Yes, but real-life situations are rarely as high stakes as interviews, on the individual level. Sure - you can find yourself in very stressful situations at wo

Yes, but real-life situations are rarely as high stakes as interviews, on the individual level. Sure - you can find yourself in very stressful situations at work, but I have never in my life been in a situation where you're given 45 mins (or hours, for that mater) to solve some problem, or you get fired. Simply but, there's an incredible discrepancy between the stakes at play, between interviews and work. To put it a bit more extreme - but to hammer down the point: Imagine working on some problem, with no help whatsoever, and that in front of you, there's some guy pointing a gun against you. Just imagine how stressful that must be, and how much of your focus is distracted on reading that guy. Same goes for interviews. For a lot of candidates, that interview is their way out of poverty or lower-class living. And the judge and executioner of your future, is sitting in the same room as you. It's a very stressful situation - probably one of the most stressful situations in your life.