A results page has a search box, three filter dropdowns, a sort order, a page number, a row-selection checkbox per row, and a "saved view" the user can name. Where does each of those live, and why?

Answer it out loud before you open anything. The value of the flags below is in comparing them to what you actually said.

The situation behind the question

The current implementation puts all of it in one global store, because "then anything can read it". Two bugs are open: sharing a link to filtered results shows unfiltered results, and going back after opening a row loses the filters.

What it is really testing

Whether the candidate has categories for state and an ownership rule, or one default container. Both open bugs are the same bug — state that should have been in the URL is in memory — and a candidate who cannot see that will propose persistence instead.

Where the mechanism is taught