# What changed in McKinsey Solve in 2026 Solve has changed three times in eighteen months, and most prep material still teaches a version that no longer exists. This page is the dated record of what candidates actually met on screen, and it is what our simulators are built against. By the [CaseStar editorial team](https://www.casestar.io/about/editorial-method) · Reviewed 24 September 2026 · Independent preparation, not affiliated with McKinsey & Company. **Last verified 24 September 2026.** Compiled from McKinsey's own assessment page and FAQ plus candidate reports from January to August 2026. Every item below carries how well it is corroborated. CaseStar is not affiliated with McKinsey & Company, and our simulators are not McKinsey's software. ## The sitting today Three games, always in the same order. Which of them you get depends on the invite you were sent. | Order | Game | Time | What it asks of you | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Red Rock Study | 35 min | Investigation, then analysis, then a report, then six short cases | | 2 | Sea Wolf | 30 min | Three contaminated sites, one treatment each, one clock across all three | | 3 | Sustainable Future Lab | 20 min | A priority ranking, then twelve decisions that change what comes next | A 65-minute invite is the first two games. An 85-minute invite adds the third, and since August 2026 invites have been arriving worded as “approximately 95 minutes” plus “an additional 20 minutes to read all instructions and complete the technical check”. Nobody has reported a fourth game. ## The changes, one by one ### Ecosystem Building is gone Widely reported The species-and-food-chain game was phased out from July 2025. If a prep tool still leads with it, or quotes a 110-minute assessment, it is teaching a format that no longer exists. Plant Defense, Disaster, Disease and Migration went years earlier. ### Sustainable Future Lab arrived, and became the norm Widely reported The third module appeared around March 2026 on longer invites. Through mid-2026 the three-game invite became the majority format in most regions. It is text only: two intro screens, a drag ranking of four priorities, then twelve single-choice decisions with paragraph-length options, each followed by a page telling you what happened. There is no calculator, no journal, and no way back. ### There is a score and a decile, and recruiters will tell you Widely reported The result email still says nothing about performance. But candidates who email the recruiting inbox named at the foot of their invite are routinely told a raw score and a decile. Reported figures in 2026 cluster between roughly 499 and 558, with the scale appearing to top out near 560, and deciles are equated per role, region and test version, so the same raw score is not the same decile everywhere. Practically: if you sat Solve and were rejected, you can ask. A decile tells you whether you were near the line or nowhere near it, and that changes whether reapplying is worth twelve months of waiting. ### Sea Wolf shows you each site's effectiveness — and some sites cannot reach 100% Widely reported After you submit a treatment, the site's effectiveness appears immediately. Scores of 60, 80 and 100 across the three sites are a normal pattern. Two candidates who say they were placed in the top decile describe finishing with an 80 on one site, and several describe sites where no combination of three microbes reaches 100 at all. So an 80 is not evidence you failed, and a practice tool that hands you 100 on every site is not preparing you for the screen you will see. ### In Red Rock, only the report is one-way Widely reported Investigation and Analysis stay navigable — you can go back to the source material while you calculate. The Report is the gate: once you enter it, that is the end of the study. Part 2's six cases are shown as a list with items that lock, and the journal resets between them. The study also carries an explicit instruction to round to two decimal places. The cases do not. CaseStar's practice cases do state the precision they are marked to (usually one decimal), so a right answer is never marked wrong for its rounding; in the real cases, keep full precision until the end. Each phase, with pacing and worked examples, is in the [McKinsey Red Rock Study guide](https://www.casestar.io/guides/mckinsey-solve/red-rock); the case types are in [six worked Red Rock mini-cases](https://www.casestar.io/guides/mckinsey-solve/red-rock-mini-cases). ### Every task has an untimed tutorial Official McKinsey's own FAQ says each task includes an untimed tutorial. ### The handover into the timed task is easy to miss Widely reported What the FAQ does not say is that the transition is unceremonious. Several candidates report losing minutes because the tutorial ended without announcing itself. Between games you return to a task menu. ### The logistics, unchanged but worth knowing Official The link takes you through a system check, then a time-slot choice, then the tutorial, then the clock. It is desktop only and sound is not needed. Solve is offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese, and support can grant extra time or reset a link if something breaks — McKinsey's own wording is that no exception can be made if you do not contact them, so contact them rather than pushing on. ### What candidates report about the invite and the wait Widely reported The invite arrives roughly a week after you apply and typically gives you about five days. Device guidance circulating with it says a mouse is optional. Results reach candidates in one to three weeks, occasionally longer. A result is valid for twelve months, and a retake is locked for twelve months. ### McKinsey has never published how it is scored Official The official material says results are considered alongside the rest of your application, that each candidate's scenario is generated with what McKinsey calls advanced methods so no two are identical, and that you may be asked to complete a short follow-up verification task. Everything else you will read about “process scores” — including ours — is a model built from candidate reports, not McKinsey's algorithm. Treat any tool that claims otherwise with suspicion, including if it is us. More on what is and is not known: [McKinsey Solve score and decile](https://www.casestar.io/guides/mckinsey-solve/score). ## How we keep this current We re-verify the format against fresh candidate reports and update this page and the simulators together. Each claim above is labelled Official when it comes from McKinsey's own material, Widely reported when at least two independent candidates describe the same thing, and Single report when only one does. Anything we cannot corroborate does not go into the simulators as if it were real. Sat Solve recently and saw something different? [Tell us](mailto:support@casestar.io?subject=McKinsey%20Solve%20format%20correction) — corrections from people who just took it are the only reason this page is accurate. ## Practising against the current format Our simulators are built against the list above and are updated when it changes. They are independent practice, not McKinsey's software, and our scores are our own model. ## Put the Red Rock method into practice Use one exhibit, make the calculations and carry your answer into a report. The free sample takes up to 8 minutes and ends with a worked correction and a short follow-up calculation. [Try the free Red Rock sample](https://www.casestar.io/simulators/mckinsey-solve-red-rock?mode=study-only&origin=pseo&pseoCategory=guide&pseoSlug=guides%2Fmckinsey-solve%2Fwhat-changed-2026) Free: an 8-minute sample with no sign-up, and one full 35-minute sitting with an email. CaseStar practice, not an official McKinsey test. [McKinsey Red Rock simulatorInvestigation, analysis, report, six cases](https://www.casestar.io/simulators/mckinsey-solve-red-rock)[Sea WolfThree sites, one clock, effectiveness after each](https://www.casestar.io/simulators/mckinsey-solve-sea-wolf)[Sustainable Future LabA ranking, then twelve branching decisions](https://www.casestar.io/simulators/mckinsey-solve-sustainable-future-lab)[The full sittingAll three games in one continuous run](https://www.casestar.io/simulators/mckinsey-solve-full-mock) ## Common questions Is Ecosystem Building still part of McKinsey Solve? No. Candidate reports place its removal from around July 2025. The current assessment is Red Rock Study, Sea Wolf and, on longer invites, Sustainable Future Lab. Why does my McKinsey Solve invite say 95 minutes? Invites from August 2026 have been worded as approximately 95 minutes plus an additional 20 minutes to read instructions and complete the technical check. The games themselves are still Red Rock at 35 minutes, Sea Wolf at 30 and Sustainable Future Lab at 20; nobody has reported a fourth game. Can I find out my McKinsey Solve score? The result email contains no score, but candidates who email the recruiting contact named on their invite are routinely told a raw score and a decile. Deciles are equated per role, region and test version, so the same raw score is not the same decile everywhere. Is scoring 80% on a Sea Wolf site a failure? Not on its own. Two candidates who say they were placed in the top decile describe finishing with an 80 on one site, and several describe sites where no combination of three microbes reaches 100 at all. Effectiveness is shown immediately after you submit each site's treatment. Can you go back in Red Rock Study? Investigation and Analysis stay navigable, so you can return to the source material while you calculate. The Report is the one-way gate, and Part 2's six cases are shown as a list with items that lock as you go.