McKinsey Problem Solving Game (Solve) Explained - with Footage
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 พ.ค. 2024
- PRACTICE MCKINSEY SOLVE WITH AN INTERACTIVE MOCK TEST
(Also includes the NEW MINI GAME "Redrock Study Task")
mconsultingprep.com/psg-simul...
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McKinsey Problem Solving Game (PSG), Imbellus Game, Digital Assessment, or - as of late - McKinsey SOLVE - all of these terms refer to the same pre-interview screening test employed by McKinsey, starting from 2020 as a replacement for the old McKinsey PST.
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Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
0:52 Part 1: What is the PSG?
3:08 Part 2: The mini-games of the PSG
4:39 Part 2.1: Mini-game #1 - Ecosystem Building
12:14 Part 2.2: Mini-game #2 - Plant Defense
19:20 Part 3: Q&A
23:22 Outro
Check out our 2024 updated McKinsey SOLVE screening test here: th-cam.com/channels/Go4-qWsTYnGKhXeghZE6hA.html
Just completed the PSG test, and the tutorial was great!
For the ecosystem task, it took a bit longer than i anticipated and was in fact much harder than the plant defense. I used 40min and managed to keep the ecosystem alive. Some pointers for all you out there reading the comments to gain a better understanding of the test.
1. Prioritize the animals with the highest calories provided and lowest calories needed.
2. All the animals and producers are divided into three categories based on the terrain variables. Keep an eye out for the variables that change in between species, those are the ones you should focus on. For me, that was temperature and elevation/depth.
3. Always build your ecosystem based on the steps above, but do not forget to sort in which animals get eaten by each other. If you have a producer that is not eaten by anyone, it simply does not add value to the ecosystem, and that's a negative.
4. The Imbellus game tracks everything you do, so show what you are thinking to the game, and show YOUR process to find the answer. It is nice to calculate on the side, but show them that you screen for information. If you do everything on pen and paper, how can they tell if your process was good?
5. Write a full overview in excel of all the producers, what they get eaten by, and calories in vs calories out. This makes it easier to change the ecosystem if you do something wrong the first time.
For the plant defense task, I got 22-25-34, but think I could have done better. I did not use much terrain, only defenders like animals. Focus on deploying then in NSEW of the plant you defend. Read what the defender's abilities are, important. Show the game that you read the guidebooks, and screen for all needed info, as I think this is important in their valuation as well. Place defenders in every direction, plan ahead and see patterns.
Hope this is of some assistance to everyone. Go get it!
How can you tell a producer will not be eaten?
@@jalomel06it says in the description, what animals eats what producer. Have that in mind while following the eating rules.
so it is allowed to open Excel spreadsheet on your screen? If yes, it would be much helpful.
@@overjune Nothing is prohibited, but if it is wise, that is hard to say. The score is based upon both your results, but also your process. Meaning that the Imbellus program tracks your every move, so exiting the screen to use excel is not wise, as they will see that you interfere with another program mid-test. I used a separate computer for my calculations and made some templates beforehand.
@@leandeer ah, got it! I was thinking of using a separate computer. Thanks a lot for the tips. I am going to take the test soon, wish me luck, and I hope you can pass this round as well.
Thank you so much for the tutorial! I took the test a few days after this video was uploaded and have been extended an offer to join the firm as a Business Analyst, when I graduate next year :)
Big congratulations^^. Would you mind sharing a little experience and a few insights?
P/S: for privacy, please email us at support@mconsultingprep.com and we will reply.
Hi, could let me know how you prepared besides watching this video? I really would like to pass it as well but I've always been bad at these tests...
@@niiniimiinii I hardly had a few days to prepare for the test and I discovered this video at the very last moment, so I honestly didn't get to practise or learn anything more. I really found three tips very helpful though:
1) Skimming through the data to eliminate useless data points at the very beginning of the ecosystem game. This actually helps a lot because you automatically get to eliminate around 150 data points if you look closely enough.
2) In the ecosystem round, it really helps if you create a rough food web, even if it takes you more time. Also, working from the top-down, actually helps, because there are fewer apex predators as compared to producers, which actually helps you eliminate a lot of species very quickly!
3) Overlapping your defences, as tightly as possible in the plant defence game. This actually does work! I was foolish enough to not do this in the first level, so I barely survived about 15 rounds. In the next two levels, I made it to round ~30 and ~50 respectively!
Hi Soulsynth, I just took the test as well. Can I ask you a couple of questions? are there any steps besides this test? and in how many days did McKinsey reply to you? Thanks
@@anibalmartinpachecocaldero8768 Hey, so I am still an undergrad which means McKinsey came to our campus for recruitment. I was actually given a week long window within which I could take the test at any point. Also, I didn't get an official pass or fail email after my PSG, and instead got an email with the dates for my upcoming interviews.
For off-campus recruitment, the timeline might differ.
I did the PSG test yesterday (got Ecosystem and Red Rock Study games, separate time clocks) and wanted to share my experience since the other comments helped me quite a bit. My preparation basicially began around 4 hours before the exam and mainly consisted of watching this video twice and look through the comments. I saw preparation tools/guides etc. online particularly for the PSG which sold for over 200 USD which in my opinion are not necessary and rather a waste of money but hey, if money isn't a problem it certainly wouldn't affect your performance negatively. Here are some details regarding the games:
1. Ecosystem (coral reef): As often suggested in this comment section I took the bottom-up approach and started finding the group of producers with the same depth and temperature requirements which provided the most calories. Then with a prepared excel sheet on a separate laptop I listed all the species fitting the required conditions my producers needed including the most important details. From there on I just prioritized the species with higher cal provided/lower cal needed and made sure that they eat/get eaten by the other producers/species. Though it can become pretty messy with all the data it generally is quite straightforward and after around 30min I had a 3-3-1-1 working ecosystem and got the three green checkmarks after completing it. I highly recommend using either a pen and paper or excel sheet to gather all the compatible species and their most important info. Also be aware that certain species might have similar names (e.g. "common angelfish" and "dark blue angelfish") so don't get them messed up.
2. Red Rock Study: I didn't prepare at all for the Red Rock Study and pretty much had no idea what it is about. The good news is that you don't really need to prepare for it. I had two parts with the first one being a study you conduct where you will be provided with some information and questions mainly requiring small calculations and a final report summarizing your findings. You will be provided with a "Journal" which you can use to save certain information with drag and drop from the report provided to answer the questions. Make sure to get all the information before going into the final report because you won't be able to go back. This is not the case for the questions, there you can go back anytime. The second part was 6 small cases/questions unrelated to the study where you just have to conduct some basic calculations. Generally it's rather simple and I would argue that if you are familiar with a bit of math there's no need to prepare for the Red Rock Study.
I think I did pretty well throughout the whole assessment but I'll let you know as soon as I hear back from recruitment.
Let me know if you have any questions, good luck! :)
can you please send me the excel sheet?
hi there, it would be extremely helpful if u can tell me what your approach was to creating the excel sheet prior to the test
Hi i took the test today and did poorly on the ecosystem, there are topics that aren't covered much in the video .
1.) you need to concentrate more in the location where the species grows, only a few species grows on the correct location.
After building the food chain, i found out that different species grows on different location.
2.) don't waste more time on selecting the species, use time wisely.
Thank you for this video - I took the PSG today and this was one of the only useful resources I came across in terms of "preparing" for the PSG. I watched your video 2-3 times and used the note taking strategy, and also the plant defense strategy.
How did you find the game so far?
Just finished my PSG an hour ago. Thank you soooooo much for this great tutorial!!! By following all the tips in this video and on the website, it's really easy to crack PSG. Especially for the ecosystem game, it is not as hard as I thought. By following the tips, it is obvious to know which species group to choose without a second thought. For the plant defense game, the pattern is predictable and the strategy is really straightforward, so easy one I would say. I made 3 maps over 35 moves in the end.
* Result updated: HR reached out to me after 1 hr and said I aced the PSG with a really impressive score. It is all thanks to this video. Again, thank you very much!!!!!
Congrats! Would you mind elaborating what strategy did you use in the defense game?
@@rodrigovargas3400 Hi, I placed the strong defenders around the plant and overlapped their defense range.
Did you use a top down approach or bottom up approach for species? What species did you use and why?
hello dear can you guide me for this psg..i get mail on 14th november and deadline of psg is 28th november
Hello, can you please explain the strategy of plant defense game
Thank you so much for this video. It was extremely helpful and informative, helped me quite a lot for my actual PSG.
Just received the confirmation of Passing the Round (PSG) Test from Mckinsey and Scheduling the next round. Thank You for the video, Amazing
Just completed my PSG. Wanted to echo everyone's sentiment of how helpful this video is!
Yesssss
Hi, congratz on passing the test! Would you have any more tips to give me besides those in the video? I will pass it in a couple of days. :)
This is the most usefull PSG information I have ever heard. Thank you!
I think so too^^… Just kidding. Glad you like it^^.
Welp I took my test today! Your tips helped for the ecosystem part, thank you!
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I took my test today. Fingers crossed whilst waiting for my result / feedback!
Just finished the game and I don't know how to thank you enough, I wouldn't have ben able to understand the first game without this video!! and the second game is easier than it seems and I actually had fun playing it! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE and thank you so much for this video.
I think this is a MUST watch video for anyone taking the test.
did u pass?
Thanks for this guide, indeed the best prep for this game existent, I really appreciate your work. As for the tips:
In ecosystem building remember that not necessarily the producers with highest callories are the best - sometimes one of the most sufficient is eaten by no animal - therefore worthless. Having chosen producers focus on what they are eaten by and draw a tree starting with most calories provided in the layer. Don't spend too much time on following the data - just elevation/depth should be sufficient and then follow calories only. As from what I observed, the game can be solved with more than one ecosystem - even in one category of producers. Most important is not to overlook any species - even if it looks useless at first glance (very low cal provided and high cal needed) it might be crucial later on, especially on the first level above producers.
Regarding the second game - Invasive species - observe pattern the animals follow - I think the best is to secure straight lines like North/South and West/East from the plant, I wasted too much resources making full circle around. When you get new defender at the end - use it, most likely it will be most powerfull one. Don't build your defense too close the plant (that's what I did). If area covered by predators overlaps with plant then you waste precious square of predator power. Survived 32,~25,33 rounds, passed :)
What do you mean by securing straight lines?
@@jasonmarcellus he means securing the axes perpendicular to the plant
I've just finished the PSG. It was very challenging, but I've got to say that I prepared the test like A LOT. I did an excel sheet and diagrams and printed them out to fill them in during the test.
My approach: On my excel sheet, first I wrote down first the 9 producers, with depth, temperature, cal needed, cal provided and eaten by. It takes time, but it's an excellent way to see data clearly. In the end, you'll have three groups with three producers each. I chose one of those groups, based on the highest cal provided. After that is kinda easy, cause you just have to rule out the fishes that don't match the depth and temperature criteria. I stuck in front of me a sheet that had the most important rules: 1) who eats first (more cal provided) 2), what fishes get eaten first (the one with more cal provided), 3)and lastly the species that survive are the one that end up with cal needed at 0 and cal provided > 1. You can't forget those.
Another tip: use 2 laptops (or screens) to solve the game. On one screen the PSG running, on the other screen your excel sheet.
The second mini-games were kinda strange, I couldn't count the number of moves that took to get the plant eaten, but I don't think I nailed it at all.
Good luck everyone, and thanks for the little tips and comments I read on this video.
After 3 days I got an email saying I've passed the test!! yeeeiiii
Chao!
Thank you so much for providing helpful tips. Would it be possible for you to share your excel sheets?
Can we switch screens?
Was this for an intern or full-time? Applying to the business analyst position
do you have a copy of youre excel sheet
@@mustafamufti8596 absolutely, have you got an email?
Thank youu so much for this great guidelines, always have a nice days for you and your team
The video helped a lot, thank you for posting. My advice is focus more on the prep for the ecosystem than the plant defence. The ecosystem needs a system for you to sift through the data and relevant points in a systematic way otherwise you'll lose a lot of time and effort. I don't think I got a system that worked but I also don't have the results so maybe that was the aim.
Plant defence - chiefly, plan for the future. The advice in the video is spot on!
I think the only thing you care to prepare for would be familiarity with the scenarios and some general rules. Like many others are saying you can't really prepare or improve a certain measured competency because it's SO nuanced of a game from one candidate to the next.
I just took the PSG (06/23/22) and out of everything on the internet (unpaid/free) this was the most useful video!!! I believe I passed the test and would recommend just sticking with this video!! Good luck!
Thanks for these great insights! Did you get invited to interview?
This is the most helpful prep breakdown by far! I just completed mine earlier today, and having that total breakdown system of how to do the calories was by far the most helpful learning tool ever. I was able to achieve all of my species to successfully live, and the tips for the second game help. I made it to round 32 on my first round ever.
Hi, Congratz on passing the test. Could you please tell me, once you choose the location by looking at the producers characteristics (temperature and depth), then you looked at the apex predators with the lowest calories needed and with the same characteristics as the location, then you start coming down to their food source and so on? Is it better to choose an apex predator that has two food sources etc? I didn't fully understand the
Top-bottom approach since we already choose the producers for the location... And for the defense game, did you overlap the defense? And does the game tell you which defense is better against a specific predator? Thank you so much for your help
Hi Savage, big congrats on making it to turn #32 on the first map. Would you please share your experience with the game? This is important for us to further improve the Simulation product to better help future candidates.
forms.gle/9m5fXjZcYwvtVa3q7
Much appreciated! ^^
@@MConsultingPrep Do you have an email? Would like to talk to someone about my total experience better, and the outcome of what could be next?
@@ZackSav397 I have my PSG scheduled within few days can you share some insights ? it would be really helpful.
Please email us at support@mconsultingprep.com
Just finished the PSG!!!
Have to say it was very much doable, i prepared by watching this video twice the evening before and had scrap paper during the test.
I think i took 24min for the food chain (mainly bc i thought i didnt have enough time lol) and finished the defense rounds with 25/16/50
Tips ecosystem: 1. Find the producer set u want 2. abbreviate the weird names and sort through the species that fit 3. Go from the apex predator
Tips tower defense: use the defenders, u have enough! Wish i knew lol
Thank you for the tutorial!! Was an amazing explanation. Although I was not given the plant defence game and something else was there to replace it.
Just completed the assessment (Ecosystem and invasion). Thanks a bunch for the video AND the simulation package. Just following the video would not have been enough for me and investing in the package was definitely worth it. I recommend practicing and getting into a routine. Again Thanks!
That's wonderful to hear. Thank you for the nice compliment^^
Hello! Did you pass it?
can you give me your insta or any social media? i want to ask couple of questions about simulation package one on one
Tip for Ecosystem Building:
- Start by recording the calories provided of producers - then choose the three producers that have the highest sum calories and have same conditions.
- Scroll through the rest of the animals to find the species with the same conditions - record its calories, food source, and eaten by - YOU ONLY NEED TO LOOK AT ONE CONDITION, USUALLY ELEVATION/DEPTH
Its always refreshing to experience excellent service. That's exactly what your channel stand for. MConsulting Prep is almost too good to be true. Thank you and keep it up!
Super video!! Best i have seen so far!!
I would like to know more about exchanging field reports with the partial access to the game, thankss
Hello guys. I passed the PSG yesterday. I never comment on TH-cam but this video + the comments gave me a lot of information, so my turn now:
1/ I bought the MConsulting Prep game. The design is almost the same as the real game and is very useful for training and understanding PSG.
2/ For the ecosystem, it's almost the same interface, the only difference being that the "calories needed" and "calories supplied" columns are opposite in McK's.
3/ Still for the ecosystem, the 3 producers with the highest calories didn't allow me to obtain an 8-species ecosystem, so I opted for the second group of producers with the highest calories and it worked perfectly, so beware, the group of producers with the highest calories isn't necessarily the one to take. It's important to take this eventuality into account!
4/ Selecting the location is super-easy: just select temperature, ph, wind speed and elevation. What's more, you just need to find a location that matches elevation and temperature, as ph and wind speed will always fall between the rows, no matter which location you select.
5/ I didn't get the plant defense but the Redrock study. As it says in the MConsulting Prep, you can guess the start when you have a 31-minute stopwatch, as these are 2 separate stopwatches and not a single 71-minute one as for the ecosystem + plant defense. It would appear that the Redrock study is now replacing Plant Defense, but this needs to be confirmed with other participants.
6/ Redrock's study is 10x easier than those given in MConsulting Prep. These are basic calculations on the growth of variations, but beware of time. I didn't have time to finish (I was on the last question and still doing calculations when the page closed automatically).
7/ the spreadsheet is useful for Redrock because some questions ask for the median/node/average of 31-column tables, so easier with a spreadsheet 😆
Good luck to you all!
Hi, how can you differentiate the highest second group of producers from the first one. What strategy worked for u pls😢
This is the best tutorial ever!!! Thank you so much for doing this! Just completed Solve/PSG and it was really great. I completed the ecosystem task in 26 minutes and still had 16 minutes left after I was done with the entire assessment.
Tips for future test takers:
1. Watch the video as many times as possible.
2. Read the comments, I repeat read the comments. It will help in forming a strategy to help you complete the task in time.
3. Don't stress. The video said it would be overwhelming at first and it's true. Make sure you do something relaxing before taking the test.
4. Overestimate the diffcult level of this assessment, it will help you prepare extensively.
5. Follow the advice of having a scratch paper or excel sheet in hand(I personally prefer the scratch paper). That is literally your brain.
6.Finally, if you are building from bottom up, pick the producers with high calories provided and low calories needed.
Again, thank you so much for this!!!
Hi Zainab, Thank you for your tips. For eco-system building, did you structure it top-down or bottom-up?
After how long did they answer you?
I'm just from doing the test! Thanks so much for this tutorial.
The most useful intel I got from the tutorial is:
1. Using a pen and paper instead of excel. Personally, I write faster.
2. Bottom up strategy. Producers first.
3. There's a lot of noice in the data. Find the most relevant, using two data points.
4. Don't obsess over calorie calculation. Ensure you have the 8 species first, create a rough pyramid structure with the template shown in this video and estimate the calories. If you have more than 10 minutes left after selecting the location, then you can do the calculations.
I've found it very helpful. Most importantly, the comments people left are even more helpful since it provided more recent info for me. I didn't bother with the Plant defence section since I was sure they'd bring the RedRock study as people stated in the comment section. The ecosystem builder section is definitely easier than the redrock bit. I'd advise you polish up on percentage calculation and probability. I guess you shouldn't be worried about completing the study section, I haven't come across someone who has. I think it's more useful to do the ones that you do correctly.
Nice introduction to the PSG. Starting on this now. Thanks.
Great video!
I have a question. Is there an amount of individual species placed in the ecosystem (say 30 snakes or 50 nuts as per your example)? Does this affect our calculations or we should reason on a one-to-one ratio?
Thanks again for uploading this useful content!
Just finished a couple of minutes ago (Copenhagen office). I got the Ecosystem and the invasive species games. For the ecosystem, I recommend starting bottom-up and to initially decide on a set of conditions that you will proceed with (I chose elevation 481-1250, and temperature 6 - 12,5 as my guiding principles). For the animals, I looked only at the ones that would eat my choice of producers - and to decide between multiple, I calculated the ration between calories provided and calories needed in order to select the best candidates. I finished this with roughly 40 minutes remaining.
For the invasive species game, I messed up in the first round - note that different terrains only affects SELECTED invasive species, not all. For the first round, I made it to about 16. For the next two rounds, I made it to 28 and 36 turns
Thank you for the insights. Hope you get a good result ^^
Hi Tobias, I really wanted some more tips on the actual test, can we connect on instagram please? I had some questions as to how exactly to go about creating the ecosystem.. please, thanks
Hey Tobias, I would be happy to hear some more tips, can we connect over Instagram of Email? thank you in advance
Dear,
I have an upcoming assessment test based on McKinsey's problem-solving game, and I would greatly appreciate your guidance and advice. As someone with experience working at McKinsey, I believe you could provide valuable insights into approaching this type of test. Any support you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Please let me know if you have time to connect in the coming days.
Thank you
@@naurahanazhar Could you please tell me about your test? my test in two days and I'm frustrated
Made a promise to myself that I’ll leave a comment since other comments have helped me so much while prepping.
For ecosystem, I got the mountain. DEFINITELY have an Excel model prepared (I used another computer but honestly think a paper would work better for drawing which eat which first). Came out with a 1-1-1-3-3 and pretty sure they all survived :).
Some tips: started by producers => see which components change (mine was elevation & temperature) => group them and choose whichever group you prefer => choose animals based on the producers and work upward => remember to double check the animal you choose fit the location specifications.
My second task is RedRock research (I was low-key hope for the tree defense tbh). My tips are to practice mental math and takes note on another paper.
Hope this help :-) Goodluck everyone!!!
Just gave the online assessment test. NGL had I not came across this video I would have tanked the eco system test. My only prep for tht assesment has been this video and reading few other articles online. I wanted to register for courses here but I was tight on time. Finger cross. I really don't have much expectation but I tried. 😭 Plus when I was checking their home page they were telling no need to prep and I thought interesting but thank God I did some research online and I was atleast mentally prepared. Here is how I did it. I made notes from this video and I knew the structure of the eco system. In my mind, it clicked what are the basic components for survival of the eco system and I did it in my head. I do recommend to use a pen and a paper to write down some basic strategy you would want and altitude better decide on it early so you could have some more time to look at the producers and species.
Just finished my PSG a while ago. Let me just say that this video is extremely helpful! It prepares you ahead of time on what to expect at least. I got the ecosystem and the invasive tower games. Unfortunately I was far behind time on the ecosystem and messed up quite a bit on the aspects of herbivores that will consume my choice of producers. I mistakenly included herbivores that provided less calories to my list. So be very mindful of calories needed and calories produced. If you know what you’re doing, I believe you’ll ace this section. The invasive tower game was really ok and that took me a shorter time to finish compared to the ecosystem game. Now, I wish I had spent a bit more time on that to do the calculations correctly 😩.
All the best to anyone looking to take this test soon :-).
Thank you for the nice comment. Really good advices. Wish you the best result. ^^
@edna Did you pass?
@@bongkulele7124 didn’t get anything that said passed or failed but I was called for the next round of interview.
If one animal provided calorie to another animal, do you assume both can survive?
@@rosalyn1118 how many days are you given for this game? THANKS
I just finished taking the PSG today and this video was really useful! I watched this video yesterday to prepare. Based on the info here I made up some fake scenarios for the food chain & invasive species games, which helped warm my brain up a little bit for the game. I guess I’ll find out if it went well soon, but overall felt pretty comfortable after watching this! Thanks.
Wao that's a way to go^^. Remind me of myself 10 years ago, preparing for the PST without any materials. I ended up writing a few "fake" tests just to let my mind warm up a little bit. Those "fake" tests turned out to be something much bigger.
How'd it go? Did you pass?
@@kurtgidley9464 @MConsulting Prep Hey! Yes, I passed the game, made it through interviews, and got the job! Overall, resources from this channel were a huge help and assisted me in becoming adequately prepared with limited time (:
Hey Kella, I have my PSG tomorrow, can you help me with the prep of it?
@@kells8229 Congrats!!
I have just completed the game. This video was very helpful and it helped me to prepare adequately for the game. I did well in the ecosystem game but the plant defense game didn't go so well. I didn't even understand how the time just ended.
I'm going to give test now. Thank you for your insightful video.
I have just been invited to the final stage of the interview process for my dream job ( final 2 interviews ) at McK, after successfully completing all the previous steps, including the PSG with a "very good" score (according to the recruiter). I just wanted to thank you for this video which helped me so much. Goodluck to everyone applying!
Did you buy the practice from their website or you just watched this video? Because this video seems very helpful but I am not sure If I should buy the practice course?
Nice, but did you bought the course? Or how did you practiced?
@@ankurrrrrrrrr I did not buy the course. Just watched the video and read up on some posts about people's experiences of playing the PSG. I used the advice to create an excel sheet that makes calculations easier in terms of calorie intake etc. Also strategizing beforehand: top-down or bottom-up approach (I chose the latter because it makes more sense to me). The game really isn't that complex if you watch this video 2-3 times. I finished the first game (ecosystem) in about 15 minutes and the second one in about 20 minutes (tower defense).
@@maartenkorving Hey man! Could you share ur excel sheet with me? Would really appreciate it!
Can you please share your excel sheet with me please? I have a test coming up
Thank you so much for the video . This gives an in-depth idea of what can be expected in the McKinsey PSG . I followed the Bottom up approach in Ecosystem and got a balanced chain of 3-3-1-1
3 producers providing the maximum calories as the base .
For Plant defense , used an inside out approach and got scores of 32, 7 , 53 in three rounds respectively.
I had high hopes of progressing considering my scores but unfortunately I got email saying I did not progress further . I hope this gives everyone a perspective of how McKinsey selects candidate.
How long did they take to email you? I did the text on Friday,I'm yet to receive an email
@polar amondi, did you receive your answer?
Hi Riten, thank you for your compliment and I'm sorry to hear that you cannot make it into the next round. I am very impressed with your scores and thanks for your insights for others
Thank you for uploading this video,it really helped with the PSG game i solved today.I was well prepared and took valuable pointers from this video.
The best one in the TH-cam! If you are here, you are sorted. Good luck.
Yessss I am hereeeeee ^^.
Literally finished my game a couple of minutes ago and I wanted to come back here to share my experience. IThis video was very helpful, so hopefully, my insight can help someone else. Thankfully, I passed the ecosystem building.
1. I started bottom up, so I looked at the producers and grouped them by the variable that's changing (in this case it was temperature and elevation), this left me with three groups of three.
2. Then, I added all of the calories provided and I started with the group that gave the most calories.
3. Now, each producer had a specific animal that could eat it, and I only took down the name, calories needed, and calories givven per animal. The rest of the animals, were noise!
4. Once I got my animals, I made sure each animal only needed less than what the producer could give.
5. I did the same process and just worked on top of those animals, which led me to an apex animal.
6. I was short of one, so I just tacked on a producer.
I can't give much tips on the plant defense since I didn't do so hot, the numbers flashed way too fast, but I know I stopped at 20s. It took me a while to get it, but I got around 30s in the last one!
Good luck to anyone who's taking it!
Did you have an exact time to start the game or did they gave you a range in which it should be finished?
@@hoho459 You have to choose the time slot to take it, and then you go back to that window and refresh it once it’s time
@@aglioeoilo thank you for the tips. Did you use some spreadsheet for the game? How and when did you select the location? and did you notedown all the animals ?
Please I am happy. I will appreciate if you can teach me this. I bought the product and finding it difficult. I can pay you to teach me. Can you help?
@@priyankanair7504 are you on IG? SHARE your handle I can contact you
Thank you for the video! I am taking the test today :)
Best of luck on the test ^^.
Hi! How long before you here from them?
Hi Minghui did you hear from them? How long did it take?
Just now I finished PSG, it was great experience for me, and this tutorial helped me alot. In Ecosystem placement, while species selection my window stopped, after technical chat advise that problem was solved, but that time I got tensed and i have selected species randomly but according to food chain as explained in this vedio, did not exactly used data given for select location, I thought after placement there have more steps to complete the first tast, so did not use enough time!!
In plant defense, hope I did well...
This was super helpful!! Thank you so much for the heads up on how to prepare. You are making dreams come true! I just completed mine and I used up all the time but hoping I did well enough! Grazie mille
How did it turn out for you? Did you advance to the interview stage of the process?
Recently finished the PSG Game and this tutorial was extremely helpful! I got the jungle ecosystem, and had to create a food chain. I used the things I learned from this video and the comments to form a strategy. I first grouped the producers into where they could live on the map. Then I selected the producer group which the most producers and highest calories. From there I built up the food chain. However, nearing the end I missed one species, I had a food chain of 7, and needed to select 8 species. I chose to put in a fourth producer, instead of a carnivore/predator that would not be eaten by others. This would still give the 7 species chance of surviving.
I spent 45 min on the first game.
The second game I used the strategy of overlapping the defences around the plant. As outlined in other comments. This worked well. I had limited time, but it was sufficient to finish the game.
I got the result a couple of days later and I passed! Against expectations, due to the time pressure, and the first game not going as planned.
Good luck to everyone doing the PSG :)
Hello, I too took the test 2 days back , can you tell me what will be the time gap between the test and the result ?
@@safdershakil2401 hi! I had the result after a week
Would you mind if I reach and discuss your approach in further details.
I have done once the bottom top approach and it didn’t work out with me; even though I have purchased the game. Can I contact you if possible?
@@ahmedmoharam2778 hello Ahmed ,
can you support with what you saw in the purchased game
@@cateauroos8038 Hey, I got email I had completed the assessment game. However the next steps will take time as the applications process timeline is March for my city. Is it similar communication ?
Thanks a lot for the great insight through the Tutorial. this really helps in sorting the ecosystem.
I finished my PSG a couple of hours ago and would like to share it. I was given a hill for the Ecosystem and the tower defense game. I had 8 conditions to filter onto I. e. Elevation, Temp. Wind speed, Soil Ph, Humidity, Cloud height, Precipitation, and Air pressure. While analyzing, I noticed that only Elevation and Temperature are relevant Wind speed and Soil Ph is the same, and none of the species gives the data for the remaining 4 conditions hence 6/8 conditions were sheer noise. I start scrolling through the Produces first (I chose elevation 481-1250 and temperature 7 - 12,5 as my guiding principles). Post selection of the Producer, I jump to find the Herbivorous, Predators, and Apex.
Interestingly I was focused mainly on energy sorting (But I noticed, Apex eats only one of the Predators; both predators eat specific Herbivorus, and one of the Herbivorus eats one specific Producer). Hence I had 7/8 sorted, and later I added a third Producer that was suitable for the conditions to grow but missing any Herbivorus that can consume it. Hence total of eight species. Not sure if the setup is correct or not, Mck will tell later, but it satisfies all the requirements.
I completed the Ecosystem game in 30 minutes. having 41 minutes in Hand, I jumped onto the tower defense.
I took 15 minutes for the first round and ended up in 28 steps.
I'm not sure how, but I ended up with 12 steps for the second round, finished in 8 minutes, and 24 steps for the third round in 12 minutes, and, this way, I completed the complete game cycle in 65 minutes.
Overall the game is interesting to play. Enjoy the Game.
Got the Outcome #Not selected, need to apply after 12-18 months. Good luck to all.
Did you pass the test?
Thank you for this video sharing, my past week are busy seeking video references regarding this game and I think this is the best video among others on TH-cam because it shows an example which almost 90% similar to the actual game.
I just took the test a few hours ago, and I got my time consumed by the ecosystem test for more than 30 minutes because I messed up with the framework upon solving the tests whether top down or bottom up. I just realized in the middle of the game, I can go by selecting a certain environment which you will go to, go by top down method, filter the animals based on top predator's prey, and so on until you can map all the ecosystem from top predator to the producers. as a little tip, don't be panic if you spend the time in first game more than the suggestion, just focus on your tasks and complete it. Sadly I got failed because one of the animals do not have enough calories, even though I could complete the second game.
Hope you guys will succeed in these tests!
Hi Sulaiman, I took the test on tuesday the 11th and till now I don't know whether I failed or not. Is it given immediately in game or did you recieve an email?
This is amazing 💣 Thank you very much for the great work and making it available for free!
Glad you like it! Though I have to admit we operate on the freemium model ^^.
Thank you so much for this brilliantly informative video about PSG. I just completed the test and got the ecosystem building and plant defense games and was able to solve them both because of this video.
I had received the mountain system and sed the bottom up approach in ecosystem and used your excel template. First, I glanced through the producers and figured out the two criteria that were changing and the rest were constant and put the information of all the producers in the sheet and divjded them in 3 buckets. I chose the one with the highest calories and eaten by most no. Of animals. I put a lot of importance to the second criteria. And selected the location compatible with specs of the producers.Then I started looking at species compatible with my chosen producers and built a chain of 8 animals ( 3 producers, 3 herbivores, 2 predators) which I then submitted . The ecosystem worked out perfectly and I was able to build it in the first go in 18 minutes.
For the plant defense game, I overlapped my all resources tightly around the plant.
I used the defenders with the short range but powerful attack closest to the plant followed by defenders with long range. I arranged the terrains in a manner that it slowed down the invaders to the maximum and took advantage of the map placing to create a solid defense. I had 37, 45 and 53 turns in all the three maps. Hope I pass on to the next level.
Thank you so much again for this valuable video. Indebted to you all :)
Hi, did you get any mail or reply for the next round? Please let me know. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing your experience! This is very useful Unnati
It was for an event. I got in :)
@@unnatinarsaria6107 I have my PSG tomorrow, can you help plz?
@@AkanshaVerma hey how did you test went did u pass?
Just finished the assessment. Id like to reach out and say thank you to the author of this video as without it my ecosystem would not have worked. I utilized the same template as showed in the video and successfully completed the ecosystem in 18 minutes. I also have to say thank you to Tobias Andersen´s comment, as he pointed out that it is smart to pick location before animals. This is crucial as it will eliminate probably around 75% of your options of animals up front (less data to worry about).
For the second part I actually got the mini-game "animal migration", and not the "plant defense" game which was the one I had prepared for. The game is very straight forward and I focused on having as many animals as possible when exiting, and just have the required amount of resources. I do advice to pain close attention to which resource that you choose to save, sometimes it is smart to choose a non-essential resource so that it doesn't hit 0 by the time you exit the map - on the other hand, you sometimes have to do this by saving the essential resource so that you can exit the map with no punishment. Ultimately, I finished the assessment with 22 min left.
Hi Andy, thank you for the nice comment. Would you please get in touch with us. We have no way to contact you unless you contact us first. ^^
support@mconsultingprep.com
facebook.com/MConsultingPrep/
Hey can you help me personally to just get clear with some doubts
@@ketankajava9673 sure what are ur questions. It has been several months since I took the assessment and I did not advance, but if I can help I’m more than willing to.
Thank you so much for sharing PSG tips
Hello ! Thanks for the video, very helpful, do you know if it is necessary to have all four levels in your ecosystem?
I just finished the PSG and honestly it was tough. I did great, but the first simulation was more difficult than expected. You really cant prepare for an exam like this tbh. I think my ecosystem was sustainable, it said "task completed" with a small simulation. The second part was relatively easier, finished with 37 moves, 19 moves, and 26 moves respectively. good luck to all!
will you please give some tips for second part(tower defence). As What I have heard is we only have 5 moves at a time. Will you please tell what stratergy can we use?
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Thank you! helps a lot.
One thing I notice for an invader game is making good use of the big ROCKs. Those can entirely block the paths of the entrance.
Remember, The goal is to not get a plant invaded. Not necessarily to kill invaders.
Ecosystem, again, the goal is to ensure all species survive, to have enough calories remain and to get the required calories.
So, it doesn't necessarily mean all of the species need to be interconnected. I made a chain that is 5 steps long, and a pair, and just added a single producer that will survive on its own, without needing to be consumed.
Hope I pass.
Thanks for your comment, nice insight! Let us know if you passed, fingers crossed!
Hello! Did it help you?
Win, we would love to know if your approach helped you pass the game. Any updates?
Many thanks for such an insightful video, i just completed the test, and this video was really helpful.
Thanks everyone for the tips, specially the yt channel. I just finished my exame, I have no idea if I did it well. Just that in the final map of the second game I did 38.
Just finished couple of minutes ago. This video is a lifesaver. The first test can be coped with the excel spreadsheet. The turn based requires some practicing. I would recommed that if you never played this kind of games, try to practice! Thank you to the authors.
Glad it helped! After all, practice is still the key to success in many things in life ^^.
Can you please send me your excel sheet? this would be really helpful thank you
Hi Gabriela. Is there any game that you can recommend for turn based?
I just finished mine. It was pretty fun tbh and this video turned out to be extremely helpful. I think my ecosystem was pretty alright. In most cases only one parameter matters, for me it was the depth.
The second game was easier imo.
My scores were 35-27-41.Try overlapping the defenses as much as possible , it worked well for me.
Did you used excel or paper to take notes for the first game?
Will you please give some tips for second game. What startergy you used?
What do you mean when you say: "Try overlapping the defenses as much as possible"?
@@michaelmerheb8222 Hey Michael. Every defense weapon has its range of destruction. By overlapping I meant, to place them closer so that a particular place would have the destructive effect of one or more weapons. All the best!
How did you get your scores??? I didn't see anything just lot of animals, plant on the field in the ecosystem
This video was highly recommended, I took the PSG with these steps. Thank you thank you
Hii, I just finished mine and would like to really thank you for this video, the first task you definitely be impossible wihtout having this inofmration in advance. I finished it in 25 minutes and took 5 minutes to double-check all my results. For the second task, it's really not very time limiting, 12 minutes is more than enough. Try to think of pattens the animals are making when coming in, but more importantly, how protectors work together. I got results of approximately 33, 27, and 65 moves!
I just finished my game a few moment ago and this video has been exremely helpful!!
Game 1 Ecosystem: thanks to this video and your blog I was totally prepared and jumped right into it. I started bottom up and categorized the providers into 3 groups based on temperature and elevation (the factors that have varied between the animals). I firstly chose the group that produced the most calories but quickly realized that I cant find a good match with the next group of animals in the food chain so I went with the second producers group. In the end I had 3 providers, 3 regular animals and 2 predators.
Game 2 Redlock: this is the game that Kim mentions in his blog, a relatively new game so I couldnt prepare for this one as much as for the ecosystem. The game has 2 parts: study and cases. Study is where you get a text with highlighted data and then choose the data which is relevant for your research. It was very intuitive. The second part is made of 10 mini cases - some of the cases take less than 30 sec to solve. They involve choosing the right charts to represent your data, simple growth calculations, reading the tables. Most of the data thats given is pretty useless so I recommend to first read the question which is usually at the end of the case and then look at the data presented. You’ll be much faster when you know what you are looking for.
General: I had a second laptop next to me with excel opened but honestly I didnt need it much. I only used it for adding and subtracting the calories in the first game. But I used paper to collect data for animals (I drew a quick tables for providers to organize the animals better) and to draw my food chain pyramid which was really helpful. For the second game I didn’t need anything - the calculator was given in the game.
All in all this was my first time playing the game and one of my first consulting assessments so I really want to thank you Kim for making these videos! Discovering your channel was pure blessing!
To all the other candidates good luck with the game! And don’t stress about it, look at it as it actually is - a game. It will be much more engaging doing so 😄
Wow, amazing. I hope you will do well. I am taking it today in about 12 hours, but I am super scared of Redrock, most of people I know failed it. Did u have enough time to do at least 5 cases?
@@TheGarry1212 Thank you! I am seeing your comment a bit late, how did it go?
I did all the cases but I am pretty sure that I didnt answer all of them correctly. At the end I was just tired and had to read the questions mutiple times so I am not sure how their AI reacts to that
@@nevid4280 I did great on ecosystem. On Redrock first part I would say ok but only had 11 min left for cases and did 5, however I am sure of only 2 ☹️. But I still think I have a chance bc I have a strong CV + other people are rather shocked by Redrock and most dont even finish the first part in time / make mistakes
@Dzenana Gazibegovic Did you get a confirmation email after finishing the test?
Heyy! May I please request to share the excel - i cannot find it in the description for ecosystem game.
Thanks for the video, super informative! Gonna take the test in exactly 15 min :D
Glad it was helpful! Best of luck ^^.
Hey Kamel, i hope you did great in the test. Can you talk a bit about your experience with the test? Or do you have any more tips? Thanks in advance
@@ibrahimaldraiwiesh9383 hello my brother! So most of the tips given here in the video are priceless. As expected I had these two games: ecosystem and plant defense. The time limit is 71 mins (35 mins for ecosystem and 12, 12, 12 mins for plant defense). The Plant defense game is pretty simple you just have to read carefully the instructions and defend the plant from potential threats that will be coming at you from all sides. Hence you need to build up your defense while taking into account the fact that ennemies can come from everywhere. Similarly to the tip given here I recommend you to always have a wider vision and not only focus on one or two sides to win as much rounds as possible. Regarding the ecosystem game which in my opinion is the most challenging, my advice is to start building yours starting from the top of the food chain, the species that won't be consumed by the others. I went through all 8 apex predators to have a better approach and I had finally opted for the one which provided me with better options at the bottom of the food chain. Try to always consider the species that have the same living conditions i.e. same temperature and depth, as the latter are the only parameters that were needed. At the same time you should have your pen and spreadsheet to write down your species selection and calculate the calories.
I've spent more time on the first game like 3-4 mins more than what was recommended but I finished the whole assessment like 13-15 mins before.
Hopefully the video and our comments can help you through and wish you much luck Ibrahim.
@@kamelmohamedrahla5770 thank you brother for the tips. They were so helpful. Many thanks
@@ibrahimaldraiwiesh9383 hi brother, I have to take this test by Wednesday. How was your experience if you have already taken this test?
Great content, thanks so much for this upload! Where can I find the excel note taking sheet that other people refer to?
i have to take this test this week and bit nervous. noted down the tips from you as well as from the comments good luck to me :)
Thank you for this video, really helpful. Just want to share my experience with the PSG round.
- I have a misunderstanding about the Ecosystem game, which after filtering 3 different elevation levels then I think I have to build 3 chains of 8 animals (total 24). Therefore, I submitted the first chain after ~18 mins with the thought of just saved it to the location and came back later to check before final submission. Then I realized that I completed the first game at that point :( After the test, I came back and checked the calories chain and I was sure one of them gonna be calories insufficiency.
- For the defence game, I did really good, which I just remembered that I made it ~40 moves for the last round.
Fortunately, I got my interview round invitation email today.
=> 1. If the product score is not perfect, it's still a chance that ppl can pass the PSG => Don't be too negative (like me haha) if you made some mistake on the test, you still can have chance to pass if you perform well on the remaining.
2. I think the process score does really help since I filtered the chain very logically.
3. Name of the animals in the game is mind-blowing: super long and really hard to remember. Be prepared for that.
4. For the defence game, even when you see that there's no way the animal can reach your plan in 15 moves, just try to make it as many steps that you can as possible instead of randomly placing on the map. I think the system will count it as your result as well.
Hi NT, big congratulation to you.
1. True!
2. Would you please elaborate?
3. :(
4. Yesss.
What was asked to you in the interview? Was there case studies?
How did the interview go?
Just finished my PSG last 15 minutes ago. The ecosystem took lots of time to filter the suitable species but still make it on time. For the defense, it is pretty easy than I thought as you must watch out for any movements from the invaders then make an adjustment if needed. Overall, I had a little bit regret on the last map as I have a sense of invaders in other direction but still choose in other way. Recommend to see this video before doing PSG with useful tips 😊
how exactly do you filter the suitable species? does the game help you filter it or you have to find out on your own?
Thank you so much. This video is so underrated. I just concluded my PSG and your video really helped. Reading the comments here as well helped a whole lot. Thank you so much 🙏. I really hope I pass.
@Tami Wish you luck buddy to clear the round
I am going to appear for the test in a day. Just wanted to confirm if this test is on the same lines as shown in the video or any changes since the upload?
Thank you sooooo much for this great tutorial. I have just finished the PSG and I personally feel I’ve done it pretty well. For the ecosystem task, it took me abt 40 minutes to finish which I think I might be generally slower than most other candidates. As I did it bottom up I typed down all the producers to calculate the total amount of calories provided as well as all the species that fit my producer group. I went through my steps again and I feel the first step is not necessary. You can just calculate it without hassle😅. The second part is quite easy tho, I made it with 35, 31 and 57 respectively. Hope I can make it to the next stage!
Did u went for the second round?
@@ashwinkumarkt8554 😐
@@Radheshyam_ hey Bondkun
Thank you so much for the video. I discovered it at the last moment (hours before taking the test), and still, it helped me a lot. The ecosystem part is actually easy, as long as you identify the valuable data (usually, it is only depth, temperature, calories needed and provided); I first pick the ecosystem (or the place), then the producers, and then the species; it took me precisely 35 minutes. As for the plant defense game, I survived 37 turns on the first map, 16 on the second, and 27 on the third. It would have helped me a lot to practice a similar game (I think the simulation is pretty much like the actual game, so I highly recommend buying it), especially since I think you need more time for the plant defense game and less for the ecosystem. Still, I passed to the next stage, so if anyone needs some help, I would happily answer your specific questions.
please answer
what was ur strategy and time management approach for the two tests
@@md.masiud3495 Hi, sorry for the delay... For the first test, I first took a look at the relevant data regarding the species (usually, the only relevant data is the calories needed and provided, depth, temperature range, and, sometimes, food source; all the other things are irrelevant, so don't pay attention to them). Then, I pick up a neutral location, where I could handle placing the species that provided more calories (always prioritize the species with the highest calories provided, and the less needed); I pick up first the producers (3) and then the species. I double-check and made calculations with pen and paper; it took me 35 minutes, though I advise you to take less than 35; and the optimal time would be 25-30, because the second part is actually more challenging, and I needed a lot of time to plan y moves. As everybody says, overlap defenses, combine them and don't worry to change your strategy, you must do that a lot of times.
@@julioivansalazar9853 Hi Julio! Does the test confirm if the ecosystem works or if you passed the number of turns required?
@@julieolin1805 Hi Julie. Nope, the test does not confirm either of those things, but with the ecosystem I recommend you count on yourself and take a lot of notes. There is not a specific number of turns required, but everything above 15 is not enough; the optimal score is, I guess: 30 on the first two games and 40 turns on the third, you should aspire to those numbers.
So I took the assessment around 5 weeks ago and have now received a call from the recruiters congratulating me on passing and explaining the further steps.
I would strongly advise you to stick close to the guidelines in this video and also the post on MCsonulting Prep's website - which goes even more in-depth. Personally, I already knew exactly what to expect when I started the assessment, so I did not panic nor waste any time. I got straight into it, and finished the ecosystem part by triple-checking whether everything made sense. I also used the template and printed it out on paper to make it more streamlined.
Regarding tower defense, just make sure to keep every angle defended, and carefully read through other comments, I have found golden advice in this comment section.
Best of luck!
Hi could you please share the note taking template. Thanks:)
Hi, It's been 2 weeks since I took the test and haven't received the result yet. I almost lost my hope. And you had to wait for 5 weeks? 🙄
@@rinajain970 You can find it on the website
@@perhapsawish Hahah yes, I also lost hope at some point but I knew I did the assessment well. You can also send a follow-up email, if you think it makes sense. In my case I was applying for a BA internship next summer, so obviously they would take some time to get back to me
@@entelechy ohhh I see. Congratulations anyway🙂 Well, I have sent a follow-up email yesterday. Hope I get a response.
Thanks for sharing!
Just passed the test and agree with all the comments!
The video is soo useful and nothing changed since it has been posted!
Would you please give some tips for tower defence(2nd part of PSG)?
@@omkarkadam2012 I would recommend to take your time and calculate the damage you will inflict to the invaders when they arrive on the map
Thankyou so much for replying. I will definitely keep this in mind. And one small question in ecosystem game after selecting all producers,predators etc. Do we need to place them 1 by 1 according to depth or other parameters?.
Any other tips would also be helpful for me😅
Does it matter at which height you build the ecosystem? If not, there should be at least 3 solutions if there are producers/animals at 3 different heights?
First I need to say that your video and the instruction on your website are amazing, Thank you for them and your tips and tricks! They helped me to draw my strategy and to plan my steps for both two parts of the test.
I also got the ecosystem as well as the plant defence game. In the ecosystem, I followed the bottom-up strategy and used the excel template for listing and sorting all species. After choosing a bucket of producers who provide the most calories, I choose the place based on their needed environment. I chose the set of species with the fewest calories and ended up with a viable ecosystem of 3 producers, 3 tier 1, 1 tier 2 and 1 tier 3. At the end of the simulation of the ecosystem, I got the green checkmark that I completed all assignments. It took me 34 minutes to complete this part. The confusing part was the step that I needed to decide on the tier between the apex and my carnivores or manage the ecosystem consisting of only 2 tiers.
For the plant defence game, I considered mainly 2 tips; first, see the game in a bigger vision - for placing your defenders, do not see only one run and plan for a long run. Secondly, I overlapped my all resources tightly around the plant and I used the defenders with the short-range but powerful attack closest to the plant followed by defenders with long range. I arranged the terrains in a manner that slowed down the invaders to the maximum and took advantage of the map placing to create a solid defence. I had 37, 25 and 27 turns in all the three maps.
Now it's the time to wait for the result and see how it's going with the next level. Hope I'll get to the next step.
Wish you also fun and success in PSG.
Can't seem to find the excel template. Where do i access it?
can I have the excel sheet?
Just finished the test. The ecosystem is okay. It may seem crazy at first, but it is 'designed to work' if you take a systematic approach. Just trust the video and don't panic. Just make sure you take your time to write your notes properly instead of scribbling illegibly. There is a lot of information and you really do want your notes to be organized. Taking clear, well organized notes are worth the time. For the second part I did 15 15... then I got the hang of it and got 41 for the last trial.(I am not sure if I just lasted 15, or went beyond it didn't show how far I went past 15 except for the last trial (there is 3). It did say I did manage to buy enough time for the plant to survive so I don't think I failed it...? Anyone please comment on this if they know anything about this. The ecosystem is very fair, but for the plant defense I feel like the number of turns you can manage have largely to do with luck. Because you can't necessarily all-in your resource to one side of the map since you don't know where and when the invaders will spawn. So generally, the best strategy is to have it spread out starting from the center. However, in my case, the invaders kept spawning from one side of the map and the other half of my map wasn't even used, so I actually ended up wasting a lot of resources. Again, this is just probabilities here and I am sure all of this is taken into account by the algorithm. Hopefully I pass!
Just passed! wish me gl
Thank you Sh Lee for your feedback and congratulations!! I will do mine tomorrow but I feel very scary because I'm not sure which type of games do I have to prepare. Do you recommend any specific practice or specific game to perform before the real one??
Also How did you manage the large data in the ecosystem part? did you have a specific strategy to arrange your inputs??
Kindly, please share your thoughts on this as you recently performed the Game??
Thank You for sharing! It was great to hear that you succeded.
If you don't mind, I would like to ask a question about the ecosystem.
Given your experience do you think it's better to use a Top-down approach? I don't know if the set of rules you found was the same as this video, but it this case it clearly seems like it would be easier to keep Calories provided >0 by starting from the apex and working your way down. What do you think? Was your ecosystem similar to this? If no, how was it? What were the differences?
Thank you bery much in advance! I wish you the greatets luck for the next round!
@@shlee3088 congratulations man! Thank you for sharing. Can you tell me if when you did a right sustainable chain in the first ecosystem game did you get any notification or alert that you had done it right? Thanks you!
@@juangomez2014 I think I saw all of my species in a short animation. After you complete the game you go through a short animation of you ecosystem. If you see all your chosen species, you may assume that you are good. +I think it'd probably tell you at the end if your system failed
Hi @mconsultingprep, I wanted to ask is the PSG a part of interview process for ALL positions at Mckinsey?
Thank you for the creating the mock game as I have managed to pass the Solve test well enough to get an interview opportunity! Took the test over the weekend and heard back from the recruiter on Monday.
Just a few pointers to other takers out there. 1) The ecosystem features omnivores so it can be a little more tricky to calculate the caloric requirements. 2) Most of the animals have their calories provided lower or similar to their calories needed so not as straightforward to filter out those that would not fit in the food chain just by omitting animals that have their calories provided lower than their calories needed.
Hope this helps someone here! Good luck!
@Edwin Tan - Did you use a top-down approach or a bottom up approach for species?
@@rishiraj18 I used a bottoms-up approach from the food producers
@@dadbossedwin and how did you manage other aspects such as temperature, humidity,etc. Do they play a role ? If yes, which factors play a bigger role?
@@rishiraj18 Only temperature and elevation (as mine is the island habitat, would need to changed to depth if it is aquatic habitat) mattered from what I can recall. So just look for species that belong to the same elevation and temperature to filter down the entire list.
@@dadbossedwin Thanks.
Thank you, it was helpful. 63 rounds in the last map :)
Nice work! 4x or 5x is already impressive. Hitting 6x is really special!
@@paarthsaxena9074 Just concentrated defense in the middle :) Slowing down areas + coyots + hawks overlapping. Damage in one cell was like 180-240.
BTW don't overestimate value of this game. I had over 40 rounds in each round + completed the enviroment game with success, but I didn't prepare myself to the conversation about my experience and they rejected my candidature easily :D
Oxilles17 How much did you wait for McKinsey’s reply?
Hi, could let me know how you prepared besides watching this video? I really would like to pass it as well but I've always been bad at these tests... :/
Thanks a lot for your video! It's really useful to get an initial idea of what you can expect and mentally go through some strategies mentioned in the video and in the comments.
I just took the test and got the ecosystem(mountain) + invasive species game. The first one I tackled using the strategies widely mentioned (producer selection, bottom-up approach etc..) and finished after 30 minutes. In the invasive species game, I mainly used defenders overlapping around the plant to protect it from every direction. I barely used natural resources as I considered them to be a short-term solution for a certain attacker. Resources only affect certain species and these come from different directions and use different trajectories, so placing too many natural resources is a waste of turns IMHO. Maybe @McConsulting Prep has more insights on that.
The only situation where these could be really useful is when the map conditions allow you to completely block a wide range of trajectories, using e.g.. cliffs next to other automatically generated cliffs, to concentrate the updated trajectories in certain directions towards the plant. Then you could use overlapping defenders in these concentrated directions to produce more harm.
I managed to get 30, 33 and 45 turns in the invasive game.
Very well said ^^
Hi georgio! Under which criteria and when did you choose the location of the species? Thank you!
@@antoniotrueba3144 I clustered the different producers according to temperature and height, and then chose the one cluster with the sum of highest calories provided. From there I then chose the species with the same temperature/height requirements and started building the chain.
BTW I just got an invitation for the final rounds.
@@giorgio4804 congratulations on moving on to the final rounds!
Focusing on video, i found that there is a slight change in mentioning the right parameter, at 10:07 it should be "Nuts calories provided becomes 500" instead of "Nuts calories needed becomes 500" , just putting here to avoid any confusion. Great Video though!
I REALLY WANNA CRY😭 I just got the email that told me I passed the PSG (Solve). Thank youuu very much for sharing this video
CONGRATZZZZZ!! Best of luck on your cases!! Make sure you watch all other videos on this channel ^^
Hello putrivi! Could you please tell us what minigames did you have?
Congrats! Could you please tell me other resources you used to pass. I just got an email to do mine today. I have no clue😩
Congratulations! How did you practice? I just received the email to do it and I don’t how to prepare
took the psg today (3/11/23)
i got ecosystems and red rock
ecosystems:
this tutorial is really useful, i think excel is most useful for tabulating all creatures at your chosen depth, from there i worked with paper.
i recommend starting bottom up and first determining what depth producers has most cal provided. on my exam there was a producer that had no predators, so i knew that depth wouldn’t be good to use. next work your way up to the next layer of animals, i finished a sustainable ecosystem with 3:3:2 distribution, this test really isn’t hard if you are organized and know the eating rules
red rock:
in terms of the size of data sets given to you this is much smaller than ecosystems. be prepared to do calculations of % growth and compare different growths of different variables.
hardest question by far wanted me to select a function that would model species population growth over time.
my overall advice is label the terms you place in your side notebook clearly. time was a bigger factor on this portion, good luck
Hi, one question! Did you apply for a usa office or another country?
@@Janaina12350 usa
Any answer about the result?
Where can I find the excel
Guys, of course this would happen to me but for the first ecosystem game, I got the mountain rather than the ocean which is nothing much of difference. But of course for the second game I got one of the rare research games. I was not prepared at all for that game and even though not a lot of people get it, please do not ignore the other games, as if I had been more prepared I would have felt more confident. Ecosystem and plant defense are not the only two games.
Hi Kerren, we would love to chat with you about the other game. Would you please message us on Facebook, or shoot us an email? (we have no way of initiating the conversation with u)
Amazing tutorial. A question though! I had an animation played at the end of the ecosystem part. Does the animation represent the number of species that survived?
I just completed the test a few hours ago. Thanks to this video I finished the ecosystem building in less that 25 mins. You definitely have to use pen and paper and follow the note taking strategy suggested in this video. On the plant defense game you can not really prepare. I scored 16, 18 and 17 in the three rounds of the game which honestly I don't know if it is very good. At least I didnt fail any round. Any feedback from people who succeeded in both would be appreciated as far as when McKinsey answers and if you got in is concerned.
DId you pass on to the next level?
@@polychronis-konstantinosza5890 do Did you receive any email from Mckinsey to inform you that you did not pass?
Hello! I just wanted to leave a comment too, since I just did my PSG. The video and tips on your webpage really helped me a lot! In the first game, building an ecosystem (3 producers, 2 tiers and 1 "main, non-eaten animal"), I am very sure they all survived. i started by choosing producers (bottom-up) but quickly realized it was much better to go on with the top-down approach. After 28 minutes I realized that one tier could not be fed and therefore 3 would extinguish. I got a bit nervous but checked somewhere in between my animals, changing 2 of them. In the end, thank god, all of them could be fed. I messed up confusing the calories needed with the calories provided on my spreadsheet. In the end it took me 36 minutes.
About the second game, the plant defense, I needed much less time and managed to get 29-30-35 rounds. I think I'm ok. I will let you know as soon as I hear back from the company.
In the end I had 21 minutes left.
Again, thank you very much and good luck to all the people who are taking the assessment.
You can reach out to me privately for tips or any questions. I'd be happy to help!
HI, I have my PSG, can we please connect once?
Hi Sophie! I'm taking my exam later today; can I ask if you've ever played a game like the plant defense one before? Your results seem really high!
@@Adriation99 Hello Adriana I am so sorry, I did not see your message before. I did not, actually, but I had contact with people who did it and they gave me a lot of tips and showed me on an excel file.
How did it go??? Good? :)
@@sophiedelavilletheart6520 Hi Sophie, thank you for your comment. I'll also do the test during next days. Have you already got the result? do you have any additional tips for me? Many thanks in advance.
Thanks for the video! Question: the reason that the squirrl would skips grass and choose nut- is it because of the comparison of the remaining calory provided (3000) from the grass (after being eaten by mouse) is lower than calory provided (4000) from nuts (havent been eaten yet)? Thanks
Thanks Kim! This was indeed an insightful video. And thanks for the commenters as well. I took my assessment today. Honestly, I was very nervous about taking it. I hope I did good and succeed in making the cut.
Few pointers for the test takers:
1. Before taking the test, do an exercise that helps you to relax - yoga, meditation, breathing exercise, running etc
2. Ecosystem building - data seems to be overwhelming but try to watch this video twice/thrice before taking the test. After watching, jot down the points which you find helpful from the video and comments below.
Strategy I used - bottom-up approach : 3 producer, 3 herbivores and 2 predators. Focused solely on two criteria - depth/elevation and temperature. Using the excel sheet provided here, I populated the data in the "location" sheet and later analyzed the food chain required using paper and pen (personally, I liked doing this way). This helped me in retaining all 8 species till the end.
I took 38 min for the task (3min more), main reason for this was juggling between two windows - McK and Excel sheet windows - data entry did consume humungous amount of my time. I would suggest to have two screens or print the excel sheet before taking the test.
2. Invasive Species task - this was "the challenging" task. I'm not much of a gamer, but I believe it would be easy for those who play Clash of clans or tower defense games.
Strategy I used - followed the tactics mentioned in the article given in the bio here. Essentially, having a bigger picture is the key to succeeding in this game .
Advice - Do not hesitate to edit your plan as and when you take turns, and make changes to your plan basis the population of the existing species and new species.
Here, one has to be highly calculative of their moves to work against the species.
I took a lot of time in my first round to get a hang of it and had limited time in my succeeding rounds. I managed to get around 48-23-33.
Before I sign off, my advice would be - Be calm, take notes and chalk-out a strategy!
All the best for all the future test takers!:)
Hey, where did you find the excel sheet?
Hey Ashwini
I am a bit confused, Will you have to place each animal/producer on the map seperately? Or will they ask you to select one spot to place your whole ecosystem which is after adding all 8 species in your list? And how are you supposed to know where to place the whole ecosystem? I thought you have to drag each animal/producer and place it to suitable spot on the screen.
@@ahmedsheqwara1313 Hey Ahmed,
Yes. You take every step in a structured way, first you choose 4 variables (Two most important ones like temp and elevation/depth), then data analysis followed by choosing 8 animals. Subsequently, based on the data of the variables you have chosen, hover over the map and check which location fits the best to choose.
@@ashwini6055 and do you actually place each animal/producer on the screen or only you add them to a list and thats it?
@@ahmedsheqwara1313 We can't place each of them on the location. We add it to the list and that finalizes our selection.
Just finished the assessment, and I have to give the author of this video a credit for the amazing job he has done explaining everything in details! However, I am now curios if I passed the assessment because unlike the comment in this video, it didn't show if I passed or failed. However, I took a bit longer on the eco system (38 mins) but made sure to build a sustainable environment and I was given a green text on the completion. Regarding the plant defense, I passed with over 40 moves in each of the first two round, but ran out of time in the third round but still completed the 15 moves. At the end, it just said "Congratulations, you have completed the test". Would that mean I have passed?
My strategy: I used bottom up approach while choosing species. I also chose location followed by food producers first. I have prepared an excel spreadsheet on my second laptop and was using it for calculation. Taking the ratio of cal needed to cal provided is always helpful and should always be over 1. In terms of the plant defense, it was pretty straightforward and easy, just make sure you count each turn vs how much damage you can do in each of those turns to invaders, and plan your defense around your plant (not too close). Make sure you DO NOT concentrate on one invader and put all your defenders against that, if your calculation already tells you that your damage is enough. Keep putting your defenders on the other sides (overlapping).
Thank you for the great insights. I am glad you found this video helpful. To answer your question, no McKinsey doesn't tell you the result right after taking the test. Everybody has to wait for some days (or weeks) to hear the result. Hope this helps^^.
hope you pass it
Sir, i have a question about your tips. What does it mean “The ratio of cal needed to cal provided should always be over 1.”? Isn’t it opposite? I mean that shouldn’t the ratio be under 1?
@@haam8414 cals provided should ideally always be > cals needed for all non-producer species. Simple as that
@@insanomonkey thanks for your replying. I understood that cal provided should be > cal needed. But does ratio of cal needed to cal provided mean cal needed/cal provided? I’m not native English speaker so maybe am I miss something?
When you finished the ecosystem game did you get an alert or notification like “task completed”? Thanks you for the amazing video.
Just finished my PSG just now. Thanks so much for the explanation and tutorial on how you do the game. This really represent on how the game work, after watching your videos several times and take important notes then I think it's more than enough to crack the game.
For the ecosystem part yeah you should really skimming your data and take what's the most important, I focused on the Elevation, Temperature and FOOD CHAIN! its quite hard for me to gain firm grasp of the foodchain in the beginning but I got eventually got 3 producers, 3 Herbivore and 2 Predators.
And for the minigames, I think i got 20ish to 30ish I didnt really remember the score as the apps didn't really showed it at the end. But i got so much time left, I think I should've spent the mini games more haha.
The only reason I am adding my comment here is because this video and other comments regarding the test really helped me. This video graphics are very much similar to the exact same exam. Also if you follow the exact methodology you will do well on your eco system. However my plant invasive species part didn't go that well. I was able to cross 15 turns but by not much of a difference. Good job guys!
Did you get invited to interview with just 15 turns?
Just finished both games. The video was very helpful and, I dare to say, even more comprehensive than some of the pdfs you can find out there for lots of money! Thanks a lot!
Just one heads up because I disregarded it when preparing my notes / Excel spreadsheet:
for the first game, there is no clear distinction between the different types of animals (i.e. apex, predators, herbivores). It may be the case that one species can eat both herbivores and plants / predators and herbivores (this happened for 3 out of 8 animals I chose in the end). This makes a simple pyramid structure a bit more difficult to use...
For the second game, a new, very powerful defender was added after turn 9 which I used a lot for the remaining turns.
Good luck to everyone!
will you please elaborate what stratergy can we use for 2 nd game?
how do you figure what is what then, apex, predator or herbivore?
I got the ecosystem game but it was the forest version not aquatic. Used 3 producers, 3 herbivores and 2 predators. I think I got the Cal in and out right but the temp and elevation I got confuse as there were a few who had different range.
2nd game was the defense game and it was very confusing. I only got more than 15 steps on the third try as the first 2 was nerve wrecking.
UPDATE: I did not get the interview
That is sad, but hopefully you will get better job at a different place
Hi, thanks so much for this! Great content and very helpful. Just a quick question, what is a good score for the invasive species game?
Great question. There's no clear cutoff score so don't worry about this too much. But for reference, I haven't heard anybody passing with average #turns survival less than 15. In our PSG Simulation Program, the best score right now is 74 on map #3. I also see candidates getting to turn #40 50-ish pretty consistently after a few practice rounds. Hope this helps!
thank you so much, this was so helpful! I took the PSG earlier today, I got the forest in the ecosystem building game and the plant defense game. I found the plant defense game to be quite difficult, the ecosystem building was easier though this video gave me the wrong impression that the animals had to be selected into groups such as predators, herbivores etc which wasn't the case. there's only producers and animals: apex animals may eat herbivores as well as other predators. just thought I'd address this in case anyone else got confused as well
Thanks a lot, I hope u will do well
Thank you for clearing out for everyone. Wish you luck with everything!
Thank you so much for this, such a life-saving resource. Really enjoyed the game. How many species did everyone preserve in the ecosystem game? I had 7.
You are very welcome. Most people these days had 8. But I do hear about some candidate getting a pass with 7. Hope is still in the air ^^.
How did you know you get 7 species - is that because you count the species appear in the cutscene? and how’s your result did you pass the test? :)
@@ericadrew7041 Yup. I didn't pass unfortunately.
passed the test just now, ecosystem was very difficult, spent some 35 min there, rebuilding everything from scratch once. I first selected Temp of up to 26 degrees and started building the system, but realised after some 15 min that there are not many consumers to feed my apex and that my producers are also not eaten by all consumers, switched to temp pf up to 28.2. degrees and built the system quickly.
Second task was invasive species, I would say it was relatively easy - just place defenders around your plant but make sure you build the forests around first as defenders cannot be place on dry land, I got a wolf at the very end which I strategically placed on all dry land areas around my plant and it worked well. I think I got some 45 or so rounds for each game
good luck all! I understand it, I will get some sort of response from the company within few days, fingers crossed :)
I just did my test, here's how it went: I got the ecosystem task first, to be completely honest, it was very easy. I got all the 8 species right in basically 10 minutes.
First i looked for the elevation, and chose 3 plants in the 201-680 category, once i did that, i chose the animals who would eat those, and it only had left a few other animals to eat those first, it all worked out, pretty simple.
On the second task though i struggled, it was the bedrock study task, i spent too much time in the study, and did only 2 of the 10 cases i had to.
To me that one was not well prepared, you had to do a lot of percentage operations and it was a normal calculator, not a scientific one. Didn't like that task at all, i wish i had the plants defense one, but it is what it is. Thanks a lot for the video.
Thank you for the information!! Did you apply to a USA office or was it another country?
Thanks for your report. We have had a TH-cam short for Redrock if you are interested. Hope you all the best!
Just took the PST test, your video does help if there's anything I could add for the video would be this
ecosystem task
1. the number of data is overwhelming, it'd be best to group your ecosystem first. in my case the ecosystem were grouped into 3 locations and you can grouped the producers and animals in those 3 locations
2. start with bottom-up approach, it's easier. work the ecosystem up and quickly eliminate animals with high calories needed but low calories provided
3. take into account timing, don't spend too much time on note taking.
defense task : I have mixed feeling as I spent only 22 mins for 3 rounds. not sure if it'll be taken into consideration. what would happen if you didn't make use of the max time given
in my case i scored 33, 36, 39
my suggestion will be the same
1. layer your defender on the slow down terrain with overlap defender range
2. soon create NSEW defense in each round
3. be mindful as placing terrain is harder than placing the defender as terrain has T&C of placement
good luck
Thanks for the insight! I believe a lot of people would find it every helpful