The McKinsey PST Is Dead. Here Is What Replaced It.
If you are searching for McKinsey PST tips in 2026, here is the correction that will save your preparation: the Problem Solving Test has been retired. McKinsey replaced its paper multiple choice screen with Solve, a digital assessment built around game scenarios, and the two have almost nothing in common. This article covers what the PST was, why it disappeared, what Solve actually measures, which parts of old PST prep still transfer, and how to prepare for the test you will really face.
What the PST Was
The Problem Solving Test was McKinsey's written screen for over a decade: a paper based multiple choice exam, 26 questions in 60 minutes, built around three written business cases, with no calculator allowed. It sat between the CV screen and the first round, and it filtered hard. Entire libraries of practice PDFs, coaching drills and forum threads grew around it, which is exactly why so many candidates still land on PST content today.
Why McKinsey Retired It
Two reasons, and they explain everything about the replacement.
First, the PST was coachable. With enough practice papers, a candidate could learn the question patterns and buy a score that said more about preparation time than about problem solving. Second, a multiple choice score only captures the answer, not the reasoning. McKinsey wanted to see how candidates think when nothing about the format is familiar: how they explore, decide, and adapt under time pressure.
The replacement was rolled out from 2020 and phased in across offices over the following recruiting cycles. Today, Solve is the global standard screen, and the PST era practice material tests skills for a format you will not sit.
What Replaced It: McKinsey Solve
Solve is a digital assessment built around game scenarios rather than written cases. Depending on the version stated in your invitation, you will typically face scenarios such as an ecosystem building exercise (often called Sea Wolf, where you assemble a viable food chain under constraints) and a data analysis case (Redrock, where you extract, organise and use numbers from a research report). Newer scenario variants rotate in over time, and McKinsey varies the combination by office and recruiting cycle.
Two properties define the experience. The total time is stated in your invitation email, commonly in the 65 to 85 minute range depending on the modules included. And the scoring is double: a product score for what you decide, and a process score for how you decide it. Every click, every sequence of exploration, every correction contributes. You cannot fake the process the way you could pattern match a multiple choice grid.
Insider Tip: Your invitation email is the source of truth. It states the modules and the total minutes for your version of Solve. Plan your practice around what it says, not around what a forum said last year.
PST vs Solve: What Actually Changed
| PST | Solve | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | Paper based multiple choice | Digital game scenarios |
| Length | 60 minutes, 26 questions | Stated in your invite, commonly 65 to 85 minutes |
| Content | Three written business cases | Ecosystem and data analysis scenarios |
| Scoring | Number of correct answers | Product score plus process score |
| Coachability | High: patterns could be drilled | Low: the process itself is measured |
| Best preparation | Practice papers | Timed simulations of the real scenarios |
Does Old PST Prep Still Help?
Partially, and it is worth being precise about which part.
What transfers: the quantitative muscle. Reading an exhibit fast, doing clean mental math without a calculator, keeping accuracy under time pressure. Those skills matter in Redrock style data work just as they mattered in PST case questions.
What does not transfer: everything about the format. There are no answer options to eliminate, no written cases to skim, and no way to pattern match your way through. The time pressure is structured differently, the data is interactive, and the process score means that hesitating, backtracking and random clicking all leave traces. A candidate who trained only on PST PDFs walks into Solve prepared for roughly a fifth of what the test measures.
How to Prepare Now
- Learn the scenarios before you sit them. Understand what Sea Wolf and Redrock ask for, what the constraints are, and what the common traps look like. Our complete Solve guide covers the format, the scenarios and the scoring in depth.
- Rebuild the quant muscle under time. Fast exhibit reading and clean mental math, drilled with a clock running. This is the one part of your old PST material that still earns its keep.
- Sit the full experience in real conditions. The format should never be the surprise: play the scenarios end to end, timed like the real test, before your invitation window opens. Our Solve simulation exists for exactly that.
FAQ
Is the McKinsey PST still used in 2026?
It has been phased out as the standard screen and Solve is the global norm. Recruiting processes can vary locally, so treat your invitation email as the source of truth for your specific process.
What replaced the PST?
Solve, a digital assessment built around game scenarios such as ecosystem building and data analysis, scored on both your results and your decision process.
Are old PST practice PDFs worth doing?
Marginally. They still train fast exhibit reading and calculator free math, which transfer. They teach you nothing about the game format, the interactive data, or the process scoring, which is most of what Solve measures.
How long is Solve?
It depends on the version stated in your invitation, commonly between 65 and 85 minutes. The email lists your modules and total time.
How is Solve scored?
Twice over: a product score for the quality of your outcomes, and a process score for how you explored, decided and corrected along the way. Both count.
Further Reading
- McKinsey & Company, Interviewing: tips, practice resources and assessments
- CasingLab, Complete guide to the McKinsey Solve Game