Part 6 · 1 chapters · ~8 min

Mock Rounds

Running mock interviews with peers or paid interviewers, timing, a scoring rubric per round type, recording and reviewing, a six-week preparation plan, practising out loud, calibrating against the level you want, and recovering from a bad round inside a loop.

A six-week plan

code

week 1  inventory: list 8 stories (part 5); solve 10 medium problems timed; read 2 design write-ups
week 2  coding: 3 timed problems/day across patterns (part 2); 1 mock coding round
week 3  backend design: 2 prompts written out (part 4); 1 mock design round, scored with the rubric
week 4  frontend design or domain depth (your target role); 1 mock; fix the lowest-scoring axis
week 5  behavioural: tell each story aloud, record, trim to 3 minutes; 1 behavioural mock
week 6  full mock loop in one day; rest; logistics (setup, questions to ask, salary research)

Inside a loop, a weak round is rarely fatal by itself; debriefs look at the whole picture. Reset between rounds, and do not carry a bad coding round into the design round.

SCORING A MOCK ROUND

the rubric interviewers use, made explicit

swipe the figure sideways, or tap expand for full screen

1/4

score each axis

After each mock, score 1-4 on each axis with one sentence of evidence. Patterns across mocks show what to practise.

1-4 per axis, with evidencefind the pattern