McKinsey and Co Assessment Tests

McKinsey & Co Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a strategy analyst at McKinsey & Co, finishing an options paper for a client’s steering group. The paper was due last Wednesday and was finished yesterday. The manager running the engagement asks you to put last Wednesday’s date on the front of it before it is circulated, so that the steering group reads it as having arrived on time. The client’s project office keeps its own list of what was received and when. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say you would rather put today's date on it, since the client's project office logs what arrived when, and offer a covering line explaining the delay.
   2. Circulate the paper with today's date on it and say nothing at all about the week it lost, leaving the steering group to notice the gap if they ever look for it.
   3. Ask the manager to put the date on it themselves, and circulate the paper only once somebody else has dated the front page.
   4. Change the date on the report to last Wednesday before circulating it, and let the steering group read the paper as delivered on the day it was due.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Say you would rather put today's date on it, since the client's project office logs what arrived when, and offer a covering line explaining the delay.

   Least effective: D. Change the date on the report to last Wednesday before circulating it, and let the steering group read the paper as delivered on the day it was due.

   B: Leaves the client to find the slip: the date is honest, and the week the paper lost is left for the steering group to work out for itself.

   C: Passes an act you are already part of: the paper still goes out under last Wednesday, and the only thing that changes is whose hand typed it.

   D: Alters a record of when work arrived: the client's own list of what was received stops matching what happened, over a week nobody can get back anyway.

   The most effective response is to say you would rather put today’s date on it and to offer to explain the delay in the covering email. The date is a fact about when the paper arrived, the manager is entitled to a reason and a remedy rather than a refusal, and a covering line costs the engagement far less than a steering group discovering the paper was late. It beats circulating the paper with today’s date and saying nothing about the week it lost, because the steering group is left to work out for itself that a week went missing. It beats asking the manager to date it themselves and waiting until somebody else has done it, because the paper still goes out under last Wednesday and the only difference is whose hand typed it. The least effective response is changing the date on the report to last Wednesday before circulating it: the other three all leave the client able to see when the paper really arrived, whereas this one makes a record say something that did not happen, and the project office’s list stops being worth reading. The principle: a date records when something arrived, so fix the lateness in the covering words, never in the record.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a strategy analyst at McKinsey & Co, six weeks into a review for a client. Three emails arrive this morning from the client’s finance team, discussing which sites they intend to close and asking you to comment. Site closures are nothing to do with your review, and you appear to have been added to the list in error. The three emails have also gone into the engagement’s shared record of correspondence. The manager running the engagement is with the client all day. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave the three emails unopened until the manager is back this evening, and ask them then what ought to be done about your being on the list.
   2. Answer the parts of the emails that touch your own review, and leave the site closures to the finance team without raising how you came to be included.
   3. Remove the three emails from the engagement's shared record, and carry on with the review as though the finance team had never included you at all.
   4. Reply to the finance team saying you think you were included in error and asking them to check, then message the manager with what has arrived.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Reply to the finance team saying you think you were included in error and asking them to check, then message the manager with what has arrived.

   Least effective: C. Remove the three emails from the engagement's shared record, and carry on with the review as though the finance team had never included you at all.

   A: Waits while the list keeps sending: the finance team believe you are reading and expect comments, and a day goes by with more arriving.

   B: Treats the symptom as the whole problem: replying confirms you as a recipient, and the list carries on sending you a discussion you were never meant to be in.

   C: Alters a record of what the client sent: the correspondence file stops matching what happened, and if the client asks next month who saw the site plans there is nothing to answer with.

   The most effective response is to reply to the finance team that you think you were included in error, then message the manager. It stops the emails arriving, it does so through the people who control the list, and it puts your own account of what reached you in front of your manager the same day rather than after somebody notices. It beats leaving the emails unopened until the manager is back this evening, because a day of leaving them unopened is a day in which the finance team expect comments and keep sending. It beats answering the parts that touch your review and leaving the closures alone, because answering some of it confirms you as a reader of all of it and leaves the underlying mistake in place. The least effective response is removing the three emails from the engagement’s shared record: the other three all leave a true account of what arrived, whereas this one takes the client’s own emails out of the file that records them, so the one document that could later show exactly what you received and when has been made to say something that is not true. The principle: when something reaches you that should not have, fix the route and keep the record; never the other way round.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a proposal analyst at McKinsey & Co, writing a section of a bid that is due on Thursday. You also promised the client team at Kelmarsh Foods a summary of last month’s figures on the same day, and you only noticed this morning that the two land together. Both were your own commitments, and nobody else knows the dates collide. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the manager running the bid this morning that the two dates collide, say what you can finish by Thursday, and ask which of the two should move.
   2. Keep it to yourself, work late on both, and let the bid section arrive a day late with no explanation of what caused the delay.
   3. Ask the client team at Kelmarsh Foods whether their summary can wait until Monday, and say nothing about the clash to anybody on the bid.
   4. Split Thursday between the two, sending a shortened bid section and an outline of the summary so that something arrives for each of them.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell the manager running the bid this morning that the two dates collide, say what you can finish by Thursday, and ask which of the two should move.

   Least effective: B. Keep it to yourself, work late on both, and let the bid section arrive a day late with no explanation of what caused the delay.

   B: Hides your own oversight: the bid section is late for a reason nobody is told, and the one person who could have moved a date is left to find out afterwards.

   C: Moves a client's date without asking your own team: the bid is the piece with the fixed date, and the manager running it never learns the two collided.

   D: Splits the day so neither finishes: the bid goes in short and the client gets an outline, when one of the two could have been done properly.

   The most effective response is to tell the manager running the bid that the dates collide and ask which of the two should move. The clash is yours to surface, the manager owns which of the two moves, and Thursday is still three days away. It beats asking the client team whether their summary can wait until Monday, because moving the client’s date is a decision your own team never hears about, and the bid is the piece with the fixed date. It beats splitting Thursday between the two and sending a shortened section and an outline, because half a day on each produces a short bid section and an outline when one of the two could have been finished properly. The least effective response is keeping it to yourself and letting the bid section arrive a day late: the other three all put the collision in front of somebody who can act on it, whereas this one keeps a problem you created out of sight until the bid is already late. The principle: a clash you made is still a clash, and the person who owns the dates cannot move one they do not know about.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are an application support analyst at McKinsey & Co, on a team fixing faults in a client’s ordering system. Most of the hardest fixes have been worked out by a quiet colleague, but in the daily meeting the client’s team lead keeps thanking a louder member of your team for them, and he does not correct it. The next daily meeting is tomorrow morning. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Ask the louder colleague privately to name who did the fixes the next time the client's team lead thanks him for one of them.
   2. Say in tomorrow's meeting, in front of the client's team, that the louder colleague has been taking credit for fixes he did not work out.
   3. Tell your team lead today what your quiet colleague worked out, and in tomorrow's meeting describe the fixes by who did them when you give your own update.
   4. Tell your quiet colleague he should speak up for himself in tomorrow's meeting, and leave it to him to put the record straight with the client.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your team lead today what your quiet colleague worked out, and in tomorrow's meeting describe the fixes by who did them when you give your own update.

   Least effective: B. Say in tomorrow's meeting, in front of the client's team, that the louder colleague has been taking credit for fixes he did not work out.

   A: Relies on the one person who has not acted: he has sat through several meetings without correcting it, and the client's picture of who solved what is unchanged tomorrow.

   B: Makes it about the person in front of the client: the credit is put right at the cost of your own team's standing, and the colleague you are defending still has to work with everybody in that room.

   D: Puts the fix on the person it is hardest for: he has stayed quiet through several meetings already, so nothing changes tomorrow and he now knows you watched it happen.

   The most effective response is to tell your team lead what your quiet colleague worked out and describe the fixes by who did them. It gets the record right through the two channels that actually carry it, your own update and your team lead, and it does so tomorrow without turning the meeting into an argument. It beats telling your quiet colleague to speak up for himself and leaving it to him, because your colleague has already sat quietly through several of these meetings, and asking him to fix it changes nothing tomorrow. It beats asking the louder colleague privately to name who did the fixes next time, because the person who let the mistake stand for a week is the least reliable route to correcting it. The least effective response is saying in tomorrow’s meeting in front of the client’s team that he has been taking credit for fixes: the other three all correct the record without cost to anybody, whereas this one turns a question of credit into an accusation the client’s people watch, so your team looks divided and the quiet colleague is left working alongside everybody who heard it. The principle: put the credit where it belongs by stating the facts, never by making a colleague the subject in front of the client.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a systems analyst at McKinsey & Co, on a client’s system upgrade. A colleague left a two-hour client meeting after twenty minutes yesterday and has asked you to say they were there for all of it, because the client’s project manager keeps a note of who attends. The two of you are back with the client’s team this afternoon. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the client's project manager that your colleague was there for the whole two hours, so the note of who attended matches what your colleague has said.
   2. Agree to say nothing about who was in the room, and hope the project manager does not ask either of you about yesterday's meeting at all.
   3. Tell your colleague you will not say they were there throughout, and that they should put it right with the project manager themselves before this afternoon.
   4. Report your colleague's request to the manager running the engagement straight away, without saying anything to your colleague about it first.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Tell your colleague you will not say they were there throughout, and that they should put it right with the project manager themselves before this afternoon.

   Least effective: A. Tell the client's project manager that your colleague was there for the whole two hours, so the note of who attended matches what your colleague has said.

   A: States as fact something that did not happen: the client's own record of who was in the room is made wrong by the one person who knew, and your colleague now needs you to keep saying it.

   B: Joins somebody else's cover story: you have not lied, and you have made yourself the second person who has to keep the meeting from being discussed.

   D: Skips the step that would settle it: a straight refusal to your colleague would probably end the matter today and costs them nothing.

   The most effective response is to tell your colleague you will not say it and that they should put it right themselves. It refuses the thing you were actually asked to do, it leaves your colleague the chance to fix their own mistake before the afternoon, and it does not go anywhere near the client. It beats agreeing to say nothing about who was in the room, because agreeing to keep the meeting undiscussed makes you the second person maintaining it, and the question is asked sooner or later. It beats reporting the request to the manager without speaking to your colleague first, because a two-sentence refusal would very likely settle it, and going straight past your colleague turns a small request into a report about them. The least effective response is telling the client’s project manager that your colleague was there for the whole two hours: the other three all leave the client’s note of the meeting either right or untouched, whereas this one puts a false attendance into it, so a favour your colleague asked for once becomes something you now have to keep saying. The principle: refuse the request to the person who made it, and keep their mistake away from the client.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a strategy analyst at McKinsey & Co. The manager running the engagement is on a call with the client and messages you asking for the latest market sizing to be sent over now. The numbers were revised yesterday and you are not certain which of the saved versions is the one that was agreed. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send whichever version was saved most recently, since the newest file is almost certainly the one that came out of yesterday's revision.
   2. Reply that you will send it as soon as you have confirmed which version is current, check with the person who made the revision, and send it saying which version it is.
   3. Wait until the manager comes off the call and then ask them which of the versions they meant before you send anything at all.
   4. Send the older version and tell the manager it is the revised one, so that the call is not held up while the versions are sorted out afterwards.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Reply that you will send it as soon as you have confirmed which version is current, check with the person who made the revision, and send it saying which version it is.

   Least effective: D. Send the older version and tell the manager it is the revised one, so that the call is not held up while the versions are sorted out afterwards.

   A: Acts on assumptions without checking: a save time is not an agreement, and the manager is given numbers on the strength of a guess about a file.

   C: Delays the decision: the request exists because the client is on the call now, and an answer afterwards is an answer to a question nobody still has.

   D: States as fact something you have not checked: the manager quotes it to the client as agreed numbers, and the one person who knew there was a doubt has removed it.

   The most effective response is to say you will confirm which version is current, check with whoever revised it, and send it. It tells the manager immediately where things stand, it resolves the doubt with the one person who can settle it, and what arrives is labelled so nobody has to guess again. It beats sending whichever version was saved most recently, because the most recently saved file is a guess about a folder rather than a fact about what was agreed. It beats waiting until the manager is off the call before asking which version they meant, because the request exists precisely while the call is running, and an answer afterwards has missed it. The least effective response is sending the older version and telling the manager it is the revised one: the other three leave the manager knowing how solid the number is, whereas this one hands them an old figure described as the agreed one, so the client hears it as settled and the only person who knew there was a question has closed it. The principle: say what you know and what you do not, then go and find out; never describe a doubt as a fact to save time.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a client services associate at McKinsey & Co, and your team is finishing a proposal for the next phase of a client’s work. One of the client’s managers, who sits on the group choosing who does that work, offers you a pair of concert tickets for Saturday as a gift. The proposal goes in on Monday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Say you will take the tickets once the supplier decision has been made, so that nothing about Saturday can touch the proposal going in on Monday.
   2. Tell the manager leading the proposal today that the offer was made, so that they can decide what is said back to the client's manager before Monday.
   3. Accept the tickets as a personal gift and go on Saturday, and leave the proposal team to finish the submission without any of this coming up.
   4. Refuse the tickets politely and leave it at that, on the ground that a refusal ends the matter and there is nothing for anybody else on the team to do about it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Tell the manager leading the proposal today that the offer was made, so that they can decide what is said back to the client's manager before Monday.

   Least effective: C. Accept the tickets as a personal gift and go on Saturday, and leave the proposal team to finish the submission without any of this coming up.

   A: Negotiates the timing of a favour: the offer is still tied to a decision you want to go your way, and all that changes is when it is taken.

   C: Takes a gift from somebody choosing the supplier: the proposal goes in on Monday, and nobody on your team knows there is anything about it to declare.

   D: Handles it alone and leaves no record: the refusal is right, and the team putting the proposal in has no idea the offer was ever made.

   The most effective response is to tell the manager leading the proposal today that the offer was made. It puts a fact your team needs in front of the person running the proposal while there are three days to use it, and it leaves the answer to the client’s manager with somebody who owns the relationship. It beats refusing the tickets politely and leaving the matter there, because a refusal only you know about leaves your team submitting on Monday without knowing what was offered on Friday. It beats saying you will take the tickets once the supplier decision has been made, because moving the concert to after the decision keeps the link between the two and simply makes it harder to see. The least effective response is accepting the tickets as a personal gift and going on Saturday: the other three all end with nothing personal passing between you and somebody who is choosing the supplier, whereas this one accepts it and keeps the whole thing off your own team’s books, so the proposal goes in with an obligation attached that nobody else can see. The principle: an offer from somebody deciding your work is not yours to accept, refuse or manage alone; report it the same day.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a project support officer at McKinsey & Co, working in a room the client shares between two suppliers. On the desk you have been using you find an open folder of the other supplier’s prices. Your team is bidding against them for the next phase of the work. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Leave the folder where it is and work from a different desk for the rest of the day, on the basis that it is the other supplier's property and nothing to do with you.
   2. Close the folder and keep it on your desk until somebody from the other supplier arrives, then hand it back to them and leave it at that.
   3. Close the folder and put it back exactly where you found it, then mention it to the manager running your engagement at the end of the week when the two of you next go through the site arrangements.
   4. Close the folder, hand it to the client's project sponsor, and tell the manager running your engagement what you found and that you did not read it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Close the folder, hand it to the client's project sponsor, and tell the manager running your engagement what you found and that you did not read it.

   Least effective: A. Leave the folder where it is and work from a different desk for the rest of the day, on the basis that it is the other supplier's property and nothing to do with you.

   A: Declines to act on something in front of you: the folder stays open in a shared room, and the one person who noticed it decides that makes it somebody else's problem.

   B: Passes responsibility to others: the client owns the room and the arrangement between the suppliers, and they never learn that their shared space failed.

   C: Delays telling anybody who could act: the folder is out of sight, and the room it was left in stays exactly as it is for another four days of a live bid.

   The most effective response is to close the folder, hand it to the client’s sponsor and tell your manager what you found. It gets the material out of the open immediately, it goes to the person responsible for the room, and it puts your own account of what you did and did not read on the record with your side before anybody asks. It beats closing the folder, putting it back and mentioning it at the end of the week, because tidying the folder away and raising it on Friday leaves the shared room unfixed through four more days of a live bid. It beats keeping the folder until the other supplier arrives and handing it back to them, because the client owns the shared room and cannot fix an arrangement they are never told has failed. The least effective response is leaving the folder where it is and moving to a different desk: the other three at least take the prices out of view, and this one leaves an open folder of a competitor’s commercial information on a shared desk, with the only person who has noticed deciding it is nothing to do with them. The principle: when something you should not have seen is in front of you, act on it at once and put your own account of it on the record.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a data analyst at McKinsey & Co. A colleague has told you they are sending the client’s finance lead a set of figures within the hour, for a proposal meeting this afternoon. You revised those figures on Friday, and the set your colleague holds is the older one. They are on a client call until they send it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Message your colleague now saying the figures were revised on Friday, and send them the current version so that they have it before the email goes.
   2. Email the finance lead yourself with the revised figures and a note explaining that they replace the set your colleague is about to send them within the hour.
   3. Say nothing about the older version and leave the finance lead to raise it if the difference turns out to matter to them.
   4. Wait for your colleague to come off the call and go through what changed with them, rather than interrupting a client conversation.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Message your colleague now saying the figures were revised on Friday, and send them the current version so that they have it before the email goes.

   Least effective: C. Say nothing about the older version and leave the finance lead to raise it if the difference turns out to matter to them.

   B: Corrects a colleague through the client: the finance lead gets the right numbers and also learns that your team was about to send the wrong ones.

   C: Withholds what somebody needed: the finance lead takes superseded numbers into a proposal meeting, and the one person who knew they had changed decided it was not worth a message.

   D: Leaves it to a window that closes: the email goes within the hour, so waiting for the call to end means the older figures are already out.

   The most effective response is to message your colleague now and send them the current version of the figures. It reaches your colleague before the email leaves, it hands them the thing they need rather than a problem, and nobody outside the team ever sees the old set. It beats emailing the finance lead yourself with the revised figures, because the client then holds two sets from your team and hears about the mix-up before your colleague does. It beats waiting for your colleague to come off the call before going through what changed, because the email goes within the hour and the call ends after that. The least effective response is saying nothing about the older version and leaving the finance lead to raise it: the other three all get the current figures somewhere useful, whereas this one lets a decision be taken on numbers you know were superseded on Friday, on the hope that the difference will not matter. The principle: when you hold the thing that makes somebody else’s work wrong, say so while it can still be used.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a bid support analyst at McKinsey & Co, checking sections of a bid before they go to the reviewers. Two weeks ago you told a colleague that their figures did not match the text around them, and they said you had misread it. The same mismatch is in the section they have just sent you, and this time the reviewers see it on Friday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Stop checking your colleague's sections after that conversation, and leave the mismatch in the new one for the reviewers to pick up on Friday.
    2. Send the mismatch to the person running the bid and ask them to take it up with your colleague, since raising it directly did not work the first time.
    3. Take the figures and the sentence they contradict to your colleague, since both cannot be right, and ask which of the two should change before Friday.
    4. Correct the figures in your colleague's section yourself before Friday, and say nothing to them about having had to do it a second time.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: C. Take the figures and the sentence they contradict to your colleague, since both cannot be right, and ask which of the two should change before Friday.

    Least effective: A. Stop checking your colleague's sections after that conversation, and leave the mismatch in the new one for the reviewers to pick up on Friday.

    A: Withdraws help after a disagreement: the bid goes to the reviewers carrying a mismatch you had already found, and the cost lands on the submission rather than on the person you are annoyed with.

    B: Escalates before a second attempt: your colleague hears about a disagreement with you from somebody above them both, over something two minutes of comparison would settle.

    D: Removes the chance of it stopping: Friday is safe, your colleague still believes you misread it, and the third section arrives with the same mismatch in it.

    The most effective response is to take the figures and the sentence they contradict to your colleague and show them side by side. It replaces an opinion your colleague rejected with two pieces of evidence they can read for themselves, it leaves them the decision about which one is wrong, and it does all of it while Friday is still moveable. It beats correcting the figures yourself and saying nothing about having done it again, because a quiet fix keeps the bid safe this week and guarantees the same mismatch in the next section. It beats sending the mismatch to the person running the bid to take up with your colleague, because a second conversation has not been tried, and involving the person running the bid over something demonstrable in two minutes turns a check into a complaint. The least effective response is stopping checking your colleague’s sections and leaving the mismatch for the reviewers: the other three all leave the bid better off, whereas this one answers a disagreement by taking away the checking the bid depends on, so a known error goes to the reviewers and the person it embarrasses is not the one who rejected the feedback. The principle: when a colleague rejects your view, come back with the evidence rather than withdrawing the work everybody else is relying on.