अभ्यास • Week 18

Weekly MUST Budget Standard

25.0h / 27.0h cap

Hour Calibration

actual hours logged

Rule: slippage > 1.25x triggers Scope-Cut Rung 2

Week Execution 0%

0/ 20 tasks 0.0h

target

Week Objective & Target Output

Target Output

February 1 – February 7, 2027 — Focus: Binary Trees Medium FAQs; Binary Trees Ancestor & Paths; Build micrograd from Scratch (Part 2: The Neural Net); Testing Spring Apps: JUnit 5, Mockito, MockMvc, Testcontainers; CN Transport Layer.

Weeks: W16 W17 W18 Active W19 W20

MUST — Critical Path

11 Tasks • ~25.0h

Non-negotiable core curriculum

DSA (Java) 5 tasks

DSA Binary Trees Medium FAQs 6 problems

Zigzag Traversal, Boundary Traversal, Vertical Order Traversal, Top View, Bottom View, Right/Left View. TUF+ A2Z Step 13.2

3.5h

DSA Binary Trees Ancestor & Paths 4 problems LC #A

Path to Given Node, Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA), Maximum Width of Binary Tree, Children Sum Property. TUF+ A2Z Step 13.2

3.5h

DSA DSA Transfer: No-Hint Timed Tree FAQs Set 2 problems LC #

Sit 2 unseen Tree FAQs problems you have never attempted (pick from the LeetCode topic tag, NeetCode “similar questions” or a company list; never a problem named in any learning task), at least 72 h after the learning task — move the set to the first half of next week if needed. Format: 25 min per problem (35 min for a Hard), including 5 min for edge cases and a dry run; no hints, no AI. Pass bar: ≥ 1/2 solved inside the time box; on a miss, log the miss reason in the Journal and re-sit a fresh pair within 7 days.

1.5h

DSA DP 1D Part II: Interview Staples 4 problems LC #213

House Robber II (LC #213), Decode Ways (LC #91), Word Break (LC #139), Perfect Squares (LC #279). First DP revisit three weeks after DP 1D Foundations: write recurrence → memo → tabulation → space-optimised for each.

2.0h

DSA DSA Daily Quota (Week 18) 4 problems

Solve 4 new problems from NeetCode 150 — Two Pointers & Binary Search (Pass 2); time-box each at 25 min before any hint (2.5h includes editorial on misses), then log pattern and miss reason in the Journal. Never repeat a problem already in the ledger.

2.5h

Competitive Programming 1 tasks

CP Contest & Upsolving (Week 18) LC #

LeetCode Weekly Contest (+ Codeforces Div.2/3 when it fits) and mandatory upsolving within 48 h.

2.5h

Backend (Spring Boot) 1 tasks

SPRING Testing Spring Apps: JUnit 5, Mockito, MockMvc, Testcontainers

Unit-test services with JUnit 5 + Mockito, slice-test controllers with MockMvc, and integration-test repositories against a Testcontainers PostgreSQL. Capstone milestone 3: ≥ 10 meaningful tests green in CI later. Why: backend interviews and real teams expect tested code.

3.0h

Core CS (CN) 1 tasks

CN CN Transport Layer

Port numbers, UDP vs TCP, TCP 3-way handshake, TCP 4-way termination, TCP segment structure, Reliability (sequence numbers, ACKs), Flow Control (Sliding Window), Congestion Control (Slow Start, Congestion Avoidance, Fast Retransmit, Fast Recovery). TUF+ CN

3.0h

Recruiting Pipeline 1 tasks

PIPELINE Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 18)

Calendar check against the Opportunity Calendar (Architecture §16); send ≥ 3 personalised outreach messages (alumni, seniors, recruiters) and log each in the Tracker; follow up open threads; ask for a referral 1–2 days after any OA invite; apply within 72 h of any new posting on the Target-40.

1.0h

Mock Interviews 1 tasks

MOCK Mock Interview 3 (Java & CS Fundamentals Grill)

60-min grill on Java collections/concurrency, OOPs, DBMS, OS and CN with depth-ladder follow-ups. Rubric: Java/CS grill (Architecture §15.5: accuracy + depth ladder + trade-offs).

2.0h

Aptitude 1 tasks

APT Aptitude Timed Drill (Week 18)

25-minute timed mixed set (quant, logical reasoning, data interpretation) from IndiaBix / PrepInsta-style banks; log accuracy and seconds per question in the Tracker. Target: ≥ 70% accuracy by W28.

0.5h

SHOULD — Depth & Mastery

(8 Tasks)

Execute when MUST pace is on track

CORE Structuring ML Projects)

Train/Dev/Test distributions, Error Analysis, Human-level performance baseline, Transfer Learning.

2.0h

CN Andrew Ng DL Course 4 (Convolutional Neural Networks)

Video lectures on conv layers, pooling, stride, padding.

3.0h

CORE Problem-Solving Journal Spaced Review (Week 18)

Re-solve 3 tagged stack and two-pointer problems.

2.0h

APT Quant M18

Speed, Distance & Races.

1.5h

CORE Company Research Database Updates (Week 18)

Compile core tech stack requirements for Track B banks (JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley).

1.5h

CORE Neural Networks & Deep Learning)

Neural networks foundations, vectorization, computational graphs, activation functions, shallow and deep neural network forward/backprop. Architecture §6.2

4.5h

CORE Improving Deep Neural Networks)

Hyperparameter tuning, weight initialization, L2 regularization, dropout, Batch Normalization, Adam optimizer.

3.5h

AI/ML The Engine)

Implement Value scalar class in pure Python: store data, grad, _prev children, and _op. Implement +, , relu, and backward pass using chain rule and topological DAG sort. Architecture §6.1*

3.0h

STRETCH — If Ahead

(1 Tasks)

Bonus reps & competitive advantage

OS Kurose & Ross Chapter 3

Transport Layer reading on TCP Reno vs Tahoe.

2.0h

verified_user

Weekly Clearance Gate

0 / 8 Cleared

[T: Binary Trees Medium FAQs] DSA: Have you completed “Binary Trees Medium FAQs” (Zigzag Traversal, Boundary Traversal, Vertical Order Traversal, Top View, Bottom View,…)?

Evidence: one problem from this task re-solved cold in ≤ 25 min a week later, logged in the Journal.

[T: Binary Trees Ancestor & Paths] Can you implement Lowest Common Ancestor (LCA) in a Binary Tree in Java in under 15 minutes?

Evidence: one problem from this task re-solved cold in ≤ 25 min a week later, logged in the Journal.

[T: Testing Spring Apps: JUnit 5, Mockito, MockMvc, Testcontainers] Backend: Have you completed “Testing Spring Apps: JUnit 5, Mockito, MockMvc, Testcontainers” (Unit-test services with JUnit 5 + Mockito, slice-test controllers with MockMvc, and…)?

Evidence: GitHub PR link with passing CI run.

[T: CN Transport Layer] CN: Have you completed “CN Transport Layer” (Port numbers, UDP vs TCP, TCP 3-way handshake, TCP 4-way termination, TCP segment…)?

Evidence: written answers in your notes repo.

[T: Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 18)] Recruiting Pipeline: Have you completed “Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 18)” (Calendar check against the Opportunity Calendar (Architecture §16); send ≥ 3 personalised…)?

Evidence: Tracker log shows ≥ 3 personalised outreach messages this week.

[T: Mock Interview 3 (Java & CS Fundamentals Grill)] Have you completed “Mock Interview 3 (Java & CS Fundamentals Grill)” (60-min grill on Java collections/concurrency, OOPs, DBMS, OS and CN with depth-ladder…)?

Evidence: rubric sheet saved in Journal.

[T: DSA Transfer: No-Hint Timed Tree FAQs Set] DSA: Did you pass “DSA Transfer: No-Hint Timed Tree FAQs Set” — 2 unseen Tree FAQs problems, 25 min per problem, no hints, pass bar ≥ 1/2 solved?

Evidence: timed result and miss reasons logged in the Journal.

Health & Guardrails: 1 full rest day taken every 2 weeks?

tune

If Behind / Life Interruption Protocol

Triage Rule

When academic exams spike or weekly time slips, execute this contingency plan:

shield Protect (Non-Negotiable)

Binary Trees Medium FAQs + Build micrograd from Scratch (Part 2: The Neural Net) + Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 18)

schedule Defer (Safe to Shift)

Andrew Ng DL (Course 3: Structuring ML Projects) → weekend; Andrew Ng DL Course 4 (Convolutional Neural Networks) → Week 19

edit_note

Week 18 Technical Notes & Journal

#LeetCode #Java #DSA #Week18