Memory
You just checked your voicemail and heard three numbers: 212, 555, and 7834. Repeat them back in order.
212-555-7834
You’re cooking dinner and need to follow these steps:
Boil water, add pasta, drain pasta, add sauce.
Now, tell me the steps in reverse order.
Add sauce → drain pasta → add pasta → boil water.
You must leave by 8:15 AM to catch the bus. Tasks: 1) shower (10 min), 2) make oatmeal (8 min), 3) pack bag (5 min), 4) put on clothes (5 min). Plan the order and what time to start the first task.
Answer: Start at 7:47 → shower (7:47–7:57) → clothes (7:57–8:02) → oatmeal (8:02–8:10) → pack (8:10–8:15) → leave.
You’re planning to attend a job interview downtown at 10 AM.
At 9 AM, your bus is delayed 45 minutes, your phone is at 10% battery, and you realize you forgot your resume folder at home (20 min away).
Question: How can you problem-solve to still attend or recover the situation?
Possible plan:
Call/email the interviewer using remaining battery to explain delay.
Ask if you can bring a digital copy or send your resume via email.
Take a taxi or rideshare instead of waiting for the bus.
If time allows, print resume nearby (library, copy shop).
Three coworkers — Alex, Ben, and Carla — each drink a different beverage: coffee, tea, or water.
Alex doesn’t like caffeine.
Ben drinks something hot.
Question: Who drinks what?
Alex → water (no caffeine)
Ben → coffee or tea (hot, caffeinated)
Carla → whichever is left;
Remember these items for your grocery list: milk, eggs, bread, bananas, bacon, cheese. Repeat back the list backwards
Cheese, Bacon, Banana, Bread, Egg, Milk
You have the following digits: 4, 9, 2, 7.
Add 2 to each number in your head and repeat the new sequence.
Now add 2 to the new sequence
Answer: 6, 11, 4, 9
Answer: 8, 13, 6, 11
You have three appointments today:
Therapy at 9:00–9:45 AM
Haircut at 10:00–10:30 AM
Bank appointment at 10:15–10:45 AM
You can’t make all three on time.
Question: Which appointment should you reschedule and why?
Answer: Reschedule either the haircut or bank — they overlap.
Best choice: move the haircut (flexible personal task), keep therapy (medical/important) and bank (time-sensitive).
You’re producing your final track before a midnight release deadline.
At 9:00 PM, three things happen at once:
The mixing software crashes.
The singer loses their voice.
The studio manager says you must finish by 11:00 PM because of building hours.
Question: What’s your action plan to still deliver a release-ready track?
Answer:
Restart software, save work-in-progress to external drive.
Record or comp older takes for vocals.
Simplify the final mix (adjust levels, skip effects).
Export the best version possible by 11:00 PM, and plan a post-release “Deluxe Mix” later.
Scenario: Three teams — Design, Legal, Sales — booked Room 4 for 9:00, 10:00, 11:00 AM (one hour each; no overlaps).
Clues:
The Sales meeting ended immediately before the Design meeting.
Legal refused the first slot.
Design never meets before 10:00.
Question: Assign each team to a time.
Sales 9:00, Design 10:00, Legal 11:00.
I’ll name six errands: post office, pharmacy, bank, grocery store, gas station, laundry.
Recall them in alphabetical order.
Bank, gas station, grocery store, laundry, pharmacy, post office
Say the months of the year backward, but skip every other month.
December, October, August, June, April, February.
You plan to clean the apartment:
Do laundry (45 min)
Wash dishes (10 min)
Vacuum (15 min)
Take out trash (5 min)
Halfway through, the washer breaks — laundry will take 1.5 hours instead.
Question: How do you reorganize the plan to stay efficient?
Start laundry anyway (1.5 hours total) → do dishes, vacuum, and trash while waiting.
Then fold laundry last.
This minimizes downtime and uses overlap.
Prompt (find the 6-letter word):
It’s a workplace action.
The word has 6 letters and ends with “ING.”
It contains exactly two vowels, and both are the same letter.
The 2nd and 4th letters are that same vowel.
If you replace the first letter with “F,” you get a near-opposite workplace action.
Answer: HIRING
Three coworkers (Nina, Omar, Priya) each ordered one dish and one drink.
Dishes: tacos (chicken), ramen (pork), salad (vegan).
Drinks: tea (caffeinated), soda (caffeinated), water.
Clues:
Nina is vegetarian.
The person who ordered ramen drank tea.
Omar avoids caffeine.
Priya did not order salad
Question: Who had what?
Nina → salad + soda (vegetarian; soda is caffeinated but allowed)
Omar → tacos + water (must avoid tea/soda; can’t take ramen because that forces tea)
Priya → ramen + tea (not salad; ramen pairs with tea by clue)
Here’s a mini-story:
“You wake up late on Friday and realize your car is low on gas. You plan to stop at the gas station on Maple Avenue, pick up donuts for your coworker’s birthday, and arrive at work by 9:00 AM. On the way, your friend texts asking if you can bring coffee too.”
recall every key detail.
Friday, low on gas, gas station on Maple Avenue, donuts for coworker’s birthday, arrive by 9:00 AM, bring coffee.
Listen carefully to this sequence:
7, 3, 9, 4, 2, 8
Now repeat the sequence from smallest to largest, but add 1 to every odd number before you start.
Answer:
Odd numbers: 7→8, 3→4, 9→10
Even numbers stay the same: 4, 2, 8
Combined: 8, 4, 10, 4, 2, 8
Sorted smallest → largest = 2, 4, 4, 8, 8, 10
You’re organizing a small community event for Saturday:
DJ setup: 2 hours, requires power outlet.
Food delivery: arrives between 1:30–2:00 PM.
Decorations: 1 hour, can only start after tables arrive (tables come 12:00 PM).
Event start: 3:00 PM.
You arrive at 11:00 AM.
Question: Create a timeline so everything is done by 3:00 PM. Include what to do if the table delivery is 30 minutes late.
Answer:
11:00–12:00: DJ setup (start early; use outlet first)
12:00–1:00: Decorations (once tables arrive)
1:00–1:30: Final DJ check / food area setup
1:30–2:00: Receive food delivery
2:00–3:00: Clean-up, arrange, guest prep
If tables are late (arrive 12:30):
→ Do DJ setup 11–12:30 → Decorations 12:30–1:30 → adjust food setup overlap.
Prompt (find the 6-letter word):
It’s a money/planning noun.
It has 6 letters, no repeats, and exactly two vowels.
The letters D and G appear next to each other in the middle.
If you remove the last letter, you get a common verb meaning “to move slightly.”
Answer: BUDGET
Scenario: A shared laptop cart (10 devices) shows 7 are at 80–90% battery, 3 are at 15–20%.
Managers’ habits:
Avery always plugs in all devices after use.
Blair leaves devices as-is.
Cam uses exactly three devices for testing and forgets to plug them back.
Question: Who most likely used the cart last?
Cam