If McKinsey sent you a link that opens to a yellow page with task cards —
you're in the right place. We've built the closest possible replica of every game you'll face.
Same yellow layout, same task cards, same time pressure as the real thing
🏝️
Redrock Island
Full ecosystem simulation with study materials and multi-part cases
🌊
The Sea Wolf
Ocean systems strategy with real-time decisions and live scoring
McKinsey Solve
Your gateway to a McKinsey interview starts here.
Before McKinsey invites you to interview,
you must pass Solve — a timed, game-based digital assessment
taken by around 300,000 candidates every year. Only 20–30% advance. This platform gives you the closest
possible preparation for both games you will face: Redrock Island and The Sea Wolf.
300K
candidates sit Solve yearly
~20%
estimated pass rate
65 min
total assessment time
2+1
games (+ optional SFL module)
What is McKinsey Solve?
Not an interview. Not a test. Something harder.
McKinsey Solve replaced the old written
Problem Solving Test (PST) and is now the primary filter between
your CV and your first live interview. It is a game-based digital assessment designed to measure how you
think — not just what you know. Every click, drag, and decision you make is tracked and scored.
The current 2025–2026 format consists of
two modules: Redrock Island (~35 minutes) and The Sea Wolf (~30
minutes). Some candidates also receive a third module, Sustainable Futures Lab, if their invitation
email indicates an 85-minute window.
Product score
Did your final answers satisfy each challenge's constraints? Accuracy of calculations,
correctness of your written recommendations.
Process score
How did you reach your answers? McKinsey tracks your decision path, backtracking frequency, and
how you prioritise information.
A disorganised approach hurts your process score
even when your final answers are correct. Structured, methodical thinking is what separates candidates
who pass from those who do not — and it is exactly what deliberate practice builds.
The two games
What you will face on assessment day.
Ecosystem · 35 min
Redrock Island
Part 1: Study
Part 2: Cases 6
INVESTIGATION
Training
Objective
Exhibit #2
Exhibit #3
ANALYSIS
Questions
Review
REPORT
Written Report
Graph Selection
Visual Report
INVESTIGATION › EXHIBIT #2
EXHIBIT #2 OF 3Worker Bee Population
Apiary Name
Worker Bee Population
Clover Field
48,000
Sunflower
Ridge
72,000
EXHIBIT #3 OF 3Monthly Pesticide Levels
Finish Collecting →
RESEARCH JOURNAL
Clover Field
48,000 worker bees
Sunflower Ridge
72,000 worker bees
Pesticide Peak
Month 4 — high
A consulting mini-case under time pressure
You are conducting an ecological field study on Redrock Island. The game unfolds across four
sequential phases — study, investigation, analysis, and recommendation — requiring you to
interpret data exhibits, perform calculations using a built-in calculator, and submit a
structured written recommendation at the end.
Data interpretationQuantitative reasoningWritten output
10 multiple-choice questions
What McKinsey is measuring: your ability to process large volumes of data
quickly, identify what is relevant, run the right calculations, and communicate a clear,
evidence-backed conclusion — the core loop of consulting work.
Simulation · 30 min
The Sea Wolf
Incubation Slot 01
Terra
Bloom
2
7
6
Incubation Slot 02
Bio
Glaze
10
3
2
Incubation Slot 03
Cryo
Root
1
8
2
An optimisation puzzle across three
ocean sites
Aboard the research vessel Sea Wolf, you must design microbial treatments to restore three
polluted ocean sites. For each site you select three microbes from a pool of 84, matching their
combined attribute averages and trait requirements to that site's unique environmental
conditions.
What McKinsey is measuring: structured problem-solving, the ability to manage
multiple interacting variables simultaneously, and efficiency under a hard time cap with no
opportunity to recover lost ground.
Sustainable Futures Lab ·
~20 min · select regions only
Situational judgement — no heavy prep needed. If your invitation email shows an
85-minute total window, you will also receive this third module. It presents realistic workplace
scenarios and asks you to choose the most appropriate response. Unlike Redrock and Sea Wolf, there
are no calculations, no optimisation puzzles, and no ambiguous data to decode.
See it in action
Preview the real simulations.
Click either game below to watch a walkthrough straight from the live platform — no login, no signup, just a first-hand look at what test day feels like.
Where Solve sits in the process
Solve is not the end — it is the beginning.
Most candidates focus exclusively on case interview preparation, overlooking the fact that Solve is the
gate they must pass before ever sitting in front of a McKinsey interviewer. Here is the full path:
1
CV / résumé screen
McKinsey reviews your application. Shortlisted candidates receive an invitation to complete
Solve.
2
McKinsey Solve (Redrock Island + The Sea Wolf)
The game-based digital assessment. Only ~20–30% of candidates advance past this stage.
3
First-round interviews
Live case interviews with McKinsey consultants. Passing Solve is the prerequisite to getting
here.
4
Final-round interviews
Senior partner interviews and advanced case discussions — the last step before an offer.
Passing Solve does not guarantee an offer, but
failing it ends your candidacy before you ever speak to a McKinsey consultant. It is the most
consequential gate in the process, and your preparation is the one variable you control.
Why practice here
Familiarity on test day changes everything.
Solve is not difficult because the concepts are advanced. It is difficult because the format is
unfamiliar, the time pressure is relentless, and the interface offers no second chances. Candidates who
encounter the game mechanics for the first time on assessment day spend precious minutes decoding the
format instead of solving the actual problems.
✓Practice the exact question formats, interface layout, and
level of ambiguity you will face in the real assessment — so nothing surprises you.
✓Build pattern recognition so Redrock's data exhibits feel
familiar, not overwhelming, under a tight time cap.
✓Develop a repeatable microbe-selection strategy for Sea Wolf
so you move efficiently through all three sites without backtracking.
✓Train your process score — the structured, methodical
decision-making that McKinsey tracks beyond your final answers.
✓Reduce cognitive load on the day so your thinking — not your
orientation — drives your performance.
Start today
Start practicing today.
Subscribe to access full simulations of Redrock Island and The Sea Wolf. Every session brings you closer to
passing McKinsey Solve — and closer to the interview you have been working towards.
⛰
Redrock Island
10 unique cases
🌊
The Sea Wolf
Unlimited · new every time
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Community
What candidates are saying.
Real feedback from people who used
this platform to prepare for McKinsey Solve.
★★★★★
"The Redrock Island sim is scary accurate. I'd played it four times before my
actual assessment and the mechanics felt identical. Got invited to first round."
Priya S.
May 2026 · McKinsey London
★★★★★
"I wasted two weeks on YouTube walkthroughs before finding this. Actual timed
practice is completely different. The post-game analysis helped me see where my hypothesis-building
was slow."
Tobias M.
May 2026 · McKinsey Frankfurt
★★★★☆
"The Sea Wolf game initially confused me, but that's the point — the actual
assessment is also disorienting. The second and third run-throughs were where it clicked. Worth it."
Anouk V.
May 2026 · McKinsey Amsterdam
★★★★★
"The actual exam felt easy — not because the content was simple, but because I'd
already done it here. Navigating the interface, the popups, the flow — all familiar. My brain could
just focus on the actual problems."
James K.
May 2026 · McKinsey New York
★★★★★
"Practicing here meant zero cognitive load on exam day from the UI itself. I
already knew where everything was, so I could filter out the noise and focus entirely on the real
content. Huge advantage."
Sara L.
May 2026 · McKinsey Dubai
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