What Casey is
BCG's Mexico careers page names it directly: the Online Case Experience, "guided by Casey", a chatbot. BCG's application FAQ and its guide materials name the platform behind it, HireQuotient. You work in a chat window. Casey sets up a client situation, shares exhibits such as tables and charts, and asks you questions one at a time. At the end you record a short video recommendation.
It's a case, but not a case interview. Nobody pushes back on your structure or asks follow-ups based on what you said. It's closer to a structured test that happens to be about one business problem from start to finish.
Who gets it
Not everyone, and not everywhere. BCG's own pages, read in September 2026, describe the online case in the US (for selected candidates, after the Consulting Career Assessment), in Mexico, and in Australia and New Zealand. Other offices describe different tests: a numerical test in the UK, a cognitive test in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, a logical reasoning test for the Nordics' visiting associate programme. The BCG online assessment overview has the office-by-office table. Your invitation is the final word.
The format
| Detail | What we found | Source strength |
|---|---|---|
| Length | About 30 minutes (Mexico page) or about 35 minutes (US page) | BCG |
| Number of questions | Usually 8 to 10 in one case; two sites say 6 to 8 | Several prep sites agree on 8 to 10 |
| Going back or pausing | Neither. Each answer is final | Several prep sites agree |
| Calculator | Your own is allowed; none is provided | Several prep sites agree |
| Final step | A recorded video recommendation of about one minute, one take | Several prep sites agree |
| Scoring and pass mark | Not published; scores aren't shown to candidates | Prep sites agree nothing is public |
With about 30 minutes for 8 to 10 questions plus the recording, you have roughly three minutes a question including reading the exhibits. That sounds generous until an exhibit has five columns and the question needs three of them. Budget time for reading.
Question types
Prep sites that have collected candidate reports describe the same set:
- Multiple choice with one answer: usually interpretation ("which conclusion does the exhibit support?").
- Multiple choice with several answers: often structuring ("which factors should the client consider?"). Read whether it says "select all that apply".
- Numeric entry: you type a number, sometimes with instructions on units or rounding. This is where most points are lost to small slips.
- Short written answers: a sentence or two, for example stating a risk or a next step.
- Exhibits: tables and charts that several questions draw on.
The video recommendation
The case ends with a recorded recommendation to the client, about one minute long, in one take. Prep sites agree on that. They disagree on how long you get to prepare: some describe about 60 seconds, others a final section of about five minutes. Plan for the short version; if you get more time, that's a bonus.
A structure that fits in a minute:
- The answer first. "I recommend the client enters Harbourton next year."
- Two or three reasons, with numbers. Use the figures you calculated.
- The main risk and what to do about it.
- A next step.
There's an example at the end of the worked case below. Record yourself on your phone at least twice before the day. Most people run long and bury the answer at the end the first time.
How it's assessed
BCG doesn't publish the scoring or a pass mark, and candidates don't see a score. Prep sites describe accuracy on the calculations and interpretation questions as the core, with the written and video parts judged on clarity and whether the recommendation follows from the numbers. That's plausible and unconfirmed. Whether wrong answers cost extra is disputed; one prep site contradicts itself on its own pages.
BCG does say, on its page about AI in hiring, that AI is never used to make hiring decisions. It doesn't say how the Casey responses are reviewed.
The case math to have ready
Casey's numeric questions draw on a small set of business formulas. None is hard. What costs time is working out which one the question wants. Know these well enough that you don't have to think about them:
| You're asked for | Formula | Quick example |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | Customers × orders per customer × price | 2,000 × 12 × $25 = $600,000 |
| Contribution per unit | Price − variable cost per unit | $40 − $28 = $12 |
| Profit | Units × contribution − fixed costs | 50,000 × $12 − $400,000 = $200,000 |
| Break-even volume | Fixed costs ÷ contribution per unit | $400,000 ÷ $12 ≈ 33,300 units |
| Margin | Profit ÷ revenue | $200,000 ÷ $2,000,000 = 10% |
| Growth rate | (New − old) ÷ old | (130 − 100) ÷ 100 = 30% |
| Payback period | Upfront investment ÷ annual profit | $900,000 ÷ $300,000 = 3 years |
| Market size from a survey | Population × share interested × share who'd buy | 1,000,000 × 20% × 25% = 50,000 |
Two habits make these reliable under time pressure. Write every intermediate number on paper with its unit ("144,000 orders", not "144"), because later questions reuse them. And check the size of each answer against something you already know: if the break-even volume is bigger than the whole market, you've divided the wrong way.
A full worked case
This case is ours, written to match the reported format. It isn't a BCG case and isn't based on one. Try each question before reading the answer.
The setup
Your client, GreenCrate, sells weekly meal kits in three cities. It's deciding whether to open in a fourth, Harbourton, next year. Opening means leasing and running a local packing hub. The CEO wants to know if Harbourton would be profitable in its first year.
Question 1 (select all that apply)
Which of these should GreenCrate look at first to judge first-year profitability?
- How many Harbourton households would buy meal kits
- What competitors in Harbourton charge
- The cost of delivering each order in Harbourton
- Whether Harbourton is the CEO's home town
- The fixed cost of the packing hub
Answer: A, B, C and E. Demand, price, variable cost and fixed cost are the four pieces of a first-year profit estimate. D is irrelevant, and it's there to see whether you'll pick everything.
Question 2 (numeric)
Harbourton has 400,000 households. A survey found 15% would consider meal kits, and of those, 30% would order at least once a week. How many households would order weekly?
400,000 × 0.15 = 60,000. 60,000 × 0.30 = 18,000 households.
Question 3 (numeric, in $ millions to two decimal places)
GreenCrate expects to win 20% of weekly-ordering households in year one. The average order is $60, and a weekly customer orders about 40 times a year, allowing for holidays and skipped weeks. What is expected first-year revenue?
Customers: 18,000 × 0.20 = 3,600. Orders: 3,600 × 40 = 144,000. Revenue: 144,000 × $60 = $8,640,000. Answer: 8.64.
Note the unit instruction. Typing 8640000 into a box that asks for millions is a wrong answer, even though the math is right.
Question 4 (exhibit, numeric as a percentage to one decimal place)
Casey shows the expected cost per order in Harbourton:
| Cost per order | $ |
|---|---|
| Ingredients | 27 |
| Packaging | 5 |
| Delivery | 9 |
| Marketing (year one) | 6 |
What is the contribution margin per order, as a percentage of the order price?
Variable cost: 27 + 5 + 9 + 6 = $47. Contribution: $60 − $47 = $13. As a percentage: 13 ÷ 60 = 21.67%. Answer: 21.7.
Question 5 (numeric, in $ thousands)
The Harbourton hub costs $1.2 million a year to run. What is expected first-year profit?
Contribution: 144,000 orders × $13 = $1,872,000. Less fixed cost: $1,872,000 − $1,200,000 = $672,000. Answer: 672.
A quick cross-check: break-even is $1,200,000 ÷ $13, about 92,300 orders. Expected orders are 144,000, comfortably above it, so a positive profit makes sense.
Question 6 (single choice)
Casey adds: the main competitor in Harbourton charges $52 an order and has said it will match any new entrant's promotions. Which conclusion is best supported?
- GreenCrate should cut its price to $52 to compete.
- GreenCrate's plan relies on customers paying about 15% more than the competitor's price, so the 20% share target is the main thing to test.
- The competitor's price doesn't matter because GreenCrate's kits are better.
- GreenCrate should not enter Harbourton.
Answer: B. $60 is about 15% above $52. The profit estimate depends on winning 20% of weekly households at that premium. A isn't supported: at $52, contribution would be $5 an order and year one would lose money. C assumes something the case hasn't told you. D jumps to a conclusion the numbers don't support.
Question 7 (numeric, in $ thousands)
Fuel prices rise and delivery now costs $12 an order instead of $9. What is first-year profit now?
Contribution falls to $10 an order. 144,000 × $10 = $1,440,000. Less $1,200,000 = 240.
A $3 change in one cost line cut profit by almost two thirds. That's worth saying in the recommendation.
Question 8 (short written answer)
In one or two sentences, what is the biggest risk to the Harbourton plan?
A good answer: "Profit is thin relative to the fixed cost of the hub, so it depends heavily on winning 20% of weekly households at a price about 15% above the main competitor; if share or delivery costs miss by a small amount, year one could lose money."
What makes it good: it names the risk specifically, ties it to the numbers, and doesn't hedge in every direction.
The video recommendation
About 140 words, which is a comfortable minute:
"I recommend GreenCrate opens in Harbourton next year, with a check at six months. We expect about 3,600 weekly customers and 144,000 orders in year one, which at a $13 contribution per order covers the $1.2 million hub cost and leaves roughly $670,000 in profit. The main risk is that the margin is thin. The plan assumes we win a fifth of weekly meal-kit households while charging about 15% more than the main competitor, and a $3 rise in delivery cost alone would cut profit to about $240,000. So I'd lock in delivery rates before signing the hub lease and set a clear six-month target for customer numbers. As a next step, I'd test the $60 price with a small pre-launch campaign in Harbourton to see whether the share assumption holds."
Common mistakes
- Ignoring the unit or rounding instruction. Right math in the wrong unit is a wrong answer.
- Selecting everything on "select all that apply". There's usually a distractor that has nothing to do with the question.
- Losing the thread across questions. Later questions reuse earlier answers. Keep a running list on paper: households, customers, orders, revenue, cost per order, contribution, fixed cost.
- Over-reading exhibits. Find the rows and columns the question needs before reading everything else.
- Hedged written answers. One clear risk beats three vague ones.
- A recommendation that ends with the answer. Say what you recommend in the first sentence.
- Running over a minute on video. Rehearse to about 140 words.
A one-week plan
- Day 1: confirm what your invitation says. If it's Casey, read this page and the overview. If it's the CCA or a cognitive test, prepare for that instead.
- Day 2: case math on paper: growth, margins, break-even, market sizing from percentages. Twenty problems, with your calculator.
- Day 3: exhibits. Take charts from annual reports or news articles and write three questions about each, then answer them.
- Day 4: redo the worked case above without looking, timed at 25 minutes.
- Day 5: recommendations. Record five one-minute recommendations on different topics. Watch them back once.
- Day 6: one more full timed case, then a recorded recommendation straight after.
- Day 7: rest. Check your webcam, microphone, lighting and calculator.
The numerical practice in our Bain sections uses the same kind of business math and is available now. Dedicated BCG practice isn't built yet; BCG practice explains what's planned.
FAQ
What is BCG Casey?
Casey is the chatbot that guides BCG's Online Case Experience, a timed online business case run on the HireQuotient platform. BCG names it on its Mexico careers page.
How long is the BCG Casey assessment?
BCG gives about 30 minutes on its Mexico page and about 35 minutes on its US page. That includes a short recorded video recommendation at the end.
How many questions are in BCG Casey?
Prep sites mostly report 8 to 10 questions in a single case, while a couple say 6 to 8. BCG doesn't publish a number.
Can you go back in the BCG Casey case?
No. Prep sites agree that answers are final and you can't pause or return to an earlier question.
Can I use a calculator for BCG Casey?
Prep sites agree you can use your own calculator and that none is provided on screen.
What is the final step in BCG Casey?
A recorded video recommendation of about one minute, in one take. Reports differ on preparation time, from about 60 seconds to a final section of about five minutes.
How should I prepare for BCG Casey?
Practise business math on paper with your own calculator (growth, margins, break-even, market sizing), work through at least two full timed cases, and record a few one-minute recommendations that state the answer first. Keep a running list of your numbers during the case, because later questions reuse earlier answers.
Does every BCG office use Casey?
No. BCG's own pages describe Casey in the US (after the Consulting Career Assessment, for selected candidates), Mexico, and Australia and New Zealand. Several European offices describe numerical, logical or cognitive tests instead.
Keep going
Back to the BCG online assessment overview. More practice material: Casey math, worked examples and how to give the final recommendation. Applying to more than one firm: the MBB online assessments compared. The other firms: McKinsey Solve and Bain's online test.
Sources we checked: BCG's careers pages for Mexico, the United States and other offices, BCG's application FAQ and its page on AI in hiring, and prep-site reports from MyConsultingCoach, IGotAnOffer, Hacking the Case Interview, MConsultingPrep, Road to Offer, Management Consulted and CaseStudyPrep.ai. We couldn't open BCG's own online case user guide, so details attributed to it are secondhand.
SolveForge is an independent practice tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Boston Consulting Group or HireQuotient. The case on this page was written by us; it isn't a BCG case or based on one. "BCG" and "Boston Consulting Group" are trademarks of their owner. Nothing here guarantees any assessment result.