BCG Casey is the chatbot that runs BCG's online case, a timed business case you solve alone on your laptop before the live case interviews. BCG Mexico's careers page gives it the name. BCG's candidate guide describes 8 to 10 questions in 35 minutes, then a one-minute video answer. For the live cases after it, Soreno, an AI voice interview practice app for consulting, investment banking and other finance candidates, runs AI case interviews out loud. Start your free week.
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BCG's 2024 candidate guide, linked from BCG Mexico's careers page, calls it the Online Case Assessment. It is fully online, taken from home on your own computer and run by a chatbot. The whole session is about 40 minutes.
One business case, asked as a series of questions in a chat.
A last question about the case, answered on camera.
A trial run BCG recommends before the real one.
Equipment
Both are required. Don't take it on a phone. Chrome is preferred, with VPN and ad blockers off and an incognito window.
Camera
After you consent, the system records it to catch problems such as more than one face, tab switching, copy and paste or window switching.
One sitting
If you are logged out, you can log back in with the same email and land where you were, but the time will have passed.
Order
You work through the questions in order. You can't go back to review or change an answer.
Pacing
The bar moves by each question's expected time, not by the number of questions. Before each question you see its number and how many are left.
Video trouble
If the video part fails, BCG says it still has your results from the questions. Record your recommendation on another device and send it to your recruiter.
BCG's candidate guide shows three example screens of the case and explains the timer. In words:
Before you start
A Take Tour button walks you through the interface. Time spent reading the guidelines doesn't count against the case.
The case screen
The chatbot asks each question, which is multiple choice, short answer or fill-in. Your own video shows in the top left corner for the whole session.
Top of the screen
The timer shows the time left. Before each question you see its number and how many are left.
Progress bar
BCG's example: in a 30-minute case, if question 1 should take 3 minutes and question 2 should take 6, the bar moves 10% after question 1 and 20% after question 2.
The last screen
The screen shows a 5-minute timer for the whole part and a 1-minute timer for the recording. In those 5 minutes you read the question, prepare, open the recorder, press Start recording and upload your answer.
The technical rules in the FAQ section of BCG's guide.
Browser
The guide lists Chrome, Firefox or Opera, and also Edge 79 or later and Safari 15.4 or later. Don't use Internet Explorer. An incognito window gives the best results.
Network
Use the strongest connection you can find, with VPN and ad blockers off. On a shaky connection the video can take up to 30 seconds to start.
Webcam
If the webcam won't connect, close video call apps, then try a reboot, another approved browser or another computer.
Text cut off
If you can't see the whole question, zoom out in your browser so it fits on one screen.
Dropped out
Your progress is saved. Refresh or reopen the invitation link to return to the same question, within 35 minutes of when the test began.
BCG says to prepare as you would for a case interview. Its glossary sets a few defaults.
COGS
Cost of goods sold counts as a variable cost unless the question says otherwise.
Operating expenses
Costs such as marketing and office rent count as fixed unless the question says otherwise.
Profit
Unless stated otherwise, profit in the case means gross profit minus operating expenses.
Expected profit
The glossary works an example: each outcome's profit times its chance, added up. Be ready for a question like it.
Gross profit
What is left after the costs of making and delivering the product, typically the variable costs, come off revenue.
Market share
A firm's revenue divided by the combined revenue of every business in the industry.
Complements and substitutes
Complements are used together, so demand for one lifts the other. Substitutes do the same job and can replace each other.
From BCG's online case guide (PDF), BCG Mexico, which links it and BCG on AI in hiring.
BCG publishes no rubric. Its office pages describe the online case this way:
BCG Mexico says the chatbot case simulates a case interview and evaluates your problem-solving and analytical skills. The case can cover any industry or practice area.
BCG Argentina says it tests quantitative skills, data interpretation, calculations and business logic.
BCG Kazakhstan describes a mix of qualitative questions, business logic and analytical problem solving.
The case ends with a one-minute video giving your final recommendation, BCG Argentina says.
BCG's guide says scoring varies by question type and each question may carry a different weight. You won't receive your score. BCG doesn't publish a pass mark or how the video is judged.
From BCG Mexico, BCG Argentina, BCG Kazakhstan and BCG's online case guide (PDF).
Offices describe the online case in their own words, and some add other tests. Your invitation is the final word on what you take.
After the Consultant Career Assessment, a select group takes the online case about two weeks after the deadline. Anyone who has taken it before isn't asked again.
Every MBA applicant takes the online case except those whose first office choice is in Canada. US, Canada and Mexico applicants also take the assessment.
The Online Case Experience is guided by Casey, a chatbot, and is done in English. Associates take it with the Consulting Career Assessment the weekend after the application deadline.
The Online Case Experience tests quantitative skills, data interpretation, calculations and business logic, and ends with a one-minute video of your recommendation.
Generalist applicants take an online business case of 8 to 10 multiple choice, short answer and fill-in questions plus a video question, and a separate logical reasoning test.
The online case is a virtual case experience with a mix of qualitative questions, business logic and analytical problem solving. An HR interview follows it.
Eligible applicants are invited to an online case assessment after sending a resume, cover letter and transcript.
The order BCG's guide and its US Associate page describe. Your own invitation has the dates.
The invitation
HireQuotient sends the link on BCG's behalf. Open it within the window the email gives, or it won't be available. In the US, a select group of undergraduates is invited about two weeks after the application deadline.
Before
Its link is in the same email. BCG recommends it so the chatbot and the video screen feel familiar.
Start
Take Tour shows the interface without using your time. Then the case runs: 8 to 10 questions in order, with a timer and a progress bar.
The end
Five minutes to read it, plan and record up to one minute. Start recording with at least two minutes left. You get one attempt.
After
You won't see your score. In Argentina, those who pass go on to a first round of two or three 45-minute case interviews.
BCG does not publish who marks the answers, the pass mark or how many candidates pass.
Our own wording, not BCG's, built on the question types BCG's guide lists. No answers are printed. Work each one with a calculator and a timer.
A fill-in box takes the final number only, so the units matter.
A meal kit company sells 50,000 boxes a month at $60 each. Food and packing cost $38 a box, and fixed costs are $700,000 a month. What is its monthly operating profit?
Margin per box times boxes, then minus fixed costs. Write the unit at every step so the box gets dollars, not thousands.
Same company. How many boxes a month does it need to sell to break even?
Fixed costs over the margin per box, rounded up to a whole box. Then check it against the 50,000 it sells today.
A pilot program has a 70% chance of adding $500,000 of profit and a 30% chance of losing $200,000. What is its expected profit?
Each outcome times its chance, then add them, with the loss as a negative. BCG's own glossary works one like it.
Rule out the options the numbers can't support before you pick.
A shampoo brand lost five points of share in two years. You have its share, price and survey charts. What do they tell you?
One line on what each chart shows, then the single insight that joins them. In a multiple choice version, that insight is usually what separates two close options. Practice it, see a model answer
An airline flies more passengers than last year but earns less. What happened?
Revenue and cost per passenger, then what moved. Since you can't go back, check the arithmetic before you submit. Practice it, see a model answer
Five minutes to plan and record, one take.
In one minute, tell the CEO which of two cities to launch in first, and why.
Lead with the city. Give two reasons with a number in each, name one risk and the next step. Practice on a phone timer until it fits.
A coffee chain is opening a new store. How many cups a day does it need to sell to break even?
Set it up in words, do the math, then say in two sentences whether the target looks reachable. That last part is the video answer in miniature. Practice it, see a model answer
Not from BCG. Prep sites and candidates describe these things, and they disagree with each other. BCG's own guide is the one to trust where they differ.
BCG's guide says to press record at least two minutes before the five-minute timer ends. There is one attempt.
You can't go back. A quick check of units and arithmetic before each submit is worth the seconds.
The guide requires a laptop with a webcam and a calculator, and says not to use a mobile phone.
Its link is in your invitation, and it shows you the real chatbot and video screen before the day.
The camera recording flags tab and window switching and copy and paste. Close everything else first.
The link works only during the time in your email. If it expired, BCG's FAQs say to contact your recruiter for a new one.
BCG says to prepare as you would for a case interview. The order and timing are our suggestion.
When the email arrives
Check the dates, read BCG's candidate guide once through and do the practice case from the invitation.
Daily
Margins, break-even, percent change and expected value, timed. The calculator is allowed here, so the risk is setup and units, not arithmetic.
Daily
Record yourself giving a recommendation in one minute, with a five-minute timer for planning. Lead with the answer, two reasons, one risk.
Each week
The online case is a case interview in chat form, and the live interviews follow it. Run full cases with a partner or an AI interviewer and follow BCG's do and don't lists.
BCG: case interview preparationFree sample case, no sign-upAI case interview practice
The day before
Webcam working, calculator on the desk, Chrome updated, VPN and ad blockers off, video call apps closed and a stable connection.
Soreno's online case practice runs one business case as a chat: questions on a clock, exhibits to read, answers you can't change, then a written recommendation. The case and the marking are Soreno's own, and Soreno isn't affiliated with BCG. After it, the AI interviewer runs BCG-style cases by voice.
The chatbot that guides you through BCG's online case, by the name BCG Mexico gives it. BCG says the case simulates a case interview and evaluates your problem-solving and analytical skills.
BCG's US pages call it the online case, and its candidate guide calls it the Online Case Assessment. BCG Mexico's page is where the chatbot is named Casey.
About 35 minutes for US undergraduates and about 40 for US MBA applicants. BCG Mexico and Argentina say about 30. The candidate guide gives about 40 minutes in all: an intro video, 35 minutes of case and the video question.
8 to 10, BCG's guide and its Sweden page say, as multiple choice, short answer or fill-in, followed by one video question.
Yes. BCG's guide lists a calculator as required, along with a laptop with a webcam.
No. The guide says all answers are final and you work through the questions in order.
Some. BCG's guide says to prepare as you would for a case interview and that some business knowledge will be required, and it includes a glossary of terms like gross profit and market share. BCG Mexico says basic familiarity with business concepts helps but isn't mandatory.
BCG doesn't say so. Its guide says scoring varies by question type and each question may carry a different weight, and that you won't see your score. Prep sites that describe points taken off for wrong answers are not quoting BCG.
BCG's US Associate page says candidates who have taken the online case before won't be asked to take it again. BCG Mexico says that if you can't finish it in your window, you can take it in the next recruiting window, which may be months away.
No. BCG's guide says to do it in one sitting, since the timer keeps running even if you are logged out. If you drop out, refresh or reopen the link to return to the same question, but the time will have passed.
Chrome, BCG's guide says, in an incognito window with VPN and ad blockers off. It also lists Firefox, Opera, Edge 79 or later and Safari 15.4 or later. Not Internet Explorer, and not a phone.
BCG Mexico says its online case is done entirely in English. Other offices don't say, so check your invitation.
You won't see it. BCG says scoring varies by question type and each question may carry a different weight. It doesn't publish a pass mark.
In the US, a select group of undergraduate applicants and every MBA applicant except those whose first office is in Canada. US undergraduates who took it before aren't asked again. Other offices set their own rules.
BCG's FAQs say to contact your recruiter, who can send a new link with its own dates.
BCG says AI is fine for practicing interview questions and that it never uses AI to make hiring decisions. During the case, your camera recording is used to catch tab switching and copy and paste.
No. Soreno is an independent practice tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Boston Consulting Group or HireQuotient.
BCG includes a link to an official practice case inside your assessment invitation email so you can get comfortable with the chatbot and video recorder before your formal timer starts. Beyond that interface check, BCG advises preparing just as you would for a live case interview by practicing business cases, calculations, and recommendations.
If your HireQuotient link expires before you take the test, BCG's application FAQs state that you should contact your recruiter to receive a new email with an updated assessment link and reset timeline. If you cannot record the final video on the platform, BCG retains your test results and advises self-recording the answer on your phone and emailing it to your recruiter.
