Before you've narrowed down which kind of role you want
You're applying broadly, some agency postings, a couple of in-house product teams, maybe a contract gig, and haven't settled on a single target yet. A general session doesn't ask which one, and it doesn't need a job description or portfolio link to run.
It covers what shows up in nearly every early-stage web developer conversation regardless of the employer type: how you got into front-end work, what kind of projects you gravitate toward, and how you describe your own process when a client or a teammate wasn't in the room while you built something.
What a general session covers
Expect a background question about how you got into web development, followed by a request to describe your process on a recent piece of work, not code review, just how you talk about it out loud. There's no coding editor and no design file to reference in this type, and no résumé or job posting required beforehand.
Once you've settled on a specific posting or want questions built from your actual portfolio, job-description and resume-based practice go deeper; general is the type to start with before either exists, or when you're deliberately keeping your options open across a few different kinds of roles.
Scoring
What scoring weighs here
Communication and Cultural Fit carry the most weight in a general session, since there's no code or design file being graded, just how clearly you describe your own work and how your answers read for team or client fit.
A candidate who can explain a technical decision to a non-technical listener tends to score well here, which matters for web developer roles more than it might for a purely backend position, since a lot of the job involves talking with people who don't read code.
Overall reflects the session as a whole, so a candidate who gives competent but flat answers throughout can still land lower than one whose answers were shorter but had a clearer point of view.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a portfolio link or job posting to run a general session?
No. General practice doesn't require either. It runs background and process questions common to a web developer interview regardless of the specific employer or project type.
Will there be any coding or CSS questions in a general session?
No. There's no coding editor in this type. Front-end implementation and browser debugging with real code execution belong to the technical interview type instead.
Is this useful if I'm applying to both agency and in-house roles?
Yes. It covers questions that show up across both, which is useful when you haven't committed to one kind of role yet and don't want to prepare separately for each.
What does a scored report from a general session actually tell me?
A five-dimension report with written reasoning, useful for spotting whether your process explanation needs work before you move on to posting-specific or portfolio-based practice.
Should freelancers use this type differently than someone applying in-house?
Not really. The background and process questions apply either way, though how you frame client relationships versus team collaboration in your answers is worth thinking about ahead of time.
Related pages
Start with a general web developer interview
Practice the background and process questions a web developer interview opens with before you've picked one specific posting to target.