Assessment and DP Classics

Most of Affirm's coding happens live, with an interviewer you can ask questions. The apprenticeship track, aimed at career-changers, adds a timed coding assessment. Three of the four problems here are close to ones from a 2026 sitting, a number theory warm-up and two table or search problems. The fourth is a DP classic that has shown up on a live phone screen.

Check the input sizes before you pick a method. A loop that runs past the square root of a large n is too slow, and a table that works for a small capacity falls over when the capacity is huge. Size decides the method more often than the story does.

The Affirm angle

A timed test has nobody to ask. In Affirm's live rounds, questions about unstated rules count in your favor, but on the assessment you only have the written rules, so read them twice. Check what the problem returns when no answer exists, since some want -1 and some want 0. The phone screen works the other way around. A DP can return the best answer or the number of ways, so ask on the call which one they want.

AffirmPremium lesson · Coding round

The 4 Affirm problems are below.

1. 1A Premium questionCoding · Medium
2. 2A Premium questionCoding · Easy
3. 3A Premium questionCoding · Medium

+ 1 more in this lesson

Each with hints, the follow-up and a tested solution.

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