Are these interview questions too challenging for beginners

Question

So I just finished interviewing two persons and administering "tests" to assess their abilities. Both are entry-level candidates, with one of them still in college. The following code was not found to be incorrect by either candidate.

Obviously, I do, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen those instances. Do you believe these questions are too difficult for inexperienced programmers to answer?

I suppose I should also mention that neither of them had any expertise with C#... but I don't believe the problems are language-related.

//For the following functions, evaluate the code for quality and discuss.  E.g.
//E.g. could it be done more efficiently? could it cause bugs?        
public void Question1()
{
    int active = 0;

    CheckBox chkactive = (CheckBox)item.FindControl("chkactive");
    if (chkactive.Checked == true)
    {
        active = 1;
    }

    dmxdevice.Active = Convert.ToBoolean(active);
}

public void Question2(bool IsPostBack)
{
    if (!IsPostBack)
    {
        BindlistviewNotification();
    }

    if (lsvnotificationList.Items.Count == 0)
    {
        BindlistviewNotification();
    }
}


//Question 3
protected void lsvnotificationList_ItemUpdating(object sender, ListViewUpdateEventArgs e)
{
   ListViewDataItem item = lsvnotificationList.Items[e.ItemIndex];
   string Email = ((TextBox)item.FindControl("txtEmailAddress")).Text;
   int id = Convert.ToInt32(((HiddenField)item.FindControl("hfID")).Value);

   ESLinq.ESLinqDataContext db = new ESLinq.ESLinqDataContext();
   var compare = from N in db.NotificationLists
                 where N.ID == id 
                 select N;
   if (compare.Count() > 0)
   {
       lblmessage.Text = "Record Already Exists";
   }
   else
   {
       ESLinq.NotificationList Notice = db.NotificationLists.Where(N => N.ID == id).Single();
       Notice.EmailAddress = Email;
       db.SubmitChanges();
   }
   lsvnotificationList.EditIndex = -1;
   BindlistviewNotification();
}

Answer 1

As a new employee, I would expect employers to be more interested in my thought processes than in whether or not the response was "right." I could come up with some responses to these questions, but they would almost certainly be incorrect. :)

As a result, I believe you could get away with these questions, but you should probably be a little more lenient with the "right" response.

I don't think it's a bad thing to obtain a blank sheet with no thoughts as long as those criteria are made clear. This indicates that they either believe the code is ideal (which we all know is virtually never the case) or are too embarrassed to express their opinions (which is also a bad thing).

So, yes. The questions are harsh and can even be a deterrent to some.