How do you know the specificity of interview and secondary questions?

[LoveBeingHuman:)]

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For example, if I was asked "describe a failure or setback and how you overcame it" (does this mean a failure in life, one of my non-academic goals, in research, failing a class, etc or something really specific like not being able to get the dye to attach to a specimen in my lab)

Another example is if I was asked what one of my weaknesses was. Am I supposed to answer something a bit more broad like tendency to be a bit impatient or am I supposed to answer something specific like not being able to quickly calculate in my head?

 

[mitch8017]

For example, if I was asked "describe a failure or setback and how you overcame it" (does this mean a failure in life, one of my non-academic goals, in research, failing a class, etc)

Another example is if I was asked what one of my weaknesses was. Am I supposed to answer something a bit more broad like tendency to be a bit impatient or am I supposed to answer something specific like not being able to quickly calculate in my head?

Haven't gotten to this stage but I do believe they intend to leave these relatively vague to allow you to kinda run off in whatever direction you want. Some people may have overcome a setback in a much different setting than another individual, but they want to give both of them the same opportunity to run off with the topic and describe it in great detail.