There's a world of difference between being a skilled solver of problems, and being a skilled extemporaneous presenter of your problem-solving process on the fly. Most people are not good extemporaneous speakers, and the reason they're fumbling is not because they're incapable of solving the problem, but because they're juggling the following things:
* Presenting the solution.
* Determining the solution.
* Presenting themselves.
It's not really an accurate measure of how well they work day-to-day, because none of us show up to work and are given 15 minutes to present a solution to a problem we've not studied in years.
You're basically testing peoples' ability to improvise a solution while discussing it with two or three strangers. It's not surprising that there's a high failure rate in that.
* Presenting the solution. * Determining the solution. * Presenting themselves.
It's not really an accurate measure of how well they work day-to-day, because none of us show up to work and are given 15 minutes to present a solution to a problem we've not studied in years.
You're basically testing peoples' ability to improvise a solution while discussing it with two or three strangers. It's not surprising that there's a high failure rate in that.