Meta Research Scientist Interview Questions
Prepare for this exact position with 2 real candidate reports. Review the levels, locations, interview formats, and questions that appeared most often for Meta Research Scientist candidates.
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Meta Research Scientist candidate reports
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2 matching interviews
Research Scientist · E4
- 01
Check if a string is a valid palindrome allowing at most one character deletion.
Coding & Algorithms · Medium
- 02
Traverse a binary tree in vertical order.
Coding & Algorithms · Medium
- 03
Design a data structure to calculate the moving average from a stream of integers.
Coding & Algorithms · Easy
Research Scientist · Intern
- 01
Validate or match parentheses in a string
Coding & Algorithms · Easy
- 02
Find three distinct numbers in an array that sum to zero
Coding & Algorithms · Medium
- 03
Find four distinct numbers in an array that sum to a target value
Coding & Algorithms · Medium
Most-asked Meta Research Scientist questions
Ranked by how often each question appeared in reports for this exact position. Answers are written by our team.
Find the lowest common ancestor of two nodes in a binary tree
Recursively traverse the tree checking both left and right subtrees. When you find a node where both target nodes exist in different subtrees, that's the LCA. If both exist in one subtree, recurse into that subtree only. The key insight is that a single DFS pass suffices—you're finding where the paths to both nodes diverge. This works because trees have exactly one path between any two nodes.
Given a string, determine if it is a valid palindrome allowing at most one character deletion.
Use a two-pointer approach from both ends. When characters match, move inward. On the first mismatch, the key insight is you only need to try two deletions: remove the left character and check if the remaining substring is a palindrome, OR remove the right character and check. If either succeeds, return true. This works because once you find a mismatch, you must use your one deletion there or the strings can't match. A helper function validates if a substring is palindromic by comparing characters inward.
Perform a vertical order traversal of a binary tree.
Use BFS with column indexing: assign root column 0, left child = parent−1, right child = parent+1. Store nodes in a map keyed by column. Process the tree level-by-level via BFS (preserving natural top-to-bottom order within columns), then return columns in sorted order. Key insight: BFS naturally maintains level order, eliminating explicit level tracking.
More reported questions
- 01
Count the number of subarrays where the product of elements is less than K.
asked in 1 reports - 02
Decode a string with nested parentheses and numeric encoding
asked in 1 reports - 03
Describe how you handle working effectively with colleagues in challenging situations.
asked in 1 reports - 04
Design a recommendation system addressing data, metrics, feature engineering, improvements, and runtime.
asked in 1 reports - 05
Discuss machine learning and artificial intelligence concepts
asked in 1 reports - 06
Discuss natural language processing fundamentals and approaches
asked in 1 reports - 07
Explain how you approach managing work deadlines and handling pressure.
asked in 1 reports - 08
Explain research methodology and justify design decisions in an academic publication
asked in 1 reports - 09
Explain what motivated you to pursue a PhD.
asked in 1 reports - 10
Find all unique triplets in an array that sum to a target value.
asked in 1 reports - 11
Find any valid path from start to end on a binary grid.
asked in 1 reports - 12
Find four distinct numbers in an array that sum to a target value
asked in 1 reports - 13
Find the union of two sorted lists of intervals.
asked in 1 reports - 14
Given course prerequisite pairs, determine the maximum number of courses that can be completed.
asked in 1 reports - 15
Implement a data structure to compute moving average from a stream of integers.
asked in 1 reports - 16
Perform matrix multiplication
asked in 1 reports - 17
Reverse a linked list using recursion or in-place iteration
asked in 1 reports