As opposed to the case interview, pausing for 60 seconds is not recommended for the PEI. Just given the overall PEI time of roughly 12-15 minutes, 60 seconds is already a big portion of time which does not add any direct value and will get your interviewer somewhat bored watching you sitting in silence.

At the same time, the direction of the questions is clear by the 3 dimensions and McKinsey expects you to have "enough" examples from your experience to explain and demonstrate for the PEI, so for this a relatively quick answer is expected. Of course, pausing for a couple of seconds to think about the question is perfectly ok and makes your interview example also feel less rehearsed.

Concerning structuring your experience specifically for that question, it's mostly the case that you don't need to rethink your whole example, but will mostly need to tailor only the "P" (Problem) of the "PARADE" framework to the specific question of the interviewer. And this should also take siginifcantly less time than 60 seconds. (for more information concerning the PARADE framework and structuring your PEI, I also wrote a blog post about that on http://mckinsey-pei-blog.consulting-case-interviews.com/how-to-perfectly-structure-your-mckinsey-pei-example/)

Dear A,

I wouldn't recoomend you to take such a long pause before answering you PEI questions, since it is expected that you have to be prepared with them.

If you need any help or advice with that, feel free to reach out.

Best,

André

Hello!

On top of the insights already shared in the post, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes, since we still have some left from the launch!

Hope you find it useful!

Best,

Clara