How long is Economic Consulting Analyst Screen?

About 35 minutes across 1 section, 22 items in total, with the clock running continuously between them.

Are the questions the same every time?

No. Every item is generated from the archetype bank the format draws on, so the shape of the paper is fixed and the numbers are not. Two attempts are two different papers.

Econ consulting

Economic Consulting Analyst Screen - Free Timed Practice

Econ consulting firms do not run an online test. Cornerstone publishes a two-round interview process with a case in each round, and Analysis Group publishes a behavioural round followed by a Superday. This sitting models the analyst work those cases are drawn from: estimate a difference-in-differences from a table, spot what breaks it, and run the HHI and market-definition arithmetic from a merger review.

Format

1 section · 22 items · about 35 minutes
No negative marking - answer everything.
No going back. Answer or skip, and the next item loads.
Every sitting is generated fresh - a retake is a new paper.

Sections

Causal inference & competition - 22 items, 35 minutes, no negative marking. 22 items, 35 minutes. DiD, IV, omitted variables, HHI and market definition.

What this sitting is

1 section, 22 items, about 35 minutes end to end, on a clock that does not stop between sections. Every question is generated fresh, so sitting it twice gives you two different papers and there is nothing to memorise between attempts.

How it is marked

No section marks negatively. A wrong answer costs nothing beyond the mark you would have earned, so there is never a reason to leave an item blank.

There is no going back anywhere in the paper. You answer or skip, and the next item loads, so every decision to leave something is final at the moment you make it.

Section by section, with a worked example

Every example below is generated by Outcry, drawn from the same generator that section runs during the timed sitting. None of it is any firm's own material.

A. Causal inference & competition

22 items, 35 minutes. DiD, IV, omitted variables, HHI and market definition.

22 items in 35 minutes, which is about 1.6 minutes an item. No penalty for a wrong answer here, so answer everything.

Example 1

A 10% price rise on product A costs A 29,000 units. Product B gains 11,000 units and product C gains 5,000. What is the diversion ratio from A to B, in percent?

Answer 37.9

D(A→B) = units B gains / units A loses = 11,000/29,000 = 37.9%. The denominator is A's own loss, not the total gained by B and C: 16,000 of the 29,000 units went to B and C and the rest left the market entirely. The same ratio can be built from elasticities, D(A→B) = (ε_BA/ε_AA)·(Q_B/Q_A), which is what gets used when there is no price experiment to read off.

Example 2

Good        Base P   Now P   Base Q
Glass           34      41       52
Freight         40      51       97
Copper          16      20      107

Holding quantities at their base-year values, what is the Laspeyres price index for the current year, with the base year at 100?

Answer 125.3

Σp₁q₀ = 41×52 + 51×97 + 20×107 = 9,219. Σp₀q₀ = 34×52 + 40×97 + 16×107 = 7,360. Index = 9,219/7,360 × 100 = 125.3. Base-year weights are what makes it Laspeyres. A Paasche index reweights on current quantities and usually comes in lower, because buyers shift away from whatever rose most.

Example 3

A regression of wages on education omits ability, which raises both. What happens to the education coefficient?

It is biased upward - it absorbs part of ability's effect
It is biased downward
It is unbiased but inefficient
Only the intercept is affected

Answer It is biased upward - it absorbs part of ability's effect

Omitted variable bias takes the sign of (effect of omitted on outcome) × (correlation with the included regressor). Both are positive here, so the estimate is inflated.

Common questions

How long is Economic Consulting Analyst Screen?: About 35 minutes across 1 section, 22 items in total, with the clock running continuously between them.
Is there negative marking?: No section marks negatively. A wrong answer costs nothing beyond the mark you would have earned, so there is never a reason to leave an item blank.
Can I go back to an earlier question?: There is no going back anywhere in the paper. You answer or skip, and the next item loads, so every decision to leave something is final at the moment you make it.
Are the questions the same every time?: No. Every item is generated from the archetype bank the format draws on, so the shape of the paper is fixed and the numbers are not. Two attempts are two different papers.
Which firms run this assessment?: No named firm runs this as an online test. The firms hiring for this role screen by interview instead, so this sitting models the work rather than anyone's test.

No firm runs this as an online assessment. The firms hiring for this role screen by interview instead, so this sitting models the work rather than anyone's test. Outcry is not affiliated with any firm and every question is generated by Outcry.