Digital Assessment

CONFIDENTIAL AND PROPRIETARY

Any use of this material without specific permission of McKinsey & Company is strictly prohibited
The McKinsey Impact Experience has 3 major stages
Topic explained in
the document

Online Digital McKinsey

1 2 3
enrollment Assessment Weekend

▪ When? ▪ When? ▪ When?

– Applications open until – August 27 to – September 28 and 29
August 20 September 7 ▪ Where?
▪ Where? ▪ Where? – At the nearest
– http://mckimpactexperie – Nearest McKinsey McKinsey office or
nce.com/ office close Hotel (to be
▪ Who? ▪ What is it? confirm)
– Students with diverse – Individual online ▪ What is it?
profiles within their last assessment – Solve a case with a
two years of career – No need to have team of students
– Alumni graduated less business knowledge – Design solutions
than 3 years ago – Develop an
implementation plan
– Get to know a
“consultant day”
Successful applicants will be invited to participate in
the McKinsey Weekend and they will be grouped with
others to solve the case

McKinsey & Company 2

What is the Digital Assesssment about?
The test
▪ The online test is an
interactive gamified
assessment that aims to help
an island respond to different
natural disasters / situations
▪ During the test applicants get
to explore a world and make
decisions to complete
scenario-based tasks set in
an abstract environment
▪ The assessment is used to
evaluate:
– Structure of thought
– Ability to evaluate a
situation, collect data and
reach different conclusions
– Ability to respond quickly to
different situations
Replicate the ▪ The online test allows applicants to explore how does the
decision making analysis and decision making process works at McKinsey:
process at –
McKinsey
Situation and context analysis
– Data collection
– Data analysis
– Recommendations
– Decision making
It is not a Math test ▪ Data analysis is very important at McKinsey
▪ However, only some questions involve calculations, there are
many others where logic and inferences must be used / made,
and conclusions drawn
No prior ▪ The test was designed so that no prior knowledge in
knowledge in business is necessary
business is
needed
The use of a ▪ There is no need for a calculator
calculator is not
allowed
McKinsey & Company 3
Lets take a closer look to the Assessment

✓ The interactive game is set on an Island

✓ Applicants will be tasked with three scenarios on the island and will need to make decisions based
on assessing risks whilst balancing conflicting demands and constraints within each task
✓ The main objective of the simulation is to predict a general result based on the information obtained
through each task
✓ Applicants will have a maximum of 60 minutes to complete the assessment
✓ Full instructions are given within the simulation and no gaming experience is required to complete
the assessment
✓ All instructions and messages are in English

As soon as applicants have enough information to make a prediction, the simulation can be finished

McKinsey & Company 4

Best practices to conquer the online simulation

▪ The simulation has different questions based on texts, graphs and even tables
with information
Understand the
A
information
▪ Assimilating, understanding and processing this information is key to solve the
game questions

▪ Applicants will not always have enough time to answer all the questions, it is
important to have a clear structure of how to approach the problem in the most
Solve the efficient way
B
problem
▪ Applicants should use shortcuts whenever possible

▪ The assessment is built on 3 simulations to be completed in 60 minutes

▪ While there is no time limit per task, a timer will track your progress to help you
C Manage time stay on track
▪ Applicants should develop a clear strategy to read, interpret and analyze the
information in order to complete each simulation on time

McKinsey & Company 5

A Understanding and processing the information quickly and effectively is the first step to solving the
simulation

Applicants should read and understand the objective

of the simulation before start reading the texts,
tables and exhibits. This will guide attention to the
details that actually answer the question

Applicants should read information between lines

quickly and efficiently, identifying key words. It is
not necessary to understand every word / information
from beginning to end

Applicants should pay attention to the exhibits (they

contain key information that will allow applicants to
answer the questions)

Applicants should always pay attention to titles and

units of measurement

McKinsey & Company 6

B It is also important to understand the objective and define a resolution structure before starting the
analyzes

Structure the approach - Before answering the question applicants

must identify what they want to achieve in order to make efficient
decisions

Make sure you understand the information - Before starting the

analysis it is important that applicants understand the information and
the final objective

Approach! – Applicants should always check if there is no alternative

way. Usually there is a shortcut (for example: round numbers for
calculations)

Eliminate answers – Applicants should aim to remove the incorrect

answers / hypothesis to find the correct one. Every piece of
information will get applicants closer to the final correct prediction

McKinsey & Company 7

C Having a good time management is key to solve the simulation

Keep the calculations organized and separated – Applicants

may consider using a fresh page for each calculation to avoid
possible confusions

Keep an eye on the timer- This will help applicants track their
progress through the tasks to ensure they do not run out of time
at the end

Mark an answer for all questions

McKinsey & Company 8