Online Test Preparation

Hi Antarjot,

The most common tests in MBB are:

• McKinsey: Solve Game (Imbellus)
• BCG: Online Case (Chatbot)
• Bain: Sova, HireVue, TestGorilla, pymetrics (according to the country)

In terms of preparation, I would recommend the following (full disclosure: I am the author of the guides ;))

McKinsey Solve Game (Imbellus)

• Guide + Video Simulation: https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/imbellus-solve-combo-guide-videos-68

BCG Online Case (Chatbot)

• Guide + 2 Casey Chatbot Tests: https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/bcg-online-case-secrets-69 

Best,

Francesco

Hi!

GRE/GMAT/SHL-style tests tend to provide you with a good preparation toolkit for your online tests.

However, each of them (e.g. Imbellus and Sova) will have their peculiarities so a tailored approach would be highly beneficial.

Don't hesitate to reach out for more information on how I could support you with your online tests.

Good luck,

Anto

Hi Antarjot,

Feel free to shoot me a message for an extensive set of prep resources.

All of these online tests are very similar. Format? Somewhat. Content and what's required from you ability-wise? Not at all.

The best way is to really find online tests / questions and practice. Regardless as to whether is a new or old test, the principles are mostly the same:

• Time management (need to think quick)
• Business knowledge/context (incl key formulas)
• Critical thinking (answers that are very similar to each other...clues "hidden" in the text)
• Ability to interpret data/charts

Think of it as a merge of a case and the GMAT/GRE.

You need to be clear on some key case-related and account formulas (margin, growth, breakeven, etc) as well as be good at critically understanding the question (including nuance to questions) and parsing through complicated text with a fair amount of distraction.

You'll also need to be good at chart/graph reading.

The (old) McKinsey PST, BCG Online Test, Bain SOVA test, etc. are all quite similar so leverage resources across all of them.

• McK: Imbellus is becoming the dominant mechanism for testing. You want to be comfortable in solving ecosystem and tower-defense situations while taking decisions/judgments using a combination of intuition and mental math
• BCG: Online case is becoming the dominant testing mechanism. The online case has a series of 8-10 questions on a single business problem. The questions are not tedious, but they are tricky. The goal is to always stick to the exact words of the question asked and the answer becomes easier to resolve.
• Bain: Sova tests with patterns, verbal, quant, and psychometric.

Hello!

Most of the online tests are very similar, and test the same skillset. It´s a good thing, since you can prep for them with a very unified approach. Although this may not seem so at first sight since the formats may differ, what is important here -as well as when solving cases- is the core skillset they are trying to test. This is common, and the most important skills are:

80-20 analysis: capacity to analyze, interpret and extract conclusions quickly and in a agile way from a ton of data -of which not all is useful-

Analytic and critical thinking: many ways tested with graphs, charts and tables, that you need to understand and derive decisions or insights from

Mathematical skills: are always somehow present, for which you need to be fast int he basics

The way to get better is practicing as much as possible with similar exercises -those targeted at the same skillset-. Hence, I would strongly recommend you practice it with the Integrated Reasoning part of the GMAT exam.

There are free exams in the internet that you can use for practice (the one of LBS MBA page, VERITAS prep, as well as some free trials for courses such as the one of The Economist (gmat.economist)

Furthermore, you can leverage the MBB tests (in myconsultingoffer, psychometricinstitute, and many others)

Hope it helps!

Best,

Clara

A lot of great answers here! :)