Amazon SDE Intern OA Experience 2025

In Nov 2025, I appeared for the Amazon SDE Intern Online Assessment (OA), and I wanted to share my complete experience from getting shortlisted to attempting the coding round, the difficulty level, question pattern, approach, and my honest performance.

If you are preparing for Amazon internships, this blog may help you understand what the OA actually feels like.

Getting Shortlisted

I received the OA link after applying for the Amazon SDE Intern role. The assessment was conducted on an online coding platform and had a fixed time limit.

The overall process was smooth:

• OA link received through email
• Camera and browser permissions verification
• Coding environment setup
• Timer started immediately after beginning the test

OA Pattern

The assessment contained:

• 2 Coding Questions
• Time Limit: Around 90 minutes
• Language support included C++, Java, Python, etc.

The questions were:

• Medium to Medium-Hard level
• Focused heavily on:
• Data Structures
• Greedy/Sorting Logic
• Edge Cases
• Optimization

Question 1 Experience

The first question was comparatively manageable.

My Approach

I quickly identified the pattern and implemented the logic using:

• Arrays
• Sorting
• Hashing

After coding:

• Sample testcases passed immediately
• I optimized the edge cases
• Final submission passed all hidden testcases

✅ Result:

• All testcases passed
• Confidence level increased a lot after this question

Time spent:

• Around 25–30 minutes

Question 2 Experience

The second question was much more tricky.

The problem involved:

• Sorting constraints
• Swapping logic using a fixed distance k
• Minimum operations calculation
• Validity checking if sorting is possible or not

The challenge was not the implementation itself — it was the hidden edge cases.

My Initial Approach

I solved the problem using:

• Grouping indices based on modulo k
• Cycle decomposition
• Permutation mapping
• Minimum swap counting

Initially:

• Sample testcases passed
• Several hidden testcases also passed

So I felt the solution was correct.

The Mistake

Later, after discussing and debugging the solution, I realized the issue was in the target-group mapping logic.

I was using:

target.push_back(sorted[i])

which worked for many cases but failed in some hidden edge cases where:

• global sorted indices did not align properly with the k-based groups.

Because of this:

• My solution passed only 7/15 testcases

❌ Final Result:

• Partial acceptance only

Final OA Performance

QuestionResultQuestion 1✅ Fully SolvedQuestion 2⚠️ 7/15 Testcases Passed

Overall, I would rate my OA performance as:

Average to Good

Overall OA Difficulty:

⭐ Medium

But hidden testcases made it feel harder.

Important Observation:

Amazon focuses heavily on:

• Edge cases
• Correct logic
• Optimized approaches
• Deep understanding instead of only brute force

Even small logical mistakes can fail hidden testcases.

What I Learned

This OA taught me several important things:

1. Passing sample testcases is not enough

Hidden testcases are the real challenge.

2. Always validate group/index logic carefully

Especially in:

• permutation
• graph
• sorting
• swapping problems

3. Time management matters a lot

I spent more time debugging the second problem than expected.

My Expected Result

Since:

• One question was fully solved
• Second question was partially solved

I believe my shortlist chances are moderate but uncertain because Amazon has very high competition for internship roles.

Allthough I get rejected in next round

Tips for Future Candidates

If you are preparing for Amazon OA:

Focus on:

• Arrays
• HashMaps
• Sorting
• Greedy
• Graph basics
• Minimum swaps/cycle decomposition
• Edge case handling

Practice on:

• LeetCode
• HackerRank
• CodeStudio

Most importantly:

Practice writing bug-free logic under time pressure.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the Amazon OA was a really good experience. The questions were interesting and tested problem-solving ability properly.

Even though I could not fully solve the second question, I learned a lot from the debugging and analysis afterward.

Now waiting for the shortlist result and continuing preparation for upcoming opportunities.

Thanks for reading! 🚀