Yes. The online assessment can be an elimination stage even when the rest of your application is strong.

Firms use assessments as one input in screening, and candidates should not assume a strong PhD or referral makes the test irrelevant.

At the same time, avoid obsessing over rumored cutoffs that the firm has not published.

Prepare enough to understand the format, then keep case and fit preparation moving because later stages can follow quickly. For more detail, see the McKinsey Solve guide.

The current invitation mattered more than old posts I found online. The format details had changed since some of those threads.

tbh I overfocused on the assessment and then had almost no time left for cases.