Back to blog

How to set up Interview Solver's AI Copilot

March 12, 2024 (4mo ago)

Best practices for setting up Interview AI Copilot for your first live interview.

Getting Started

Download the app (Mac, Windows). Once you've installed the app, you'll be prompted to log in with your Interview Solver account. If you don't have a subscription, you can still use the app for free during your trial.

Before the interview

  1. Set up your monitor layout. It's recommended to use a dual monitor setup with your interview on one monitor and the Interview AI Copilot on the other. This will allow you to get solutions without interrupting the interview.
  2. Set your language. Use the Custom Instructions feature under the Settings tab to specify the programming language you'd like your answers in.
Custom Instructions
  1. Select your screen share. Using the button on the left hand navigation, select the screen or window that you'll be writing your interview on. At any time during the interview you can hit the hotkey (ctrl+esc) to send the latest state of the screen to the Interview AI Copilot.
Pick a screenCustom Instructions
  1. Familiarize yourself with the hotkeys. The hotkeys are designed to be easy to use and not interfere with your interview. You can find the hotkeys under the Settings tab.

Mac

  • ctrl+esc - Send the current state of the selected screen to the Interview AI Copilot.
  • alt+esc - Send the current selected text to the Interview AI Copilot and request a solution.
  • cmd+esc - Toggles the microphone on/off for transcribing your voice to the Interview AI Copilot.
  • shift+esc - Cancels any in-flight responses from the Interview AI Copilot.

Windows

  • ctrl+1 - Send the current state of the selected screen to the Interview AI Copilot.
  • ctrl+3 - Send the current selected text to the Interview AI Copilot and request a solution.
  • ctrl+2 - Toggles the microphone on/off for transcribing your voice to the Interview AI Copilot.
  • shift+esc - Cancels any in-flight responses from the Interview AI Copilot.

During the interview

Once the interview starts, you can use the hotkeys to send the current state of your screen or the selected text to the Interview AI Copilot. The AI Copilot will then provide you with a solution to the problem you're working on.

If you need further clarification, you can edit your code and add comments to it to direct the AI Copilot to provide a more specific solution. The selected text functionality is great for really honing in on a specific part of the problem.

Avoiding cheating detection

Browser-based assessments are limited to browser APIs. That means they can only detect the following:

  • When the tab loses or gains focus
  • When you press certain key combinations while the tab is in focus
  • GeoIP (not applicable here, but for scenarios where you have someone from another location take the test on your behalf)

Interview Solver Copilot's global hotkeys are registered at the OS level and those key combinations are intercepted before they reach the browser. That means the browser won't have any idea that you are pressing those key combos, even if the browser is the window in focus.

Common scenarios that would get you flagged

  1. If you hit ctrl+c to copy some text
  2. Assessment window loses focus for a few seconds
  3. Assessment window regains focus, you ctrl+v to paste some code back in

This scenario is a big red flag, but really easily avoidable with Interview Solver's features as long as you only interact with the app via the hotkeys and don't tab over to it or copy paste code from it.

Just a note that the Send Selected Text feature reads from your system clipboard, so it sends a ctrl+c keypress to copy the text first. This by itself should not be a red flag to these systems as long as you are not flagging the other behaviors in that list

Good luck!