Test your architecture judgment
Answer a short assessment built around the tradeoffs and failure modes system design interviews probe.
System design interview preparation
Find the system design decisions holding you back, free in 15 minutes
Take a free system design assessment. See your readiness score and highest-risk decision gaps, then repair the exact ones you miss with a targeted Pass Plan.
Start Free AssessmentNo credit card needed. Get a free System Design report with your score, top gaps, and targeted repairs.
- Free readiness report
- No sign-up to start
- About 15 minutes
- Architecture decision coverage
See it in action
Watch one System Design miss go from wrong to mastered.
Original practice question
This is the kind of decision CramHQ checks.
Sample question Write-path correctness
An orders API commits an order, then publishes an OrderCreated event. Broker outages sometimes leave committed orders without events. Which design best closes this gap?
- Retry event publication in the request until the broker accepts it.
- Write the order and an outbox record in one database transaction, then publish the outbox asynchronously.Correct
- Publish the event first, then write the order after the broker acknowledges it.
- Increase broker retention so missing events remain available longer.
Why this is the answer
The decision turns on atomic durability across the database write and publication intent. A transactional outbox records both together, while an asynchronous publisher can retry safely after broker recovery.
Every System Design question is an original scenario written to test interview decision-making.
What happens next
Know the gap before you study.
See the decisions holding you back
Get a free report that ranks your highest-risk gaps and the targeted repairs CramHQ would prioritize.
Build and validate the skill
Use the Pass Plan, Decision Drills, and the System Design Readiness Exam to apply stronger judgment across fresh scenarios.
Advanced path
Use the free report before you commit.
Start with an assessment, review the report, and try limited remediation. If the Pass Plan is useful, unlock the full System Design path with Decision Drills and the System Design Readiness Exam.
Quick answers
What to know before you start.
Do I need to sign up?
No. You can start the assessment and review your report before creating an account. Sign up when you want to save the report and continue the Pass Plan.
Is the report free?
Yes. The assessment, Readiness Report, and first targeted repair preview are free.
What does the assessment test?
It tests architectural judgment across requirements, scale, data, reliability, correctness, performance, observability, security, cost, and system evolution.
What is included in the full path?
The full path includes the complete Pass Plan, targeted remediation, 16 topic-based Decision Drills, and the System Design Readiness Exam.
Does this teach one fixed architecture?
No. The questions focus on choosing defensible tradeoffs from the scenario constraints and explaining why nearby alternatives fail.
Find your gaps. Build interview-ready judgment.
Take the free assessment, get your Readiness Report, and see which system design decisions to repair first.
No credit card needed. Get a free System Design report with your score, top gaps, and targeted repairs.