In message , michael
adams writes

Snip
In fact they might even have been more satisfactory
candidates. As being able to do rough workings (as was
implied by the provision of the rough sheet) in line
with their thought processes, rather than being slowed down
by the need to be neat, and copying out the workings
afterwards would probably be a far better way of
proceeding.

You won't necesarily choose smart people by setting trick
questions. And it is a trick given the provision of a
blank sheet of paper. All you're doing is bolstering the
ego of the smartarse who came up with the flawed idea,

I attended a selection session for an apprentice position at George
Kents (water meters now long gone).

The applicants were handed several sheets of paper and asked to sketch
what mechanisms were hidden behind plywood sheets held up by an
assistant.

Visible from the front were side projections which moved
up/down/sideways/rotated etc. due to whatever part the assistant moved.

Sadly I was very poor at doing this and the interviewer suggested I
might do better as an electrical engineer!


michael adams

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--
Tim Lamb