McKinsey Online Assessment: What to Expect and How to Prepare (2026)

Just opened an email from McKinsey asking you to finish an online assessment before a deadline? 📩

A link and a countdown are not what most people hope for after applying, so it makes sense that your stomach dropped a little.

Searching for the McKinsey online assessment often makes things worse. One site talks about verbal tests, another about food chains, and very few describe what McKinsey uses in 2026.

So what is really in the test, what are the rules, and how do you get ready in the time you have?

Well, that’s exactly why I wrote this article. I will show you the games, the rules, the scoring, and a simple plan.

Let’s dive in!

What Is the McKinsey Online Assessment?

The McKinsey online assessment is a gamified assessment called Solve. It is usually the first step in the McKinsey recruitment process after you submit your application, and you take it at home on your own computer.

It does not feel like a normal exam. You play a few short games set on islands and in oceans, and you don’t need business knowledge. You don’t need to be familiar with video games either.

One Test, Many Names

You will see this test called the McKinsey Solve game, the McKinsey Problem Solving Game, the McKinsey PSG, the McKinsey Digital Assessment, the assessment game, or the Imbellus test. They all mean the same thing.

McKinsey first built the game with a company called Imbellus, which Roblox bought in 2020. Before that, it used the McKinsey Problem Solving Test (PST), a paper-style test that is no longer used.

Will You Get Verbal or Numerical Tests?

Some websites still describe verbal and numerical reasoning tests. Candidate reports say Solve is what almost every consulting applicant gets today, so skip those tests unless your invitation names them.

If you apply for a technical role, such as software or data, you may get a coding test as well. Your invitation email is always the final word on what you will take.

What McKinsey Evaluates

McKinsey says Solve is a way to show your problem-solving skills. The game is built around five abilities:

• Critical thinking: understanding what the data really says.
• Decision-making: choosing a good action without all the facts.
• Metacognition: noticing when your approach is not working, and changing it.
• Situational awareness: seeing what is going on and what may come next.
• Systems thinking: seeing how one change affects other things.

McKinsey also says no two candidates get the same parameters and data, so copying someone else’s answers will not work.

Who Gets the Invitation, and When

Based on candidate reports, most people applying for consulting roles take it, and the invitation often arrives about a week after you apply. McKinsey does not publish a list of roles that skip it.

An invitation does not always mean you passed the CV screen. McKinsey considers your result together with the rest of your application, so you most likely need a good CV too.

Which Games Are in the McKinsey Online Assessment?

Three versions of the test have been used in recent months. The time written in your invitation email tells you which one you have:

• 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.

Redrock, Sea Wolf and Sustainable Futures Lab are the standard games in the 95-minute version, played in that order. Each game starts with a short tutorial that is not timed, so use it to learn the rules calmly.

Redrock (35 Minutes)

You are a researcher studying animals on an island. Redrock is the game with the most math: mostly percentages, ratios, and averages, with a calculator inside the game.

Part 1 is the Study. You drag useful data into a Research Journal (Investigation), answer usually 3 or 4 math questions (Analysis), then fill in a short report and pick a chart to display your data (Report).

Part 2 is the Cases: 6 short questions, each with its own data. You cannot go back from the Cases to the Study, or back to an earlier Analysis question.

Sea Wolf (30 Minutes)

The second game is also called Ocean Cleanup or Ocean Treatment. Your goal at each of the 3 polluted ocean sites is a final team of 3 microbes that fits the site’s rules.

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.

Each site starts at 100% and has 5 checks worth 20% each. Some sites cannot reach 100% at all, so the best may be 80% or 60%.

Sustainable Futures Lab (30 Minutes)

This is the newest game, and it has no math: it tests your judgment. The environmental setting is only background.

The old 20-minute version had 13 questions about a project team. In the new 30-minute version, you take on more of a project management role over 3 simulated days, after first ranking 4 questions.

Each day has the same four stages. You gather information with 2–3 Explore requests a day, decide who works at each workstation (Assign), help a team member with a problem by choosing from 2 to 4 answer options (Support), and rate how each person is feeling (Reflect). Everything is click-based (you rank, drag, or choose from options), and the clock never pauses.

Games You Can Ignore

You may read about the Ecosystem game, Plant Defense, or Disaster Management. McKinsey no longer uses them, so a guide that tells you to prepare for them is out of date.

The Rules of the Test and How McKinsey Scores You

Before you play the game, read your invitation email and the Solve FAQs on the McKinsey website.

What McKinsey’s Rules Say

• Device: you need a PC or Mac, not a phone or tablet. Sound is not needed, and a mouse is optional but makes dragging easier.
• Language: you can play in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or Japanese.
• Working alone: McKinsey says you must take it without help from anyone else.
• Tools: McKinsey says you may not use applications, websites, AI tools, or pre-prepared notes, or take screenshots, unless you have an approved accommodation. Ask the contact in your invitation email about accommodations before you start.
• Follow-up checks: McKinsey says it may ask some candidates, at random, to do an extra task in person or explain their reasoning.

Never use AI tools during the test, as they are clearly stated as not allowed. Also, the only time to take a screenshot is when something breaks, so you can show McKinsey’s support what happened.

For Sea Wolf, 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: picking the final 3 microbes. We have our own solver for exactly that step, so practice with it before you play the actual game.

If Something Breaks

Contact McKinsey’s support the moment a problem happens, by email or live chat. McKinsey says this does not cost you time, and you may get extra time or a reset link, but it cannot make an exception if you never reported the problem.

How Your Result Is Calculated

McKinsey claims that there are two scores. Your product score is about your results: your answers, your final microbes, your chart. Your process score is about how you got there, because the game records your clicks and choices while you play.

McKinsey does not publish exactly how the scores are calculated, or a pass mark. If you ask HR, you can get your result as a decile from 1 to 10, and I recommend aiming for decile 8 or higher, as I explain in my McKinsey Solve score guide.

There is no official pass rate either. Unofficial estimates say only about 20 to 30% of candidates pass the McKinsey Solve.

What Happens After the Test

Results usually come within a few weeks, sometimes within days. If you pass, you will usually be invited to a case interview, together with a personal experience interview (PEI), and your McKinsey offer depends on those interviews.

If you don’t pass, you usually have to wait about 12 months before you can try again.

How to Prepare for the McKinsey Online Assessment

McKinsey says no preparation is needed. We suggest you prepare anyway, because the format is new for almost everyone and the time pressure is real.

Here’s the truth: a few careful practice runs, each one reviewed, are worth more than 20 rushed ones.

A Simple One-Week Plan

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

1. Learn how each game works. Most mistakes come from not knowing the rules, not from hard math.
2. Brush up on basic math. Percentages, averages, and ratios cover almost all of Redrock. You can practice with our free Redrock case course here.
3. Practice with realistic game simulations. Play each game once without a timer, then with the real time limits, and write down your biggest mistake after each run.
4. Plan how you manage time. Aim for about 2 minutes per Redrock case and about 10 minutes per Sea Wolf site.
5. Rest a few hours before. A fresh mind is worth more than one extra run.

Check that any practice test matches the current format. Many still show 10 Redrock cases, only 2 Sea Wolf sites, or the retired Ecosystem game. That is why we built playable simulations of all three games, including the new 30-minute Sustainable Futures Lab.

For a longer plan, see my guide on how to prepare for McKinsey Solve.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Collecting every piece of data in Redrock. Much of it is only there to distract you, so start from the research goal.
• Mixing up percent and percentage points in the Redrock math.
• Spending too long on the first Sea Wolf site. Move on so you reach all three sites.
• Picking a microbe with the undesired trait. Check the traits before you do any math.
• Overreacting in the Sustainable Futures Lab. When new information arrives, ask whether it really changes your plan.

Tips for Test Day

• Run the tech check early.
• Find a quiet place with stable internet, at a time when nobody will interrupt you.
• Allow extra time. Recent invitations reportedly add about 20 minutes for instructions and the tech check.
• Watch for the end of each tutorial. Candidates report that the real test can start with little warning.
• Move on when you are stuck. A best guess on one question is better than no answer on three.

Start your case interview prep early too, because invitations can come quickly if you pass the McKinsey game.

Frequently Asked Questions About the McKinsey Online Assessment