McKinsey Problem Solving Test (PST): Still Used, or Solve?

Is the McKinsey Problem Solving Test still used?

The PST is not described as part of current consultant recruiting in any McKinsey source reviewed on October 11, 2026. McKinsey says its Solve assessment replaced an earlier multiple-choice test. It does not give that test the name PST, a retirement date, or a list of offices and roles. Whether one office somewhere still sends something different is not published, so your invitation is the deciding document.

If your email says Solve, the PST is not what you will sit. Our McKinsey Solve guide covers the current assessment, and the McKinsey online assessments hub lists the independent practice games. To see how a practice run feels before reading further, try a free Red Rock run below. It is Road to Offer practice, not a McKinsey test.

What did McKinsey say about the test that came before Solve?

McKinsey said, in a July 2025 article by its game-based innovation lab, that it had previously used a multiple-choice test that was very quantitative, and that it wanted a better way to measure how people think, as opposed to what they know. The article gives no date, length or name for that earlier test. Treat everything beyond "multiple-choice and quantitative" as reported.

Two things follow. A page that calls Solve "the PST online" is wrong by McKinsey's own account, because the firm describes two different tests. And the reason given is about method, thinking in context, not a claim that arithmetic stopped mattering. The Ecosystem Building guide covers one of the older games candidates reported before 2026, a format McKinsey's July 2025 article does not mention.

How do the PST and Solve differ?

The earlier test was multiple-choice and quantitative, while Solve is a set of game tasks with an untimed tutorial before each one and a length stated in your invitation. Where McKinsey is silent about the older test, the table says so rather than borrowing a number.

The last two rows matter most for a decision. There is no published cutoff on either side, and McKinsey's FAQ says the recruiter decides on multiple factors, so no single result settles an application. For what that means in practice, read Does McKinsey Solve matter?. Pass rates for the PST and for Solve circulate on prep sites without data behind them, and this page repeats none of them.

A practical test for any claim about the old format is to ask where it could have come from. A length or question count could only come from McKinsey or from candidates who sat the test, and McKinsey has not published it. So a page quoting one is giving you a candidate memory, possibly years old, at best. That is useful as colour and unsafe as a plan, which is why this page leaves the numbers out and sends you to your invitation, where the real length for your sitting is stated.

Which PST skills still help in Red Rock?

Percentage change, choosing the base of a percentage and finding the right number in a dense exhibit still help in Red Rock as candidates describe it. McKinsey publishes no list of Solve games beyond naming Sea Wolf, so this is an editorial judgement from reported task formats, not a McKinsey map. The Red Rock study guide covers the reported structure, and case interview math practice drills the same arithmetic for live cases.

The next two worked blocks use one fictional ferry operator. All figures are invented and the operator does not exist. In thousands of passengers, with a fixed fare per passenger, the exhibit is:

How do you read an exhibit and pick the right base?

Name the quantity, the year and the base before you divide: a percentage is always a change measured against something, and the base is the earlier figure unless the question says otherwise. Start with an estimate. Commuters went from 420 to 462, a little over 10 percent more, so the exact answer should land near there.

The total needs both segments added first. Adding before dividing weights each segment by its size.

Now a trap that a multiple-choice test could hide and a blank answer field exposes. The question asks how many percentage points the tourist share of passengers moved.

The tourist share fell 5.1 points, which is the same drop as a 17.1 percent relative decline, but only one of them answers the question as written. Write the unit next to the answer before you move on. The Red Rock vs Sea Wolf comparison shows where this base-and-period habit sits among the games.

Why can total passengers rise while revenue falls?

Because revenue is passengers multiplied by fare for each segment, and segments with different fares move differently. The total rose 2.5 percent, but the segment paying 10.00 shrank, so revenue has to be built from the parts before you compare years.

The mix explains it. Average revenue per passenger is the revenue divided by the passengers in the same year.

None of the arithmetic here goes beyond what a quantitative multiple-choice test would ask. What changed is the setup: you decide which figures to build, in which year, and you check the answer against your estimate. McKinsey says Solve scenarios vary between candidates, so treat this as practice, not as a preview.

Which PST habits do not transfer to Solve?

Eliminating wrong answer options, working against a printed clock for a fixed set of items, and expecting every number to arrive in one paragraph do not transfer well. The first rests on a multiple-choice form, which McKinsey says belonged to the earlier test. The others are reported or inferred, not stated by McKinsey.

Sea Wolf, the one game McKinsey names, asks you to select and evaluate microbes for contaminated sites. As candidates describe it, that is rule checking against ranges rather than percent change. Try the Sea Wolf page and the Sustainable Futures Lab page if the rest of your invitation feels unlike an arithmetic test.

Should you practise for the PST or for Solve?

Practise for Solve if your invitation says Solve, and keep any PST-style drill to a short arithmetic warm-up. McKinsey says Solve needs no preparation, so practice is your choice, and it publishes no PST format to match. If your invitation names something else, ask your recruiter what it is before spending time on any format.

For the wider picture, the consulting assessment practice guide and the comparison of MBB assessment simulators show what else to schedule. If this assessment is one stage of a wider search, the MBB recruiting roadmap and the McKinsey case interview guide cover what follows. Experienced applicants can read the guide for experienced hires, and business school applicants the MBA guide.

What if a recruiter, forum or old page mentions the PST?

Ask your recruiter which assessment applies to you, because McKinsey's FAQ sends non-technical questions there and publishes no role-by-role list. A forum post saying someone "got the PST" is a candidate report. It may use the old name loosely for Solve, or describe something role-specific, and you cannot tell which from the post. The invitation is the tie-breaker.

Does everyone receive the same assessment? McKinsey publishes no rule on who is invited, which is covered in does everyone get McKinsey Solve. If a reset or a new sitting is the real worry, see the retake article, and for timing, the deadline extension article. For equipment, system requirements explains what the tech check does and does not tell you.

Sources and evidence boundaries

Official sources, checked October 11, 2026:

• McKinsey Solve careers page: purpose, no preparation, multi-factor use.
• McKinsey Solve FAQ, August 2025: untimed tutorials, length in the invitation, recruiter decisions, support routes.
• McKinsey game lab article, July 2025: the earlier multiple-choice test, the Imbellus acquisition, Sea Wolf, the 300,000 figure.
• McKinsey assessment integrity expectations: rules on outside aids in any assessment.

Reported, not official: the name PST for the earlier test, its format details, and candidate descriptions of Red Rock and Sea Wolf tasks. Not published in the reviewed sources: a PST length, question count, pass mark, retirement date, or list of offices and roles. The ferry operator, its passengers and fares are original fictional teaching examples, and the skills judgement is editorial.