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Mckinsey Imbellus - New Format How to Prepare?

McKinsey
Edited on Nov 17, 2020
4 Answers
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V asked on Nov 09, 2020

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone recently taken McK online assessment. They completely changed their online assessment early this month/end of October. I heard the new test is like a jungle and invaders and you need to calculate something about getting to a destination within a few steps.

If anyone taken it recently, would you please share any sample practice tests? Or give me some tips?

I had previously bought the Imbellus guide by Francesco but the information seems invalid now. Thanks!

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Gaurav
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Content Creator
replied on Nov 09, 2020
Ex-Mckinsey|Certified Career Coach |Placed 500+ candidates at MBB & other consultancies

Thank you for sharing the information.

Actually, as far as I remember the original idea of Imbellus was that it would be slightly changed each hiring season.

As it was mentioned many times before, that this game test is designed to check you problem solving skills and there is no special preparation needed. Below some general tips that will help you to go through:

  1. Focus on the process

  2. Follow time tracking. It is easy to get lost in the details and the sheer complexity of information overload the test presents.

  3. Look into the key skills that are being assessed by Imbellus and if you find any weaknesses - then work on them in advance.

  4. Get ready to make 80/20 decisions based on incomplete information. Likely you won’t reach the best answer within 60 minutes, however, you should reach a good answer, demonstrating a clever problem-solving strategy along the way.

  5. Take notes of your observations on the mechanics of each scenario so that you can analyze it.

  6. Get comfortable to calculate with pen and paper math.

  7. Enjoy

Do you have any further questions?

GB

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Clara
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replied on Nov 09, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

This is precisely why it does not make sense to prepare a test in generic, much less with that level of details/specificity. When the format changes... you are totally screwed.

What you need to prep is the skillset that is being tested there: being quick, cold-minded, strategic, able to make trade-off, etc.

It´s better to practice wtih other strategy games rather than getting super ready for the aquarium scenario one.

Hope it helps, good luck!

Cheers,

Clara

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Ian
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replied on Nov 09, 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi V,

I honestly, think the lands home everything about interview preparation.

You should never prepare for casing, fit, Imbellus, Online tests, etc. through a one size fits all method.

The entire point of all of these phases of interviews is to test your ability to react to the unknown. So, you should never expect anything specifically...you should expect everything.

Don't just learn everything...learn how to learn! What this means is, train your ability to problem-solve, to approach situations you've never seen before, to be comfortable with ambiguity, to think and communicate in a clear and structured way, etc. etc.

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Francesco
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updated an answer on Nov 17, 2020
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.000+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ InterviewOffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

EDIT (17/11/20). I talked with 3 other candidates in the last week and none reported any variations in their game.

I suspect that what you heard about "jungle and invaders and you need to calculate something about getting to a destination within a few steps" is related to the Plant Defense game, which is set in a jungle.

That Scenario is completely covered in the McKinsey Imbellus Game Secrets Guide. In any case, if you purchased the guide you will be able to download any future version for free.

Here is the link to access the very last version:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/mckinsey-imbellus-game-secrets-48

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi V,

Thanks for sharing that. I haven’t heard anyone yet that went through a different version of the game - I talked last week with a few people who took it in Europe. It could well be though that they are A/B testing a new game in some offices.

Please feel free to PM me and I would be happy to update you as soon I hear something on that (I get weekly updates so that should be soon). I will also update this post as soon as I have news.

Also, if you bought the guide you can always download the very last version for free from the PrepLounge shop where I will upload the new information as soon as it is confirmed there is a new game.

Best,

Francesco

(edited)

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