SOLVE: How to master the McKinsey Digital Assessment (Imbellus)

The SOLVE Problem Solving Game equals McKinsey’s Digital Assessment (previously called Imbellus), which you will need to pass in order to get invited for business case interviews when applying for a consulting job. It is more innovative than the BCG or Bain online tests insofar as it does not anymore require you to increase profits of a business - instead, you need to set up and manage ecosystems: How cool is that!

While McKinsey’s SOLVE assignment may be more interesting than the former McKinsey Problem Solving Test (PST), its uniqueness creates a headache for applicants: How should you tackle & prepare for the test?

These and further questions are answered in this video, in which I explain in detail a.) why most consulting firms like to rely on online assessments b.) what role they play in your recruiting process c.) strategies that you can adopt to improve your performance in both the SOLVE assessment as well as other consulting firms’ online tests d.) the mechanisms of the Imbellus Problem Solving Games and their solution strategies for you and e.) my advice on how you should prepare for the Imbellus test as well as what I think you should not do.

📌 TABLE OF CONTENTS:
00:00 – Overview
01:34 - Consulting firms and digital assessments
07:06 - Online tests in your recruiting process
10:02 - How to improve your Imbellus performance
13:03 - How to solve the Imbellus games
21:25 - How to prepare for the Imbellus test
26:13 - Jack escapes but see what happens...

🎉 SHOW NOTES AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

1. Claim your FREE resources for your consulting online test preparation! In this collection, I have compiled for you links to many free practice tests given out by the top consulting firms as well as to further online analytical tests for you to prepare for the McKinsey Problem Solving Game (SOLVE/Imbellus) and the BCG Online Case. After signing up to the YOUinConsulting newsletter, in your welcome email you just need to click on a button and get the resource list delivered straight to your inbox! 🏆💪🏼

2. At the time of shooting the video, no dedicated SOLVE test prep kit had been available. For those of you looking for a fast-track solution to pass SOLVE, I do recommend you take a look into this program:

Before recommending it, I have checked and tested in detail myself. It comes with a 2-hour video tutorial simulating the real test experience; a ~150 page written guide on all 6 games frequently and occasionally dealt to candidates (including the new Red Rock game); a customized Excel tool to make you pass the actual Ecosystem Game live test on autopilot and faster than usual; and individual Q&A support by the program author on each component of the assignment. In addition to this base bundle, three Ecosystem Game mock tests for practice can be optionally added on the check-out page. Most striking, the program author offers a 100% money-back guarantee to every customer who does not pass the SOLVE assignment after purchasing his system. This implies you do not pay for increasing your odds, but only for actually passing SOLVE and being advanced to the interview stage safely.

#McKinsey #Consulting #Managementconsulting

Activate closed captions by clicking on "CC" in the YouTube window for the best viewing experience.

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[Knowledge_Nuggies]

You just have to replace the fishes with companies and their stakeholders as well as the ocean with any industry. These two assignments are just metaphors for 1) strategic positioning (given the environment's and organism's key characteristics, what is the ideal "location" aka position?) and 2) supply chain analyses (who gets eaten aka supplied by whom in a way that the food aka supply chain stays balanced given the individual needs and reproduction cycles?). So in the end it's just a cleverly disguised strategy case study like any other.

[oleksiistefanovych]

Just finished my assessment and am very grateful for your tips. Even tho my preparation process only consisted of watching some youtube videos (and preparing my mental self of course), I think i did pretty well when speaking about results.

The underwater game went quite smoothly for me. I chose a strategy to go from the top to the bottom of the food chain and somehow managed to create a living ecosystem from first attempt which means that basically i didn't change any species along the way of my reasoning. But it took me almost 40 minutes to complete the task so I am not sure whether I would have successfully passed it if some fish in the food chain eventually didn't match.

The second game was actually fun and for a moment i felt like I was a true strategist like in those stronghold battle games. Surprisingly the first map was the best in my performance because the number of turns for a plant to survive was the biggest out of all other attempts. I believe it is not a good thing tho as we are supposed to show progress in our strategy planning thinking when moving to the next stages. Also I made a mistake in the last round as I placed as many obstacles as possible for the first 3 invaders that were coming from 2 directions, therefore leaving some area to the south of my plant not protected enough. Of course 4th animal with lots of HP had their trail through the pretty chill zone and I was out of available turns by that moment (not including the last turn which I could still edit). So my advice on that game is to not only see a current situation but also to be much more vigilant about future threats which may occur.


To sum up, I find my experience with PSG really exciting and encourage all candidates to approach it with kind of adventure game curiousness, however not underestimating the significance of the mentioned assessment.

[palomaalmodovarmartinez]

Great explanation. There is a lot of secrecy around Imbellus. This video is a "must-see" for everyone who wants to work in the consultancy world.

[krlossmile]

i cant believe that mckinsey selected me to the selection process, now study the imbellus and prepare to get in, greetings for colombia :)

[polychroniskonstantinoszac]

I just completed the assessment a few hours ago and thanks to this video I succeeded in both mini-games. I finished the ecosystem building in 23 minutes and finished all three rounds of the plant defense game with a record of 16, 18, 17. I was just wondering if those results are considered good. I would also appreciate some feedback from people that succeeded in both mini games regarding the time it took Mckinsey to respond and whether you were accepted. Thank you!!

[ThePipojp]

Just a warning, guys: McKinsey doesn't give instant feedback about your performance anymore, in fact, they don't give you feedback regarding the game at all now. You will just be invited for the interviews or not after a while and won't even know if you did well in the game. You might breeze through It, not make It to the interviews due to your CV and never know that you aced the game.

[agnesgroot]

Best video on imbellus ever! Thank you!!

[dreammeaname]

You have great energy and style :) Thanks for this video, will be checking out your others. Rooting for you to grow an audience!

[nayshaflorentina]

I love it. Thanks for you share your experience and recommendation to do better the Mckinsey test!

[RevoZtuns]

Kinda bombed my BCG online test, hoping I can come back stronger by killing it on Imbellus!

[suzistellie]

Love the effort you put into this! Very helpful thank you :)

[julieparrish]

Wonderful video!! Very interesting! I have found everything I was looking for about Imbellus!! Thank you!!

[Uyinon]

Welp I took my test today! Your tips helped for the ecosystem part, thank you!
.
I took my test today. Fingers crossed whilst waiting for my result / feedback!

[alejandrohonores]

Ich muss diese Woche den Test machen. Ich habe große Angst! Dein Video hat mir sehr geholfen mich ein wenig vorzubereiten. Vielen Dank.

[combomlambam]

Thank you for all these details and well produced video! It is very very useful 🤟

[adityak]

Those were some great pearls of knowledge from the ocean Dr "Jack"! Something to treasure. Thank you so much!

[julianregensburger]

Amazing Video! Very well presentated, thank you Mr. YouinConsulting. This helps me a lot!!! ✌🏼✌🏼

[keshavganesh]

Hi! Thank you so much for this video. Really insightful and helpful for anyone taking the Problem Solving Game assessment :)

[neerajkrishnam]

Thank you...video is really helpful.I am going to attend the test tomorrow.... 😀

[ahmedmoharam]

Some questions here:

1- when choosing the parameters: temp - depth - php- others? Should I mark only the temp. and depth or any other 2 parameters that fit?

2- the species are divided among 3 depths, so can the game be designed such that there is only depth that will survive and the other 2 depths are just distractions?

3- is there an ideal order of building the ecosystem i.e. should it be 3 producers 2- carnivores 2- predators 1- apex
OR 3 producers 3- carnivore 2 predators?

4- in the tutorial, should i read all the instructions or should i read the instructions after I begin the test?

Thanks