
<li><code>right</code>: reference to the right child (or <code>None</code>)</li>
</ul>

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>node = {
 &#34;data&#34;: 6,
 &#34;left&#34;: {
 &#34;data&#34;: 3,
 &#34;left&#34;: {...},
 &#34;right&#34;: {...}
 },
 &#34;right&#34;: {
 &#34;data&#34;: 9,
 &#34;left&#34;: {...},
 &#34;right&#34;: {...}
 }
}
</code></pre>

Given two node values as input (<code>value1</code> and <code>value2</code>), write a function to return the value of the nearest common ancestor (lowest node in the tree that has both nodes as descendants).

Note: If one of the nodes doesn’t exist in the tree, return <code>-1</code>.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code># Diagram of the binary tree
&#39;&#39;&#39;
 6 
 / \ 
 3 9 
 / \
 2 11
 / \
 5 8
&#39;&#39;&#39;
value1 = 8
value2 = 2
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>common_ancestor(root,value1,value2) -&gt; 3
</code></pre>

Explanation:

<ul>
<li>Ancestors of <code>8</code>: <code>11 → 3 → 6</code></li>
<li>Ancestors of <code>2</code>: <code>3 → 6</code></li>
<li>Common ancestors: <code>3</code> and <code>6</code></li>
<li>The nearest common ancestor is <code>3</code>.</li>
</ul>

Write a function to return the value of the nearest node that is a parent to both nodes.

Nearest Common Ancestor

Find if there is a path from a starting point to an ending point in a walled maze

Pathfinder in Maze

Write a Python function called <code>longest_increasing_subsequence</code> that takes a list of integers as input and returns as output the length of the longest increasing subsequence in the list.

Note: An increasing subsequence is a subset of a list where the elements are in strictly increasing order. The subsequence does not have to be contiguous or unique.

<h3>Example:</h3>

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>nums = [10, 9, 2, 5, 3, 3, 7, 101, 18]
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>4
</code></pre>

Explanation:

The longest increasing subsequence is <code>[2, 3, 7, 101]</code>, for a total length of 4.

Find the longest increasing subsequence in a list of integers.

Longest Increasing Subsequence

Let’s say you’re interning at a fintech startup that’s building a platform for online games of chance. During testing, one of your simulations flips a coin 10 times and gets 8 tails and 2 heads.

How would you determine if the coin is fair, and what statistical approach would you use to support your conclusion?

How would you assess if a coin is fair after observing 8 tails in 10 flips?

Fair Coin

Probability

Write a Python function called <code>group_anagrams</code> that takes a list of strings as input and returns a list of lists, where each inner list contains a group of anagrams that were present in the input list.

An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of a different word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once.

Note: Each of the inner lists should be ordered alphabetically and contain no duplicate values

<h3>Example:</h3>

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>words = [&#34;eat&#34;, &#34;tea&#34;, &#34;tan&#34;, &#34;ate&#34;, &#34;nat&#34;, &#34;bat&#34;]
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>[ 
 [&#34;nat&#34;,&#34;tan&#34;],
 [&#34;ate&#34;,&#34;eat&#34;, &#34;tea&#34;],
 [&#34;bat&#34;]
]
</code></pre>

Explanation:

In the example, the words “eat”, “tea”, and “ate” are anagrams of each other, as are the words “tan” and “nat”. The word “bat” does not have any anagrams in the input list, and therefore is listed on its own. The function then groups the anagrams together and returns a list of lists representing these groups.

Each of the lists representing a group of anagrams is sorted in alphabetical order.

Identify the groups of anagrams in a list of words

Groups of Anagrams

Singly-linked lists are a type of linked list where nodes have only one pointer: A pointer to the next element. Create a class <code>SinglyLinkedList</code> along with its methods:

<ul>
<li><code>add_head(element)</code> - adds an element to the head of the list. This becomes the new head of the linked list.</li>
<li><code>add_tail(element)</code> - adds an element to the tail of the list. This becomes the new tail of the linked list.</li>
<li><code>remove_head() -&gt; element</code> - removes the head and returns the value of the removed element.</li>
<li><code>remove_tail() -&gt; element</code> - removes the tail and returns the value of the removed element.</li>
<li><code>__contains__(item) -&gt; bool</code> - checks if the item is inside the list. Returns <code>True</code> if it is inside the list and returns <code>False</code> if not. This method is implemented to allow the use of Python’s <code>in</code> operator.</li>
<li><code>__getitem__(index)</code> - returns the element at the specified index. Raises an <code>IndexError</code> if the index is out of bounds. This method is implemented to allow the use of Python’s <code>[]</code> operator.</li>
<li><code>__len__()</code> - returns the length of the <code>SinglyLinkedList</code>.</li>
</ul>

Write a class 'SinglyLinkedList' that implements the interface required for a Singly Linked List.

Singly Linked List

Given a string <code>str</code> of any length, write an algorithm <code>max_repeating</code> to return which character has the longest string of continuous repetition.

If two characters are tied for most continuous repetition, return the character whose longest continuous repetition occurs earliest in <code>str</code>.

Example 1:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>str = &#39;aabbaaccbbbaa&#39;
def max_repeating(str) -&gt; b
</code></pre>

Example 2:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>str = &#39;adccccbbbbc&#39;
def max_repeating(str) -&gt; c
</code></pre>

Most Repetition

Write a function <code>data_stream_median</code> to calculate the new median from a stream of ordered integers and the new element which is not yet inserted into the stream.

The median is the middle value in an ordered integer list. If the size of the list is even, there is no middle value, so the median is the mean of the two middle values.

Example:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>new_value = 2
stream = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
def data_stream_median(new_value, stream): -&gt; 3
</code></pre>

Write a function data_stream_median to calculate the median from a stream of integers.

Data Stream Median

Given an integer \(n\), write a function <code>traverse_count</code> to determine the number of paths from the top left corner of an \(n\times n\) grid to the bottom right. You may only move right or down.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>n = 2
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>def traverse_count(n) -&gt; 2
</code></pre>

As our two options for a 2x2 grid:

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>start</th>
<th></th>
</tr>
</thead>

<tbody>
<tr>
<td></td>
<td>end</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
are only to go right then down, or down then right. So there are two possible paths.

NxN Grid Traversal

You are given two non-empty linked lists representing two non-negative integers. Each list contains a single number, where each item in the list is one digit. The digits are stored in reverse order.

Task: Add the two numbers and return the sum as a linked list, also with the digits in reverse order. You may assume the two numbers do not contain any leading zeros, except the number 0 itself.

Example 1:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>l1 = 2-&gt;4-&gt;3-&gt;null
l2 = 5-&gt;6-&gt;4-&gt;null
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>addTwoNumbers(l1, l2) = 7-&gt;0-&gt;8-&gt;null
</code></pre>

Explanation: 342 + 465 = 807.

Example 2:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>l1 = 0-&gt;null
l2 = 0-&gt;null
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>addTwoNumbers(l1, l2) -&gt; 0-&gt;null
</code></pre>

Explanation: 0 + 0 = 0.

In this problem, we are given two linked lists representing two non-negative integers, with each item in the list holding one digit. The digits are stored in reverse order, and each of their nodes contains a single digit. We are required to add the two numbers and return the sum as a linked list.

Radix Addition

Given a string, find the length of the largest palindrome that can be made from the characters in the string. A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of characters that reads the same forward and backward, ignoring spaces, punctuation, and capitalization.

Example 1:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>s = &#39;racecar&#39;
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>largest_palindrome(s) -&gt; &#39;7&#39;
</code></pre>

In this example, the entire string ‘racecar’ is a palindrome.

Example 2:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>s = &#39;aabbcc&#39;
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>largest_palindrome(s) -&gt; &#39;6&#39;
</code></pre>

Find the Length of the Largest Palindrome in a String

Length Of Longest Palindrome

You are given two rectangles <code>a</code> and <code>b</code> each defined by four ordered pairs denoting their corners on the <code>x</code>, <code>y</code> plane. Write a function <code>rectangle_overlap</code> to determine whether or not they overlap. Return <code>True</code> if so, and <code>False</code> otherwise.

Note: If the two rectangles border one another, or share a corner like two diagonally adjacent positions on a chessboard, they are said to overlap.

Note: The lists of ordered pairs are in no particular order. The first entry in list <code>a</code> could be the top left corner while the first in list <code>b</code> is the bottom right.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>
a = [(-3,5), (-3,2),(0,5),(0,2)]
b = [(-1,4), (3,4), (3,1), (-1,1)]
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>def rectangle_overlap(a, b) -&gt; True
</code></pre>

As point <code>(0,2)</code> is fully contained in rectangle <code>b</code> and point <code>(-1,4)</code> is fully contained in a rectangle <code>a</code>.

Given two strings, <code>num_str1</code> and <code>num_str2</code>, write a function to sum the two strings together without directly converting them to integers.

Note: Return the output in string format.

Example:

Input:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>num_ str1 = &#39;122&#39; #assume that in practice the two strings are huge
num_str2 = &#39;222&#39;
</code></pre>

Output:

<pre tabindex="0" class="chroma"><code>sum_strings(num_str1,num_str2) -&gt; &#39;344&#39;
</code></pre>

Calculate Moving Average	SQL	Easy
Predict Customer Churn	Machine Learning	Medium
A/B Test Significance	Statistics	Medium
Optimize Query Performance	SQL	Hard
Feature Importance Analysis	Machine Learning	Medium
Clean Missing Data	Python	Easy
Neural Network Architecture	Deep Learning	Hard
Calculate Cohort Retention	SQL	Medium
Bayesian Probability	Statistics	Easy
Recommend Similar Products	Machine Learning	Hard

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