McK Grading 1st round

Question

Hello guys, I recently had my Mck first round. I, unfortunately, did pretty badly on the first case (government type of case). However, I did alright on another one and on both PEI overall. Do you know in which way Mck grades? Do you need to ace both cases? Finally, are you graded like everyone else or certain practices have different criteria (BA for ops for example)

Answer 1

Hi Anonymous,

if you didn’t manage to crack one case, it is unlikely you will move to the next round. What could happen though is that they propose a third first-round interview to test you further – as a second attempt to test your capabilities if the interviewers of the first round are uncertain or have very conflicting points of view.

As mentioned by Vlad, criteria for grading are basically the same for all practices, but specific practices tend to have their own type of cases more often.

PEI accounts as much as the case – if you nail the case but don’t manage to properly answer to the fit questions, you won’t move to the next round.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hi,

There are formal criteria but at the end of the day, at least 2 of the 3 interviewers should like you and there should be no strong reasons against. If you did not solve one of the cases - for most of the interviewers its a strong reason to reject you.

The criteria for most of the practices are the same as well, however, in ops you might have the ops partners and more ops cases.

Best

Answer 3

Unfortunately, no average here. If you did not solve the case... most likely you wont pass. Sorry I dont have better news :/

Answer 4

In the 1st round, you don't need to ace both interviews. So long as one of the interviewers passes you with a "strong pass" and advocates for you, you'll pass regardless of the 2nd interviewer's grade.

In the 2nd round you need a pass from 2/3 interviewers.

In addition, there are huge differences in interviewers' expectations and interview styles. When you feel you failed, you probably did fail, but it's more difficult to predict if you succeeded (a lot of interviewers are perfectionists, some of them have very nice personalities, others have mean personalities and can punish you for small mistakes)

Answer 5

it depends how bad...you need to perform 'at the bar' across all dimensions and ideally 'spike' in 1 dimension.

Assume at the bar is 75% and spike is 90%.

You should hear very quickly on your progress either way...I was called before i had left the building but no more than 48 hours. They may also invite you back for a 'decision round' which is a 3rd first round if its too hard to make an accurate call.

Hope this helps..

Answer 6

Thanks a lot for all of your answer. What about the PEI? Does it account as much as the case? I am really hoping it would help me out.

Answer 7

Hi A,

If the candidate doesn't perform well on a case he is likely not to pass to the next round.

However, it depends on how bad your performance was, to make relevant assumptions.

Best