1 min lesson
Timed coding + security screen
Use "Cursor's technical phone screen is a medium-hard coding problem with a security overlay" to describe the practical rule.
Step 1 of 3
Cursor's technical phone screen is a medium-hard coding problem with a security overlay. You write clean code under a clock and you carry a threat lens while you do it. The only honest prep is to run that exact constraint on yourself, on a timer, out loud.
Learn more
Full explanation
The Mock Loop at a Glance
Interactive diagram. Step through it with the Next and Previous controls below, or Tab to a region to read its detail.
Each section of this capstone is one timed stage - run them in order, self-graded, before the real loop.
Set a 45-minute timer and pick a problem that forces you to handle untrusted input: parse and validate a config file, build a URL allowlist for an outbound fetcher or sanitize a path before a file read. The coding bar is real, so the code has to compile and pass your own tests. The security bar is the second axis the interviewer is grading in parallel.