I’ve done about 15 cases so far, and I’m hitting a wall with structuring. I find that relying on standard frameworks makes me struggle whenever I face an atypical or 'wildcard' case. I want to stop reciting templates and start building structures that are truly tailored to the specific business model and the prompt's nuances.
How do you train to become strong at structuring? Any specific exercises to develop that "business intuition" instead of just memorizing categories?
Stop starting with a framework - Start with the business in mind. be curious as you were in a normal conversation with friends or at work.
you re pattern-matching the prompt to a template instead of reasoning about the actual business. Wildcard cases expose this because the business model doesn't fit the template. The fix isn't a better template, it's training yourself to derive structure from first principles every time.
3 exercises:
Blank page drill. Pick a niche company, write down how it makes money, what could go wrong, what drives performance. Three minutes, no frameworks. Do this daily, separate from your case practice.
Retroactive restructuring. After every case, rebuild the structure from scratch using what you learned. Force it to look nothing like a standard template. A hospital case and a SaaS case should look completely different.
Hypothesis-first. Before writing any bucket, state what you think the problem is. Then structure to test it, not to explore everything. This alone will make your structures feel sharper and more intentional.
The benchmark: your structure should be specific enough that someone reading only the labels can tell what industry and business model the case is about. If it could apply to any company, it's not done yet.
Hi there,
It is a great question, and honestly, hitting this wall after 15 cases is a good sign. It means you are starting to outgrow templates.
Here is the key shift:
Case-specific structuring is not about creativity. It is about first principles.
Most candidates struggle because they try to replace generic frameworks with “more advanced frameworks.” That’s the wrong move.
Instead, train this muscle:
1. Start from the objective, not a framework
Before thinking of buckets, ask:
What exactly needs to be true for this objective to be achieved?
Examples:
Structure should be a logical breakdown of the goal — not a memorized template.
2. Practice “driver trees” instead of frameworks
Take any business metric (profit, revenue, utilization, market share) and break it down mathematically.
For example:
Revenue
→ Price × Volume
→ (Price per unit) × (Number of customers × Frequency × Basket size)
Do this repeatedly for different industries. This builds real intuition because you are understanding how businesses actually work.
3. Force industry translation exercises
Take a random company (Spotify, a hospital, an airline, a SaaS startup) and ask:
No case prompt needed. This builds business instinct.
4. Do “structure-only drills”
Instead of full cases:
Do 10 of these in a row.
This isolates the exact skill you want to improve.
5. Aim for logic + relevance, not originality
A strong structure is:
It does NOT need to be fancy.
Final mindset shift
Templates are training wheels.
First principles are the engine.
Once you consistently ask:
“What must drive this outcome in this specific business?”
You’ll stop reciting frameworks — and start thinking like a consultant.
If you’d like, happy to run a few structure-only drills together and push this skill specifically.
Hello,
You’re at the exact point where real improvement starts.
The biggest shift from “template user” to strong structurer is this:
Great structures start with great clarification.
If you don’t deeply understand:
… your brain defaults to generic frameworks.
Before structuring, always clarify:
If you skip this, your structure will be generic.
Rule: If your structure would stay the same for 5 different companies, it’s too generic.
Instead of thinking:
“Which framework fits?”
Think:
“What would have to be true for this objective to be achieved?”
Example:
Build from logic, not categories.
Take solved cases and:
This trains pattern recognition.
Read:
Business intuition is exposure + repetition.
You don’t need more frameworks.
You need better problem understanding before structuring.
That’s the unlock.
As a coach, I’m here to help you — we can train tailored structuring drills, sharpen your clarification discipline, and build the business intuition that separates average candidates from top performers.
Hi there,
You’re at the right stage — this is the point where you move from memorizing to thinking.
The key shift: stop asking “which framework fits?” and start asking “what drives this business economically?”
Practical ways to train structuring
You don’t need creativity. You need clean logic.
Business intuition is pattern recognition. The more you reduce problems to first principles, the more natural structuring becomes.
Best
Evelina
Here is what I see with almost every candidate around the 15 case mark. You start noticing that frameworks feel forced. They do not fit neatly. And you wonder if you are doing something wrong. You are not. You are actually outgrowing them. The problem is not that you need more frameworks. It is that you need to stop relying on them altogether.
What interviewers actually care about is whether you can break down a problem you have never seen before in a way that makes sense for that specific situation. Not whether you can recall the right framework.
What I would do instead:
Good structuring is not about being comprehensive. It is about being prioritized. Three sharp, specific buckets beat six generic ones every time.
Your next 15 cases should not be about doing more. Do fewer, but spend three times longer on the structuring step. If you could copy paste your structure into a different case, it is not good enough.
This is the shift from case prep to case readiness. And it is what separates offers from "almost there."
Feel free to reach out if you want me to look at a couple of your structures and tell you where the gaps are.
Feedback.
Honestly, that's how you get better.
It's virtually impossible to get better at a refined skills like structuring, by just practicing on your own without feedback, or by reviewing your answers against those from a case book (esp since most case books are not written by coaches or consultants, but by business school students who want to join consulting).
So you need either a coach or if you have access to them, a seasoned consultant that can show you their way of thinking.
Sorry that there's no shortcut, but that's the honest answer. Which is why online courses or 'there 3 tricks...' sort of things also don't work.
Best,
Cristian
Hi! Three things are most important with structuring well during a case interview: 1) having a good understanding of what business problem you are trying to solve 2) having a strong business acumen to determine what drivers/factors affect the business problem and 3) being able to do it in the little time available during an actual interview (with unlimited time, we would all get there somehow but time limit really tests you).
I would advise:
I would be very happy to support you with structuring skill development. Feel free to connect and wish you the best!
