Practice the McKinsey PEI with an interviewer that won't let ‘we’ slide.
Tell one story. The AI interviewer probes it with up to twelve follow-ups, the way candidates describe the real Personal Experience Interview. Then you get a debrief that quotes your own answers back and shows what would not survive a real interviewer.
- Leadership
- Connection
- Drive
- Growth
Free account, no card. Your first full mock is free.
Tell me about a time you had to win over someone senior who disagreed with you, without the authority to overrule them.
In my second year I worked with the client’s head of operations. She pushed back hard on the rollout plan in the first meeting, so we revised the plan and presented it again the week after, and she signed off.
You said ‘we revised the plan’. What did you personally change?
Independent. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by McKinsey & Company. 'PEI' is the name McKinsey uses for its personal experience interview; our prompts are modeled on publicly described formats and are practice prompts, not live interview questions. Scores are our own, not McKinsey's.
- 4
- dimensions: Leadership, Connection, Drive and Growth
- 12
- follow-ups, at most, on a single story
- 6
- criteria scored 0–4, with quotes from your answers
- 7 days
- money-back on every plan, no questions asked
How a mock works
About fifteen minutes, one continuous conversation, no timer. Answer at your own pace, out loud or typed.
- 1LeadershipConnectionDriveGrowthInterviewer’s choice
Pick a dimension
Leadership, Connection, Drive or Growth, or let the interviewer choose for you, as it would on the day.
- 2
What did you actually say to her in that first meeting?
Why that option, and not the one she suggested?
How do you know it was your change that moved her?
Tell one story and get probed
One question at a time: your part, what you said, why that option, how the other person reacted, how you know it worked.
- 3Ownership1 of 4
“we revised the plan” — the interviewer still cannot see what you did.
Read the debrief
Six criteria with quotes, your weakest moments rewritten in your own voice, three next steps, and a story outline saved to your bank.
A debrief that quotes you back
Not a grade. Six criteria, each tied to something you actually said, and the moments a partner would push on, rewritten so you can hear the difference.
Would this survive ten minutes of probing? Not yet. The story is real and the obstacle is clear, but after four follow-ups the interviewer still cannot tell what you did, said or decided.
A senior person moved from no to yes because of how you handled her. “she pushed back hard on the rollout plan” sets up Connection well.
“we revised the plan”, “we presented it again” — three ‘we’s and no verb that belongs to you.
One name, one meeting. No words you said, no number, no moment the conversation turned.
Real and yours: “without the authority to overrule” is exactly the tension this dimension looks for.
“she signed off” is a result, but you have not shown it came from your change rather than the week’s delay.
One line on what changed in how you work since; nothing on what you would do differently next time.
Readiness is the lower of your dimension-fit score and the average of the other five. Our simulator scale, not McKinsey’s. McKinsey publishes no scoring.
Your weakest moment, rewritten
What you said
“She pushed back, so we revised the plan and presented it again the week after.”
In your voice, with you in it
“She said the plan assumed spare capacity her floor didn’t have. I asked her to walk me through a typical week, rewrote the rollout in two phases that night, and brought it back to her alone before the steering meeting.”
What a partner would push on
- What exactly did she object to, in her words?
- Which part of the new plan was your idea?
- What would have happened if you had done nothing?
Free mocks show the score, the verdict and two of six criteria. Starter unlocks the full debrief on every mock.
The four dimensions, and what each one is really scored on
Coaches and candidates report a 2025 rename. The questions did not change; the names did.
Leadership
formerly Inclusive Leadership
How you adapted to different people and delivered a result through them, not your title.
Opener: Tell me about a time you led people who did not report to you.
Connection
formerly Personal Impact
Whether one specific person moved from no to yes because of how you handled them, not because of your slides.
Opener: Tell me about a time you had to win over someone senior who disagreed with you.
Drive
formerly Entrepreneurial Drive
A goal you owned, the setbacks you worked through and a result that was never a given.
Opener: Tell me about something you achieved that was not expected of you.
Growth
formerly Courageous Change
A real gap you closed fast and a visible change in how you work, not how hard you tried.
Opener: Tell me about a time you had to change how you work, quickly.
Before interview day
Set your interview date and the dashboard counts down to it.
Day 1
Free baseline mock. See which of the six criteria breaks first.
Days 2–3
Drill the weak dimensions, four follow-ups at a time.
The day before
One full mock on the story you will actually tell.
Pay once. No subscription.
Run your free mock first. Upgrade only if the debrief is worth it to you.
Free
- One full mock interview
- Summary debrief
Starter
- Full debrief on every mock
- Unlimited single-dimension drills
- Story bank
- Lifetime access — pay once, yours forever
Elite
- Everything in Starter
- Unlimited full mock interviews
- Interviewer intensity: standard or tough
- Transcript export
- Six-criterion debrief on every mock
- Dashboard analytics across your mocks
- Lifetime access + free updates forever
7-day money-back guarantee on both plans. Debriefs are AI-generated practice feedback, not a prediction of any interview outcome.
Content last revised: October 2026
Questions
Is the first mock free?
Yes. You need a free account, but no card. Your first full mock ends with a summary debrief: your overall score, your band, the headline finding and the first two of six criterion cards.
How realistic are the follow-ups?
You tell one story and the interviewer probes it, typically 6–12 follow-ups built from your own answers, modeled on what candidates and coaches describe. It is a language model: it will not read your face or your tone.
Which dimensions does it cover?
All four: Leadership (formerly Inclusive Leadership), Connection (formerly Personal Impact), Drive (formerly Entrepreneurial Drive) and Growth (formerly Courageous Change). Coaches and candidates report the rename in 2025.
Does it store my stories?
Yes, in your account, so you can review your transcripts and story bank. Your answers are processed by an AI model through our hosting platform's AI gateway; PEIMock does not use them for training, and you can delete them.
Can I get a refund?
Yes. Ask within 7 days of purchase and we refund you, no questions asked.
Free guides
- McKinsey PEI questions, sorted by dimension (with the follow-ups)
One opening question, then ten minutes of follow-ups: here is what candidates and coaches report, dimension by dimension.
- McKinsey PEI format: what actually happens in the 20 minutes
The PEI is a 10–20 minute dialogue about one story, not a round of short behavioral questions, and that changes how you prepare.
- The McKinsey interview process, step by step
Seven stages, five to eight weeks, and a PEI in every interview you sit.
- McKinsey PEI example answers (one per dimension)
Four original stories from four candidate profiles, each probed and then scored the way our simulator does it.
- Leadership, Connection, Drive and Growth
One guide per dimension: what it is scored on and what it is not.