Preparing for McKinsey new digital assessment (Imbellus)

Question

Hi all,

I got the confirmation from HR that new digital assessment will replace PST. Although many people said there would be no ways to prepare for this, I would like to hear any tips or if anyone has managed to prepare for this.

Thanks,

Answer 1

Hello!

I understand you totally, you need to feel that at least you made all that was in your hands to get ready.

However, truly, this one is very hard to prep for the following.

It is a timed, gamified, online assessment
Consists of 2 tasks (1 hour for each)
They are similar to this smart-phone games that are brain teaser, testing logic, your ability to defend an objective, etc.
Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Answer 2

Hi Minh,

You are right, there is no possible to prepare, but you can keep in mind the following tips for the Digital Assessment.

Focus on the process
Follow time tracking. It is easy to get lost in the details and the sheer complexity of information overload the test presents.
Look into the key skills that are being assessed by Imbellus and if you find any weaknesses - then work on them in advance.
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.
Take notes of your observations on the mechanics of each scenario so that you can analyze it.
Get comfortable to calculate with pen and paper math.
Enjoy

Hope it helps,

André

Answer 3

Hi,

There are 2 tasks, 1 hour for each
One is based on logic, another one is closer to the online game (Tower defense)
Both tasks are super easy and an hour is more than enough
The key thing is to read carefully the descriptions

I believe there is no way to prepare, so just relax and have a good rest before that

One thing to know - it's not about winning the game, it's about how you do that. ML algorithms literally track the movements of your cursor and compare it vs the best consultants

Best

Answer 4

Hello Minh,

I have an interesting paper about imbellus and the valuation rationals.

Feel free to text me if you are interested.
Best,
Luca

Answer 5

Hi,

Whilst you don't have to be a gamer to perform well, the game will certainly test your problem solving ability and your ability to navigate in challenging circumstances.

Which skills are tested?

The game records all of the candidate’s actions (e.g., every movement of the mouse, time spent to choose an action) and uses machine learning to assess candidates’ way of thinking. It’s as much about how close candidates come to the best solution as about how they tackle the problem through. During the game McK assesses 5 cognitive abilities that are critical for a career in consulting:

Critical thinking: the ability analyze information objectively and make a reasoned judgment
Decision making: the ability to select the best course of action among several options
Self-awareness: the ability to self-assess
Situational awareness: the ability to be fully aware of your surroundings at all times, allowing you to react effectively
Systematic thinking: the ability to understand different parts of a system and how they work together through cause/ effect relationships

How to cultivate these skills?

Let’s break down each skillset and find ways to improve.

Critical thinking could be broken down into the following subskills:

Think about a topic in an objective and critical way
Identify the connections between ideas and working out whether the evidence provided supports those ideas or not
Evaluate a point of view to determine how strong or valid it is
Recognize any weaknesses that there are in the evidence or argument
Notice what implications there might be behind a statement
Provide structured reasoning and support for an argument that we wish to make

In order to improve your critical thinking I would suggest using mind mapping technique. It exploits the fact that our brains process information visually much more effectively than they do when it’s presented in a written document.

The idea behind mind mapping is that you start with a central theme or idea, typically drawn in a box in the middle of the page, and then from that you create branches, which lead to other ideas, or to supporting evidence or ancillary information.

Decision making could be broken down into the following subskills:

Establishing a positive decision-making environment
Generating potential solutions
Evaluating the solutions
Deciding
Checking the decision

In order to improve your decision making skills I would suggest that you start applying it to your everyday life situations and start developing small decision making frameworks for each situation (e.g. going to the shop)

Self-awareness could be broken down into the following subskills:

Monitor Your Performance
Seek Out Feedback and Then Use It

The best way to improve your self-awareness is to reduce your EGO barrier and blind spots. You can read Ray Dalio Principles for more details.

Situational awareness could be broken down into the following subskills:

Identifying the baseline for the situation you are in
Recognizing any variations to the baseline

In order to improve your situational awareness I suggest that you take typical life situation and:

Monitor the Baseline. At first, this will require concentration effort. But after a while, you will find that you can monitor the baseline subconsciously
Fight Normalcy Bias. This requires you to be paranoid for a while as you develop your skill. Look at every disturbance to the baseline - this will allow you to stop ignoring or discounting any factors

Systematic thinking could be broken down into the following subskills:

Identifying all the elements in the system
Understanding the correlations between the elements

This skill could be largely improved by solving business cases.

ALSO I suggest that you should start investing your time into playing different computer/mobile game, where you can practice applying these skills.

Hope it helps!

Anton

Answer 6

To add to the other mentions, there is indeed not much to prepare, but you can refresh logic and brainteaser a bit. This is not so much about studying but more having it top of mind.

Answer 7

Hi Minh,
it's a gamified test for which different environments are been developed. It's pretty easy and no preparation is needed: only pay attention to time and instructions. It's usually divided into 2 games and you have 1h to complete both of them (you can decide when passing to the next game).
- In the first one you are going to create a balanced ecosystem based on the rules of the environment you choose (e.g. in a mountain scenario you fix a point with certain values of elevation, humidity, wind, ... and then you have to choose animals and plants that can survive each other and in the environment).
- In the second game, you have to defend an object (usually a plant) from the enemies (usually rodents) with the help of slowers (barriers) or killers (predators). I developed some good strategies to handle it, feel free to text me.

Here the introductory McK video about it: https://www.mckinsey.com/careers/mckinsey-digital-assessment

Hope it helps,
Antonello

Answer 8

Hi Minh,

I have done an in-depth study on the Imbellus. Most of the comments I found online are something like this:

You cannot prepare – it tests who you are
Play a lot of videogames
Don’t waste time
Be yourself
Be 80-20
Take notes well
Enjoy yourself

Not sure what you think, but I don’t believe that’s very useful. Nor did the several people I coached who had to do the test.

So I worked hard with the candidates that actually did the test and created a guide with everything you need to know on the Imbellus.

This guide will:

Show you the perfect strategy for each of the 4 Game Scenarios
Explain every single part of the Game with ad-hoc pictures
Detail the exact steps to improve in the 5 Skills tested in the game
Provide you insider information from previous applicants who succeeded in the game
Reveal the must-know answers to the most common questions on the Imbellus
Offer you a ready-to-use Excel template to maximize results in Scenario 1 with a detailed tutorial
Give you a proven template to build the food chain in Scenario 1

This guide will cover every single part of the Game, so you can be 100% confident the day of the assessment, without worrying “I should have prepared better for this”. You won’t need any additional material to prepare after it.

You can download the guide instantly here:

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

As an extra bonus, I am offering for a limited time the Consulting Industry Cheat Sheet (worth $29) for free with the guide. You will get access to key insights of the 17 most common industries in case interviews.

If you need additional support or have any questions on the guide please feel free to PM me, I am happy to provide extra tips for free.

Best,

Francesco