The McKinsey Online Assessment: Guide and Tips (2024)

A List of McKinsey Online Assessments Available for Practice in 2024

• McKinsey Tests: SHL, Numerical & Verbal
• McKinsey Interview Prep
• McKinsey Problem Solving Test (PST)

Employers and companies have long used cognitive assessments as a way to measure certain skills about a candidate, to see if they’re a good fit for the job.

The McKinsey online assessment (otherwise known as the McKinsey PST test or McKinsey problem solving test) is slightly different as it measures the way people think through a video game-style online simulation.

This article will look at how the McKinsey online test works, who it is for, how it is scored and how to prepare for it if you are required to take it.

What Are the Mckinsey Online Assessments?

McKinsey works with businesses on their sustainability strategy, and so the online assessment is important to them to find out how a candidate makes decisions, what their critical thinking skills are and to determine their situational awareness, system thinking and metacognition.

But first candidates will need to complete the McKinsey aptitude test, which comes in two parts:

Numerical Reasoning Test

McKinsey needs to examine an individual’s numerical skills and their ability to interpret data from charts and graphs.

The candidate will have 18 questions to answer in 28 minutes.

Each question consists of reading an unseen passage, understanding it and working out the calculations.

The level of mathematics needed is GCSE level.

Verbal Reasoning Test

This section determines a person’s ability to understand written information and make a decision based on this.

In the test, the possible employee will read an unseen passage and then decide if a statement is true, false or impossible to say.

The verbal reasoning test will be formatted in an unfamiliar way compared to most aptitude tests, so it is necessary to do the McKinsey PST practice tests online beforehand.

It is also wise to practise, as there are 30 questions and only 19 minutes to answer them.

What Is the McKinsey Digital Assessment?

The McKinsey Digital Assessment (the online problem-solving game) was ground-breaking in terms of its format when it was first developed in 2017 by Imbellus.

Not only is the examinee playing a game instead of the traditional way of taking a test by answering questions, but the technical advances mean the game captures all the actions of the player, from every movement of the mouse to the time it takes for them to do something and how many times they hesitate or go back on something.

It uses this data to score the five areas it is assessing:

• Decision-making
• Critical thinking
• Situational awareness
• System thinking
• Metacognition

It is also free of biases linked to its candidate, for example their financial and family background, their memory and how much preparation they have.

This allows McKinsey to make decisions based more on the candidate’s ability from the tests and less on their academic credentials and business experience.

What Happens in the McKinsey Digital Assessment?

The Mckinsey problem solving test begins with a tutorial, where time is not counted so the person taking the test doesn’t feel they need to rush this part.

The player is given 71 minutes to solve five tasks within two scenarios.

The way a candidate divides the 71 minutes is up to them, although there is recommended time guidance given for each task. Imbellus purposely gives sufficient time so people do not feel too much time pressure.

The two scenarios vary but examples include creating an ecosystem and designing a food pyramid for predators, consumers and producers. This is a task that requires system thinking.

Another example scenario consists of surviving a number of turns of an invasive species attacking a native plant. You will need to use a range of tools to do this.

One of the main areas this scenario tests is critical thinking and decision-making.

Other scenarios are very similar to this and can be found online in McKinsey practice tests.

What Is a Passing Score for the McKinsey Assessment?

The McKinsey Digital Assessment gives two scores, one for each scenario. The scores are calculated based on the level of success in the games.

There’s not always an exact answer but in some cases the evidence is there. In the organism scenario, the higher the number of species surviving, the more points.

There is no pass or fail score.

These scores only measure cognitive abilities, so McKinsey does not rely just on this assessment to make a hiring decision.

However, McKinsey does use it to identify high scorers and eliminate lower scorers, no matter what their academic background is.

It could mean that if a person is on the border of reaching the next stage, this part of the recruitment process could be the decider.

There are certain paths you can follow to prepare for the problem-solving game.

The game is unseen before an individual plays it. However, little tricks and ways of preparation will help with timing and getting into the way of thinking that is needed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Final Thoughts

McKinsey & Company requires anyone in the recruitment process to take online assessments that measure aptitude and cognitive skills.

The digital assessment test is regarded as ground-breaking, not only because the format is a video game, but also because the test is done without the business knowing the background of the candidate.

Anybody who has to take the test is recommended to prepare with online practice tests, time-critical games and problem-solving activities.