How to Prepare for McKinsey Solve in 2026: A Step-by-Step Plan

Wondering how to prepare for McKinsey Solve when McKinsey itself says there is no need to? 🤔

That mixed message confuses almost every candidate I coach, so you are right to stop and ask.

Most preparation advice online does not help much either. Some guides still train you for games McKinsey no longer uses, and others tell you to play 20 or more simulations per game.

So what should you actually do, and in what order?

Well, that’s exactly what this article is for. As a coach, I will show you what to prepare for each game, a step-by-step plan from the day you apply to test day, and the mistakes that waste most candidates’ time.

Let’s dive in!

Do You Really Need to Prepare for the McKinsey Solve Game?

McKinsey Solve is McKinsey’s assessment game, the online test it sends to most McKinsey candidates after they apply. You may also see it called the McKinsey test, the McKinsey Problem Solving Game, McKinsey PSG, the McKinsey Digital Assessment, or McKinsey Imbellus, after the company called Imbellus that first built it. They are all the same test.

Instead of business questions, this problem-solving game puts you in short scenes set in nature: islands, animals, and oceans. McKinsey says you need no business knowledge and no gaming experience.

What McKinsey Says, and What We Suggest

McKinsey’s official advice is that there is no need to prepare. We suggest you prepare anyway, because the Solve format is new to almost everyone and the time pressure is real.

The stakes are high, too. There is no official pass rate, but unofficial estimates say only about 20 to 30% of candidates pass, and if you fail, you usually have to wait about 12 months before you can try again.

McKinsey also says it looks at your performance on Solve together with the rest of your application. So Solve is one important step on the way to a McKinsey offer, not the whole decision.

What Preparation Can and Cannot Do

Here’s the thing: you cannot memorize the answers. Every candidate generally gets a different version of each game, with new numbers, animals, and situations.

What you can prepare is everything around the answers: the rules, the interface, your pacing, the math, and a calm way of working. That matters because McKinsey claims there are two scores: a product score for your results and a process score for how you got there, since the game records your clicks and choices.

Candidates who know the games before the clock starts spend their minutes trying to solve problems, not working out which button does what.

Start With Your Invitation Email

The time limit in your McKinsey Solve invitation tells you which games you will play. Three versions of the McKinsey Solve test have been used in recent months:

• 65 minutes: Redrock and Sea Wolf.
• 85 minutes: Redrock, Sea Wolf, and the old 20-minute Sustainable Futures Lab.
• 95 minutes: Redrock, Sea Wolf, and the new 30-minute Sustainable Futures Lab.

We have not received recent reports of the first two being used, and the 95-minute version is likely the main one now. That being said, always refer to your invitation email.

You can skip Ecosystem Building, the Plant Defense game, and Disaster Management. They are no longer used by McKinsey, so preparing for them is wasted time.

What to Prepare for Each McKinsey Solve Game

Each individual game has its own timer and tests different skills McKinsey looks for, so each needs its own kind of preparation.

Redrock Study (35 Minutes): Math and Data

In the Redrock game, you are a researcher studying animals on an island. Part 1 is the Study: you save useful data in a Research Journal (Investigation), answer usually 3 or 4 math questions (Analysis), then complete a short report and pick a chart to display your data (Report). Part 2 is 6 short case questions.

Prepare these skills:

• Percentages, ratios, and averages. They cover almost all the math, and the game gives you a calculator on screen.
• Percentage points. A rise “by 5%” is not the same as a rise “by 5 percentage points”, and mixing them up is a classic trap.
• Reading charts fast. Practice finding the one or two numbers that answer a question, and ignore the rest.
• Choosing the right chart. Bar charts compare groups, and line charts show a trend over time.

You cannot go back from the cases to the Study, or back to an earlier Analysis question. So get used to finishing each step before you move on, and aim for about 2 minutes per case question.

Sea Wolf (30 Minutes): Logic and Rules

In the Sea Wolf game, also called McKinsey Ocean Cleanup or Ocean Treatment, you clean 3 polluted ocean sites with microbes. For each site, you pick 2 characteristics, sort microbes, build a pool, and choose a final team of 3.

Each site has 5 checks worth 20% each. The average of each of the 3 attributes must sit inside the site’s range, at least one microbe should have the desired trait, and no microbe can have the undesired trait.

Prepare these habits:

• Check traits first. Rule out every microbe with the undesired trait before you do any math.
• Keep to about 10 minutes per site. Reaching all three sites matters more than a perfect first one.
• Accept the best possible score. Some sites cannot reach 100%, so 80% or 60% may be the best result.

For the final pick of 3 microbes, McKinsey says you may not use applications during the test. We still suggest an Excel solver, as Excel is not ruled out as an option in the instructions and it saves a lot of time on the hardest step. We have our own Sea Wolf solver, so practice with it before you play the McKinsey Sea Wolf game for real.

Sustainable Futures Lab (30 Minutes): Judgment

The Sustainable Futures Lab game comes third, and it has no math. It tests how you set priorities, decide with incomplete information, and handle a team and other stakeholders.

In the new version, you lead a research team over three simulated days. You start by ranking 4 questions, and you are judged on your ranking. Then each day has four stages: Explore, Assign, Support, and Reflect.

Prepare these habits:

• Spend your questions wisely. You get only 2–3 Explore requests a day, so ask where a new insight would change your choices.
• Keep pen and paper ready. The in-game Notes reset every day, and you will need what people said in Support and Reflect.
• Look for the balanced answer. In Support you choose from 2 to 4 answer options, and the one a McKinsey consultant would pick usually beats options that push too hard or ignore someone.
• Keep moving. The clock never pauses, so do not linger on any single choice.

How to Prepare for McKinsey Solve, Step by Step

My strategy here is simple: quality over quantity. You do not need 20 or 25 full simulations per game, because a few solid runs, each one reviewed, are worth more than many rushed ones.

Before You Get the Invitation

The window between the invitation and the deadline is short. If you are about to apply, start learning how the games work well before you take the McKinsey Solve game, so the invitation does not catch you unprepared.

This is also a good moment to start your case interview preparation. Interviews take much longer to prepare than Solve, and if you pass, they can come quickly.

The Day Your Invitation Arrives

1. Check the total time to confirm which games you will play.
2. Run the tech check as soon as you open your link. You need a PC or Mac, not a phone or tablet, and a mouse is optional but makes dragging easier.
3. Ask your recruiter about accommodations if you have a disability, a health condition, or a learning difficulty.
4. Block a quiet time slot before your deadline, when nobody will interrupt you.

Your One-Week Preparation Plan

Candidates usually get 1 week after the invitation to take the test, so plan around your deadline from day one:

1. Learn the rules of each game. Read how each one works before you play anything.
2. Drill the math in short daily sessions. Percentages, ratios, averages, and chart reading are enough.
3. Play each game once without a timer. Focus on the interface and the rules, not the score.
4. Then play with the real time limit. After each run, write down your biggest mistake and fix that one thing next time.
5. Do one full McKinsey Solve run, with all the games in order and on time.
6. Rest a few hours before. A fresh mind is worth more than one extra run.

Only have 3 days? Keep the order but shrink it: rules on day one, one timed run per game on day two, and a review on day three. My McKinsey Solve game practice guide has a day-by-day version.

Free vs. Paid Preparation Tools

Free material can take you a long way. There is no official McKinsey practice test, but the free McKinsey preview on its Solve page shows what the game feels like, and videos that explain the games, consulting math questions, and chart-reading exercises all help.

The weak point of free material is realism. Many online practice tests still show 10 Redrock cases instead of 6, only 2 Sea Wolf sites, or the retired Ecosystem Building game.

Before you pick a McKinsey Solve game simulation to practice with, check that it matches the 2026 version of the games. That is why we built playable game simulations of Redrock and Sea Wolf, Redrock case drills, and a full Sustainable Futures Lab simulation of the new 30-minute version.

Test-Day Preparation, Common Mistakes, and What Comes Next

Even good preparation can go wrong on the day itself.

Your Test-Day Checklist

• Use a reliable internet connection. A wired connection is safest if you have one.
• Play alone, in a quiet room. McKinsey’s rules say no help from others, no AI tools, and no pre-prepared notes.
• Read every tutorial calmly. They are untimed and your last chance to check the rules.
• Move on when you are stuck. A best guess on one question beats no answer on three.

If something breaks, take a screenshot and contact the support address in your invitation email right away. McKinsey says support may add time or reset your link, but only if you report the problem when it happens.

Preparation Mistakes to Avoid

• Using old guides. If a guide still covers the Ecosystem game or the wrong number of cases, it prepares you for a test you will not take.
• Practicing mainly one game. Candidates sometimes over-prepare for Redrock and get caught out by Sea Wolf or the Sustainable Futures Lab.
• Replaying without reviewing. Repetition without review only repeats your mistakes.
• Clicking around at random. Because of the process score, calm habits matter as much as the right answer.

What Happens After the Test

Results usually come within a few weeks, sometimes within days. If you ask HR, you can usually get your result as a decile from 1 to 10, and I recommend aiming for decile 8 or higher.

If you pass, the next step is the case interview phase: a McKinsey case interview, where you solve a business problem out loud, usually together with a personal experience interview (PEI). For game-by-game tactics on the test itself, see my guide to pass the McKinsey Solve game.

Frequently Asked Questions About How to Prepare for McKinsey Solve