McKinsey Problem Solving Game (Solve) Explained - with Footage 

Check out our 2024 updated McKinsey SOLVE screening test here: ru-vid.com/show-UCGo4-qWsTYnGKhXeghZE6hA

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

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 :)

Yesterday I took the test (ecosystem building and plant defense) and was able to meet the objectives thanks to this video. For the ecosystem building I used 2 laptops, the same structure shown here for the food chain (I prepared this structure and printed out cuz it s easy for my to work on paper) and excel sheet for filling out the data about the species I chose. First I filled out all date on producers in the excel and grouped them based on elevation and temperature (other 2 location specs remain constant, even the same elevation range gives the same temperature range, but just in case I have chosen these exact 4 specs when choosing location, no need for other 3). One group of the producers had a species not eaten by any animal, so I immediately eliminated that group and between others chose the one with the highest cumulative calories. Then listed the animals that ate my producers and filled out all info about them (there were just 5 of them, always watch out if they meet the same elevation and temperature requirements). Then I built the 2nd row of the food chain and chose the animals so that each of them ate one exact producer (one to one relation in order to reduce the risk of extinction), made calculations and made sure that everything fits well. Then used the same tactics for the 3rd row. So my food chain was 3-3-2. Then selected matching location on the map with the same specs and completed the task. It took 36 min for me. I was worried much about plant defense cuz I am not a gamer and it was not possible to build a specific strategy to crack the game. I just placed strong defenders closest to the plant and covered the surrounding with the weaker ones. Turn after turn as the invaders appeared I just made calculations based on each square they followed and made sure that the invaders will be killed before reaching the plant. I was able to go beyond 15 turns at each round but could not calculate how far. Totally, plant defense took 15 minutes and I finalized the game with about 20 mins left. If you understand the game and have strategies ready then time is enough to just implement it, so no need to worry much about time, but of course you have to keep it under control along the way. Now impatiently waiting for the results and I hope it will be positive))

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.

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!

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!

Thank you so much for this tutorial. Just took the PSG. The ecosystem was easy thanks to this video and the comments. The second was redrock. In a nutshell the redrock tests your maths skills especially word problems and analytical skills. I was unable to finish the redrock though but it was a good experience overall.

Thanks for the video. Very helpful. Regarding the ecosystem game, the tiger needs 2000 calories. Couldn't the tiger eat 1000 calories from the snake and 1000 calories from the fox? That way, the snake would have lived, as well as all other species. The same approach was used with the mouse that ate from 2 food sources (grass + mushroom). Why wouldn't it work? Thanks

Just now took the test, I got the forest in ecosystem and I believe it is 1000% difficult. They surely give you tons of data that you actually don’t realise which one to go for, I don’t think any game could be as close as what they give but surely one thing that this video is pretty closest from all the given ones.

Hey, just finished my PSG some time ago, got ecosystem and redrock case study, apparently that's the new trend these days eh? For ecosystem there's nothing better than the comments and the guide given here, got the 8 species, done! Redrock was lengthy af, took so much time, wasn't able to solve the cases, feeling disheartened. Hoping for the best.

Hello ! Thanks for the video, very helpful, do you know if it is necessary to have all four levels in your ecosystem?

I just had my PSG and I have to thank you for this video and people for comments. For the ecosystem ( forest ) : i made a very simple excel sheet to organize my producers regarding depth and temp ( why producers ? because they're only 9 so it is easier to write and will give you clue to what's next ) so after i did i found that the 9 producers split into 3 groups according to their elevation so i got to choose one group of them ( high calories and get eaten by a lot of species , a group had a producer not eaten by any animal so i neglected ) chosen the group which lead to me looking for the predators that eat my group and i choose the ones with slightly lower calories needed so that they don't consume my producers , and by looking at species chosen you'll see the animals that eat them so you already given a hint where to look , I choose the ecosystem , did my calculations and applied rules , found out that the last animal to eat wouldn't find any calories , so i replaced this predator by an apex that would eat one of my predators and gets eaten by no one , that's why i made sure that everybody has enough , made calculations and was good after finishing it showed me 5 animation screens for 5 species IDK where is the rest but I'm sure about my calculations , For the (invasive species ) : it is super easy , got 30s i believe , you just have to make sure nearest defenders to the invader be at 1st turns so they get activated , and narrow your defenders across your plant while overlapping them because after turns finish more and more invaders with higher power will come , make sure you add defenders and overlap overall experience : was very fun and lucky to have it

Hi Kim! Are you planning to update the video soon with the new game redlock? Really liked your insights on the ecosystem and plant defence game.

Can you please share the excel sheet that is referred to in the video? Many thanks

Thanks a lot!

Hi! Thinking about getting the full package now! So is it possible yo select an animal that won't be eaten by anyone above him?

Hi, I am confused about the terrain specification part. Do you self-select a location at the start? Do you see which variable is changing and use it to group the species in 3 groups each? Then proceed to look at finding producers within the group that meets the specifications of the chosen location with highest calories provided and do the bottom up approach? Thanks!

Just completed the PSG! You won't really need more resources rather than this video and the information in the website to complete this game! The ecosystem management got me much more time than expected (about 45 minutes) and after realizing that my first two layers didn't work, I rushed to the third one and I'm not sure if my ecosystem was correct, although at the end a video of the animals I selected appeared and everything seems like it was correct. So, my question guys is, when you submit an incorrect ecosystem, does it drive you back or it's just submitted and you continue as normal? For the second game I had 32, 30 and 34 turns respectively. As I didn't have much time I just used strong defenders near the base and overlapped their areas in the first 2 rounds (10 turns in total) while in the last one I tried to cover all of the directions for the fast-forward phase. Make sure you also use some terrains in the first 2 games while in the last one terrains aren't really useful as you'll get a new defender which has 30 power and a very large cover area, so usually the 3rd game is the best one, although it didn't make much of a difference for me as I didn't have time to calculate damage but you certainly need to calculate the overall damage for each direction and make sure it's about 150-160 so you ensure more turns as the first bunch of invaders is in populations of 120-140.

Hey, I just wanted to thank you all guys! Not sure about my results, but it was a really fun experience, I really enjoyed the part of the ecosystem and I finished it in 36 min, but the second part was more challenging for me. Maybe in the second part I was a little bit chaotic in choosing defenders and terrains. I could finish the first part earlier, but I took time and double checked everything.Maybe I enjoyed the first part more cuz I used to play Zoo empire as a kid. Thanks again!

After I selected my final 8 species in my excel sheet, i added them in the “species list” in the game without order, does the hierarchical order matter in the final list?

So, I just finished my test. At the end of the ecosystem test, it showed all of my animals and species alive. Does this mean my ecosystem is sustainable? I managed to get to the rounds of the protect the plant where the system took over and finally captured the plant. I managed to plan ahead so that my planned activities warded off the invaders. Is that a good thing? Was I supposed to get a yes or no when I finished? I did not receive the thumb up or down. Just a survey.

Can anybody tell me where can i find the note template? checked all the links in the description. Thanks in advance

Thanks for the great video! One question I have regarding the Plant-defense game: On 15:39 Coyotte is activated and eats -30 of the Fox. But Coyotte can only be placed on the Grassland. Does it mean a defender can still defend on the terrain it cannot be placed like Forests and Rocks?

Is this game given to all people who apply for a job? What skills specifically is it looking for?

@11:35 Why do we only care about depth/elevation and temperature if the animal data shows salt content and water current data? Shouldn't we care about those data points as well because they might not be suitable for an environment with just Depth and Temperature considered?

Do we first have to select the location or the animals? Someone plz guide me. Need help :(

Very good.

I passed the test 2 weeks ago and still have no reply.. does this mean a positive reply?

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!

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.

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! :)

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!!!!!

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!

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!

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!

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 :)

Just completed my PSG. Wanted to echo everyone's sentiment of how helpful this video is!

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

This is the most usefull PSG information I have ever heard. Thank you!

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.

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!

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 😄

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!

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).

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

This js better than the paid guides!!!! Trust me on this I bought them from prep lounge and they are horrible

Hello guys. I passed the PSG yesterday. I never comment on RU-vid 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!

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!!!

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.

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.

Thank you, it was helpful. 63 rounds in the last map :)

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.

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

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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

Hi guys, i just finished the PSG and got an invitation for the first-round interview process, if you are interested i will share below the strategy that i followed: 1-Ecosystem Building i decided to build a pyramid that had , 3 Producers 3 Herbivores and 2 predators , the way i did it was with the bottoms up strategy, first i selected 3 producers with the same temperature and Depth interval and trying to find the highest Cal provided , after that i opened all the animals that the producers where "eaten by" and tried to select the ones with the higher "Cal provided" and smaller "Cal Need" also trying to get each Hervibore to just be able to eat one of the Producers i had chosen (This by looking the food sources) , after selecting the hervibores i did a simulation on my notebook to make sure every memeber of the food chain would still be alive after each one had eaten. After that i focused on finding 2 predators that followed the same depth and temperature interval , trying to select the ones with the smaller " Cal Needed" as the "Cal Provided" was no longer relevant, opened all the animals that my Herbivores were eaten by and then selected 2 with the criteria previously mentioned. Performed one last simulation to make sure all the members of the food chain would still be alive and then sent my answer. 2- Plant Defense As the animals path is already determined when they spawn what i did was to spawn defenses enough for that animal to be killed on the yellow path and then fortify the surroundings of the plant with whatever turn i had left to planify , when i could i would stack a rock or tree and an animal to defend me , given that you are able to see the animals spawning until turn 15 what i did was to planify for the attack of the last animal and then try to predict the next enemy spawning on my weaker side this way i calculated to reach at least turn 22-25 even if the first animal that spawns after turn 15 reached my plant , with this in mind , if you find yourself with no weaker side to fortify i would build rocks or trees around the plant, that way at least you will earn 1 or 2 extra turns of survival and possibly the delay will be enough for the defenses that you already had to kill the enemy.

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.

Quite disappointing as I followed the instructions of this video and paid the whole package. Yes the ecosystem was one of the games but the second steps was completely unexpected - redrock with 10 cases and one investigation. It was 2 hours test

I think you missed a point during your explanation for the squirrel and fox. Your explanation said that the Squirrel wont eat grass because the grass can't satisfy its calorie needs. But the squirrel won't even attempt to eat the grass in the first place because after mouse is done eating grass, grass will have less calories provided than nuts. So squirrel will go directly to nuts. After each animal eats, you need to re-order the rankings of the calories provided. Same goes with the fox. The fox won't attempt to eat the mouse not because mouse's calories wont satisfy its entire need, but because mouse is not the highest calorie provider after snake takes its calories. The rankings change after each predator eats here again.

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!

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.

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.

When you finished the ecosystem game did you get an alert or notification like “task completed”? Thanks you for the amazing video.

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 :)

Just completed the PSG test, this video was super helpful!! Didn't prepare much but I think I managed to make the ecosystem work. Is it possible that I had two animals that were not eaten at all by others or could that be an index that I've done something wrong? (One of the two animals wasn't a top predator). Redrock study was easier than expected and managed to finish before time. In general, I'd say just watch this video a couple times and read carefully the comments and that should do the trick pretty much

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.

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!

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

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!

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!:)

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.

just took the test a few minutes ago. The ecosystem task went smoothly but the second part was unexpected. it was a case study with studying a report, doing analysis, answering 10 cases, and more(didn't get to the last part due to time constraints). I don't know if this is the new structure but for those who are going to do the test anytime soon kindly familiarize yourself with case studies that have numerical reasoning. I encountered lots of percentage calculations. Generally, I don't think I did well considering the second part was awful. wishing all the best to anyone preparing to take it.

I did it recently and my highest survival round was 52. Also when I submitted my ecosystem I only got green ticks next to the objectives. Does it mean the ecosystem survived? If so, it was very hard and I had to try three different heights lol

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 :)

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.

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.

Thanks for the video. I have watched it over and over, but somehow, I still don’t understand the plant invader game. Please who can break it down for me? And what does “overlap” actually mean? I don’t mind dropping my WhatsApp contact for someone to explain to me. Thanks guys as you make a difference in the life of someone else.🎉

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.

Great video thanks. Question - why doesnt the mouse take all of its calories needed (4000) from the Grass (Cal Provided 5000?)

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.

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!!!

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.

I think the BEST strategy is to built the chain from the top top the buttom. It allows u to select predators with the same amount of of calories provided

Hello! It's been about a month I took the exam but I haven't received any results yet. Is it common in your opinion?

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 :-).

I just took the test, comments here made the ecosystem part relatively easy. However, red rock part was terrible for me. Looking back, I panicked a lot and couldnt figure out what was being asked clearly. If I was able to understand what the question meant I think I could solve the math, it was basic calculations expected in case interwievs. Overall, I think I should’ve looked into the red rock before taking the test. I don’t expect a positive outcome, yet I will update my comment if it is positive! Most important take away from my experience would be to prepare properly beforehand (I only had couple hours.) and stay calm during the whole assesment.

Amazing tutorial! Thank you so much. I have my PSG assessment in 2 days, and I am very nervous. I wanted to purchase your simulation game but unfortunately cannot afford it at the moment :( Regarding the food chain ecosystem, do the animals that eat each other must be placed next to each other? for example, if a lion eats a rat, but has a different living condition and cannot be placed next to the rat, can he still eat the rat or I must find a different animal that lives in a similar living condition as an alternative?

Thank you for the video! I am taking the test today :)

Guys, I have a few questions about the Ecosystem: e.g., when you selected your PRODUCERS with depth/temp. 61-90 and 25-29, respectively, then the next group (until the end) you must have in the same range - depth/temp????? I did that, and while using a bottom-up strategy, I constantly have the same issue - at least one animal has insufficient calories provided for the next animal in the food chain … Can each level be taken from different depths/temperatures???? What if one animal doesn't survive? Is it directly a fail?? Did you use the approach of looking at the “eaten by” specs - while selecting the next group of animals/apex? ?? I’d appreciate any suggestion, pls

I did the assessment and had one question - the ecosystem game never showed me how I did, it just sent me to the next stage, is that meant to happen?

I have an important question and would be grateful if anyone could help me: Do all animals need to have their calories eaten by other animals? Example: You have an apex and two carnivores, and the apex eats calories from one but leaves the other untouched

I just took the test, and I want to provide info about the redrock study because it was new and hard for me and couldn't pass it. In the Analysis stage they will describe two types of wolves, they want one of them to hunt more and the other to hunt less. then they will give you data and you should carefully calculate the percentage change (look and practice that if you don't know it) and use that number to find the expected hunts of the two packs of wolves, then test the study plan and weather or not it is impactful, and you should keep clean notes of the changes in numbers. because in the Analysis stage they will ask questions that assumes that you know it. For example, did the two packs of wolves meet their goal? you will have the results that you found with the goal of the study. if you're someone who doesn't deal a lot with numbers you will find this very challenging. search for this type of questions. and practice it. best of luck

Guys I'm having my test tomorrow morning and I can't wait to come and update this comment after I have passed Update: I didn't pass guys

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

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!

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.

hi MConsultingPrep, Where is the template for taking notes mentioned at 12:12 in the video ?

I blew my test a few weeks ago, i wish you’d released this a little earlier 😩

Has anybody purchased the Prep MConsulting offers? I'm wondering if it actually is worth it. Thanks for your comments!