How do I best prepare for the McKinsey PST?

Hi! 

The key question is - what is your current score with the official PST?

Do one full case from the mck website in 60 min. Check your score. Target score is 22 out of 26 correct. If you do 17-18 correct you have great chances to improve it quite fast. If lower - it will take a couple of months

If your score is high:

• Buy Victor Cheng test prep program - best materials I've seen so far. Works also for express prep.
• Practice your math. Learn how to multiply double digit numbers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ndkkPZYJHo). Learn the division table up to 1/11 (i.e. 5/6 = 83.3). Learn how to work with zeros (E.g.: 4000000 = 4*10ˆ6)
• Do the 2nd test and check the score

If your score is low you need fundamental prep:

1. Understand where you have problems (Math, speed, critical reasoning)
2. Work on them:

• PST-like tests available online, GMAT IR part with the proper time tracking - for speed and math issues
• GMAT CR and IR parts - for critical reasoning issues
• Speed reading if English is not your native language and you need to improve the speed

Best,

Hi there,

Welcome to PrepLounge and thanks for asking your question in our Consulting Q&A!

Have you already checked out the following PrepLounge resources?

• Battle against McKinsey’s PST - 10 Essential Tips to Get Outstanding Results
• Fast Math: How to Master Mental Math
• Mental Math Tool

Hope this helps!

Best of luck for your test preparation,

Astrid

PrepLounge Community Management

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Hi,
here you can find some useful links to simulate PST:
- https://mconsultingprep.com/free-practice-mckinsey-pst/
- https://igotanoffer.com/pages/mckinsey-problem-solving-test
- https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Careers%20REDESIGN/Interviewing/Main/Problem%20Solving%20Test%20PDFs/practice-test-A.ashx

Best,
Antonello

Dear A!

Below some tips and links on how you can prepare for PST.

1. Practice it. You can find some guidance on PrepLounge: https://www.preplounge.com/en/bootcamp.php/interview-first-aid/master-the-problem-solving-test/guide-to-improving-speed-in-written-tests-such-as-the-pst

McKinsey PST is the hardest one, so I recommend starting and tracking your prep using PST materials. If you have good results with PST, other tests are not a problem. For this you can:

• Buy Viktor Cheng test prep program - the best materials I've seen so far.

• Practice your math. It is very important.

Do the 2nd test and check the score

Also, you can find a good number of PST tests online.

Best,

André

Hello!

I wuold suggest you to practice with GMAT.

GMAT unfortunately only gets better with practicing. Good news is that there are many ways of doing so!

There are free exams in the internet that you can use for practice (the one of LBS MBA page, Verits prep, as well as some free trials for courses such as the one of The Economist (https://gmat.economist.com/)

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara