Oliver Wyman publishes its case interviews in full, but not its UK online test

Candidates and prep sites describe the Oliver Wyman screen as a short, timed maths test built on percentages, ratios and reading charts. Our reasoning test drills exactly that habit: pulling the right figure out of a business table and working the percentage before the clock wins.

Oliver Wyman does not publish the UK test format, and the one format it does publish (for Latin America) also covers critical reasoning, data sufficiency and integrated reasoning, which our test touches only lightly. Data sufficiency questions in particular ask whether you could answer, not what the answer is, and we do not drill that style. Treat our test as arithmetic and chart fitness, not a copy.

Almost everything Oliver Wyman says about selection concerns the interviews. Its interview preparation page explains both interview types, and it hosts worked cases with the criteria interviewers use. On the online test, the firm is close to silent for the UK. The only test format it describes in numbers is on its Latin America campus page.

That gap is why this page splits facts into what the firm states and what candidates report. Use the firm's material to prepare for interviews in depth. Use the candidate reports to get ready for a test whose exact shape you will only learn from your invitation email.

For campus hiring in Latin America, Oliver Wyman says shortlisted applicants sit a virtual assessment of 26 questions in 50 minutes, with instructions sent the day before. It lists four areas: critical reasoning, problem solving, data sufficiency and integrated reasoning. Every stage there is eliminatory, and the whole process runs online, final interviews included.

Nothing on the UK pages says London uses this test. Still, it is a useful clue to taste. The four labels come straight from business school admissions testing, which fits what UK candidates report: short, wordy maths problems rather than long tables. If your invitation names a different format, trust the invitation.

Several prep sites and forum posts say a wrong answer on the Oliver Wyman test costs you a mark, while a blank costs nothing. One forum contributor argues that modern assessments rarely work that way. Because the firm does not say, plan for the stricter case.

Under a penalty, a wild guess is a bad bet but an informed one can pay. A common rule from prep guides: if you can rule out two options, answer; if you cannot rule out any, skip and move on. Practise this decision under time pressure, because the hard part is letting go of a question you have already spent a minute on.

• Read the instructions screen for any statement about marking before you start.
• Do a first pass for questions you can finish in under a minute.
• Return to the rest only if time is left, and only answer where you have narrowed the options.

The firm's advice is unusually concrete. Treat the interviewer as your client, because they want the problem solved and can help you along the way. Clarify the question, restate it in your own words, break it into smaller parts, state your assumptions, use numbers, and close with a recommendation.

Its sample answers keep the final recommendation to about 30 to 60 seconds and lead with the answer before the reasons. Work through the published cases out loud, timing only that closing summary. A short numerical reasoning test session before each case keeps the arithmetic in the middle of the case from slowing you down.

Oliver Wyman says its conversational interviews explore your background, interests, accomplishments and career aims, and that it uses them to judge your interest in business and your longer-term goals. It also uses them to tell you about its own work, so expect a two-way conversation.

Prepare three stories you can tell in two minutes each: something you led, something that went wrong, and a problem you solved with numbers. Then prepare a specific reason for consulting and a specific reason for this firm. Our professional services assessment guide shows how other consultancies run the same stage.

These come from anonymous reviews, university careers pages and prep guides. They often disagree, and Oliver Wyman has not confirmed them. Read them as leads, not rules.

• Prep sites describe the UK online test as a 20 to 30 minute numerical test focused on percentages, ratios, probability and chart reading.
• Several prep sites and forum posts say wrong answers are penalised, though one forum contributor disputes that modern tests do this.
• One prep guide says the screen pairs a values-based competency questionnaire with the timed numerical test.
• Candidates on Glassdoor report a process of about a month from application to offer, and one London candidate says two weeks.