If you are nervous during the interview, what is a good strategy to cope?

Taking deep breaths and allowing yourself a moment to collect your thoughts is an effective strategy for coping with nervousness during an interview. This approach helps to calm your mind and body, reducing anxiety and enabling clearer thinking. By pausing briefly to breathe deeply, you can focus better on the questions being asked and formulate your responses more thoughtfully. This can also convey confidence to the interviewer.

Conversely, avoiding answering questions would likely create a negative impression and could hinder your chances of successfully demonstrating your qualifications. Speaking too quickly can lead to confusion, making it more difficult for the interviewer to understand your responses and potentially causing you to miss important details. Leaving the interview might also reflect poorly on your willingness to engage in the process, which could be detrimental to your application. Therefore, taking deep breaths is the most constructive option for effectively managing anxiety during the interview.