1 month to prep for McKinsey Interview Private Capital

Hi there,

With one month and no prior casing experience, the key is to keep your prep focused and structured, not to try to cover everything.

Here’s a practical way to approach it for a McKinsey Private Capital BA interview:

Week 1: Foundations

• Learn the McKinsey interviewer-led case format (how cases flow, what interviewers expect)
• Understand basic case structures (profitability, market entry, investment decision)
• Start light mental math and exhibit reading drills
• Watch 1–2 example McKinsey-style cases to understand pacing

Week 2: Core case skills

• Start doing live cases (at least 3–4 this week)
• Focus on structuring clearly, explaining logic out loud, and synthesizing
• Don’t worry about speed yet — clarity matters more
• Begin adapting your REPE mindset to cases (returns, value creation, risks)

Week 3: Private Capital focus

• Practice PE-style cases: commercial due diligence, market attractiveness, growth levers, cost/value creation
• Get comfortable discussing investment logic, risks, and feasibility
• Improve exhibit interpretation and quick math
• Refine your PEI stories (leadership, conflict, drive)

Week 4: Polish

• Fewer cases, higher quality (mock interviews if possible)
• Focus on synthesis, top-down recommendations, and confidence
• Practice handling ambiguity calmly

Your REPE background is a real advantage for Private Capital — you already think in terms of value, risk, and returns. The main thing you need to build is case interview mechanics and communication, not business intuition.

If useful, I can help you map this into a week-by-week plan or do a fast-track mock to get you oriented quickly.

Best,
Evelina

One month is tight but totally doable. Coming from REPE, you already think in deals, returns, and investment logic. That is way closer to McKinsey Private Capital cases than you realize.

Week one: Don't jump into cases yet. Watch good case walkthroughs online first. Understand the game. You get a business problem, break it into pieces, work through it step by step, and give a recommendation.

Week two and three: Do 15 to 20 cases really well, not 50 rushed ones. After each case, spend equal time reviewing what went wrong. The learning is in the review, not the case itself.

Private Capital cases to expect:

• Evaluating a deal
• Due diligence on a target
• Growth strategy post-acquisition
• Fixing a struggling portfolio company

Your REPE background helps here. Lean into it. Show you understand how investors think.

Personal experience interview: This is where deal-background people stumble. They have great technical stories but struggle with leadership questions. Have three or four tight stories ready about times you drove a decision, pushed back on someone senior, or led beyond your title.

Few tips:

• If you can model a deal, you can do case math. Just practice out loud without a spreadsheet.
• Skip expensive courses. Find a case partner and practice live two to three times a week.
• McKinsey cases are interviewer-led, so they guide you more than BCG or Bain. That helps as a first timer.

You have a real shot. Nail the basics, lean into your deal background, and practice live as much as you can.

Hi there,

I suggest you do 1-2 cases on your own and 1 with a friend to get used to the casing format. Then you should schedule 1 session with a coach to get sharp feedback on which areas you should focus on. Dedicate 1-2 weeks on improving these areas by both doing solo and live cases with peers. Do 1 session midway again with a coach to see your progress and get a follow up view on which areas you should focus on next. You should ask them whether they would pass you at this point so you can get an idea of how much effort to invest in the remaining time. 

Congratulations on the PEPI opportunity—that's a fantastic group. One month is a tight runway, especially starting from zero, so your strategy must be intensely focused and prioritized. Don't waste time trying to learn 15 different frameworks; they will not serve you well at McKinsey.

McKinsey cases are fundamentally interviewer-led, meaning they are less about you driving a full strategic analysis and more about your ability to solve complex, discrete problems sequentially, articulate your logic MECE, and pivot quickly based on new data. Given the Private Capital focus, your quantitative section will likely be intense, incorporating elements of transaction math, quick valuations, or due diligence risk assessment. The single biggest reason candidates with your background fail is simple math error or slow calculation time, which throws off the entire case flow.

Your four-week plan needs to look like this: Week 1 is dedicated to fundamentals and math drills. Use resources like Victor Cheng's Case Interview Secrets to grasp the basic structural flow, but immediately shift 80% of your prep time to high-volume arithmetic drills—focus on percentages, quick multiplication with large numbers, and interpreting ambiguous exhibits quickly. Once you start practicing with partners (Weeks 2-4), ensure that you spend significant time on synthesizing the information and delivering clear, impactful conclusions. McKinsey recruiters are listening for your executive presence and your ability to bring structure to ambiguity, not just your ability to find the right number.

All the best!

If you can, get a coach. 

Why?

Because you could have a session asap and get to understand:

1 where you are

2 where you need to get to for a pass

3 how to turn your strengths into spikes

4 what drills to focus on to improve on your dev areas

and most importantly

5 how to prioritise your efforts over the coming month so you work on what matters in the way that makes the biggest impact

The problem that the average candidate has is not 'which materials to work on' because there are many and of varying levels of quality. But 'how best to work on my skills with the most targeted materials.' 

If you want help with this, drop me a line.

Best,
Cristian

hey there :)

With one month and no prior casing experience, focus on fundamentals first. Start with understanding McKinsey style problem solving, especially structuring and hypothesis driven thinking, then practice consistently rather than randomly. Aim for quality over volume, doing fewer cases but really reflecting after each one.

For Private Capital, be comfortable with investment logic, value creation levers, due diligence angles and basic financial intuition given your REPE background. That can actually be a strong advantage if you structure clearly and communicate top down.

If you want, share how many hours per week you can invest and I can suggest a simple four week plan.

best,
Alessa :)