mckinsey-online-assessments

Online Assessments

MBB and other management consulting firms often use online assessments to screen a large number of applicants before the interview stage. These assessments help identify which applicants share traits with successful consultants. Many offices have now phased-out traditional assessments, such as the McKinsey Problem Solving Test or BCG Potential Test, and are instead using gamified assessments. This is to test candidates’ interpersonal and cognitive skills better, as well as to make the pre-interview stage more fun and unpredictable for applicants.

To help you prepare, we break down the “why” behind the assessment, explain how each test works, and give tips on how to be ready for each assessment type. Our Prepmatter Online Assessment Package includes comprehensive guides for 3 of the McKinsey, BCG and Bain assessment models.

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BCG Potential Test

The BCG Potential Test is a variation of the same assessment used in many other management consulting firms, such as the SOVA assessment at Bain, or the Problem Solving Test at McKinsey, as a way to evaluate candidates' numerical, logical, and reasoning skills. The objective is to lower the company's recruiting expenditures by reducing the number of candidates who are considered worthy of a face-to-face interview. A candidate who fails the BCG Potential Test in these areas is likely to fail a case interview anyhow, which would be a huge waste of time and money for the organisation.
Included in your BCG Potential Test guide are 4 best-in-class 23-question sample online assessments that are carefully crafted by former BCG consultants and give you the best opportunity to familiarize yourself and prepare for the test.
 
The Potential Test is accessible in two formats: computerised and paper-based; which format is used is determined by the local office. The key difference between both (apart from the fact that one is virtual and the other is physical) is that the candidate has 45 minutes to answer 23 questions on the computer-based Potential Test. The applicant has 50 minutes to answer 53 questions on the paper Potential Test. The computer-based test has questions on a single instance, but the paper test has questions about multiple separate cases. You will, however, be examined mathematically with numerical problems and logically with data interpretation and comprehension questions in both assessments.
 
Important note: This examination has been largely phased out by BCG, as they aim to go towards the chatbot or pymetrics evaluation.

Want to prepare for your BCG chatbot assessment? Access our 5 chatbot cases!

How else can I prepare?