Whenever you're ready, walk me through how you'd approach this.
What is the difference between symmetric and asymmetric encryption, and when would you use each?
Explain how the keys differ, the practical performance and security trade-offs, and how the two approaches are commonly combined in protocols such as TLS. The interviewer is checking whether you can distinguish encryption from authentication and key exchange, not merely repeat that one method is faster.
Scope: General cryptography and network security concepts, with TLS 1.3 as an example.