I was sitting in my Advanced Biochemistry class the other day, and the professor was talking about a well-known scientist (that I can’t remember) who helped pave the way for some very important discoveries in biology. The professor said that the reason why the scientist was so successful was not because he knew all the answers right away, but because he knew the right questions to ask.

Asking the Right Questions

Whenever you are solving any type of problem, the first thing you need to ask yourself is: what is the question really asking? Because if you don’t understand the question, then you’re never going to get the right answer. And the best way to understand a question, is to question the question itself (this sounds kind of tricky, but really it’s not!).

Being able to look at problems by asking the right questions is an important concept that applies to anything, and is something I find particularly useful in my undergraduate life sciences studies. Last year, I began tutoring first year chemistry students as part of the chemistry department’s peer mentoring program. Students would come in with chemistry problems they were having trouble with, and we would help figure them out.

While some of the other tutors just solved the problems for the students in front of them (and granted, that’s all some of the students wanted), I don’t feel this is the best way to help the students. Because if the students knew how to approach correctly, well, they wouldn’t need to be asking for help in the first place. So in general, I don’t like just solving the problems for them. What I try to do is guide them through the process of answering the question, and I do so by asking them questions. I ask them the questions they should be asking themselves while doing the problem.

I ask the students things like: What is the question asking us to figure out by the end? What information do we need to figure that out? Okay, so once we have that information, how do we get to the next step? etc. etc. When I do this, my hope is that the students retain this questioning method of problem solving. At some point, when this process becomes ingrained in you, you don’t really think about the questions consciously while say doing a test, but it’s essentially what you are doing while problem solving.

So What are the Right Questions to Ask when Approaching Interview and Application Questions?

After several years of application and interview success, I believe the following are the main questions you need to be asking yourself when approaching interview and application questions:

• What is the question asking?
• Why are they asking me this question? What is its purpose?
• What types of answers are they expecting?
• Who is evaluating my answer?

What is the question asking?

For the most part, understanding the basic idea of most questions during interviews or applications should be pretty obvious. Recognize that it is important for you to understand the wording of the question correctly, so that you can produce a relevant answer. Sometimes interpreting questions correctly can be quite tricky. Remember, not answering the question is not that much different from having no answer, so you want to make sure you take the time to interpret the question correctly.

For example, let’s say you were asked the following question in a medical school interview: “What will you do if you don’t get into medical school this year?”

And let’s say you answer: “I will probably pursue a Bachelors of Education and become a high school biology teacher.”

This is a simple example of listening or interpretation gone wrong, which could cost you your medical school acceptance. While your interviewer was asking you what you would do if you did not get into medical school this application cycle, you accidentally thought he was asking what your alternative career plans are. So because of this small mistake, your interviewer now thinks you are not serious about becoming a physician since it appears that you are not willing to apply more than once (which may not be the case!).

So make sure you read/listen to the question carefully, and answer what is being asked.

Why are they asking me this question? What is its purpose?

Every question you are asked in an interview or application serves some purpose. By figuring out what the purpose is, you can tailor the best answer possible. You will be able to provide an answer that is relevant, and meet the exact criteria you are being judged for.

In order to understand the purpose of the question, you need to frame the question in the right context; that is, you need to answer the question in reference to the overall process. This is because different judges or committees can have different reasons behind the same question.

For example, let’s say the question was: “What is one of your most valuable volunteer experiences and what did you learn from it?”

If this is for a medical school interview, you might want to talk about your experience volunteering in the emergency room of a hospital. However, if this was for a community leadership scholarship, you might want to talk about that after-school tutoring program you created. While both of these experiences might be very meaningful to you, it makes sense to pick the one that is most appropriate to the context of the question.

Medical schools might ask this question because they want to see if you have a genuine interest in serving others, and to ensure you have the right attitude to do this as a long term career. In addition, they might want to see whether you have any health care experience, and to see if you consider such an experience among your most valuable (i.e. you enjoyed the environment).

A community leadership scholarship judge might ask you this question because they want to see whether you highly value taking initiative through servant leadership.

I hope it is clear that how you shape your answer is highly dependent on understanding why the scholarship judges are asking this particular question. They are asking you these specific questions for a reason, and the reasons for this will vary depending on the context of the question.

Figuring out the the purpose of both the individual questions and overall motivations of the judges will significantly improve your performance in the interview and application process.

What types of answers are they expecting?

It is important to be able to gauge what types of answer the judges are expecting, and to adjust your answer accordingly. For example, there are certain cases where there is a common answer that they almost always expect to get. However, standing out might be important in some situations, so you may intentionally choose an answer that separates you from the other applicants. For instance, a common question that I think many applicants sort of butcher is: “What is your biggest weakness?”

A lot of students have the fear that if they tell their weakness, it will hinder their success, so they end up saying something like “I’m a perfectionist” a lot of the time, because while it does have a bit of a negative connotation, it doesn’t sound so bad. However, I think this is an answer that a lot of committees and judges expect from the common applicant. So for a question like this, I personally never use the perfectionist answer.

On the other hand, there are cases where the judges are expecting a certain answer from ideal applicants. For example, if the judge is asking you to talk about an ethical dilemma you have been involved in, they are not looking for applicants who have a history of making unethical choices; because really, that’s a red flag right off the bat. So they are expecting you to pick a situation where you did the ethically correct thing, and in most cases, that’s the one you should talk about.

So make sure you consider what the judges expect the common applicant to answer, and whether it makes sense for your answer to reflect that, or sometimes, stray from it.

Who is evaluating my answer?

When I say who, I don’t mean the “medical school” or “scholarship organization”. I mean the exact individual person who is asking you the interview questions (this doesn’t really apply to applications, since you usually have no idea who is reading them. If you do, then I guess this will be relevant).

When I attended interviews for the University of Western Ontario’s National Scholarship in Grade 12, I was greeted by three professors. I had no idea who they were or what their academic backgrounds were, but I would say their ages ranged from 35-60 years old.

One of the questions I was asked was: “If you had one hour of free time, what would you do?”

I said something like: “I’d probably hang out with my friends and do something.”

Judges: “Like what?”

Me: “Umm… maybe see a concert or something.”

Judges: “Who would you see?”

Me: “I think I’d like to see Death Cab for Cutie…”

At this point I realized a few things:

1. They probably don’t know who Death Cab for Cutie was. (For those of you who don’t know, it’ s an indie rock band)
2. Since it has the word “Death” in the band name, they might think I listen to dark music about death. Which would be a bad thing.

So I continued with: “…have you heard of them?”

Judges: “Nope.”

Me: “Errr… what about Coldplay? Have you heard of Coldplay?”

Judges: “Oh yeah yeah, we know Coldplay.”

Me: “Right… yeah I’d like to see them!” (Phew)

That’s a pretty simple example, but it just goes to show the importance of recognizing the backgrounds and situations of your judges or interviewers, and how they might react to your answer. If they are part of an older generation, you might want to make sure the examples you use and refer to are things they can relate to. For example, few people from the older generations would know about Death Cab for Cutie, but most people have still heard about the band Coldplay at one point or another. I mean I honestly would love to see either band, but in order to form a connection with the judges, it helped to pick an equally good answer that they would understand and relate to.

Or if they come from a traditional generation, it might be better to stray away from behaviour that is acceptable now but may not have been years before. For example, while it might be okay to tell your 2nd year medical school interviewer how you got “owned” on a test yesterday (though I personally still wouldn’t do it), you’re better off telling your senior professor interviewer that your test yesterday was simply “difficult”.

It is also important to analyze their personalities and the moods they are in, and how that might affect their perception of you. If they are very talkative, then you will want to react by also being fairly talkative. If they are not as active speakers, you might want to make sure you don’t dominate the conversation so they always get their questions or words in.

Really, it’s all about adjusting to the dynamics of the situation with those specific interviewers. Just make sure you keep in mind how your specific interviewers or judges will react to your answers.

It Takes Practice

Like with any skill, figuring out both what the right questions to ask are and how to answer them takes practice. A good idea is to take some random interview or application questions, and just ask yourself those four questions I suggested and see if it improves how you would normally answer the question. It also helps to form a group of friends to do this with. I find that bouncing ideas off other people and seeing how they would approach the same question can give a lot of great insight I would never have considered on my own.

If you want to go one step further in utilizing this concept in other parts of your life, try picking random problems you encounter during the day or hear about, and see if you can use the method of questioning the question to come up with better solutions. I am sure you will find this technique helpful in many different situations, and not just in the interview room.