McKinsey Solve, and how to get ready
Solve is McKinsey's online problem-solving game for most consulting roles, taken before the interviews. McKinsey says it needs no preparation, and each task starts with an untimed tutorial.
Updated
- What it is
- A game
- Online, played alone
- Who takes it
- Most consultants
- Before the interviews
- Length
- In your invite
- Tutorials are untimed
- Device
- PC or Mac
- No iPad or phone
What Solve measures
McKinsey does not publish how Solve is scored. Its own pages say this much:
Problem solving
McKinsey says Solve is built to showcase your problem-solving abilities.
No knowledge needed
No business knowledge or gaming experience is required. A tutorial opens each task.
One part of the decision
Your result is weighed with the rest of your application, not on its own.
A different game for everyone
Each scenario is varied, so no two candidates get the same data.
From McKinsey's Solve page and its Solve FAQs.
How Solve runs
For consulting roles, as McKinsey describes it. Your invitation and recruiter give the details for your role.
Step 1
Application
For most consulting roles, McKinsey asks you to play Solve as part of the application.
Step 2
Invitation and tech check
The email gives the length. Your link runs a tech check on your device first.
Step 3
The game
Each task opens with an untimed tutorial. You play alone, with no apps, AI tools or notes, and may be asked at random to explain your logic.
Step 4
Interviews
Case interviews and personal experience interviews (PEI).
From McKinsey's interviewing page.
McKinsey does not publish the list of tasks inside Solve. The tutorial before each one tells you what it asks.
5 questions that build the same skills
Solve can't be rehearsed. These train the same habits, and they carry your case interviews too.
Work from the data
Read the numbers before deciding what they mean.
A manufacturer's on-time delivery rate has dropped from 95% to 80%. How would you find out why?
Split the process into steps and find the one that changed, instead of listing every possible cause. Example answer
Describe a time the numbers and the stories you were hearing did not match. What did you do?
Look for a number that would be true if the other side were right, then go and check it. Example answer
Decide with what you have
Commit to an answer and say what would change it.
One of your client's three divisions is losing money. Should they fix it, sell it or close it?
Compare the options on the same measure, pick one and name the risk that could make you wrong. Example answer
Tell me about a time you had to make a decision without all the information you wanted.
Say what you knew, what you assumed and what you did to limit the cost of being wrong. Example answer
Quick, careful math
Set it up before you compute.
A coffee chain is opening a new store. How many cups a day does it need to sell to break even?
Write the equation in words first, then fill in the numbers and round only at the end. Example answer
Mistakes that cost candidates
The wrong device
Solve runs only on a PC or Mac. Run the tech check early.
Waiting out a technical problem
Support can reset your link only if you contact them while it happens.
Outside help
AI tools, notes, screenshots and help from others are banned. A breach can end your candidacy.
Spending all your prep on Solve
The case and PEI interviews that follow are where practice pays off.
How to get ready for Solve
McKinsey says no preparation is needed. This is still worth doing.
When the invite arrives
Pick a quiet slot
Choose a time when you won't be interrupted, and your language: English, Spanish, Portuguese or Japanese.
A few days before
Run the tech check
Open your link on the computer you will use. Ask your recruiter early about any accommodation.
On the day
Play it straight
Alone, with nothing else open. Read each tutorial for the task's goal first.
Alongside and after
Prepare the interviews
Practice cases out loud, one question at a time, and prepare detailed PEI stories.
From McKinsey's Solve FAQs.
The interviews come next, practice them out loud
Soreno's McKinsey-style interviewer leads a case one question at a time, checks your math and scores you. Free for 7 days.
Questions people ask
What is McKinsey Solve?
McKinsey's gamified assessment for most consulting roles, taken online before the interviews. McKinsey says it showcases your problem-solving abilities and needs no business knowledge or gaming experience.
Is Solve the McKinsey Problem Solving Game or the Imbellus game?
Those are names candidates and prep sites use for the same step, along with the McKinsey digital assessment. McKinsey's own pages call it Solve, McKinsey's assessment game.
How long is McKinsey Solve?
McKinsey says the length is in your invitation email, and each task opens with an untimed tutorial. An older McKinsey FAQ gave 70 minutes, so go by your own invitation.
Do I need to prepare for Solve?
McKinsey says no. Its older FAQ added that outside coaching is not required or necessary to do well. Get the logistics right and spend your practice time on the case and PEI interviews.
Can I use AI tools or notes during Solve?
No. Applications, websites, AI tools and pre-prepared notes are not allowed, nor are screenshots or help from others, except for an accommodation McKinsey has approved in writing.
Can I take Solve on a phone or iPad?
No. It runs only on a PC or Mac. Sound is not needed and a mouse is optional.
What if something breaks during Solve?
Write to gbil-support@mckinsey.com or use the live chat while it is happening. Support can add time or reset your link. McKinsey says it can't allow a reset if you didn't contact support.
Will I see my Solve score?
The older McKinsey FAQ says you can get your score and, on request, your percentile range as a quartile against other applicants. McKinsey does not share the maximum score or how scoring works.
Does McKinsey decide on Solve alone?
No. It says the result is considered together with the rest of your application and any other assessment results.