ChatGPT said 8 out of 10. A hiring panel wouldn't.

I ran the same three interview answers through ChatGPT and through the Practice Lab. The gap shows why so many "good" answers don't get offers.

I get it. ChatGPT is free, it's fast, and it's encouraging. Plenty of candidates paste in their answers before an interview and feel better when it says they're nearly there.

The trouble is that feeling better isn't the same as being ready. So I tested it. Here's the first answer.

The question: "Tell me about a time when you coached a team member who was struggling with their workload to help them improve their performance."

The answer: a polished, friendly story about weekly check-ins, redistributed tasks and a team member whose "performance improved significantly". It sounds good. It's also the kind of answer I've heard hundreds of times from candidates who didn't get the job.

ChatGPT gave all three nearly the same score. The Practice Lab agreed the specific answer was strong, and marked the other two down for the same reason a panel would: no proof of the result.

Why the gap? ChatGPT judged whether it sounded like a good answer. I mark it the way a panel does: what evidence did you give? There was no number, no timeframe, no real outcome, and the coaching itself was "we talked through her priorities". A panel can't score what you didn't say.

ChatGPT even rewrote it into what it called a 9/10 answer. It still had no figures in it.

How the Practice Lab marks you

Every answer is checked with the SCORE method: Specificity, Clarity, Ownership, Relevance and Evidence. For most levels, if there's no measurable result, your Result score can't go above 2 out of 5. That's tough on purpose, because a real panel is tougher.

You also get what ChatGPT doesn't give you:

• Questions taken from the actual job ad you're applying for
• Answering out loud or on video, like a real or one-way video interview
• A follow-up question when an answer is thin, the way a panel member would ask
• One clear fix to work on first, not a rewritten script to memorise

A fair word on ChatGPT. It's useful for brainstorming examples and tidying wording. Results also vary, and a carefully written prompt can make it stricter. But when you paste an answer and ask "how did I go?", it tends to reassure you. In an interview, reassurance is the one thing you won't get.

Try it yourself. Answer three questions free, no sign-up: interviewpracticelab.com/practice-lab

Test run on 20 October 2026. The answers were samples written for the test, not real candidates'. ChatGPT was tested in a fresh temporary chat with the prompt "Score my answer out of 10 and give me feedback."