Soreno
Try for free
Free McKinsey-style case, no sign-up

McKinsey case interview practice, interviewer-led

Work a full sample case in the style candidates describe for McKinsey: the interviewer leads with distinct questions, one at a time. A timer, a notes box and what a strong answer covers are included. Free, with no sign-up.

Try the free sample caseSee pricing

Free and runs in your browser. Soreno is independent and not affiliated with McKinsey. The 7-day free trial includes 2 mock interviews and 3 drills.

Free sample case: interviewer-led

A McKinsey-style case you can try now

The interviewer asks a set of distinct questions: structure, quantitative, exhibit, brainstorm, recommendation.

Step 1. Read the case

Tidewater Ferries: electric or diesel?

The interviewer reads you the case

Your client is Tidewater Ferries, which runs passenger ferries in a mid-size US coastal city. Its busiest route is a 30-minute harbor crossing served by one diesel ferry that is at the end of its life and must be replaced. The CEO asks whether the new ferry should be electric. The board decides next quarter.

An original, fictional practice case written by Soreno in a McKinsey-style format. It is not a McKinsey interview question. Everything stays in your browser.

Step 2. Ask clarifying questions

In an interviewer-led case you can ask a few clarifying questions, then the interviewer takes over. Two or three is plenty.

Step 3. Structure your answer

Question 1 from your interviewer: "What would you want to look at to help the CEO decide?" Take two minutes, write your structure, then say it out loud.

2:00

Now do a full case out loud

Soreno's AI interviewer gives you a full case, asks follow-up questions on your structure and math, and scores your answer. The 7-day free trial includes 2 mock interviews and 3 drills.

Continue with the AI interviewer

Account required to start the trial. Cancel anytime before it ends.

Checked October 2026

What the McKinsey interview looks like

Here is what McKinsey says about its interview process on its own careers pages, and what it does not publish.

What McKinsey says

  • For most client-facing roles you have a personal experience interview, followed by a problem-solving interview. Depending on the role there may also be expertise interviews. McKinsey: Interviewing.
  • In the personal experience interview McKinsey asks you to discuss important experiences in detail, focusing on your own role and the key actions you took. McKinsey: Interviewing.
  • The problem-solving interview, sometimes called the case interview, presents a business scenario to evaluate how you analyze and solve a complex problem. McKinsey: Interviewing.
  • McKinsey recommends practicing with the sample cases on its site (such as Beautify and Diconsa), which show the logic, thought process and suggested answers. It also says your interviewer wants a conversation, not a memorized checklist. McKinsey: Interviewing.
  • Invited candidates get access to a free AI Prep Tool for practicing the quantitative part of the case interview. McKinsey also says it is piloting a small number of AI-enabled interview experiences, that candidates are told in advance and that no additional preparation is required. McKinsey: AI at McKinsey.
  • In a real assessment you may not use generative AI, calculators, apps or notes unless the instructions say so. McKinsey: Assessment integrity expectations.

What McKinsey does not publish

  • how long each interview is, or how many rounds a candidate has.
  • who leads the case. McKinsey's pages do not say whether the interviewer or the candidate drives it. The interviewer-led style here is how candidates and prep guides commonly describe McKinsey cases, and it is how Soreno's McKinsey style runs; it is not a McKinsey statement.
  • scoring criteria for the problem-solving interview, pass marks or how the interviews are weighted.
  • the format, length or scoring of the AI-enabled interview pilot.

Sources, read October 2026

Soreno is independent and not affiliated with McKinsey. Firm processes change, so check the firm's pages and your invitation for the current format.

Practice in Soreno

How Soreno's AI interviewer maps to McKinsey practice

These are features that exist in the Soreno app today. They practice the skills the McKinsey process describes. They do not reproduce McKinsey's questions or scoring.

  • 1

    McKinsey interviewer personality

    A formal, structured interviewer who expects MECE structures, pushes for the so-what and uses personal-experience-style probing on behavioral questions.

  • 2

    Interviewer-led interview style

    The AI guides you through the case in separate modules (clarifying questions, structure, targeted math, an exhibit, a trade-off, a decision and a recommendation), asking one narrow question at a time, like the sample above.

  • 3

    Exhibits and math checks

    The interviewer shows exhibits, asks you to walk through your calculation and checks your arithmetic. Timed drills cover case math, market sizing, structuring and charts.

  • 4

    Behavioral practice for the personal experience interview

    Answer behavioral questions out loud and get follow-ups that ask what you personally did and what the impact was.

  • 5

    A scored report that quotes you

    After each session you get feedback that points to moments in your own answer and a next-step plan. Recorded sessions also get filler-word and eye-contact analysis.

You set the interviewer personality and the interview style in Settings, under Interview preferences. Soreno does not simulate McKinsey's own AI Prep Tool or its AI-enabled interview pilot. McKinsey's tool is free for invited candidates, so use it alongside Soreno.

Keep going

Keep going, then do it out loud

Read the McKinsey guides, drill the math, or compare ways to practice.

FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about Soreno, answered in one place.

No. It is an original, fictional case written by Soreno in an interviewer-led style. McKinsey publishes its own sample cases (such as Beautify and Diconsa) on its interviewing page, and you should work through those too. Nothing here is a McKinsey interview question.
McKinsey's careers pages do not say who leads the case. Candidates and prep guides commonly describe it as interviewer-led, with the interviewer asking a series of distinct questions, and that is the style this sample case and Soreno's McKinsey interviewer use. Treat it as a practice convention and follow the instructions your own interviewer gives.
For most client-facing roles McKinsey describes a personal experience interview followed by a problem-solving interview, with expertise interviews for some roles. It does not publish interview length or the number of rounds. The section above lists what it states, with sources, as of October 2026.
McKinsey says candidates may not use generative AI, calculators, apps or notes in an assessment unless the instructions permit it, and that using AI to prepare is fine. Read our McKinsey AI interview guide for what the firm says about its AI Prep Tool and AI-enabled pilot, and follow your invitation.
No. McKinsey's AI Prep Tool is a separate, free practice tool for invited candidates and the AI-enabled interview is a pilot whose format McKinsey has not published. Soreno practices the core skills instead: structuring, math, exhibits and a clear recommendation, out loud.
Every plan starts with a 7-day free trial that includes 2 mock interviews and 3 drills. After that, plans are $199 a month or $349 a year, and weekly from $64. See the pricing page for details.
No. Soreno is an independent practice tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by McKinsey & Company. McKinsey & Company is named only to describe the interview format candidates are preparing for. The case on this page is an original, fictional case written by Soreno, not one of the firm's own cases.

Ready for an interviewer that talks back?

Start the 7-day free trial and run your first full case with the AI interviewer today.

Start 7-day free trial