All questions tagged PST - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

To calculate gross margin subtract Cost from total revenue and divide that number by total revenue.

In other words, divide the profit by the total revenue. So in the case of the NBA it would be 5/65, and for EBL 4/42 and so on.

So just add up all the profits (5+4+12+2=23) and all the revenues (65+42+67+31=205) and this would be 23/205, or approx 9%. None of the above.

Hi, I did the Imbellus test recently, it took me 13 days to hear back from HR. As expected, the hiring situaton is quite messy due to COVID-19.

Hi Abdulrahman,

as general practice for the PST, I would recommend the following approach:

1. Try to find at least 5-6 practice cases online. There are several available for free, if needed you can purchase additional ones
2. Do one of the tests immediately to check your score. As the passing score is around 70% and you have 26 questions, your target score should be above 18 (keep in mind you are likely to score a bit less in the actual test than your average score at home due to time pressure/nervousness). In the first test you are likely to score lower than that - don't worry, that's pretty normal.
3. Identify the type of questions where you made more mistakes. There could be different reasons why you are doing mistakes and there is probably a predominant type of mistake you are doing (eg slow math or weak critical reasoning). You have to identify the reasons for the mistakes and a way to fix them.
4. Continue the preparation with the remaining tests. After you have identified the main reason for mistakes, you can continue the preparation with the other tests before the interview - I would allocate them at a regular time distance, with an increase in frequency closer to the day of the test.
5. Go again through the questions where you did mistakes at regular intervals. Be sure to keep a "failure" spreadsheet, where you report all the mistakes and classify the reason for them each time.

The key areas where you may do mistakes and may need to practice are the following:

1. Time management. Commit to an amount of time for each question, and go on if you surpass that time. If you do not set discipline, you will end dedicating too much time to some questions (these tests are sometimes structured with questions which are supposed to be skipped and reviewed at the end). If time and test allow, you can then go back to the questions at the end.
2. Quick math. I would recommend practicing with online tools on a daily base to improve. It is better to allocate a small amount of time daily rather than to practice intensively few days only before the interview
3. Quick reading. Get a Harvard Business School case or an equivalent long one, give yourself 2 minutes and check how much information you can absorb. Then repeat until you get a sufficient level of accuracy. You can also check speed reading tactics (eg Tim Ferriss ones) and see if they work for you.
4. Graph interpretation. You need to practice on how to derive quickly insides from graphs. Take some random graphs, give yourself 30 seconds and check if you can get the main insides from them. Then repeat until when you get a sufficient level of accuracy
5. Critical reasoning. The GMAT critical reasoning section should be a good support as practice

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi Anonymous,

McKinsey is currently using two types of tests, the first is the PST while the second is SHL-based. The choice between the two depends on the country you are applying for and HR will likely clarify you that in advance.

The PST is normally not required for experienced candidates, even when required for fresh graduates. HR will always clarify if you have to take the test in advance.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

McKinsey has indeed removed PST as a requirement from several offices.

If you wanted to confirm for France, the way to be sure would be to contact the recruiting department at McKinsey Paris and ask - either email or call!

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!

Hi Andrew,

McKinsey Digital Assessment is based on a game developed by an American start-up Imbellus that uses Artificial Intelligence to place candidates in a range of lifelike scenarios and assess their decision-making skills and cognitive processes. Thus far it has been only deployed at McKinsey, but rest assured that other top tier consultancies will be quick to follow with a digital game-based assessment of their own.

Imbellus’ psychologists designed the game to evaluate candidates across five cognitive abilities:

• Critical thinking: forming a judgment based on a set of data
• Decision making: selecting the best course of action under time constraints
• Meta-cognition: planning and monitoring own learning and performance
• Situational awareness: forecasting outcomes based on the relationship between multiple variables
• Systems thinking: understanding cause and effect relationships

McKinsey says that the game tracks every move of the mouse, hesitation, and time spent on every action. It then uses data science to score the candidate across the five abilities.

How does it work?

The assessment consists of two scenarios, each taking approximately 30 minutes, with the second scenario broken into three parts. While the time limits are recommended, it has been reported that candidates who spend more time in the first scenario, have less time for the second one.

1. Ecosystem Management: candidates are expected to create a sustainable ecosystem either on a mountain ridge or a coral reef. The first step is to select the best location based on a range of attributes, such as wind speed, pH of the soil, and temperature; next choose 8 species of animals and plants from a selection of 40 based on a range of characteristics, such as number of calories needed to survive and ideal environment.

The most complex part is matching the animals to each other by calculating the number of calories they need to consume vs the number of calories they offer when consumed. Working down the food chain, starting from the predators can simplify the task.

2. Protect the Plant: candidates need to protect a plant from invading species through six rounds of play, using the provided tools, such as predators and terrain barriers, to stop or slow them down.

One of the challenges is deploying the majority of tools before knowing where the invasion will start or what the effect of the measures will be on the invaders. The key is to experiment, carefully record the results, and leverage the learnings in subsequent rounds.

How to succeed?

No-one really knows how to “win” in the game just yet, but one thing not to do, is to try and replicate the actions of someone who has taken the assessment before. The game has enough variability to prevent any attempt of cheating. Every user sees a unique version of the scenarios.

It is especially important to read the instructions carefully and take the time in the tutorials. There are a lot of details that can feel overwhelming. Think 80/20 and get comfortable with making decisions in conditions of ambiguity, and partial information, while always rooting the decisions in the facts.

How to prepare?

One of the reasons for switching to Imbellus is that candidates can prepare for the PST. Multiple previous and mock tests available online can get you in order for the old 1 hour, 26 questions test. McKinsey found a strong bias towards applicants with the time and resources to purchase mock tests and practice for the PST.

The Digital Assessment is meant to be a novel scenario for applicants, which is still evolving and changing between recruitment cycles. In theory, the game should prevent candidates with exact sciences background from having an advantage. Instead, it tests logic, decision-making, and clarity of thought.

If you are into video games, you are in luck! If not, it might be a time to start. Candidates report that the Imbellus assessment reminds them of the popular category of “tower defence” games, in particular, Kingdom Rush and Planet Zoo. Worst case, this is another, potentially useful way to spend time during the quarantine.

Get in touch if you would like to discuss further.

Hi A,

Bringing it up would really make sense when you pass the test and get the real offer. But as already mentioned, you better have a good reason for changing your mind and, as a consequence, potential location.

Best, André

The PST questions are not difficult, but finishing on time is. Luckily, there is plenty of material on the web to prep for free (including on the McK website). PrepLounge also has some excellent material, which will take you a long way.

Don't forget also to prepare the quick math calculations; caseinterviewmath.com in particular will rank you by accuracy and speed.

Check PL's material there:

- https://www.preplounge.com/en/tests/mckinsey-pst

- https://www.preplounge.com/en/tests/library

Hope this helps -

Hi Alex,

In the PST you face 3 business cases across 26 questions in 60 minutes (usually when English is not your native language they allow for 15 extra minutes).

If you think about the structure of question for each case, it closely resembles a project: understanding the scope; obtaining results; giving a final recommendation.

According to sources online the passing grade is around ~18 correct answers which roughly equates to 70% passing score.

When you look at number of submissions an office receives per year will be well into the hundreds (maybe even thousands). You obviously need some screening otherwise consultants wouldnt be doing anything other than interviewing people.

So, the screening starts by the CV/CL review, claiming victims ~2/3 or so. Than you move to a math exam which is very cheap for a company (some even have it online like OW), claiming victims ~2/3 of the remaining. So, in just to simple steps we are left with ~10% applicants and we havent even started interviewing anyone. These numbers are a bit exagerated but I would say real numbers would be more on the ~high 20s%.

So coming to your point, PST is so hard to screen out weak performers. You can then rebuttal and say "hey, but maybe some of the people that failed were possible top performers!". True, but when you get hundreds of applicants PER OFFICE PER YEAR you can definitely be willing to lose some.

As a reference point, I'm a senior consultant in a tier 2 consulting firm conducting final rounds in my office and we roughly give 1 offer per 100 candidates applying, MBB would be even lower.

Just my 2cents :)

Hi,

IR is the best proxy for GMAT so definitely do that. With the score lower than 10 you probably need 1-3 months to prepare.

Best

Hi Anonymous,

most likely yes but I would check with HR as that may depend by the country; the PST is not universally given, in some McKinsey offices it has been replace by SHL style test (for example in Italy).

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

I can share some useful materials with you for free.

Please feel free to reach me.

Best

Serhat

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,

Hey,

There are a million ways to prepare for the GMAT! Especially given that you're excellent at the PST, I'm sure you just need a bit of guidance/practice on the GMAT before you do well. I'm not an expert on which GMAT resources are best, but a quick google and asking around should do the trick (I personally used Kaplan if that helps)

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

Here some free link to practice with quantitative part of SHL test
- https://www.gradtests.com.au/test/starttest/TestType/2/TestId/45/practice/1
- https://www.wikijob.co.uk/aptitude-test/verbal-reasoning-practice
- https://www.practiceaptitudetests.com/sign-up/programme/shl
- https://www.shldirect.com/en/practice-tests
- https://www.jobtestprep.co.uk/jobtestprep/testPlayer.aspx?atr=1&skinid=9&localeSetting=en-GB&sLanguage=en-GB&test_id=E_FreeSHL_Numerical&mode=timed&template=FreeTestTemplate&endURL=%2ffree-shl-numerical-test-results-page&endURLName=Exit+Test&cancelURLName=Exit+Test&cancelURL=signout.aspx&ReturnURL=%2fmaster-ceb-shl-numerical-test&layoutype=1&layoutype=1&testTitle=Free+SHL-Style+Numerical+Test&adPageID=&itemCode=E_FreeSHL_Numerical

Best,
Antonello

Hi, I have an additional PST I can share. If you send me an email at t*****@l***.com.au I will respond with the PST attached. Tania

Hi Anonymous,

as general practice for the PST, I would recommend the following approach:

1. Try to find at least 5-6 practice cases online. There are several available for free, if needed you can purchase additional ones.
2. Do one of the tests immediately to check your score. As the passing score is around 70% and you have 26 questions, your target score should be above 18 (keep in mind you are likely to score a bit less in the actual test than your average score at home due to time pressure/nervousness). In the first test you are likely to score lower than that - don't worry, that's pretty normal.
3. Identify the type of questions where you made more mistakes. There could be different reasons why you are doing mistakes and there is probably a predominant type of mistake you are doing (eg slow math or weak critical reasoning). You have to identify the reasons for the mistakes and a way to fix them.
4. Continue the preparation with the remaining tests. After you have identified the main reason for mistakes, you can continue the preparation with the other tests before the interview - I would allocate them at a regular time distance, with an increase in frequency closer to the day of the test.
5. Go again through the questions where you did mistakes at regular intervals. Be sure to keep a "failure" spreadsheet, where you report all the mistakes and classify the reason for them each time.

The key areas where you may do mistakes and may need to practice are the following:

1. Time management. Commit to an amount of time for each question, and go on if you surpass that time. If you do not set discipline, you will end dedicating too much time to some questions (these tests are sometimes structured with questions that are supposed to be skipped and reviewed at the end). If time and test allow, you can then go back to the questions at the end.
2. Quick math. I would recommend practicing with online tools on a daily base to improve. It is better to allocate a small amount of time daily rather than to practice intensively few days only before the interview
3. Quick reading. Get a Harvard Business School case or an equivalent long one, give yourself 2 minutes and check how much information you can absorb. Then repeat until you get a sufficient level of accuracy. You can also check speed reading tactics (eg Tim Ferriss ones) and see if they work for you.
4. Graph interpretation. You need to practice on how to derive quickly insides from graphs. Take some random graphs, give yourself 30 seconds and check if you can get the main insides from them. Then repeat until when you get a sufficient level of accuracy
5. Critical reasoning. The GMAT critical reasoning section should be a good support as practice

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi there,

Personally I have never heard of such case.

Moreover McKinsey is using more and more the Imbellus instead of the PST. The Imbellus is more likely to be sent to a large set of candidates since it is easier to manage for HR, thus less likely to lead to exceptions on skipping it.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Omar,

Great to know that you have started your preparations. Some tips that worked for me when I was preparing for the PST (YMMV if you have a different learning style):

1. The first and most important tip is to try out different practice tests! Not just the official three on McKinsey website (though that would be the best representation), but there are a couple of other free tests around e.g. MConsultingPrep, IGotAnOffer, and other sample questions e.g. GMAT! You can also practice with the BCG sample tests online too which also test similar problem solving skills. Don't just practice them once! You can work through each paper a couple of times (2-3), identify how you can improve, and try to go through the various practice tests in a rotational manner so that you can get the best out of each paper. A "safe" target score would be 22 and above out of 26 (don't expect to get that in the first practice!).

2. Also, it'll be good to practice doing mental math fast! Some great tools include Victor Cheng's math training tool, GMAT tests, and just general day-to-day practices. For example, you can incorporate mental math into your daily routines, like estimating how much it would cost if you bought a plate of chicken rice and coffee for each of your 26 classmates (within 5 to 10 seconds). The key is to be fast and fairly precise (+/- 5 to 10% margin, the closer the better). Just right before the test, you can try out a few simple calculations and times table in your mind (what is 7 x 15, 9 x 14) just to get your brain prepped for the number crunching later!

3. Lastly, given that you have a lot of time left, it is important to give yourself and your brain some time for rest, and not overwork yourself, so that you do not burn out right before the PST. You should plan a schedule that allows you to do that. It is very important to do this, because you'd want to feel confident, happy, and energetic when you step into the PST testing room, to perform your best :)

Good luck!