Starting a Session

Starting a New Interview Session#

Launch a mock interview session in a few clicks:

1. Navigate to Interview Prep from the sidebar
2. Click Start New Session
3. Choose your question category: Behavioral, Product Sense, Technical, or Estimation
4. Select the difficulty level: Easy, Medium, or Hard
5. Set the number of questions (3, 5, or 10)
6. Click Begin Interview

The session opens in a focused, distraction-free interface with a timer and your first question.

Question Format and Timer#

Each question is presented with:

• Question text — The full interview question
• Category tag — Which category this question belongs to
• Difficulty badge — Easy (green), Medium (yellow), or Hard (red)
• Timer — Counts up from 0 to help you practice time management
• Suggested time — A target response time (e.g., 3-5 minutes for behavioral, 10-15 for product sense)

The timer is informational — it does not cut you off. However, if you exceed the suggested time by more than 50%, you will see a gentle nudge to wrap up.

A progress bar at the top shows how many questions you have completed out of the total.

Typing vs Voice Responses#

You can respond to interview questions in two ways:

Typing:
- Click in the response text area and type your answer
- Full Markdown support for structure (bullet points, bold, etc.)
- No time pressure — take as long as you need to write a thoughtful response
- Best for: practicing structure and content

Voice:
- Click the microphone button to start voice recording
- Speak your answer naturally as you would in a real interview
- The AI transcribes your response in real-time
- Click Stop Recording when finished
- Best for: practicing delivery, pacing, and thinking on your feet

Using the Hint System#

If you are stuck on a question, the hint system provides progressive guidance:

1. Hint 1: Framework — Suggests a framework to structure your answer (e.g., "Consider using CIRCLES for this product design question")
2. Hint 2: Key Points — Lists 3-4 key points your answer should cover
3. Hint 3: Example — Provides a brief example of how to approach the first part of the answer

Each hint is revealed by clicking the lightbulb icon. Using hints affects your session score:
- 0 hints: No penalty
- 1 hint: -5% score penalty
- 2 hints: -10% score penalty
- 3 hints: -20% score penalty

Ending a Session Early#

If you need to stop before completing all questions:

1. Click End Session in the top-right corner
2. Confirm the early end in the popup
3. Your responses to completed questions are saved and scored
4. Unanswered questions are marked as "Skipped"

You can resume skipped questions later from the Session History page, or start a fresh session with new questions.

Partially completed sessions still appear in your progress tracking and contribute to your overall statistics.

Session Scoring#

After completing a session (or ending early), the AI evaluates your responses across four dimensions:

• Content (40%) — Quality, depth, and relevance of your answer
• Structure (25%) — Logical organization and use of frameworks
• Communication (20%) — Clarity, conciseness, and persuasiveness
• Impact (15%) — Use of metrics, outcomes, and business impact

Each dimension receives a score from 0-100. The overall session score is the weighted average. See the Reviewing Feedback article for a detailed breakdown of the scoring rubric.