Mock interview grading templates

Example grading rubrics for consulting and product management interviews

Kenton Kivestu, ex-Google, ex-BCG, Founder at RocketBlocks Published: April 23, 2020

Why use a rubric? That's simple. Using a grading rubric helps you give clear, specific and actionable feedback to your case partners. It can make your life as a mock interviewer easier and ensure that your partner finds the experience helpful.

Below, we've included a sugggestion of a sample rubric as well as an example with fictional feedback from an interview.

• Consulting rubric
• Consulting rubric - with sample feedback
• Product management rubric
• Product management - with sample feedback

You're free to customize it however you see fit or use it as is. Here are our tips on how to put it to use:

• Copy the table into a Google spreadsheet or your favorite note taking app
• Make notes on each dimension as your partner goes through the case
• Assign a grade for each dimension at the end. We recommend a three point-scale: 1 = weak, 2 = passable and 3 = great (and using half-points if needed, e.g., 2.5)
• Share your notes with your partner so they have a detailed record of their own performance

Consulting rubric

Dimension	Grade	Notes
Structuring (e.g., logical, MECE, tailored)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Quantitative (e.g., accurate, fast, charts analysis)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Creativity / brainstorming (e.g., think on feet, ideate quickly)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Communication (e.g., clear, easy to follow)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Overall (e.g., complete performance)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)

Sample consulting interview rubric with example feedback

Dimension	Grade	Notes
Structuring (e.g., logical, MECE, tailored)	2.5	Solid structure, laid out a few clear buckets to explore which made sense given the nature of the case
Quantitative (e.g., accurate, fast, charts analysis)	1.0	Struggled a lot with the mental math, I'd recommend doing practice in RocketBlocks to gain confidence and control nerves
Creativity / brainstorming (e.g., think on feet, ideate quickly)	3.0	Really strong in brainstorming, had a ton of great ideas and did a nice job structuring them as well
Communication (e.g., clear, easy to follow)	2.5	Clear communicator, did a good job of explaining nuanced ideas and clearly articulating her position
Overall (e.g., complete performance)	2.0	Overall, this was a decent performance but if you can improve your quant skills you'll be in really great shape!

Product management rubric

Dimension	Grade	Notes
Structured (e.g., clear, organized approach to the problem)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Product sense / strategy (e.g., demonstrates good product insight)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Analytics / execution (e.g., thinks through metrics, what to look for)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Technical fluency (e.g., capable of working with engineering)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)
Overall (e.g., complete performance)	(1 - 3)	(Your notes here)

Sample PM interview rubric with example feedback

Dimension	Grade	Notes
Structured (e.g., clear, organized approach to the problem)	1.5	There was no clear approach stated so it felt like we jumped around from topic to topic alot.
Product sense / strategy (e.g., demonstrates good product insight)	2.5	Demonstrated good product intuition w/ some feature ideas and strong sense of how it tied into overall company strategy
Analytics / execution (e.g., thinks through metrics, what to look for)	2.5	Proactively cited the metrics she would review, could define them clearly and the insights they would yield
Technical fluency (e.g., capable of working with engineering)	1.5	Seemed rattled when discussing the API implementation and where the changes would have to be made - would suggest reviewing APIs and tech stacks to get more comfortable
Overall (e.g., complete performance)	2.0	Product and analytics was good but definitely needs to work on overall structure and getting comfortable with technical aspects of the role

For additional guidance on how to be great mock interview partner, check out the video with our Founder below: