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Speed reading techniques for McKinsey PST

McKinsey McKinsey PST PST
New answer on Sep 19, 2020
3 Answers
3.4 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Jun 13, 2018

Hi everyone!

Does anyone know any particular speed reading techniques? I'm trying to accelerate my ability to read while prepping for McKinsey PST.

Thanks :)

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Anonymous B replied on Jun 14, 2018

Hey there!

I used a similar approach to you for the PST in regards to speed reading...It helped a lot and i passed!

Here are my thoughts...

  1. I used https://www.7speedreading.com/ - In 7 days you can go from about 300 to 600 words per minute. It's good to do it right before the test as after 15 mins of exercise your reading speed will increase 5 fold.
  2. There are patterns in the PST - do enough and you will learn these. This will save the amount of text you need to read because you'll know the wording of the question or you'll know where to find certain information. The answer to 1 question is normally just in 1 paragraph or the 1 graph.
  3. As Vlad said, dont read the text before reading the question. The PST is a time trap and you need to be smart about it.
  4. I would also recommend not doing all the questions - There are some tough quant which honestly will take you 5 minutes to get the exact answer. IF you practice enough, you recognise these through the question and answer type. Move on, guess an answer and come back if you have time at the end, because there are easier questions for you to spend time on and nail!
  5. Underline and circle the key words in text

Good luck with your prep and the test!

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Anonymous replied on Sep 19, 2020

Dear A!

A for reading comprehension there are a lot of techniques and short courses on fast-reading, for example on udemy.com.

I can share with you some ideas, if there is some study or publication, you can read first very attentively an Executive Summary and Conclusion,and if you want to get some specific details on the research, you just jump to the specific chapter to go deeper.

Also, you can train yourself to read the first sentence in every paragraph, which gives you an overview of the whole paragraph itself. But the trick in this reading, that your mind should be always tuned in, otherwise you just get bored, tired, and lose your time.

So, my advice to you, you really want to go deeper in that to take some short courses and practice and practice.

Best,

André

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Jun 13, 2018
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

Several recommendations here:

  1. Just read a lot. Reading in English helps to boost the performance. The best resources to read - Business School Cases, Economist Articles, etc
  2. Use speed-reading apps. I personally used a lot for GMAT prep. "Reading Trainer for Ipad" helped me a lot
  3. On the real test, read the questions first and then skim the text. Don't read everything.

Again, the major improvement comes from everyday reading in English.

Best!

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