how to answer interview questions

[history _ice]

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hi every one,

I have an interview in a few days..and i was looking at some the questions that they ask at BUffalo, and i was wondering what kind of response are the interviewers looking for when the ask you HOW MANY GAS STATION ARE IN THE US? OR HOW MANY MAMOGRAMS ARE GIVEN EACH YEAR?


please give advise

 

[DannGee]

Originally posted by history _ice
hi every one,

I have an interview in a few days..and i was looking at some the questions that they ask at BUffalo, and i was wondering what kind of response are the interviewers looking for when the ask you HOW MANY GAS STATION ARE IN THE US? OR HOW MANY MAMOGRAMS ARE GIVEN EACH YEAR?


please give advise

you don't know the answers to those questions?

 

[jlee9531]

dude youve been listening to too many kids trying to scare about a process that is for the most part delightful.

look at sdn interview feedback and look up the school that you are interviewing to. that should be all you need.

 

[Robz]

Hmmmmmmmm. I wonder how many gas stations there are in the us.....

and what they will ever do if hydrogen cars take off.........

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by Robz
Hmmmmmmmm. I wonder how many gas stations there are in the us.....

and what they will ever do if hydrogen cars take off.........

that means they can convert them to gasoline sniffing bars. kinda like those oxygen bars. i know you guys are out there...you gas sniffin freaks!

 

[Integra96]

Hell yeah, a free gas buzz at the local Texaco is one of life's greatest pleasures. 😀

 

[mmz6]

hey...

they dont want an exact answer (while there is one out there on the web).

they just want to to show critical thinking:

something like this: well.. there are about x amount of cars in the US, and there are about 5 pumps / gas station, and each pump usually is visited by approx 300 cars a day...

so there will prolly be about: x /(300*5) gas stations....


or:

there are two types of places in the US: cities and country side. In cities there are about 2 gas stations every 3 blocks, and an average city has about 1000 blocks, and there are about 500 major cities.

countrysides has 2 gas stations every 3 miles, and there are y miles of country side...

so there are about : z gas stations...


any train of thought.. as long as there is a train of thought... even if your numbers are way outta whack.. i think is fine...

there are better ways to answer this question that i used to know off.. if u search google u can find better solutions.

these types of questions are asked in microsoft job interviews. and there is a book out that answers all of the 'microsoft questions' as they are called. you can buy that book if u want.

any more info.. pm me.

mmz6
(didn't proof this so there might be lots of spelling/grammatical errors/nonsensical ish)... ah well

 

[Ernham]

Whip out a Bobcat Goldthwait answer when in doubt..

 

[strangeattractor]

i doubt anybody is going to ask you that sort of question.

just relax. the best thing you can do, short of giving the EXACT answer an interview wants (which you can never guess)...is to be absolutely honest. which means, if you don't know, say that.

 

[gary5]

If a school asks you the following questions, they're idiots. Go somewhere else. They should stop playing games and be more relevant.

HOW MANY GAS STATIONS ARE IN THE US? OR HOW MANY MAMMOGRAMS ARE GIVEN EACH YEAR?

 

[irie]

If I'm the interviewer and you know the answer to either of those questions you are not getting in to my medical school. Why? Because you are a loser who has time to research and prepair for those questions.

 

[fun8stuff]

perhaps they would ask these questions as a trap. if you actually know the answer then they know that you have found out what questions they ask and have cheated.

 

[zinjanthropus]

um, even if that was the case (which it's not), i don't see how it's "cheating" to prepare for an interview. many school suggest that you prepare for interviews by using sites like this, mock interviews, etc.

 

[Spidey]

This sounds like the type of question they would ask to see if the applicant is willing to say "I don't know" or if he is one of those people who will make up an answer if he doesn't know it. Probably they just want to see how you react when you don't know the answer, if you'll get all sweaty and freak out, or not.

 

[fun8stuff]

perhaps they would ask these questions as a trap. if you actually know the answer then they know that you have found out what questions they ask and have cheated.

 

[cornell2004]

my friend got that question at buffalo, he just told the interviewer his train of thought, population X etc. etc. and the interviewer was fine with that.

 

[hmno82]

Umm... I got the gas station question. It wasn't to see if I could admit that I didn't know. How did I realize that this was the case? The interviewer said so. He wanted to see that I could reason my way through the problem, and after I told him many many ways of doing so he said "well, I would do it this way...". And duh... his explanation was better than mine, so I flunked hahaha. Silly silly question, but I am convinced that this was why I was waitlisted. So, now I am going to count every gas station and give my interviewer the exact number, so maybe they will let me in. Wish me luck!

 

[gschl1234]

Originally posted by history _ice
hi every one,

I have an interview in a few days..and i was looking at some the questions that they ask at BUffalo, and i was wondering what kind of response are the interviewers looking for when the ask you HOW MANY GAS STATION ARE IN THE US? OR HOW MANY MAMOGRAMS ARE GIVEN EACH YEAR?


please give advise

I thought they only asked these questions at management consultant interviews. Just answer them logically like someone else suggested. They just want to make sure that you can make logical estimates quickly.

I had a friend get an interesting one (management consultant): How many stacked quarters would equal the lenght of the Empire State Building?

And an easier one: Why are manholes circles and not squares or rectangels?

 

[Brit1982]

In any interview they want honesty. And they want to know what kind of person you are. Are you the person who gives it a whirl with one of the analytical processes described above or the one who laughs? Neither one is a wrong answer........depends on what you are like and what they are looking for.

 

[mmz6]

u can't just laugh and then shut up

u have to give an answer:

and "i don't know" doesn't cut it. It doesn't reveal anything about u. Obviously the interview knows you don't know the answer, nor should u know it.

but u better be able to give a rational way of getting to the answer. showing u can work through seemingly difficult problems by breaking it down and piecing it together is something interviewers are definitely looking for.


mmz6

 

[MNA]

Ok, so when they ask that question, they are looking for two things.
First your initial response. Will you scream out loud and say this is absurd, OR will you sit back and ponder for a few seconds then say that it is a very interesting question and state your answer.


Secondly, they are not looking for an actual number, or the correct mathematical formula to derive the answer. They are just checking to see if you have any rationality when thinking analytically.

For example in regards to the gas station question, I would start of with....
Well firstly I would contact the DMV and ask for the number of registered cars for a specific region, then I would contact the anothe government agency which holds records for the number of companies that operate gas stations in that specific area, and then acquire information from from some more reliable agencies to double check my estimates ... etc etc


Just my two cents.... btw this was advice given to me by my interviewER

When in Medical School and in the medical profession, you are posed with questions from patients, coworkers, professors, atetendings... You might not know the answer off hand let alone any idea vaguely close to what the question is asking but if you know where to look it up, you are safe! You will have to look them up in RELIABLE sources, journals, PDRs etc, to make sure you are giving an accurate answer.