How to best prepare for an upcoming BCG first-round interview?

Hi there,

I would recommend the following:

1. Define a calendar for your preparation. Identify how many hours you have before your interview and allocate a time slot for preparation in your calendar for each day, working on the points below. Many candidates need 100+ hours to be ready before the interview starting from zero so you can keep that as a benchmark.
2. Start reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (INSEAD is a good one to start). Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing, upgrade your structure with the new insights. Try to read a new case per day – in this way you will absorb better the information with constant learning.
3. After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start to practice live. PrepLounge can be helpful to connect with other candidates for that. There is a relevant part of the interview score that is based on your communication, which you cannot practice at all if you read cases only.
4. Keep track of your mistakes and see which ones you are repeating. If so, try to identify the source of the mistake (feedback from experienced partners would be particularly useful for this). Be sure to focus on both the behavioral part and the case part during the mocks. The case part should also cover market sizing, math and graph analysis.
5. Before the interviews, be sure to prepare your questions for the interviewer  – a great way to show you prepared in advance and to connect with the interviewer for a good final impression. Ideally, try to get information on who they are and study their profile to have good questions to ask.

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If you have to do the BCG Online Case Chatbot, you can find some material to prepare below (full disclosure – I am the author ;)):

▶ BCG Online Case Software Simulation

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If you want to spend a few hours only instead of 100+ and cover everything mentioned above, I developed a program precisely for that. 

I can also share with you real questions for your target office (I have a db with 1.500+ questions asked in 60+ offices you won't find anywhere else - you can check on my profile if I cover your particular office).

You can check the program at the following link to learn more:

▶ GYM Program

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Francesco

Hello,

Congratulations on your interview! You got some great advice and resources here already, so I'll just add my extra two cents: the key is practice - both for the case and behavioral portion.

I would recommend starting case practice by reviewing some common case books and frameworks (e.g., Case In Point, Case Interview Secrets). It can also be helpful at this stage to listen to some experienced casers solving a case - you can find some on consulting companies' websites, or just do a search on YouTube.

Once you understand more or less what solving a case involves, jump into live case practices! You can find case partners and coaches who can offer expert feedback here on PrepLounge, but you can also practice with friends or family back home. Generally speaking, this will be the bulk of your prep. Notice which parts of the case are naturally more challenging for you, and devote more time to those.

Finally, don't neglect the behavioral component of the interview. Look up frequently asked behavioral questions (there are great resources on PrepLounge about this too), prepare some answers, and be sure to practice them.

Best of luck!

Hi there,

Here's some reading:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case

https://www.preplounge.com/en/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question

And here are some cases to get you started!

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/intermediate/hot-wheels-186

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/beginner/hot-wheels-part-2-254

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/intermediate/yodaphone-195

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/intermediate/sky-china-191

Hi there!

Congrats on the interview!

I would recommend you:

1. Understand well the recruiting process well: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles

2. familiar yourself with the type of cases you can get https://www.preplounge.com/en/bootcamp.php and check cases published on PrepLounge

3. Practice math!

4. Dont learn any framework by hard, understand rather how to structure a problem and form a hypothesis to prove/disprove with an analysis

5. Practice with peers and take a few sessions with a coach, eventually do one diagnostic session to tell you where you stand and what your next steps should be

Feel free to reach out if you need a coach to support you, I am rewarded as a top BCG trainer, training new hires all the consulting skills (including how we create frameworks), as well as experienced coach. 

Good luck!

Lucie

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