Best DSA Roadmap for Beginners

Phase 1: Basics (Weeks 1–2)

• Get comfortable with loops, conditionals, and functions.
• Basic array and string operations. Simple problems (e.g. two sum with brute force, then optimize).

Phase 2: Linear Data Structures (Weeks 3–5)

• Linked list: create, traverse, reverse.
• Stack and queue: implement and use in problems (e.g. valid parentheses, level order).

Phase 3: Trees (Weeks 6–8)

• Binary tree: inorder, preorder, postorder, level order.
• BST: search, insert, delete. Recursive structure of trees.

Phase 4: Graphs (Weeks 9–11)

• Representation: adjacency list/matrix.
• BFS, DFS, cycle detection, topological sort.
• Shortest path: unweighted (BFS) and weighted (Dijkstra).

Phase 5: DP and Greedy (Weeks 12–14)

• DP: start with 1D (climbing stairs, house robber), then 2D and knapsack.
• Greedy: interval scheduling, jump game.

Consistency Over Speed

Do a little every day. Use Preplume(/) to follow a structured timeline and avoid skipping topics.