Are You Ready To Take On Creativity Questions?

When faced with a challenging creativity question, what is the best way to respond?*
- Shrug and give a unclear, quick answer
- Talk through your thought process with the interviewer, even if you are unsure
- Say you cannot answer the question and ask to move on

Which of these is the most important part of creativity questions?*
- Getting the right answer
- Being as accurate in your working out as possible
- Showing the interviewer your thought process

Which of the following would be a good approach to the question “How many words are there in a book?”*
- Saying you would count the words one by one when you have access to the book
- Estimating how many words per page, multiplying by the average number of pages you think there are in a book – using estimated, rounded figures for ease of quick maths
- Use a complicated mathematical formula to show your academic potential and suitability

Why do we wear shoes?*
- For fashion purposes – shows we are keeping up to date with the current trends
- Should we actually wear shoes? Now there’s a question!
- Everyone’s reason for warning shoes will be completely different. Some may wear them to be fashionable, others to increase their height and make them more attractive. Although before the focus on aesthetics, many will have worn shoes for protection maybe even survival!

How much does Mount Everest weigh?*
- It would be difficult to conceptualise such a massive landmarks weight, as humans how can we calculate such a thing when we weigh so little in comparison. In order to weigh something we need to be able to pick it up
- 1,879,666 N
- We can estimate the mass of the mountain using the vertical and horizontal dimensions, this will give us the volume. From this we can use the density of the rock to calculate the mass, and multiply by G to get the weight?

Do you think fear is a useful emotion to feel?*
- Yes – it allows us to recognise potentially dangerous situations which we can therefore avoid as a survival mechanism
- No – it can interfere greatly with day to day life if the fear is irrational or based on a previous experience which is no longer relevant
- Maybe – There are times where fear may be protective, or a warning of something sinister however there are times this could be a false sense of insecurity which may lead to setbacks or mistakes. Therefore the usefulness of the emotion is situation dependent

How would you design a better brain?*
- We have evolved to have high functioning brains, therefore I wouldn’t want to alter the evolutionary advantages we have obtained or will obtain in future generations
- I would make a brain which wouldn’t require sleep, therefore it could work all the time making it more efficient
- I think there is a fine art to designing something as intricate as the brain, as one of the most complex organs. It is important to think how changes would give us an evolutionary advantage, for example not needing to sleep would make us less susceptible to danger. Self-renewal to prevent pathological changes which occur due to ageing, etc…

Are you expected to use outside knowledge to answer creativity questions?*
- No, they want to see your thought process alone
- Yes of course, you need to show off how much you know in order to get a place
- If it is appropriate, then yes outside knowledge can be used to enhance your creative thinking

Quiz: Are You Ready To Take On Creativity Questions?