अभ्यास • Week 21

Weekly MUST Budget Standard

27.0h / 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 22 – February 28, 2027 — Focus: Topological Sort (DFS & Kahn's Algorithm); Topological Sort Applications; Multi-source BFS & 0-1 BFS; PyTorch Foundations; DBMS Indexing & Query Optimization.

Weeks: W21 Active W22 W23 W24 W25

MUST — Critical Path

12 Tasks • ~27.0h

Non-negotiable core curriculum

DSA (Java) 5 tasks

DSA Topological Sort (DFS & Kahn's Algorithm) 3 problems

Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) topological sort using DFS stack, Kahn's algorithm (indegree array + queue BFS), Detect cycle in Directed Graph. TUF+ A2Z Step 15.2

3.5h

DSA Topological Sort Applications 3 problems

Course Schedule I & II, Find Eventual Safe States, Alien Dictionary. TUF+ A2Z Step 15.2

3.5h

DSA Multi-source BFS & 0-1 BFS 4 problems LC #994

Rotten Oranges (LC #994), Shortest Path in Binary Matrix (LC #1091), 0-1 BFS pattern using Deque for binary-weight shortest path. Extension of TUF+ A2Z Step 15.2 Add Word Ladder (LC #127) as the implicit-graph BFS classic.

2.0h

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

Sit 2 unseen TopoSort 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: 2/2 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 DSA Daily Quota (Week 21) 4 problems

Solve 4 new problems from NeetCode 150 — Graphs (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 21) LC #

LeetCode Weekly Contest + mandatory upsolving (Codeforces runs on even weeks). Ratings are tracked metrics, never gates.

2.5h

Core CS (DBMS) 1 tasks

DBMS DBMS Indexing & Query Optimization

B+ Tree structure and why databases index with it (fan-out, height, range scans), clustered vs non-clustered indexes, composite index leftmost-prefix rule, covering indexes; run EXPLAIN ANALYZE on a slow PostgreSQL query before and after adding an index on the PlacementPilot hot path. Why: asked in nearly every product backend loop. Primary sources: Use The Index, Luke (chapters 1–3) and CMU 15-445 lectures on B+ trees; run EXPLAIN ANALYZE before/after on PostgreSQL.

4.0h

Core CS (LLD) 2 tasks

LLD LLD Foundations & Design Patterns

Review SOLID in code, Strategy Pattern, Observer Pattern, Factory Pattern. TUF+ LLD

2.0h

LLD LLD Machine Coding Session 1 (Timed 45 min)

Implement a complete object-oriented system in compiled Java on LLDCoding.com / Workat.tech under a strict 45-minute timer (e.g. Design a Parking Lot or Snake and Ladder). Architecture §6.1

1.5h

Recruiting Pipeline 1 tasks

PIPELINE Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 21)

Calendar check against the Opportunity Calendar (Architecture §16); send ≥ 5 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.

1.5h

Mock Interviews 1 tasks

MOCK Mock Interview 4 (DSA — Trees & Graphs)

60-min live coding: one tree and one graph medium, narrate throughout. Rubric: DSA 8-step protocol (Architecture §15.1).

2.0h

Aptitude 1 tasks

APT Aptitude Timed Drill (Week 21)

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

(5 Tasks)

Execute when MUST pace is on track

CORE Company Research Database Updates (Week 21)

Review OA format changes and application deadlines for Track A & B companies.

1.5h

AI/ML Activations & Batchnorm)

Tanh saturation, dead neurons, Kaiming init, BatchNorm implementation. (makemore 4–5 demoted to SHOULD per Step 3).

2.5h

CORE Problem-Solving Journal Spaced Review (Week 21)

Re-solve 3 tagged tree problems.

2.0h

APT Quant M21

Permutation & Combination Advanced.

1.5h

CORE PyTorch Foundations

Tensors, autograd, nn.Module, Dataset, DataLoader, loss functions, optimizers, training loops.

2.5h

STRETCH — If Ahead

(3 Tasks)

Bonus reps & competitive advantage

LLD Awesome-LLD Architecture Review

Study high-starred GitHub repositories on Awesome-LLD for clean interface boundaries.

1.5h

AI/ML Bigram Model)

Bigram character-level language model, count matrix, multinomial sampling, negative log likelihood loss, single layer neural network. Architecture §6.2

3.5h

AI/ML MLP)

Bengio et al. 2003 MLP implementation, embedding lookup table, hidden layer activations, tanh, softmax cross-entropy, learning rate decay.

3.5h

verified_user

Weekly Clearance Gate

0 / 8 Cleared

[T: Topological Sort (DFS & Kahn's Algorithm)] DSA: Can you implement Kahn's algorithm for Topological Sort in Java from memory?

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

[T: Topological Sort Applications] DSA: Have you completed “Topological Sort Applications” (Course Schedule I & II, Find Eventual Safe States, Alien Dictionary)?

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

[T: DBMS Indexing & Query Optimization] DBMS: Have you completed “DBMS Indexing & Query Optimization” (B+ Tree structure and why databases index with it (fan-out, height, range scans),…)?

Evidence: written answers in your notes repo.

[T: LLD Foundations & Design Patterns] LLD: Have you completed “LLD Foundations & Design Patterns” (Review SOLID in code, Strategy Pattern, Observer Pattern, Factory Pattern)?

Evidence: class diagram and code link in your design repo.

[T: Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 21)] Recruiting Pipeline: Have you completed “Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 21)” (Calendar check against the Opportunity Calendar (Architecture §16); send ≥ 5 personalised…)?

Evidence: Tracker log shows ≥ 5 personalised outreach messages this week.

[T: Mock Interview 4 (DSA — Trees & Graphs)] Have you completed “Mock Interview 4 (DSA — Trees & Graphs)” (60-min live coding: one tree and one graph medium, narrate throughout)?

Evidence: rubric sheet saved in Journal.

[T: DSA Transfer: No-Hint Timed TopoSort Set] DSA: Did you pass “DSA Transfer: No-Hint Timed TopoSort Set” — 2 unseen TopoSort problems, 25 min per problem, no hints, pass bar 2/2 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)

Topological Sort (DFS & Kahn's Algorithm) + PyTorch Foundations + Recruiting Pipeline Weekly (Week 21)

schedule Defer (Safe to Shift)

Company Research Database Updates (Week 21) → weekend; Karpathy makemore (Part 3: Activations & Batchnorm) → Week 22

edit_note

Week 21 Technical Notes & Journal

#LeetCode #Java #DSA #Week21