McKinsey Sustainable Futures Lab (SFL): What It Is and How to Prepare
The McKinsey Solve assessment has historically consisted of two core modules: Redrock and Sea Wolf. Candidate reports also describe a third module, the Sustainable Futures Lab, sometimes abbreviated SFL. More recent reports indicate that candidates may encounter one of two different SFL formats.
September 2026 update: The established SFL lasts 20 minutes and contains 13 questions. Some 95-minute invitations appear to include a different, approximately 30-minute team-management version. The current Solve Games Guide simulator reproduces the established format, not the tested interface. Read what is currently reported about the 95-minute format.
This guide covers what the Sustainable Futures Lab is, how it differs from the other two modules, how to determine whether you’ll see it, and how to prepare efficiently.
What is the Sustainable Futures Lab?
The Sustainable Futures Lab is a scenario-based module within the McKinsey Solve digital assessment. Unlike Redrock (which tests quantitative reasoning and data interpretation) and Sea Wolf (which tests constraint-based logic), the Sustainable Futures Lab evaluates decision-making, prioritisation, and consistent judgment in consulting-style situations.
In the established format, candidates enter a business or sustainability-related scenario and make a series of interconnected decisions. Information is revealed progressively, with earlier choices influencing the options available later. The tested format instead appears to involve four researchers, four workstations, and decisions carried across three simulated days.
This places the Sustainable Futures Lab closer to a Situational Judgement Test (SJT) than to the analytical challenges of the other two modules.
How the Sustainable Futures Lab differs from Redrock and Sea Wolf
| Module | Duration | Primary Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Redrock | 35 min | Quantitative reasoning and problem solving |
| Sea Wolf | 30 min | Logic and constraint-based reasoning |
| Sustainable Futures Lab (established) | 20 min | Ranking and interconnected situational judgement |
| Sustainable Futures Lab (tested) | Approximately 30 min | Team management under limited information |
The key distinction is that the Sustainable Futures Lab does not reward numerical fluency or pattern recognition in the same way. The evaluation centres on how clearly you structure a decision, how well you weigh trade-offs, and how consistently you reason across multiple steps.
Will you see the Sustainable Futures Lab in your assessment?
Candidate reports do not establish one standardised SFL configuration for every assessment.
The most reliable indicator is the total time stated in your invitation email:
- 65 minutes: commonly associated with Redrock and Sea Wolf
- 85 minutes: commonly associated with Redrock, Sea Wolf, and the established SFL
- 95 minutes: some reports describe Redrock, Sea Wolf, and the tested SFL
Treat these as practical patterns rather than guarantees. Your invitation and on-screen instructions override third-party guidance.
What McKinsey tests in the Sustainable Futures Lab
Based on candidate reports and the module’s format, the Sustainable Futures Lab appears to evaluate three core capabilities:
Decision-making under uncertainty. Candidates must commit to a reasonable course of action without complete information. The module does not reward hesitation or attempts to find a “perfect” answer, because there typically is not one.
Prioritisation and trade-off analysis. Each decision point involves multiple plausible options. Practice should focus on how clearly candidates weigh impact, feasibility, risk, and stakeholder implications, not simply which option they select.
Stakeholder awareness. The scenarios incorporate the effects of decisions on different groups: internal teams, clients, and external stakeholders. Considering these dimensions is part of the evaluation.
Candidates also note that consistency across the full scenario matters. Decisions that contradict each other in reasoning, even if each seems locally defensible, appear to reflect poorly on the overall evaluation.
How to prepare for the Sustainable Futures Lab
For an 85-minute invitation, practise the established 20-minute format. For a 95-minute invitation, review the reported team-management workflow as well as general judgement skills.
Practise general Situational Judgement Tests. Free SJT resources are widely available and directly target the skills the Sustainable Futures Lab assesses: evaluating options in ambiguous work situations, identifying the most and least effective responses, and reasoning about stakeholder impact. This is the most direct preparation available.
Define criteria before choosing. In practice, briefly identify what matters most in a given situation before evaluating options. Even a simple consistent framework can make reasoning clearer across interconnected decisions.
Keep Redrock and Sea Wolf as a major focus. Those two modules account for 65 minutes of each reported configuration and require specialised preparation.
A note on resources
You can run full timed practice for the established format in the Solve Games Guide app. See our Sustainable Futures Lab Guide for both format descriptions, preparation advice, and sign-in links.
The practical guidance is simple: confirm your assessment duration, use the current simulator for established-format familiarity and general judgement practice, and review the tested workflow if your invitation states 95 minutes.
Looking for Redrock and Sea Wolf preparation? Read our full guides:
Ready to Practice?
Get unlimited access to our McKinsey Solve Game simulators and master every scenario with realistic practice.