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Gamified problem-solving assessments
Last reviewed 28 September 2026 20 min

What the games test, and how to prepare honestly

The current format, the skills behind the scenarios, and a clear preparation plan.

Firm processes and online tests change from year to year and differ by office. Use this to prepare, and confirm the exact current steps on the firm's own careers page.

Key takeaways

  • Follow each firm's rules on AI: Bain's official assessment page says AI tools are strictly prohibited during its online test, including recording, screenshots, and any software that transcribes or gives feedback.
  • McKinsey calls it Solve, "McKinsey's assessment game", and publishes a page and an FAQ about it on its careers site.
  • McKinsey says no specific preparation is required (as quoted in a June 2026 Leland guide republished by Harvard's career centre blog).
  • Your invitation states which modules you will play and how long you have.
Last checked: 28 September 2026

Official facts come from the firms' own pages. Reported facts come from candidate accounts, university career centres and prep sites, and they vary by office and recruiting cycle. Your invitation always wins: follow what it says. We re-check this page at least every 90 days.

A gamified problem-solving assessment is a timed, interactive test that you usually take after your CV is screened and before any interview. Instead of asking what you know about business, it puts you inside scenarios, often set in nature or science, and looks at how you think. McKinsey's Solve is the best-known example. Most other firms screen with different online tests, such as aptitude tests, chatbot cases or trait games, and each of those has its own module here.

Official: what McKinsey says

  • McKinsey calls it Solve, "McKinsey's assessment game", and publishes a page and an FAQ about it on its careers site. Read both before you start.
  • McKinsey says no specific preparation is required (as quoted in a June 2026 Leland guide republished by Harvard's career centre blog). Practice still helps many candidates feel calm with the format.
  • Your invitation states which modules you will play and how long you have. Always follow it over anything written here.

Reported: the 2026 format (from candidates and prep sites)

  • Most invitations are about 65 minutes and include two modules: Redrock Study, about 35 minutes, where you investigate data, calculate, and write a short report; and Sea Wolf, about 30 minutes, a puzzle where you choose options that meet several conditions at once.
  • Some invitations are about 85 minutes. They add Sustainable Futures Lab, about 20 minutes, a judgement module where you make a series of decisions for a project team under a deadline. It was reported as added in early 2026 and rolling out in regions including the US, Canada, Germany, the Middle East and parts of Southeast Asia.
  • The older Ecosystem Building game was phased out between 2025 and early 2026. Sources differ on the date, and a few invitations may still include it.
  • Solve is widely reported to score both your answers (a "product" score) and how you work, such as what you look at and how you use your time (a "process" score). McKinsey does not publish how it scores.
  • McKinsey does not publish pass rates. Unofficial estimates put them well below half.

What these assessments actually measure

  • Defining the problem: working out what is really being asked.
  • Breaking it down: structuring a messy scenario into parts.
  • Prioritizing: choosing what matters when you cannot do everything.
  • Working with data: reading information and using it to decide.
  • Deciding under time pressure: committing to good choices quickly.
  • Judgement in a team setting: choosing priorities and trade-offs when information is incomplete, which the newer judgement module is reported to test.

Key idea

You cannot cram facts for these. They reward the thinking skills this platform trains across every lesson: clean structuring, fast accurate math, reading data, and prioritizing under a clock. Build those, and you are building readiness for the games too.

How to prepare honestly

  • Start with the firm's own material: McKinsey's Solve page and FAQ, and any tutorial inside your invitation.
  • Drill the underlying skills: structuring, estimation, exhibit reading, and timed math, which are all in this platform.
  • Practice deciding quickly and moving on, since time pressure is the real challenge.
  • Work in a clear order: gather what you need, decide, then check. Because how you work is reported to count, avoid clicking around at random.
  • For the interview stage that follows, McKinsey offers a free official AI practice tool for case math, available to candidates invited to interview (see the AI-assisted interviews module).

Common mistakes

  • Freezing on the timer instead of making a good-enough choice and moving on.
  • Overanalyzing one part and running out of time for the rest.
  • Trying to find a trick instead of just thinking clearly.
  • Clicking through information without a plan.
Follow each firm's rules on AI

Bain's official assessment page says AI tools are strictly prohibited during its online test, including recording, screenshots, and any software that transcribes or gives feedback. Meanwhile, some firms now pilot interviews where you are asked to use an AI tool the firm provides. Read every invitation closely, and use outside AI help only when the firm clearly allows it.

The honest line

This platform builds the skills these games test and lets you practice thinking under time pressure. It does not provide or copy any firm's actual assessment, and no honest product can. So What Club is not affiliated with or endorsed by any firm or test provider named here.

Sources, official first (checked 28 September 2026)

  • McKinsey careers: Solve, McKinsey's assessment game (official; check here for current rules): https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/mckinsey-digital-assessment
  • McKinsey AI Prep Tool (official, free; opens for candidates invited to interview): https://prep-partner.mckinsey.com/
  • Leland, McKinsey Solve guide, republished by the Harvard FAS Mignone Center for Career Success blog (17 June 2026): https://careerservices.fas.harvard.edu/blog/2026/06/17/what-is-the-mckinsey-solve-game-and-how-to-prepare-practice-pass-2026/
  • MyConsultingCoach, McKinsey Solve guide (updated 15 June 2026): https://www.myconsultingcoach.com/mckinsey-problem-solving-game
  • MConsultingPrep, McKinsey Solve 2026 overview: https://mconsultingprep.com/mckinsey-problem-solving-game-digital-assessment
  • Recognized public explanations of case-interview concepts and frameworks
Terms in this lesson
Gamified problem-solving assessment
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