What McKinsey actually publishes about its own process
McKinsey splits its published hiring process into two halves, an application stage and an interview stage. On the application side, the firm's own wording is that "as part of our application process, we may ask you to complete a test or participate in a game, depending on the client-facing role you're applying for." For client-facing roles, candidates "will participate in a personal experience interview, followed by a problem-solving interview," with expertise interviews added for technical roles, which can include coding challenges or role-specific exercises.
That wording sets the boundary of what is genuinely confirmed. Solve is described as a step for "most consulting roles," not every candidate, and McKinsey is explicit that the result is never read in isolation: "your performance on Solve will be considered in conjunction with the rest of your application and any other assessments you are asked to take."
Solve, in McKinsey's own words
McKinsey calls Solve "a gamified assessment that tests your natural problem-solving abilities," and tells candidates that "there's no need to prepare, just approach it with curiosity and creativity." Three details from the current official FAQ are worth more than most of what circulates about the game:
The duration is no longer a fixed number. The August 2025 FAQ states that "the length of your Solve assessment is outlined in your invitation email." An older McKinsey FAQ did quote 70 minutes, and that figure is still repeated everywhere online, but the firm has deliberately replaced it with a per-invitation answer. Check your email, not a blog.
Each task opens with an untimed tutorial. The clock starts after it. Candidates who panic in the first two minutes are usually panicking during a section that is not being scored.
No two candidates see the same numbers. McKinsey says Solve uses "advanced AI methods to ensure that there is ample variation in each scenario for each candidate." Memorising a friend's answers is not a strategy.
The rules are published and strict: no applications, websites, AI tools or pre-prepared notes, no screenshots or recordings, and the assessment must be completed alone. If something breaks mid-assessment, contacting support is what protects you, since McKinsey states it "cannot make any exceptions to allow for reset" if you do not report the issue.
On results, McKinsey will share the score you achieved and, on request, your percentile range as a quartile benchmarked against other applicants. It will not disclose the maximum score or provide screenshots. Accommodations for a disability, health condition or specific learning difficulty are arranged through your recruiter.
The Personal Experience Interview
The PEI is the part candidates most often under-prepare. McKinsey publishes the qualities it assesses along with sample questions, and asks candidates to "come prepared with two personal examples" for each area. The four qualities the firm highlights are:
- Personal Impact. "Explain a challenging situation you encountered when working with someone with an opposing opinion to yours."
- Entrepreneurial Drive. "Talk about a time when you had to work to achieve something in a limited period of time that was outside your comfort zone."
- Inclusive Leadership. "Share an example of an instance where you effectively worked with people with different backgrounds."
- Courageous Change. How you adapt, learn and keep improving when things do not go as planned. Prepare a story about responding to uncertainty or a setback.
Problem-solving is not a separate PEI story: it is assessed through the case discussion. The Problem-Solving Interview, which McKinsey notes is "sometimes referred to as a case interview," tests your ability to structure ambiguous problems, work with data, and reach a defensible recommendation in a fast-moving conversation. McKinsey publishes four full practice cases for this: Beautify, Diconsa, Electro-Light and Talbot Trucks.
What is not officially confirmed
A great deal of what is written about McKinsey recruiting has no official source, and some of it is contradicted by one. The "McKinsey AI interview" conducted by Lilli is the clearest example. McKinsey describes Lilli only as its internal generative-AI platform "for colleagues," and its careers pages say the opposite of what the rumour implies: candidates are told to disable AI software during virtual interviews, and using AI to generate real-time answers is listed as not allowed. McKinsey does run an AI-powered practice tool on its own domain for quantitative drilling, but it is presented as practice, not assessment.
The individual Solve scenario names, a current fixed duration, a pass mark, and any retake policy after completion are all likewise unpublished.
How to prepare when the firm says not to
McKinsey's "no preparation needed" is accurate about content and misleading about conditions. You cannot revise for a scenario you have never seen, but you can remove everything that costs candidates points for reasons unrelated to problem-solving: reading dense data under a timer, doing arithmetic without a calculator, and holding a hypothesis while new information arrives. That is what practice under real conditions buys you, and it is the same skill the Problem-Solving Interview tests two weeks later.
Official sources: Interviewing at McKinsey · Solve assessment · Solve FAQs, August 2025 · Getting ready for your interviews · Meet Lilli