Case Interview Hub Blog

McKinsey says no prep is needed for the Solve Game. Roughly 80% of candidates fail. Former McKinsey interviewers on what's actually in the 2026 assessment — Redrock, Sea Wolf, Sustainable Futures Lab — and a 20-hour plan that passes.

Can you prep for MBB case interviews without a partner and still get the offer? In short — yes, with caveats. Former McKinsey interviewers on what solo prep can build, what it can't, and a 60-hour curriculum that gets you interview-ready.

Two candidates. Same university, same GPA, same case. One gets the offer, the other doesn't. Former McKinsey interviewers who scored hundreds of cases reveal the 7 patterns that separate a hire from a reject — often within the first five minutes.

How do you actually get into McKinsey, BCG, or Bain? Former McKinsey interviewers break down the full process — from CV screening to problem solving games to the final case interviews — and explain what each firm's process looks like step by step.

The McKinsey PEI gives you one question and 20 minutes to answer it. Most candidates aren't ready for that. Former McKinsey interviewers break down the 7 qualities being tested, the three types of questions, and how to build stories that stick.

MECE is a core concept in strategy consulting and especially McKinsey, BCG, and Bain put an emphasize on structure, especially when it comes to the case interview. MECE stands for Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive. Mutually exclusive means that individual components are not overlapping. Collectively exhaustive menas that the components taken together cover the entire problem. When preparing for case interviews it is essential to understand and apply the MECE principl

Should you spend money on case interview preparation? The short answer is: Yes! People spend thousands of dollars on their education but are not willing to spend anything on securing themselves a well-paying competitive job? This makes little sense given the high impact the first job has on future career progression.

To pass the McKinsey interview it is important to properly prepare for it. It is essential to know that the McKinsey case interview is interviewer-led and not interviewee-led. Additionally, it is crucial to prepare with authentic cases. There are many outdated materials floating around online with cases that are far from what you see in your actual McKinsey interview. Morever, memorizing 100s of frameworks is not the way t ogo. Instead it is crucial to be able to structure ca

McKinsey is known for the difficult case interviews but little is known about the evaluation scheme. The 3 dimensions analytical, conceptual, and quantitative thinking are tested in the case interview and the candidate is rated on a 4 point scale. To actually pass the interview, the candidate needs to show extraordinary performance in some areas. This is what McKinsey calls a "spike"

Candidates make several crucial mistakes when preparing for their case interview. The most common ones are using outdated material and unrealistic cases. Surprisingly, some candidates are not doing any mock cases at all which is a very bad idea. Some resources online also recommend memorizing 100s of frameworks which is also completely unnecessary. Moreover, using friends or siblings with absolutely no case interview experience as interview partners is also a very bad idea.