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What each round scores: four named areas, each scored from what you show

A round scores the path as well as the answer: about four named areas, each scored only from what you show.

Predict first

Before you read: predict

Meta's coding round (as of 2026-10-09): two problems in about 40 minutes. The candidate reads each problem and types without a word. Both solutions are correct and efficient. She asks nothing, walks no input through either one, and says “Done” with nine minutes left.

Going by Meta's full-loop guide, what is her round assessed on?

Pick one

The 30-second version

A correct answer is one part of the score. Meta's coding round assesses communication, problem solving, coding and verification; its design round, problem navigation, solution design, technical excellence and technical communication. Other companies word their rubrics differently but score the same themes. Interviewers score what they see, so plan one visible behaviour for each area.

A round scores the path as well as the answer: about four named areas, each scored only from what you show.

How it works

Step 1 of 12

The path is scored. Meta's coding round assesses how you solved the problem, and your code's structure and style, not the answer alone. [S1]

Analogy: A gymnast's first competition floor routine

A young gymnast enters her first competition. The judges' card has four marks: difficulty, execution, artistry and composition. Her coach drilled only the hardest tumbles. She lands every one cleanly, then stands still between them and ignores the music, and finishes below a gymnast with easier tumbles who used the whole floor. Next season she plans one visible element for every mark, since the judges score only what they see. The next competition's card names its marks differently; it rewards the same things. (The card is the scene's own.)

On the floor In the round
The judges' card The rubric's four areas
Landing every tumble A correct answer
Standing still between tumbles A silent, unchecked solve
One element planned per mark One behaviour planned per area
Another competition's names for the marks Another company's words for the themes

Breaks down when: a judge sees every movement, while an interviewer sees only what you say, type or draw, so a decision made in silence earns nothing. Wrong inference: “the interviewer will notice good work without being shown it.”

In real terms: before a round, name its areas, and plan how each area gets its evidence.

Try it

Answer first, then check. Nothing is saved.

Question 1 of 7

An engineer on a video-streaming team has Meta's design round next week. Her notes from the coding round list four assessed areas.

Going by Meta's full-loop guide (read 2026-10-09), which four focus areas does the design round assess?

Pick one

Question 2 of 7

Meta's coding round. The problem: merge each viewer's overlapping watch sessions into one list. Before typing anything, the candidate asks aloud: “What if I sort the sessions by start time first?” She answers herself that each one is then checked against the last merged session, O(n log n), not every pair at O(n²), and she sorts.

Going by Meta's full-loop guide (read 2026-10-09), which assessed area is that evidence for?

Pick one

Question 3 of 7

Meta's design round: “Design live comments for a video-streaming service.” In the first five minutes the candidate asks how many viewers a popular stream has at its peak, and whether comments must appear in the order they were sent.

Going by Meta's full-loop guide (read 2026-10-09), which focus area is that evidence for?

Pick one

Question 4 of 7

You prepared for Meta's design round. Your next loop is at a smaller video platform, whose recruiter says its design interviewers score “scoping”, “architecture”, “depth” and “collaboration”.

Going by Hello Interview's introduction (read 2026-10-09), what do you do with your Meta preparation?

Pick one

Question 5 of 7

An engineer on a video-streaming team has Meta's coding round on Friday. Write her plan in four lines, one per assessed area, in the order Meta's full-loop guide (as of 2026-10-09) lists them.

Start each line with the area's name and a colon, then one behaviour the interviewer will see or hear, and when it happens (before, while or after coding).

Question 6 of 7

Midway through Meta's design round on live comments for a video-streaming service, the interviewer says: “I've lost track of which box stores the comments and which one sends them out to viewers.” The candidate labels both boxes on the board and walks one comment's path again, box by box.

Going by Meta's full-loop guide (read 2026-10-09), which focus area is that evidence for?

Pick one

Question 7 of 7

In Meta's design round on live comments for a video-streaming service, the candidate's design keeps every stream's comments in one database. Before the interviewer has asked about failures, she says: “If that database goes down, every live stream loses its comments,” and adds a replica that takes over.

Going by Meta's full-loop guide (read 2026-10-09), which focus area is that evidence for?

Pick one

Go deeper

Pro tip

After each mock, ask your mock interviewer one question: “Which area had the least evidence?” Add one behaviour for that area to your plan before the next mock.

Related lessons

Checked against the tools and docs as of 2026-10-09.