Top 100 Data Structures and Algorithms MCQs with answers

1-10: Abstract Data Types and Basic Structures

1. Which data structure uses LIFO order?

o A) Queue B) Stack C) List D) Tree

Ans: B

2. Which data structure uses FIFO order?

o A) Stack B) Queue C) Set D) Tree

Ans: B

3. Which structure allows constant-time insertion and deletion at both ends?

o A) Array B) Linked List C) Deque D) Stack

Ans: C

4. What is the maximum number of children a binary tree node can have?

o A) 1 B) 2 C) 3 D) Unlimited
Ans: B

5. Which of these is not a linear data structure?

o A) Queue B) Stack C) Tree D) Array

Ans: C

6. Which is used to store elements in key-value pairs?

o A) Array B) Set C) HashMap D) Queue

Ans: C

7. Which data structure does not allow duplicate elements?

o A) Array B) Stack C) Set D) List

Ans: C

8. What is the default traversal method for stacks?

o A) BFS B) DFS C) Level Order D) Inorder

Ans: B

9. Which data structure supports O(1) insertion and deletion at the front?

o A) Stack B) Queue C) Deque D) Array

Ans: C

10. Which ADT supports string operations like substring and concatenation?

o A) Stack B) Set C) String D) Queue

Ans: C

11–30: Trees and Traversals

 11. Which traversal is used for BST to get sorted output?

o A) Inorder B) Preorder C) Postorder D) BFS

Ans: A

12. Preorder traversal follows:

o A) Left, Root, Right B) Root, Left, Right C) Left, Right, Root D) Right, Left, Root
Ans: B

13. A complete binary tree has:

o A) All levels completely filled

o B) All nodes with two children

o C) Last level not necessarily complete

o D) All nodes in left subtree

Ans: A

14. Which tree data structure is balanced and maintains BST property?

o A) AVL Tree B) Heap C) Binary Tree D) Trie

Ans: A

15. The height of a complete binary tree with n nodes is:

o A) log n B) n C) n log n D) √n
Ans: A

16–30: Trees and Traversals (Continued)

16. Postorder traversal visits nodes in the order:

• A) Root, Left, Right

• B) Left, Right, Root

• C) Left, Root, Right

• D) Right, Left, Root

Ans: B

17. The height of an empty tree is:

• A) 0

• B) 1

• C) -1

• D) Undefined
Ans: C

18. A binary search tree property is:

• A) Left child is greater than root

• B) Right child is smaller than root

• C) Left subtree values < root < right subtree values

• D) No specific order
Ans: C

19. Which of the following is a balanced tree?

• A) AVL tree

• B) Binary tree

• C) BST without balance

• D) Heap
Ans: A

20. A min-heap always stores:

• A) Smallest element at root

• B) Largest element at root

• C) Median element at root

• D) Random element at root

Ans: A

21. Height balanced trees maintain:

• A) Left and right subtree heights differ by at most 1

• B) Left subtree taller

• C) Right subtree taller

• D) No height restriction
Ans: A

22. Which traversal prints nodes level by level?

• A) Inorder

• B) Preorder

• C) Postorder

• D) Level order
Ans: D

23. Which traversal is best suited for expression trees?

• A) Inorder

• B) Preorder
• C) Postorder

• D) Level order
Ans: C

24. Number of null pointers in a binary tree with n nodes is:

• A) n

• B) n + 1

• C) n - 1

• D) 2n
Ans: B

25. Which tree traversal uses a queue data structure?

• A) Inorder

• B) Preorder

• C) Level order

• D) Postorder
Ans: C

26. Which tree traversal is naturally recursive?

• A) Inorder

• B) Level order

• C) BFS

• D) None
Ans: A

27. Which of the following is NOT true for a binary search tree?

• A) Inorder traversal gives sorted output

• B) Left child < root

• C) Right child > root

• D) It must be a complete binary tree

Ans: D

28. Which tree structure is used in priority queue implementation?

• A) Binary Search Tree

• B) AVL Tree

• C) Heap
 • D) Trie
Ans: C

29. Which of the following is NOT a binary tree traversal?

• A) Inorder

• B) Postorder

• C) Preorder

• D) Hash order
Ans: D

30. The maximum number of nodes at level l in a binary tree is:

• A) l

• B) 2^l

• C) l^2

• D) 2*l
Ans: B

31–50: Graphs and Traversals

31. Which traversal is used in BFS?

• A) Stack B) Queue C) Recursion D) Heap

Ans: B

32. DFS uses which data structure?

• A) Queue B) Stack C) Linked List D) Priority Queue

Ans: B

33. A graph is cyclic if:

• A) It contains a loop

• B) It is connected

• C) It has isolated vertices

• D) It has parallel edges

Ans: A

34. The number of edges in a complete graph of n vertices is:

• A) n(n-1)/2 B) n C) n^2 D) n(n+1)/2

Ans: A

35. Which algorithm is used to find Minimum Spanning Tree?

 • A) BFS B) Dijkstra C) Prim D) Bellman-Ford
Ans: C

36. Which algorithm is better for dense graphs?

• A) Kruskal B) Prim C) DFS D) BFS

Ans: B

37. How many spanning trees can a complete graph with n vertices have?

• A) n^(n-2) B) n(n-1) C) n^2 D) n-1

Ans: A

38. In an undirected graph, the sum of degrees is:

• A) Equal to twice the number of edges

• B) Equal to number of vertices

• C) Equal to number of edges

• D) Half the number of edges

Ans: A

39. A tree is a graph:

• A) With one cycle

• B) Without cycles

• C) With multiple components

• D) That is disconnected
Ans: B

40. For BFS traversal in graphs, we need:

• A) Recursion B) Stack C) Queue D) Linked List

Ans: C

51–70: Sorting and Searching

51. Time complexity of Merge Sort is:

• A) O(n) B) O(log n) C) O(n log n) D) O(n^2)

Ans: C

52. Worst-case time for Quick Sort:

• A) O(n log n) B) O(n^2) C) O(n) D) O(log n)

Ans: B

53. Best case for Insertion Sort:

• A) O(n log n) B) O(n^2) C) O(n) D) O(1)

Ans: C
 54. Bubble sort is best suited for:

• A) Large input B) Random input C) Nearly sorted input D) Unsorted large input
Ans: C

55. Which sorting is not based on comparisons?

• A) Quick Sort B) Merge Sort C) Heap Sort D) Counting Sort

Ans: D

56. Which is not a stable sorting algorithm?

• A) Merge Sort B) Insertion Sort C) Quick Sort D) Bubble Sort

Ans: C

57. Binary Search works on:

• A) Unsorted list B) Sorted list C) Linked list D) Queue

Ans: B

58. What is the time complexity of binary search?

• A) O(n) B) O(n log n) C) O(log n) D) O(1)

Ans: C

59. Linear search is preferred when:

• A) List is sorted B) List is small C) List is large D) None

Ans: B

60. Heap sort is based on:

• A) Min heap B) Max heap C) Both A and B D) Stack

Ans: C

71–90: Hashing and Design Techniques

71. What is the primary goal of hashing?

• A) Reduce memory B) Enable fast access C) Sorting D) Compression

Ans: B

72. What is collision in hashing?

• A) When key already exists

• B) When two keys hash to same index

• C) When load is exceeded

• D) When table is empty

Ans: B

73. Load factor in hashing is:

• A) Table size / key size

 • B) Number of keys / table size

• C) Table size / collisions

• D) Keys * slots
Ans: B

74. Which technique is used in dynamic programming?

• A) Divide and conquer

• B) Memoization

• C) Greedy approach

• D) Heaps
Ans: B

75. Greedy algorithms are used in:

• A) Shortest path B) TSP C) Sorting D) Binary search

Ans: A

76. Divide and Conquer is used in:

• A) Merge Sort B) Insertion Sort C) Counting Sort D) Radix Sort

Ans: A

77. Dynamic programming is suitable for:

• A) Independent subproblems

• B) Overlapping subproblems

• C) Sorted data

• D) Linear recursion
Ans: B

78. Dijkstra’s algorithm fails when:

• A) Negative weights B) Zero weight C) Positive weights D) Loops

Ans: A

79. Kruskal’s algorithm uses:

• A) BFS B) DFS C) Disjoint sets D) Stack

Ans: C

80. Topological sorting applies to:

• A) Undirected graph B) Directed cyclic graph C) Directed acyclic graph D) Trees

Ans: C

91–100: Complexity and NP-Completeness

91. Time complexity of Merge Sort is:

• A) O(n^2) B) O(n log n) C) O(n) D) O(log n)

Ans: B

92. NP-complete problems are:

• A) Easily solvable B) Verified in polynomial time C) Sorted D) None

Ans: B

93. Which case describes the least time an algorithm takes?

• A) Worst B) Average C) Best D) Amortized

Ans: C

94. Space complexity refers to:

• A) CPU time B) Memory used C) Disk space D) Stack usage only

Ans: B

95. A problem is in P if:

• A) Solvable in polynomial time B) Solvable in exponential time C) Not solvable D) Only guessed
Ans: A

96. Asymptotic upper bound is represented by:

• A) Theta B) Omega C) Big-O D) Small o

Ans: C

97. Which function grows the fastest?

• A) log n B) n C) n log n D) 2^n

Ans: D

98. Lower bound means:

• A) Worst case B) Minimum required time C) Maximum time D) Space limit

Ans: B

99. If an algorithm runs in O(n^2), doubling n increases time by:

• A) 2x B) 4x C) 3x D) n
Ans: B

100.Which of the following is not NP-complete?

• A) SAT B) Travelling Salesman C) Fibonacci sequence D) Hamiltonian path

Ans: C