Hi everyone,
I find when I do cases, where I start to run into trouble is analyzing quantitative data. When presented with a chart/graph, I often struggle with finding the important data in the exhibit and generating the key takeaways for the client. I want to be able to practice doing this, but without going through an entire case with a partner. Just some drills on my own time.
Does anyone have suggestions?
Great question. This is a very common gap, and the good news is that exhibit reading is one of the easiest case skills to drill solo. Here are a few drills I’ve seen work well with candidates over time.
1. The 60–90 second “so what” drill
Take any chart and give yourself one minute to answer, out loud:
Force yourself to lead with the insight, not the description. If you catch yourself listing numbers, stop and restate the takeaway.
2. Headlines before numbers
Before touching the data, write a one-line headline you expect the chart to support. For example: “Margins are declining due to cost pressure, not price.”
Then scan the chart only to confirm or reject that hypothesis. This trains you to read exhibits with intent instead of passively.
3. Compare–rank–explain
For every exhibit, systematically ask:
You don’t need to be right. You need to show structured interpretation.
4. One chart, three insights
Take a single exhibit and force yourself to generate:
5. Use real-world charts
Annual reports, earnings presentations, and consulting blogs are gold. Strip away the context and practice explaining the chart as if the interviewer just slid it across the table.
6. Record yourself
This sounds small, but it’s powerful. Say your interpretation out loud, record it, and listen back. Most candidates realize they describe too much and conclude too little.
If you want to go faster, doing 10–15 charts in one sitting is often more effective than one full case. It builds pattern recognition, which is what strong exhibit readers really have.
Good that you're isolating the weakness. Here's what I'd suggest.
Pick up any business publication and practice with their charts. The Economist, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal all have data-heavy articles. Look at a chart, cover the text, and give yourself 30 seconds to pull out the key insight. Then read the article and see if you got the main point.
Use consulting firm reports. McKinsey, BCG, and Bain publish free reports with lots of exhibits. Practice pulling insights from those. Ask yourself: what's the so-what here? What would I tell the client?
Create a simple routine. For every chart, follow this: What type of chart is it? What are the axes and units? What's the main trend or comparison? What's the one thing that matters most for the question at hand?
Practice narrating out loud. Don't just look at the chart silently. Say your insight as if you're in an interview. This builds the habit of thinking and speaking at the same time.
Time yourself. Give yourself 20-30 seconds per chart. Speed matters. You won't have five minutes to stare at an exhibit in a real interview.
Do 5-10 charts a day. It doesn't take long. Consistency beats volume. After two weeks, you'll notice a big difference.
The goal is pattern recognition. The more charts you see, the faster you'll spot what matters.
Hi,
It's probably better to get a partner to do this with you - but you'll have to align with them first. It takes more work on their end to prepare for it, of course. But you could do the same for them so they can also get a similar benefit.
As with the more challenging aspects of case preparation, doing things by yourself is really not the most optimal way to do it. It's similar on the job - new hires don't get better because they try and do things by themselves... they get better because there is a manager who is able to give them feedback and direction.
That being said, you could try and use ChatGPT to help you here - I talk about this and more in my article, though a word of caution as GPT's logic is not always that sound or realistic:
Hi there,
This is a very common challenge and it’s great you’re isolating it. You can improve chart and graph analysis without full cases by doing short, focused drills.
One effective drill is the 60–90 second exhibit read. Take any consulting style chart, cover the title and legend first, then ask what question the chart is trying to answer. Uncover the title, identify the axes, units, and time frame, then state out loud one headline insight, one supporting observation, and one implication. Force yourself to synthesize rather than describe.
Another good exercise is daily business reading. Pick a chart from an annual report or business article and summarize it as if briefing a partner: what matters, why it matters, and what you’d do next. Avoid reading off numbers and focus on deltas, trends, and outliers.
You can also practice “so what” chaining. For each observation you make, ask “so what for the client?” until you reach an action or decision. This trains you to move from data to insight quickly.
Doing these drills consistently for a few minutes a day tends to translate directly into stronger case performance.
Happy to help you prep if useful.
Best,
Evelina
Based on your description, it's not drill that you're missing, but an understanding of the correct technique of approaching exhibit interpretation.
Here it is high-level. Happy to take your through a few examples in-depth if you would like to.
1. Read the exhibit with the interviewer. Without interpreting the data. Clarifying any missing data labels. Ask anything that doens't make sense to you. Then take time.
2. Aim to come up with 2-4 self-standing insights. For each insight, you should pick a data point, explain what it means / interpret it, and then close with a clear 'so what', which is basically what are the steps you would like to take with the client (or the client should take as a consequence of your recommendation). It's super important to be prescriptive about these next steps.
3. Present these insights top down. Make sure you separate them from each other. Engage with the interviewer.
4. Ideally, once you're done, try to connect the insights to the overarching client situation and craft a coherent story about where they are and where they are going.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Cristian
That is a very high-leverage area to focus on. Most candidates struggle not with the actual math, but with moving from Observation to Implication—the "So what?" that clients actually care about. You’re right that you don't need a full case partner for this; you just need structured, timed practice.
The best drill I suggest is the 30-Second Chart Deconstruction. The goal is to force synthesis speed.
Here is the exact routine:
1. Source Material: Go straight to the source. Pull charts and exhibits from McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) reports, Bain publications, or high-quality business press like The Economist or Financial Times. These exhibits are already designed to tell a story and are conceptually similar to what you see in a case.
2. The Timer: Look at the chart (a line graph, a market segmentation pie chart, a cost curve, whatever it is) and give yourself 30 seconds to define your key takeaways.
3. Mandated Structure: When the timer stops, articulate the synthesis aloud, following this strict structure: "Based on this data, the single most important trend we must discuss is X. The primary implication for the client is Y."
Do not simply read the highest or lowest number. Your job is to generate the highest-level insight and connect it directly to the decision the client is facing. If you can perform this routine 5 times daily, you will build the muscle memory necessary to immediately filter out noise and synthesize the key findings under pressure. This is about generating client-ready headlines, not just reading data points.
Hope it helps!
You can try a couple ways
1 you can find these MBB slides and see how they structure the data points, how they highlight things that are important or put that as the chart titles
2 understand the chart meaning first before diving into data points, and then use data points to find insights
hey there :)
A very effective drill is to take random consulting style exhibits and force yourself to do a 30 to 60 second read where you first state what the chart shows, then identify one main trend and one implication for the client, and you can do this daily using case books or annual reports without running a full case; over time this builds pattern recognition and confidence very quickly, happy to share specific sources if you want. best, Alessa :)
Hi there,
You can purchase exhibit drills and practice drawing the key insight from them without going through whole cases.
