Some tips to consider while problem-solving:
If an input array is sorted then Binary search
Two pointers
If asked for all permutations/subsets then Backtracking
If given a tree then DFS
BFS
If given a graph then DFS
BFS
If given a linked list then Two pointers
If recursion is banned then Stack
If must solve in-place then Swap corresponding values
Store one or more different values in the same pointer
If asked for maximum/minimum subarray/subset/options then Dynamic programming
If asked for top/least K items then Heap
If asked for common strings then Map
Trie
Else Map/Set for O(1) time & O(n) space
Sort input for O(nlogn) time and O(1) space
If the problem is hard, it doesn't work.
me on my way to set a contest such that all the tips above fail