How McKinsey evaluates your Case Interview by former McKinsey interviewers

The structure and tested skills in a McKinsey case interview are well documented on our homepage. But how does McKinsey actually evaluate your performance? What kind of scale are they using? As former McKinsey interviewers, we get into the details.
Dec 22 / Case Interview Hub

Orientation upfront

Before we go into the McKinsey specifics, a disclaimer on case performance evaluation across the consulting industry. There is no ONE way how firms assess case performance. Overall, the consulting firms are of course similar in what they are trying to achieve with the case interview. However, when it comes to the specifics they may be slightly different in a number of ways. Sometimes those differences exist not just across firms but also across regions and offices within one firm. Further, the evaluation criteria are always subject to change.
To give you an idea of what we mean by that, let’s briefly discuss the hiring post-Covid. The consulting industry was booming post-Covid and all the MBB firms were on a hiring spree, with new joiner numbers peaking. Of course, during that time the threshold to pass the interview was lower compared to pre-Covid. Even if HR and recruiters tell you that the performance evaluation is objective and that the firm applies the same threshold at all times, this is simply not true. So keep in mind that your chances of passing the interview are potentially higher when the industry is booming. So here consulting is not different than any other industry.
We will detail the process at McKinsey, as it is the most stable and most formalized across the MBB firms. McKinsey has been conducting interviews the same way for decades across all their offices globally and they are super transparent about the process of their case interviews.

The McKinsey case performance grading scheme

The first thing to know about the McKinsey interview, is that it is interviewer-led. That means the interviewer will exert a bit more control over the interview and the individual tasks are a bit more separated from each other. Check out our article about how to specifically prepare for the McKinsey interview and our case interview guide to learn more about the interviewer-led format.
In the McKinsey grading scheme, candidates will be evaluated along a strict set of dimensions. And these dimensions will link pretty well to the 7 skills that we outlined in our case interview guide Here an overview of the tested dimensions:
  • Analytical thinking is especially focused on your structuring
  • Conceptual thinking is about creativity, business judgement, and data interpretation
  • Quantitative thinking is pretty self-explanatory
On each of these dimensions, candidates are rated on a 4-point scale:
  • The lowest level is basically a failing grade. You’re not able to deliver the minimum
  • The next level is that you can identify the most obvious points in your structure and you come up with the obvious ideas, or trends, and that you can execute simple calculations without major problems
  • One level above that, you need to identify not just the obvious, but a comprehensive list of ideas or drivers. You need strong creativity and judgement, and you need to solve more complex quantitative tasks
  • And the highest level means that you do everything up until that point, but on top, you also identify interdependencies between your points, you have unusually strong creativity and judgement, and you have a great feel for numbers and implications
And that’s essentially the opinion that an interviewer needs to form about a candidate based on a 25 or 30 minute case interview.

How is the overall assessment formed at McKinsey?

Now that we know the tested dimensions and the grading scheme, how does this all come to together and result in an overall assessment?
In the main interview round, candidates will be interviewed by 3 different interviewers back-to-back. The interviewers then get together and discuss the candidate and share their experience and insights. There is also a chair, overseeing this discussion who is challenging the interviewers’ assessments. And together, they make the evaluation whether they will let the candidate proceed. Let’s not forget though, that case interviews aren’t everything. The personal experience interview (PEI) will also flow into the evaluation and play an extremely important role in the overall assessment. Check out our article on the personal fit interview to learn more about it.
Now, at McKinsey it’s quite hard to make it through. Just delivering an average performance everywhere is not enough. You must display some real strengths. Areas in which your performance was distinct, so at the top-level. That is called having a “spike” in an area. And that is what makes it tough.
So what happens next after the interviewers got together and assessed the candidate? 
  • If your performance across the interviews was deemed “not sufficient” you will be turned down. This outcome is the most common one so don’t be disappointed. At McKinsey, you can always re-apply again after enough time has passed to improve your profile. McKinsey usually deems that this is the case if ~9 months have passed after your interview  
  • If you truly ace the interview, also including the personal experience interview (PEI), you may even skip the second round and directly go to the (senior) partner, discussing your offer. That is the rarest of outcomes
  • If your performance was “just” strong, but not off-the-charts, you will typically go through one more interview with a more senior interviewer - usually an associate partner or partner. Prior to that you may even get a bit of feedback, what to look out for, and what you need to demonstrate in this interview. And then they will test especially the areas in which you might not have been fully convincing yet. And if that interview works out, you will go to the (senior) partner, discussing your offer

Final thoughts on the evaluation at McKinsey and other firms

This is basically how he process at McKinsey works. As you can tell, it is very much on the more formalized end of the spectrum. That is why we thought it makes sense to explain it in more detail as it also gives insights into what other consulting firms are doing or trying to do. In lower-tier firms, and especially in very small firms, there will certainly not be such a systematic assessment. It can be actually a lot more about gut feeling - an aspect McKinsey tries to minimize with its formalized process. And if there is a process at smaller firms, it may change from one month to the next. But still, the philosophy behind case interviews is always similar even if the assessment is a bit more subjective at smaller firms.
Some final food for thought on the McKinsey process. Even though it is seen as one of the most formalized and systematic processes, it does not mean that its an exact science. Going back to the evaluation logic, how do you reliably differentiate between “strong” creativity and “unusually strong” creativity? That still leaves some room for interpretation and introduces the possibility for subjective assessments.
So in the end, the interview assessment is never truly 100% objective. Sure, a rockstar candidate will always make it and a weak candidate will never make it. But for the vast majority of candidates, those that are somewhere in the middle, there is a gray area. Inconsistent interviewing processes, different interviewer personalities, and whether you are at your best on interview day can make the difference. And that is why it's even more important to hone your skills and gain confidence, so you can succeed in any situation. Even if the conditions are not ideal.
If you want to learn more about how to approach the case interview, check out our other resources, for example our case interview guide or our piece on how to approach the personal fit interview.