Consulting Online Assessments: What Each Firm Uses and How to Prepare
Updated: Oct 6
"I just applied to McKinsey, BCG and Bain. Am I about to take three different tests, and can I study for all of them at once?" That's the question I get most often once a student hits submit on their first consulting application. I'm Stephen Turban. I went through McKinsey's on-cycle recruiting, and I now run WSG, where I watch students work through consulting online assessments every cycle. The short answer is yes, you'll likely take a different test at each firm. The good news is that the skills underneath overlap more than the test names suggest.
This guide covers what each firm uses in 2026, how each test works step by step, a worked practice problem for every major format, and a prep plan you can start this week.
McKinsey Solve is the assessment most candidates worry about first, so work through this step-by-step guide to beating McKinsey Solve. BCG's Casey works very differently, since it is a chatbot-led case rather than a game, and how to handle the BCG Casey chatbot interview is covered separately.
What are consulting online assessments?
They're the screening tests consulting firms send after you apply and before any human interviews you. Consulting online assessments exist to shrink a huge applicant pool cheaply, so they decide whether your case prep ever gets an audience. McKinsey confirms that roughly 300,000 early-career candidates complete its Solve assessment each year. No firm can run a first-round interview for that many people, so a 30 to 85 minute test does the first cut.
Do all consulting firms use an online assessment?
Most large firms do, but not every office and not every role. MBB tests nearly every undergrad applicant, while tier 2 and Big 4 strategy practices vary much more by office. Some US candidates at tier 2 firms go straight from resume screen to a first-round case. Your invitation email is the only reliable answer for your specific application.
Consulting online assessments by firm: the 2026 comparison table
Here's the full picture before we go test by test. Every row is time-sensitive, because firms swap vendors and formats between cycles. Consulting online assessments vary by office and candidate profile; the table below reflects standard entry-level undergraduate pathways
Firm | Test name | Format | Length | What it measures |
McKinsey | Solve | Game-based simulation: typically Redrock Study (wildlife conservation data case) and Sea Wolf (microbe constraint optimization), with some regions adding Sustainable Futures Lab. Timed at 65 to 85 minutes (extending up to ~95 minutes depending on the module lineup) | About 65 minutes for two games, about 85 with the third | Problem solving, data analysis, decision making; tracks how you work, not only your answers |
BCG (US) | Consulting Career Assessment (CCA), then Casey online case for some candidates | Two-tier screening: first, the Consulting Career Assessment (CCA) via SHL (~30–35 min), evaluating numerical, inductive logic, and workplace behavioral judgment. Select applicants advance to Casey (~25–35 min), an interactive chatbot case ending in a 1-minute recorded video recommendation. | CCA about 30 to 35 minutes; Casey about 25 to 35 minutes | CCA: numerical and logical reasoning, work style. Casey: structuring, math, chart reading, communication |
Bain | Sova or TestGorilla, depending on office | Aptitude screen powered by TestGorilla (predominant in North America) or Sova (common in EMEA and Latin America). Timed at roughly 30 to 45 minutes; covers numerical reasoning, logical sequences, verbal analysis, and situational workplace judgment. | Bain says about 30 to 40 minutes | Problem solving, communication, analytical skills |
Oliver Wyman | Oliver Wyman online assessment | Numerical reasoning plus competency and situational judgment questions | Reports range from about 35 to 60 minutes | Chart and table math, judgment against firm values |
Kearney | Kearney recruitment test (office dependent) | Multiple-choice aptitude: numerical, verbal, logical, mini business cases, often no calculator | Reports range from 45 to 60 minutes | Speed and accuracy on math and reading |
L.E.K. Consulting | L.E.K. digital assessment (office dependent) | Case-style data test or aptitude test; some offices report a short game-based screen | Reports range from about 10 to 75 minutes depending on version | Chart reading, mental math, business judgment |
Accenture Strategy (US) | Role dependent; no single named US test | Varies by role; game-based tests are reported mainly outside the US | Varies | Varies by track |
Monitor Deloitte | Deloitte online assessments (office dependent) | UK and Europe: Immersive Online Assessment, then a recorded Job Simulation. US reports vary | Job Simulation about 40 to 60 minutes | Judgment, written communication, numerical and verbal reasoning |
EY-Parthenon | EY online assessment (office dependent) | UK graduate route: ranking, written, video and timed numerical tasks. US reports vary | Varies | Judgment, numeracy, communication |
PwC Strategy& (US) | PwC entry-level assessment | Automated talent questionnaire delivered within a few hours post-submission; untimed (typically completed in 15–20 minutes), with scores valid across applications for 120 days. | PwC suggests 15 to 20 minutes | Work style and tendencies |
Two patterns jump out. The MBB tests are the most standardized and the most prep-sensitive, so they deserve most of your prep hours. Tier 2 and Big 4 tests are closer to classic aptitude tests, so general numerical reasoning practice covers most of them.
Your invitation email is the only source that tells you which test you're taking
Firms change these tests often. Ecosystem Building, once the core Solve game, is now retired in favor of Redrock Study and Sea Wolf.. BCG has completely phased out Pymetrics (gamified cognitive traits) and the paper-style Potential Test in favor of the CCA and Casey Chatbot.Bain offices that once used Pymetrics now name only Sova and TestGorilla on Bain's own digital assessment page.
The practical rule follows from that. Read your invitation line by line. It names the test, the length, the deadline, and whether a calculator is allowed.
The invitation can arrive within hours of applying, so the prep has to happen before you submit, not after. Candidates report BCG's CCA invitation landing within hours of submission, typically with a strict 48- to 72-hour completion deadline. PwC's entry-level portal triggers its work-style assessment link within a few hours of submission. . McKinsey Solve windows are usually longer, but still short enough that you can't learn the test from zero once the email lands.
A sophomore I worked with through WSG, call her R, submitted her BCG application late one night and had the CCA invitation before she went to bed. She'd done two timed practice sets the week before. She took it the next morning, rested, and moved on to interviews. That's the whole argument for prepping early in one story.
For timing, MBB now recruits about 15 months ahead: For Summer 2028 internships, applications open in early 2027 (January through March for McKinsey and Bain early waves; late spring for BCG), with interviews occurring throughout sophomore spring and summer.The WSG consulting recruiting timeline lays out the firm-by-firm windows. Work backward from your first deadline and start test prep about four weeks before it.
McKinsey Solve scores how you work as well as what you answer
Solve is McKinsey's game-based assessment. McKinsey's own Solve page says it tests your problem-solving abilities and tells candidates "there's no need to prepare." McKinsey's Solve FAQ specifies that the platform requires a desktop or laptop running Chrome or Firefox (tablets and mobile phones are unsupported), provides untimed tutorials before each timed module, and weighs game performance alongside your resume and transcript .
I'd take "no need to prepare" to mean no business knowledge is required. Familiarity with the format still helps, the same way seeing a sample SAT section helps before test day.
How Solve works, step by step
Candidates encounter either a 2-game setup (Redrock Study + Sea Wolf, ~65 minutes) or a 3-game battery adding Sustainable Futures Lab (extending total sitting time to ~85–95 minutes)
The 65-minute version: Redrock Study (about 35 minutes) plus Sea Wolf (about 30 minutes).
The 85-minute version: the same two games plus the Sustainable Futures Lab (about 20 minutes).
Redrock Study is a data case dressed up as a nature research project. It runs in stages:
Investigation. You read a research briefing and a set of exhibits, then drag the numbers you think matter into a research journal. Think of the journal as your scratch pad inside the game.
Analysis. You answer a few calculation questions using those saved numbers: percentages, weighted averages, splits of a budget.
Report. You fill in blanks in a short written summary and choose or build a chart that shows your finding.
Mini-cases. A series of short, standalone questions on a shared clock, reported as six cases averaging about two minutes each.
Sea Wolf is a constraint puzzle. For each of three ocean sites, you pick three microbes to clean up plastic pollution. The three microbes' attributes, averaged together, must land inside the site's target ranges. You also need microbes with the traits the site wants and must avoid traits it forbids. McKinsey itself describes Sea Wolf as selecting and evaluating microbes to clean up contaminated sites.
The Sustainable Futures Lab is the newest module, reported at about 13 questions in about 20 minutes. The first question asks you to rank priorities. The rest are scenario-based multiple choice questions that follow one sustainability project from start to finish, testing how you prioritize and adjust when new information arrives.
How Solve is scored
McKinsey hasn't published the scoring method or a pass mark. Prep providers describe two scores: a product score, meaning whether your final answers are right, and a process score, meaning how you got there, based on your clicks and choices. No public source gives the weights, so treat the two-score model as the best outside read, not a confirmed formula. Because Solve likely watches your process, a calm, systematic approach beats frantic clicking even when both reach the same answer.
Worked example: a Redrock-style calculation
Say the briefing tells you researchers are tracking two wolf packs. Pack A has 8 wolves, and each eats 5 kg of food a day. Pack B has 12 wolves, and each eats 4 kg a day. The question: what's the average daily food intake per wolf across both packs?
The trap is averaging 5 and 4 to get 4.5. That treats the packs as equal in size, and they aren't.
Do it with totals instead:
Pack A eats 8 × 5 = 40 kg a day.
Pack B eats 12 × 4 = 48 kg a day.
Together they eat 40 + 48 = 88 kg a day.
There are 8 + 12 = 20 wolves.
The average is 88 ÷ 20 = 4.4 kg per wolf.
That's a weighted average: each pack counts in proportion to how many wolves it has. Pack B is bigger, so the answer sits closer to its 4 kg.
A second classic trap: pup survival rises from 20 percent to 30 percent. That's a 10 percentage point increase, because 30 minus 20 is 10. It's also a 50 percent relative increase, because the 10-point gain is half of the starting 20. Redrock answer choices often include both numbers, so read what the question asks for.
Worked example: approaching a Sea Wolf site
Below is a simplified practice version I built to show the method. The real game has more microbes and more attributes, so the numbers here are illustrative, not a copy of the game.
The site needs the three microbes' average Temperature score between 40 and 60 and average Salinity score between 30 and 50. At least one microbe must be a "plastic eater." No microbe can produce a "toxic byproduct."
Microbe | Temperature | Salinity | Traits |
M1 | 70 | 40 | Plastic eater |
M2 | 50 | 20 | None |
M3 | 45 | 45 | Toxic byproduct |
M4 | 40 | 55 | Plastic eater |
M5 | 55 | 35 | None |
M6 | 30 | 60 | Plastic eater |
Work it in this order:
Cut the rule breakers first. M3 produces a toxic byproduct, so it's out, even though its numbers look perfect.
Turn average ranges into sum ranges. An average of three microbes between 40 and 60 means their total must fall between 120 and 180. For Salinity, the total must fall between 90 and 150. Adding is faster and less error-prone than dividing every time.
Test a set, not a single microbe. Try M1, M4 and M5. Temperature total: 70 + 40 + 55 = 165, inside 120 to 180. Salinity total: 40 + 55 + 35 = 130, inside 90 to 150. M1 and M4 are plastic eaters. The set passes.
Notice what that proves. M1's Temperature of 70 is outside the range on its own, yet the set still works. Candidates who reject every microbe with one extreme number throw away good combinations.
On Sea Wolf, eliminate on hard rules first, then check sums for the whole set, because the average of three is what the site cares about. That order also produces a clean, logical click pattern, which matters if process is scored.
How to prepare for McKinsey Solve
Three weeks at about 30 to 45 minutes a day covers it.
Week 1: learn the format. Read McKinsey's Solve page and FAQ. Read one current third-party breakdown, such as MyConsultingCoach's Solve guide, and the WSG step-by-step McKinsey Solve guide. Only trust material from 2025 or later, since older guides describe retired games.
Week 2: drill the skills. Fifteen minutes of mental math daily (drills are explained later in this guide). Then build two or three Sea Wolf-style puzzles on paper: six options, two ranges, one forbidden trait, pick three.
Week 3: simulate. Do one or two timed runs of a Solve practice tool if you want the pressure reps. Paid simulators are approximations of the real game, so use them for pacing, not as a score predictor. Take the day before the real test off.
On test day, use a laptop or desktop with a mouse, a stable connection and a closed door. McKinsey prohibits AI tools, other websites and outside help during Solve.
BCG's online assessments: the CCA screens first, and Casey tests your case skills in writing
BCG now runs two different tests in many US pipelines, and students mix them up constantly.
The Consulting Career Assessment (CCA) is built with SHL, a large assessment company. The CCA takes roughly 30 to 40 minutes, combining SHL-driven inductive logic and data interpretation with situational judgment questions. A basic desktop or handheld calculator is permitted, and BCG does not allow retakes within the same recruiting cycle. Reports describe numerical questions on percentages and margins, inductive logic puzzles, and multi-variable scheduling tasks where steps depend on sequential constraints. According to BCG's candidate guidance, an on-screen or handheld four-function/scientific calculator is permitted throughout the quantitative section, and no retakes are granted within the same 12-month recruiting cycle.
Casey is BCG's chatbot case, sometimes called the Online Case Experience. It walks you through one business case in about 25 to 30 minutes, with 8 to 10 questions: multiple choice, numeric entry, short written answers and chart reading. Casey concludes with a 1-minute video recommendation (with 60 seconds of planning time and a single recorded take). In US undergraduate Associate pipelines, Casey invitations are extended selectively to candidates who clear the CCA and initial resume screen.. In the US undergraduate Associate pipeline, BCG uses a sequential two-tier screening process: all verified applicants receive the automated CCA shortly after submitting their portal application, and candidates who meet the CCA performance benchmark and pass the resume review are then invited to the Casey Chatbot assessment roughly one to two weeks later. The WSG BCG online assessment guide tracks which test goes to whom.
How Casey works, step by step
The setup. Casey introduces a client and a problem, like a retailer with falling profits.
Structuring. You pick or write the factors you'd investigate first.
Data requests and charts. You choose which data set to look at, then answer questions from exhibits.
Calculations. You enter numeric answers. A calculator is allowed, so the test is about setting up the math correctly, not doing it in your head.
Written reasoning. Short free-text answers explaining what the numbers mean.
The video. A one-minute spoken recommendation to the client.
Casey rewards correct setup and clear writing more than speed, because the calculator removes most of the arithmetic difficulty. The BCG Casey chatbot guide on WSG goes deeper on the written answers.
Worked example: a Casey-style prompt
Here's a practice prompt in the Casey style. It's my example, not a real BCG question.
Casey: "Our client is a regional coffee chain. Its profits have fallen even though sales are up. Drip coffee sells for $3 and costs $1 to make. Lattes sell for $6 and cost $3.60 to make. Last year 60 percent of cups sold were drip and 40 percent were lattes. What was the average gross margin?"
Gross margin is the share of each sales dollar left after paying the direct cost of making the product. Work it with a batch of 100 cups so the percentages become simple counts:
Revenue: 60 drip × $3 = $180. 40 lattes × $6 = $240. Total revenue = $420.
Cost: 60 drip × $1 = $60. 40 lattes × $3.60 = $144. Total cost = $204.
Gross profit: $420 − $204 = $216.
Gross margin: $216 ÷ $420 = about 51.4 percent.
Casey follows up: "This year the mix shifted to 50 percent drip and 50 percent lattes. What happened?"
Revenue: 50 × $3 = $150, plus 50 × $6 = $300. Total = $450.
Cost: 50 × $1 = $50, plus 50 × $3.60 = $180. Total = $230.
Gross profit: $450 − $230 = $220.
Gross margin: $220 ÷ $450 = about 48.9 percent.
Gross profit per 100 cups went up, from $216 to $220. The margin percentage went down, from 51.4 to 48.9 percent, because lattes keep 40 percent of their price ($2.40 out of $6) while drip keeps about 67 percent ($2 out of $3). That's the insight Casey wants in the written answer: selling more lattes adds profit dollars but dilutes the margin percentage, so the profit decline must come from somewhere else, like rent, labor or fewer total cups.
A strong one-minute video recommendation for this case follows a simple order: answer first, then two or three reasons, then the next step. For example: "The sales mix isn't causing the profit decline. The shift toward lattes added about $4 of gross profit per 100 cups. I'd look next at labor and rent per store, since those are the costs outside the gross margin."
How to prepare for BCG's assessments
Two to three weeks out: take BCG's free Climate Case Challenge, an official practice case. BCG says it doesn't track or score responses, and you can repeat it. Do it once cold, then again a week later.
Daily: 15 minutes of chart reading. Pull any chart from a business news article, write one sentence on what it shows, and calculate one percentage change from it.
For the CCA: do timed numerical and logical reasoning sets. SHL-style practice from any reputable provider fits the format.
For the video: record yourself giving one-minute recommendations on your phone. Watch them back once. Most people discover they spend 40 seconds on setup and never reach the answer.
Bain's online assessment is a short aptitude test, and your office decides which one
Bain is unusually direct about its tests. Its digital assessment page names two platforms, Sova and TestGorilla, and Bain's assessment portal lists standard test durations between 30 and 45 minutes, evaluating analytical problem solving, data interpretation, and professional communication. Bain allows pen, paper and a calculator on both. TestGorilla must be finished in one sitting. Sova doesn't have to be.
Candidate reports add detail. US offices frequently deploy TestGorilla modules (numerical reasoning, critical thinking, and business judgment), while Sova remains the standard across European and Latin American offices. Sova is more common in Europe and blends numerical, verbal and logical reasoning with situational judgment and a personality questionnaire.
Bain's test is closer to a classic aptitude test than to a case, so timed reasoning practice matters more than case frameworks here.
Worked example: a numerical reasoning question
A table shows revenue for three divisions:
Division | 2024 revenue | 2025 revenue |
X | $80M | $92M |
Y | $120M | $135M |
Z | $45M | $54M |
Question: which division grew fastest?
Find each change. X grew $12M. Y grew $15M. Z grew $9M.
Divide by the starting value. X: 12 ÷ 80 = 15 percent. Y: 15 ÷ 120 = 12.5 percent. Z: 9 ÷ 45 = 20 percent.
Answer: Z grew fastest, at 20 percent.
The trap answer is Y, because it added the most dollars. "Fastest" means percentage growth. "Largest" means dollars. Test writers put both in the options on purpose.
Worked example: a verbal "cannot say" question
Passage: "The retailer's European revenue rose 8 percent in 2025, driven by its new stores in Germany."
Statement: "The German stores were profitable in 2025."
Answer: cannot say. The passage says the stores drove revenue. Revenue isn't profit, and the passage says nothing about costs. On true, false or cannot say questions, use only what the passage states, never what seems likely.
How to prepare for Bain's assessment
Two weeks out: work through the free sample questions on Sova's candidate preparation hub, which Bain itself points candidates toward.
Daily: one timed numerical set and one timed verbal set, 10 to 15 minutes each.
For business judgment questions: Bain's culture leans hard on teamwork. In workplace scenarios, answers that gather information, loop in the team and flag problems early tend to fit better than answers where you quietly fix everything alone.
Test day: Chrome browser for TestGorilla, a quiet room, a calculator within reach.
Tier 2 and Big 4 strategy tests vary by office more than MBB tests do
Below MBB, the rule is simple: confirm the format in your invitation, then prep the matching skill. Here's what candidate reports and firm pages show, firm by firm
Oliver Wyman. A numerical reasoning test on charts and tables plus competency questions tied to the firm's values. Prep sites report some versions deduct points for wrong answers.
Kearney. A multiple-choice aptitude test mixing numerical, verbal and logical reasoning with mini business cases. Several reports say no calculator.
L.E.K. Consulting. Formats range from a short game-based screen to a longer case-style data test. L.E.K. also uses a written case later in the process, which is a separate exercise.
Accenture Strategy. In the US, the assessment depends on the role, and there's no single named test for strategy analysts. Game-based cognitive tests are reported mainly in other regions.
Monitor Deloitte. In the UK and Europe, Deloitte runs an Immersive Online Assessment followed by a recorded Job Simulation of about 40 to 60 minutes. US reports vary, so check your invite.
EY-Parthenon. The UK graduate route uses ranking, written, video and timed numerical tasks. US candidates should expect case interviews and confirm any assessment with their recruiter.
PwC Strategy&. PwC's entry-level assessment consists of behavioral and situational preference modules taking 15 to 20 minutes, with scores remaining active for 120 days across all concurrent PwC and Strategy& applications
If you prep for Bain's aptitude test and BCG's CCA, you've already covered most tier 2 and Big 4 formats. The one real addition is no-calculator math.
Worked example: a no-calculator question
"A client's 450 stores will each add 18 percent more floor space. If each store is currently 1,000 square feet, how much total floor space gets added?"
Find 18 percent of 1,000 square feet. 10 percent is 100. 8 percent is 80. So 18 percent is 180 square feet per store.
Multiply by 450 stores. 180 × 450 = 180 × 400 + 180 × 50 = 72,000 + 9,000 = 81,000.
Answer: 81,000 square feet.
Breaking 18 percent into 10 plus 8, and 450 into 400 plus 50, turns one hard calculation into four easy ones. That's the core move behind every drill in the next section.
Mental math is the one skill that pays off on every consulting online assessment
Solve's Redrock questions, Bain's numerical section, Kearney's no-calculator test and every live case interview all lean on it. Even when a calculator is allowed, fast estimation tells you when you've typed something wrong.
Here are the five drills I'd give any student, with how each one works:
Percentages from 10 and 1. To find 35 percent of 240, find 10 percent (24), triple it (72), then add 5 percent, which is half of 10 percent (12). 72 + 12 = 84. Any percentage can be built from 10 percent, 5 percent and 1 percent.
Multiplication by splitting. 35 × 48 is hard. 35 × 50 is easy: 1,750. Then subtract 35 × 2, which is 70. 1,750 − 70 = 1,680. Round one number to something friendly, then correct.
Division through fractions. Memorize that 1/8 = 12.5 percent, 1/6 ≈ 16.7 percent, 1/3 ≈ 33.3 percent and 1/12 ≈ 8.3 percent. Then 45 ÷ 360 is just 1/8, or 12.5 percent, with no long division.
Zeros, handled separately. For 3.2 million × 40, multiply 3.2 × 4 = 12.8, then count zeros: millions times tens gives tens of millions. The answer is 128 million. Getting the digits right and the zeros wrong is the most common mental math error I see.
Growth with the rule of 72. Divide 72 by an annual growth rate to estimate how many years it takes something to double. At 9 percent a year, 72 ÷ 9 = 8 years. It's an estimate, but it's close enough to spot wrong answer choices.
Do 15 minutes a day for three to four weeks. PrepLounge's free mental math tool runs timed sets of addition, multiplication, division and percentages at several difficulty levels, and the WSG list of free case prep resources covers more drill sources. Fifteen minutes of daily math practice for a month does more for your scores than one long cram session the night before.
Say this, don't say that in Casey's written answers and video
The written and spoken parts of an online case are where strong math candidates lose points they earned. Here's the difference using the coffee chain example.
Written answer: what does the mix shift tell us?
Don't say: "The mix changed, which affected margins in several ways that should be explored further."
Say: "The shift to lattes raised gross profit per 100 cups from $216 to $220 but cut the margin from 51.4 to 48.9 percent. The mix isn't causing the profit decline, so costs below gross margin are the next place to look."
One-minute video: your recommendation
Don't say: "So, to start, I want to walk through the analysis we did, beginning with the revenue side..."
Say: "The sales mix isn't the problem. Lattes added gross profit even as the margin percentage fell. I'd examine labor and rent per store next, starting with the stores where profit fell most."
Lead with the answer and a number in every written response, because a reviewer skimming dozens of submissions reads your first sentence and not much else.
Nobody outside the firms knows the cutoffs, so aim well above average
Here's what's actually known about scoring:
McKinsey hasn't published a pass mark or scoring formula for Solve, and says results are weighed with the rest of your application.
BCG hasn't published CCA or Casey cut-offs. Some prep sites describe point schemes for Casey, but none trace them to BCG, so I wouldn't rely on them.
Bain hasn't published a threshold for Sova or TestGorilla. Sova calculates a standardized Sova Score (and underlying Sten/Stanine distribution) benchmarked against a calibrated norm group of applicant test-takers, meaning your percentile rank reflects relative speed and accuracy against the candidate pool.
Tier 2 and Big 4 publish even less.
Any pass rate or cut-off you read online is an estimate from candidate reports, not a firm policy. Treat numbers like "the top 30 percent pass" as rumors.
Two practical rules come out of this. First, if your instructions say wrong answers cost points, skip questions where you'd be guessing blind. If they don't mention a penalty, answer everything. Second, plan on one attempt. Retakes are strictly barred within the same recruiting cycle. MBB candidates who fail an online assessment must typically wait 12 to 24 months before reapplying for full-time or subsequent internship cycles. ve
A four-week prep plan that covers every firm on your list
If you're applying to several firms, you don't need four separate prep plans. You need one plan that front-loads the shared skills and saves firm-specific practice for the end.
Week 1: math and charts. Fifteen minutes of mental math daily, plus one chart a day where you write the takeaway in one sentence. Read your target firms' official assessment pages.
Week 2: aptitude formats. Timed numerical, verbal and logical reasoning sets, three or four times this week. Sova's free samples fit here. This covers Bain, BCG's CCA and most tier 2 tests.
Week 3: MBB-specific formats. Two Sea Wolf-style paper puzzles and a Redrock-style weighted average set for McKinsey. BCG's Climate Case Challenge plus two recorded one-minute recommendations for Casey.
Week 4: simulate and rest. One timed full-length practice for each firm on your list, in a quiet room on the computer you'll use. Stop drilling the day before your first real test.
Then submit your applications, knowing the invitations can come the same day. If you want to widen your resource list, the WSG roundup of consulting interview prep tools sorts the paid and free options.
The online assessment is the one stage of consulting recruiting where you know the format in advance and nobody can surprise you with a follow-up question. Pick your firms, check each one's official assessment page this week, and put the first 15 minutes of math practice on your calendar for tomorrow morning.
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