Charts/Exhibits drills

Hi! If you can already draw insights but want to do so faster under time pressure, I would actually recommend doing that as part of live case practice. Whomever you are practicing with, you can ask them to give you exhibit heavy cases. You can also check with your past practice partners for drills that they can share with you and that they would consider challenging. There are some free exhibit drills available on PrepLounge (standalone exhibit drills as well as exhibits in cases uploaded by coaches) in the meantime. Good luck and feel free to reach out to discuss further! 

Hi there, 

Great that you're clear on what you want to improve. 

There isn't a single specific resource I would recommend to get better.

What helps the most is getting informed feedback from somebody. So if you have friends who are senior consultants or are willing to work with a coach, walk them through your approach to chart interpretation and work through several examples. 

From my experience, most candidates underestimate two things

First - how deep they should go with the insights

Second - how much they should be 'connecting the dots' between the prompt and other elements of the case

If you need any help, reach out.

Best,

Cristian 

Hi there,

For rote drills: Rocket Blocks.

Best dedicated resource for charts and exhibits under time pressure. That's your answer.

For building data fluency more broadly: read The Economist daily graph and the FT regularly. And add The Consulting Offer Blueprint to your daily routine while you're at it (Spotify or Apple Podcasts). Trains your brain to read data and think about business problems outside of case context, which pays off more than most candidates realise.

One thing to note: if you already know the insight types and still lose speed under pressure, the issue is likely staying anchored to the case objective. Under pressure it's easy to just find patterns instead of connecting them to "so what does this mean for the case." That connection is where the marks are.

This is where coaching becomes absolutely critical. If coaching is out of reach financially, I have a case interview course that covers exactly this: https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/prep-guide/ace_the_case_interview

But start with Rocket Blocks. Volume is what you need.

Good resources specifically for chart drills under time pressure are harder to find than people expect. Here is what actually works.

McKinsey's own practice materials on their careers page have exhibit-heavy questions worth doing. The BCG potential test prep materials floating around online also have chart interpretation sections.

For pure speed practice, the Economist and FT are underrated. Pick any chart from their articles, give yourself 60 seconds, and write down three insights. Do this daily. It builds the muscle faster than any case prep resource because the charts are real and messy, not clean textbook examples.

CaseCoach and IGotAnOffer both have exhibit interpretation drills as part of their case libraries. Not free but worth it if you want structured practice.

PrepLounge also has some exhibit-based cases. Search specifically for data-heavy cases rather than general ones.