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

Hi Gunner,

I think most of the questions have already been adressed by other experts in the following thread that you might find helpful:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/what-is-the-best-way-to-prepare-for-mckinseys-pst-3440

Good luck!

Best regards

Hi! Usually you are exempt if you apply with several years of work experience. When McKinsey interviewed me for a potential switch from BCG, I didn't have to do the PST.

Cheers, Sidi

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

You're more than ready to do the actual test

Hi there,

I can share some useful materials with you for free.

Please feel free to reach me.

Best

Serhat

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!

It is a time-pressured gamified-environment test. Candidates are allotted 60 minutes, the recommended amount of time excluding cases of learner accommodation, to complete the three scenarios. It is done on laptop in a controlled environment.
Multiple scenarions have been developed by Imbellus, but the one i have been hearing about is a simulated world where there are species of animals and plants are dying to an unknown illness and you need to you to figure out what to do in order to protect them.

Here (just for fun reading) I shared the paper of the pilot test results they have done within McK: https://www.dropbox.com/s/77x9sxi3rye14je/EDM2018_paper_19.pdf?dl=0

Evaluation of your score will be done on these codified criteria:
1) Critical Thinking
2) Decision Making
3) Metacognition
4) Situational Awareness
5)Systems Thinking

No specific preparation needed. As general tips:
- Have a good sleep before the test
- Keep an eye on time

Best
Riccardo

Source: Fishbowl - Consulting Memes

Hi Anonymous,

McKinsey indeed moved from PST to SHL in some countries in Europe (eg Italy) although not in all of them; in other regions such as the Middle East and South-East Asia it still uses the PST. I would recommend to verify with HR the current status for the geography interesting for you.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi,

The Bain test is heavy on chart interpretation with a few words, as well as numerical computation and reasoning. It is important that you are familiar with this type of question and practice consulting math on a regular basis.

My recommendation to prepare is to:

• Practice with the BCG potential test (it is very similar to Bain’s and will help a lot) and MCK test as well. You can easily find samples of these tests online and Preplounge also developed an interesting list here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/bootcamp.php/interview-first-aid/master-the-problem-solving-test/which-companies-are-currently-using-written-tests Also, do not hesitate to get in touch privately if you want some additional samples
• Train consulting math skills (there is a section on Preplounge as well)
• Time yourself while practicing (time is probably the biggest challenge)

As an additional note, Bain also uses two maths tests to screen candidates in some countries (and you might want to use them as a practice). One is largely based on GMAT and includes 15 critical reasoning, data sufficiency and problem solving questions to be answered in 25 minutes. The other one is very similar to MCK PST and BCG Potential Test and contains 2 business cases to be answered in 45 mins. These tests have been used only in South America so far. You can find some examples to practice here (https://www.dropbox.com/sh/k4akdv138j7ma3d/AAAuKT3OyPWO0aZ8h2v8ZQo4a?dl=0) but I haven't heard them being used in Europe, North America, or Asia (yet).

Hope this helps,

Best,
Jacopo

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 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,

it seems like the PST has been largely abandoned in the German office. But honestly - the best strategy is to not ask here, but instead pick up the phone and call the recruiting ladies at McKinsey and BCG. They will be able to give you the most reliable information on the current process at their respective firm.

Cheers, Sidi

As additional advise I would suggest you also "Crack the Case system" - it has a very good and flexible frameworking reasoning that can be easilly applied to every case

and more importantly help you reasoning on the most important areas of a company

Luca

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 Anonymous, I am Italian and have worked at Bain Italy for ~2.5 years.

In terms of written entry tests in strategy consulting companies in Italy see below some more info, based on my knowledge:

- With written tests (for sure):

• McKinsey (PST, which I did and passed, but it is pretty tough. You can find a few examples online to practice)
• BCG (they do a logical and verbal written test. What I have heard from some friends who did it, it is feasible)

- Without written tests (for sure):

• Bain & Co (I did and passed interviews at Bain and there is no written test. First round is directly with 2 managers for a case interview)

- Without written tests (I think): All the other ones as Roland Berger, OW, AT Kearney should not have a written test from what I have heard but I am not 100% sure.

Hope this is helpful and happy to help if you need any more tips on consulting in Italy, especially for Bain, where I worked at.

Annalisa

Hey there, the current process in London this year was as follows:

Step 1: Submit online application

Step 2: Go into McKinsey office for two tests: the PST and a new "computer based assessment". I have spoken to candidates who did this and they said it was a series of questions structured like a game that tested your problem solving skills. One question was something to do with being on a desert island and having to come up with the right balance of populations of different animals to ensure the ecosystem remained sustainable. As a difference, the PST also tests commercial awareness, while this test seems to test "pure" problem solving ability.

From some friends at McKinsey, I understand they are testing out this new evaluation method in a couple pilot geographies (London being one of them) and comparing scores to PST. It may be that, if the trial is successful, this online test may replace the PST altogether in a few years.

Step 3: First round interviews, 2 interviews with associates/EMs. Both interviews are PEI + Case interview

Step 4: Final round interviews, 3 interviews with Associate Principals/Partners. Interviews should also be PEI + Case, but partners have some more flexibility in how they give the interview so likely to be less structured.

I am not 100% sure on the Milan process but it should be similar, minus probably the computer-based test. Note as well that there was no SHL/online test this year, which is a change from last year.