Feel like I did bad in the case interview?

Question

Hi

I had R1 for a tier2 firm. It was structured into strategy case with one interviewer and market sizing plus fit with another interviewer. The case part had to be rescheduled last minute due to client commitments so had my strategy case a day earlier.

I think I was just very nervous as it is my target firm. So although i was structured and solved the case in about 25 minutes, I’m having second thoughts. The interviewer had to tweak my structure by adding in an extra bucket as I thought it was heading in a market entry but it was simply a comparing cost/revenue for two products and think my communication could have been a bit better throughout and finally I could not build rapport with the interviewer as they seemed a bit disengaged from the beginning.

But the market sizing was a stark difference. I was more composed and communicated well and the interviewer was very engaged throughout and I only slipped when they asked where do you think we might have over estimated uptake of product X and I said the wrong thing.

Overall im just wondering, How bad my case performance actually was ?

Any advice would be great!

Answer 1

Hi there :)

I had 3 immediate thoughts after reading your post. In order of importance:

1) Breath my friend :D. It's obvious you are quite stressed over this (completely understandable; consulting recruiting is tough!). Telling someone to relax is always tough advice to follow haha, but I still wanted to say this first and foremost

2) Don't dwell on what's done- you can't change it. Instead of asking "how bad did I do?" redirect your energy to orient on what you'll do next time based on what you learned (and there is almost always a next time)

3) At the risk of over reading into your word choice, I feel you may be approaching the interview process too formulaically (e.g., framework/ set up- how good? Build rapport with interviewer- how good? Like ticking through boxes in a rubric for self assessment of how it went). While case interviews are highly structured, it's still super important to not come across as rote/ robotic. I can't speak to this whether this was actually an issue for you, but i will say that, in my experience, candidates who start down the path of "box ticking" in their mind often end up coming across as exactly such.

Hope this helps and best of luck with your recruiting search!

Answer 2

This is a stressful spot to be in, and it's completely normal to dissect every minute after the fact. It sounds like you had a solid-but-uneven performance across two very different interview segments.

Here’s the reality of how these split R1s are often judged: The strategy case is usually the major hurdle. The fact that the interviewer needed to significantly adjust your initial structure because you misdiagnosed the problem (cost comparison vs. market entry) is a serious demerit. Firms look for immediate issue identification; a structural correction like that flags a fundamental misread. The disengaged interviewer feeling, whether real or perceived, compounds the challenge, as R1 is where firms decide if they can put you in front of a client.

However, the market sizing and fit portion isn't just filler. While the math is important, that segment primarily tests composure, communication under pressure, and rapport—all things you felt you nailed. In a tight decision, a strong "chemistry" score and clear communication rating from the second interviewer can absolutely pull a candidate over the line, especially if the first interviewer gave a borderline or "low pass" score rather than a hard fail. The good news is that they saw you perform well under the pressure of the sizing exercise, which indicates coachability and strong baseline analytical skills.

You can't change what happened, so stop replaying the strategy case. Instead, use this waiting period to aggressively polish the areas you identified: ensuring your initial hypothesis is directly responsive to the prompt, and practicing structuring cases out loud for maximum clarity and confidence, even when you are nervous. If you get the callback, you know your primary focus needs to be on unwavering communication clarity and precise structure from the first 60 seconds of the interview.

All the best with the outcome.