McKinsey Solve System Requirements and Technical Issues

What setup does McKinsey Solve need, and what should you do if it breaks?

Officially, McKinsey Solve requires a PC or Mac and runs a technical check through your assessment link before the game starts; if anything breaks, contact Solve technical support when the problem occurs by live chat or at [email protected]. McKinsey publishes no browser, hardware, or connection-speed minimum, and the sources checked give no general retake rule, deadline, extension policy, invitation list, per-game minutes, or scoring threshold. This page covers the setup and the immediate response to a fault; the Solve format guide covers the broader assessment, and how much Solve matters covers its place in your application.

Try the practice game below on the PC or Mac you plan to use. If you are still deciding what to practice, the McKinsey online assessments hub lists the separate Road to Offer games.

What if the McKinsey Solve link will not load?

Officially, a Solve link that will not load is a technical issue for McKinsey's Solve support, which can run diagnostics on your link; McKinsey does not publish a universal browser or refresh fix. If the page is blank, record the local time and the visible error in words. Do not post your personal link on a public forum or assume that a second device will preserve an active session.

If the link's validity or deadline is unclear, that is a recruiter question, not a technical one; the Solve deadline extension guide covers what to ask. Neither a browser change nor a practice run can extend an invitation.

What if the technical check fails before you start?

Officially, McKinsey's pre-start technical check tells you whether your device meets its minimum requirements, and its support team can diagnose a failed check on your link. The FAQ names no required browser, operating-system version, graphics chip, or connection speed, so a failed result calls for support to assess the displayed message and your link, not for a speculative purchase or a string of undocumented fixes.

A computer that streams video without trouble can still fail the check; a working stream elsewhere is not evidence that Solve must run. For preparation on the games rather than the device, see the Red Rock Study guide and Red Rock versus Sea Wolf.

What if the screen freezes or graphics fail during a game?

Officially, McKinsey directs frozen or broken Solve graphics to technical support at the time they occur; the FAQ says support can diagnose your link and may grant extra time or reset it depending on the issue. It does not promise that a refresh, restart, or automatic save will restore your place, and a frozen image alone cannot tell you whether the cause is your computer, the connection, or the assessment service.

An outside spreadsheet, calculator app, AI tool, or second research tab is therefore no troubleshooting aid during the live test. The Sea Wolf practice page and the Ocean Treatment and Sea Wolf guide are for preparation before the live sitting, never for consulting while it runs.

What if the connection drops and chat is unavailable?

Officially, McKinsey still requires you to contact Solve technical support when a technical problem arises; email to [email protected] is the alternative when live chat is unreachable. Report the loss of access as soon as you can communicate and wait for link-specific guidance, because the FAQ leaves the recovery questions below open.

If the drop takes out both the game and the chat, a phone on another connection is for the support email, not for taking Solve: the PC-or-Mac rule still applies. Say whether the assessment was in progress and whether the link still opens. A hotspot, reload, or new computer is not an approved recovery path just because it works for another website.

What if Solve opens in the wrong language or an input method fails?

Officially, McKinsey offers Solve in English, Spanish and Portuguese with Iberian or Latin American variants, and Japanese; it says sound is unnecessary and a mouse is optional. Its FAQ does not publish a mid-task language-switch procedure, so raise a language need with your recruiter before starting when possible.

A nonresponsive control is a real fault even when the device passed the check. If you need an accommodation for a disability, health condition, or specific learning difficulty, McKinsey's FAQ says to speak to your recruiter; a technical support reset is not an accommodation decision.

How can you rehearse the setup without confusing practice with the official check?

Our recommendation is to use the Road to Offer Red Rock simulation on the same PC or Mac and browser you plan to use, then rely on McKinsey's own check for actual Solve compatibility. Read your invitation first, since it gives your assessment length and personal instructions, and save the support route before you sit down. The rehearsal surfaces ordinary friction; it cannot test McKinsey's unpublished specifications or its link diagnostics.

If a practice chart is hard to read at your current display setting, adjusting the screen before the real sitting is preparation advice, not a McKinsey resolution requirement; the case interview math practice guide covers chart reasoning separately. Candidate reports about game lineups remain reported: McKinsey's published sources name Sea Wolf but promise no particular mix, so if your invitation points to other games, rehearse on the Sea Wolf page or the Sustainable Futures Lab page too. If you are fitting the rehearsal around a job or a recruiting calendar, the experienced-hire Solve plan and the Solve guide for MBA candidates deal with that scheduling.

When should you ask your recruiter instead of Solve support?

Officially, McKinsey sends nontechnical Solve questions and accommodation requests to your recruiter, while technical faults go to Solve support by live chat or email. For a deadline, a possible extension, whether you were invited, or a retake, the public sources checked give no universal rule, so ask the recruiter using the details of your own invitation.

Three of those recruiter questions have their own pages: what a Solve invitation does and does not signal, what to do about a Solve retake, and the dates behind a Solve deadline. McKinsey also says Solve results are considered with the rest of the application, so a technical episode alone does not establish an outcome. For what follows, the McKinsey case interview guide and McKinsey PEI guide cover the interviews, and the McKinsey resume guide covers the application itself.

Sources and evidence boundaries

• Official, checked October 11, 2026: McKinsey Solve FAQ, August 2025 for device, technical check, sound, mouse, languages, tutorials, support, remedies, and accommodations.
• Official, checked October 11, 2026: McKinsey Solve page for the assessment and support route; assessment integrity expectations for the general one-screen and outside-tool rules. The latter is not a Solve-specific webcam specification.
• Official, checked October 11, 2026: McKinsey's game-based innovation lab article names Sea Wolf. It does not publish the full game lineup or device requirements.
• Reported: Red Rock and Sustainable Futures Lab names, lineups, and in-game tools are candidate context, not requirements established by the official sources above. Road to Offer practice is independent content.
• Not published in the checked sources: exact browser or operating-system versions, processor, memory, bandwidth, latency, display thresholds, autosave, universal recovery steps, retake or deadline policy, who is invited, per-game minutes, and scoring cutoffs. The troubleshooting scripts and rehearsal sequence here are our advice; the official response is to contact support when a technical fault arises.