McKinsey insights

The app is helpful but it is not a good substitute for what you will see in a real case. There are many websites that will give you example questions on reading a graph, I highly suggest you do focused practice on those sites.

Reading a graph involves two core things

• Quickly figuring out what the graph is about - i.e. what are the metrics, what the axes are, what the trend is etc.
• INTERPRETING the data - this is key. Once you get yourself familiar with the graph the meat of the answer is in seeing what insights you can draw from it and not in merely repeating what you see

I also find publications like the Economist and WSJ helpful to read because they often incorporate a lot of graphs into their news analysis

Best,

Udayan

Hi there,

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

• Generally speaking, analyzing whatever exhibit you might see will help, not solely the ones from the McKinsey Insights app.
• To most efficiently prepare for exhibit analysis questions, however, I would advise you to practice with exhibits from case studies in order to compare your insights with the sample solution. There are a lot of great resources here on PrepLounge and on CaseCoach, there even is an “exhibit drill” section.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare and approach exhibit analysis questions (whether with McKinsey or any other consulting company), please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Yes, but I suggest going through cases with exhibits and it is easier and better. 

To be honest, the tricky part is not about reading the exhibits, it's about understanding the insights that help with answering a specific question. That is why it is much better to do case than to read exhibits in those articles because in the articles they always give you the insights upfront and do the “connections” for you. 

So reading McK insights may help with getting accostumed to the types of graphs they have and how they organize information, but it won't help you beyond that. To go beyond you need cases.

Hi!

It definitely helps. I also recommend you practicing with cases containing lots of exhibits and quantitative questions. 

There are some resources on PrepLounge on how to deal with exhibits and quant parts. You might also find other free resources online (e.g. GMAT, etc.).

Hope this helps.

Best,

Anto

Hi there, 

Using the McKinsey insights app is helpful, not only for sharping your exhibit reading skills, but also for building your business acumen. You might even remember some of the research you read about and be able to drop it in the actual interview process. 

There are many other options out there however to improve exhibit reading skills. If I were you, I'd do directly cases that involve lots of numericals and exhibits. Then you actually train holistically and prepare directly for what will be expected of you. 

Good luck and feel free to drop me a message if you need any help! 

Hi there,

Helpful? Yes. Sufficient? No.

I highly recommend preplounge resources, rocketblocks, The Economist, and live chart-heavy casing to build these skills up.

I would recommend to not stick to only the app. Try to consume any exhibits that you may find.

The important thing is to make sure you interpret the exhibits in the right manner.

Check out this question for right way on insight generation from exhibits. https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/second-order-insights-11693