The clear requirements of take home tests make them my favorite. They allow me to express how I work: get a list of reqs, walk away and think about them, make some decisions on directions, then let the code lead me.

I strike the style required. I capitalize on opportunities to make decisions I can discuss. "I used tape instead of jest because this example product will be distributed to many developers. The reduced API-surface area keeps us focused on the how's not the what's."

I tone that down if the role seems more rote-work like, at which point I try to highlight my ability to solve problems and learn quickly. For example, a comment above some network call: "// I was getting a cors error and found out I can run my own proxy for this"