Case Interview - Struggle with the question

Question

Hi there,

I have just started practicing case interviews with some case partners on PrepLounge and I realized that my problems are:

1. The interviewer spoke fast with a lot of details and numbers that I did not have enough time to write them down. Provided that I am not an English native speakers, I missed information, could not fully understand what he said and had to ask him to repeat twice. Is it a minus point? Do you have any advice for me?

2. Math problems: I cannot concentrate when Sb staring at me when I do math calculation. I ended up with (1) wrongly calculation (2) wrong approach to the Math problem.

I do need some advice/ recommendation from you guys.

Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

Hi there,

If you have to constantly ask to repeat the information, it could indeed annoy some interviewers. You can find some tips on notetaking here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/case-prompt-recap-10597
For math improvements, I would recommend the steps here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/improving-math-skills-8726

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hey there,

1. Generally, it is ok to ask the interviewer to clarify or repeat if you did not understand something. However, if this is something you are struggling with consistently you need to spend some extra effort here to overcome it. A few tips below:

Do not write out everything in full
Make use of bullet points instead of full sentences
Focus on the core details of the prompt
Use abbreviations

For instance, the interviewer might tell you: Our client's profit has been decreasing by 5% per year over the last 5 years.

This could translate into P 5%↓ p.a. 5 yrs

2. You need to practice to become more comfortable with it. The whole case interview is about being comfortable with someone looking into your thinking (hence, you also need to overcommunicate at each step to show the interviewer your thought process). You can practice this

either on your own with drills. Make sure to time yourself here to create a stressful atmosphere
by doing cases with peers or coaches

You will only overcome this by exposing yourself to such situations. The real interview situation will be even more stressful than any mock interview so keep that in mind.

Cheers,

Florian

Answer 3

1. Although generally speaking, it is in the interviewers interest to communicate the case in a way that you are able to follow and understand, if it's a consistent issue then it's something you should definitely spend time practising. Clarifying your understanding is fine but constantly asking your interviewer to repeat and struggling to follow could be seen negatively. As an interviewer I would be thinking: "I'm not confident that I can have this candidate in front of my client and be able to follow the discussion...".

2. If you have such issue, I would encourage you to ask for time and do the math on your own as opposed to doing it as you go while discussing the case. I'm not sure they are actually starting at YOU but their role is to try and follow your approach and guide you where neccessary. Instead, if you ask for time, I would expect that most interviewers will just check their phone/emails while you do the math. Having said that, if you are getting the wrong appraoch, I think this says more about your current performance with the quantitative section of a case than the issue of someone watching you.

Overall, both struggles sound to me like you just need to spend more time with your case preparation. You're definitely doing the right thing by practicing with different case partners!