99% of the time, the "right" data structure is either an array of records or a hash table, or a tree that you traverse depth-first.
However, you should be able to implement some of these more rarely used data structures, given a description. You shouldn't know how to do it ahead of time, however, because your job is to solve problems that aren't solved yet.
What you get with these interview questions is that some applicants prepare for how to solve some of these commonly posed problems specifically. So you have to implement a bug-free linked list, on a whiteboard, in ten minutes, to be competitive. It's doable if you are prepared, but that defeats the purpose.
However, you should be able to implement some of these more rarely used data structures, given a description. You shouldn't know how to do it ahead of time, however, because your job is to solve problems that aren't solved yet.
What you get with these interview questions is that some applicants prepare for how to solve some of these commonly posed problems specifically. So you have to implement a bug-free linked list, on a whiteboard, in ten minutes, to be competitive. It's doable if you are prepared, but that defeats the purpose.