Written Case Practice

Question

Hi everyone, going into Bain finals soon and will need to do a written case - has anyone ever practiced this? Or if not, how have you prepared for it? Quite nervous given it's a new concept to me..

Answer 1

Hi,

Bain Written Case has 2 parts:

Case information you have to go through
Slides with the missing info you have to complete

Since each question in a written case has an exact correct answer, the success criteria is the number of questions answered correctly.

I have uploaded the samples of Bain and BCG written cases here (ask me for a password):

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zor4m49eyx5qxal/AABeUN6mtiGkWhEklRjszX2Oa?dl=0

The best way to prepare is the following:

Check if the calculator is allowed. If not - you have to train mental math. I posted the main tips here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/tips-to-do-big-multiplications-in-my-mind-726#a1422
Practice solving the cases - basically, preplounge website is about it
Practice reading cases fast and prioritizing the information. You can use 2 sources:

Written cases in the internet (You can find some of them in google or in case books)
Harvard cases - either buy or try to download somewhere in the web. You can find a couple of MIT cases here for free: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/Pages/Case-Studies.aspx The main problem - these free cases don't have any pre-defined questions.

Good luck!