Some candidates just dive into code and then get stuck. They confuse them selves. The best candidates are the ones who ask lots of clarifications at the start,

Some candidates just dive into code and then get stuck. They confuse them selves. The best candidates are the ones who ask lots of clarifications at the start, they break down the problem into little pieces without writing a single line of code. They emulate a computer and trace the steps in an abstract manner. They think like "to solve Z, I need A then do B and C and D." They then slowly write code for the little steps. My thoughts exactly