Strategy& gamified assessment

Hi there,

Lucky for you, most of these online assessments are more similar than they are different.

I wouldn't assume an old Strategy& assessment will replicate your exact gamified assessment. Formats change, and different offices can use different versions. Check the instructions you've been given and ask the recruiter if anything is unclear.

But what's required from you ability-wise is generally very similar:

• Time management

• Business knowledge and key formulas

• Critical thinking

• Numerical reasoning

• Interpreting data/charts

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

So yes, absolutely practice older consulting assessments. Strategy&, McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc. won't necessarily have the same format, but you're training many of the same underlying skills.

Don't obsess over finding an exact copy of the test. Get good at the skills the test is actually trying to measure.

Hi there,

All the assessments mentioned above are worth preparing for. If you want the most efficient 80/20 approach, these are the most reliable resources:

1. Data Insights section of the current GMAT Focus. You can buy affordable practice drills for this section on the official GMAT website.
2. Multi-Source Reasoning, Table Analysis, and Graphics Interpretation from the previous GMAT version. Free official materials are still available online, including on GMAT prep sites like GMAT Club.
3. For game-based assessments like McKinsey's or BCG's, try playing Factorio or Satisfactory. It's not a one-to-one match, but it's great practice for multi-resource, real-time decision-making.

Good luck!

Hi there, 

I don't happen to know the exact format for this one, so I hope somebody else can give you a deeper specific insight. 

However, most of the tests across all firms are similar. And from my experience I notice most candidates spend too much effort in trying to identify the exact format to practice, rather than practicing flexibly across different formats. In the sense that you can likely cover 80% of the test format and types of questions by working on any other test type, rather than obsessing about the remaining 20%. 

Sharing here also a guide with the most common formulas that show up:

• • Cheatsheet: The Must-Know Consulting Terms for Interviews

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

Gamified assessment covers two instruments that reward opposite preparation, and you cannot revise for one of them. Before buying any practice material I would find out which one Strategy& has sent you.

A few things I would do with the time:

• Ask the recruiter for the name of the assessment, not the format. That is something recruiters give out readily, and it settles everything below.
• If it measures traits and behaviour, optimising works against you. One of the main vendors in this space states plainly that trying to fake the personality section muddles the data and leaves the candidate with a worse result than answering straight.
• If it measures cognition under a clock, business knowledge is not the constraint. PwC's own description of its game based assessment puts each game at roughly three minutes and the whole thing at no more than 15, which is not long enough for anything you would revise from a GMAT book to matter.
• Practise reading an unfamiliar instruction fast rather than practising games. Open a timed puzzle you have never seen, start it cold without watching a walkthrough first, and give yourself 30 seconds to work out what is actually being scored. That is the part that transfers.

Candidates lose more of these assessments in the opening seconds, to misreading what the task rewards, than they lose to weak numeracy.

Start with the instructions in your invitation because Strategy& can change the provider, modules and timing by office or cycle. If anything is unclear, ask recruiting what the assessment measures and whether official practice material is available.

Do not spend most of your time searching for an exact leaked copy. Prepare the underlying skills that gamified assessments usually test: numerical reasoning, data interpretation, prioritization, critical thinking and decisions under time pressure. Use the provider's sample questions first, then timed data-insights, chart-reading and multi-source reasoning exercises.

After each practice set, classify every mistake. Did you misread the task, choose the wrong method, calculate inaccurately or run out of time? Fix the recurring failure before taking another full simulation. During the real assessment, read the rules carefully, keep track of the objective and avoid changing strategy without a reason. Older consulting assessments can build transferable skills, but they may not reproduce the current game.

I’d mainly prepare by getting familiar with the format and timing, rather than trying to memorize specific questions. The Strategy& assessment is usually designed to test things like numerical reasoning, logic, pattern recognition and decision-making under time pressure. There are practice versions online that can help you get comfortable with the mechanics, but I’d also practice general numerical/logical reasoning tests. I went through consulting recruiting myself, and I found that being comfortable with the format beforehand makes a much bigger difference than trying to predict the exact games.

Best, Alessa