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What Are the Big 4 firms, services, careers, and strategy arms cover image

What Are the Big 4? Firms, Services, Careers & Strategy Arms (2026)

Updated July 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant The Big 4 are the four largest professional services firms in the world: Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG. Together they employ over 1.5 million people across more than 150 countries and generated combined revenue of approximately $220 billion in their 2024 fiscal years, with…
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Consulting professional thinking through complex problems for a guide to consulting brainteasers and practice questions.

Consulting Brainteasers: 15 Practice Questions + Solver’s Guide (2026)

Updated July 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, Former McKinsey Senior Consultant Consulting brainteasers are short logic, math, or lateral-thinking puzzles used by tier-2 firms, the Big 4, boutique consultancies, and in-house consulting teams to test structured problem-solving under pressure. McKinsey, BCG, and Bain almost never use them, so if MBB is your target, brainteasers are…
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Candidate answering the Why Consulting question during a professional consulting interview.

How to Answer “Why Consulting?” in a Consulting Interview

Updated July 2026 · By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant To answer “Why consulting?”, lead with the work itself, the variety of problems, the speed of learning, and early exposure to senior leaders, then back it with a specific example from your own experience and connect it to why you want that firm. Keep…
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Case interview feedback sheet with star ratings and evaluation criteria, illustrating how MBB firms score candidates during consulting case interviews.

Case Interview Feedback Sheet: How MBB Scores You (+ Free Template)

Updated July 2026 by Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant You can grind through 50 practice cases and still walk into your McKinsey interview with no idea whether you’re ready. That’s the trap. Volume without feedback just cements the same mistakes, case after case. A case interview feedback sheet fixes that. It’s a scorecard that…
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Kearney Recruitment Test How to Ace It cover image

Kearney Recruitment Test: 40 Questions, 60 Minutes, and Negative Marking

By Florian Smeritschnig, former McKinsey Senior Consultant · Updated July 2026 The Kearney recruitment test is a 60-minute online assessment with 40 multiple-choice questions covering quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning, and case-style data interpretation. Correct answers earn 5 points, wrong answers deduct 1, and no personality traits are measured. Most candidates lose this test on the…
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