Amazon SDE OA Cheat Sheet
Amazon · SDE Online Assessment
Coding, work styles, and work simulation in one sitting. The official OA structure plus the loop that follows, condensed to one page.
Selection rounds
- 1
Coding, about 70 minutes
Two DSA problems with an official unscored practice test available. Public references are allowed, but login walled sites, print screen, and copy paste are not, and browser usage is logged.
- 2
Workstyles, about 15 minutes
Most and least likely responses to workplace situations, mapped to Leadership Principles.
- 3
Work simulation, about 60 minutes
Email modules, customer issues, debugging scenarios, and prioritization under ambiguity.
- 4
Survey, about 5 minutes
Required. Skipping it delays results and next steps.
- 5
Interview loop
DSA rounds with Leadership Principle deep dives in STAR format and repeated why and how follow ups, plus light system design for SDE-1.
Topics to prepare
Graphs, DP, hashmaps, sliding window
The backbone of Amazon DSA rounds. Dry run code aloud as you write.
Full solutions end to end
Input and output handling included, not just the core function.
STAR stories per LP
Customer Obsession, Bias for Action, Ownership, and Deliver Results with measurable outcomes.
Simulation judgment
Prioritize by customer impact and state assumptions explicitly in written responses.
How AutoCoder fits this pattern
STAR story structuring per Leadership Principle plus graph and DP walkthroughs with dry run narration for the loop.
Frequently asked questions
What happens if I use print screen in the Amazon OA?
Per Amazon’s own instructions, the session is terminated and locked out. Never touch it, and avoid copy paste inside the assessment as well.
How much system design does SDE-1 need?
Light. Simple scalable components with clear trade offs, not distributed systems depth. Focus stays on DSA fluency and LP stories.
How should I prepare Leadership Principles?
Write one STAR story per principle with numbers attached, then rehearse the follow ups: why this approach, what failed, and what you would change.
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