[smiths1999]

I disagree. Studying algorithms and data structures is not at all like memorizing integral solution formulas. People who are good at these types of problems generally do the same steps:

1. What is the class of problem I am dealing with? (e.g., solution uses a stack, queue, heap, etc.) 2. What is the likely complexity of the solution?

Knowing, or at least having a guess, to these two questions greatly simplifies the approach. You do the exact same thing with solving integrals (e.g., is this an integration by parts question? is it a substitution question? etc.) and the same for physics, chemistry, etc. With algorithms, once you've done enough and have a very good mental model, you will start making translations between problems. That is, given problem A, you are able to map it to problem B which is easy to solve using some technique you know.