Hi Aisha,

I do a session exactly on that, please feel free to PM me if useful.

In general I would recommend the following approach for graphs and math.

GRAPHS:

1. Read the graph

• Ask for 30 seconds to understand the graph
• Summarize what the graph is about. Read in particular the graph title (often forgotten), the axes and the legend

2. Analyze the graph and find the main insights

• Repeat the question you have to answer. Many people don’t spend time to clarify the question; consequently, they answer the wrong question. Don’t be one of them and be sure to restate what is the main insight you have to derive
• Provide an analysis related to the question. Analyze how the graph can help to answer the question you just repeated and provide an answer

3. Propose the next steps

• State your hypothesis or suggestion or what to do next. As a last step, a great candidate will present what should be done next to help further the client
• Ask a question related to what you need to move forward. This will show you are a proactive candidate

MATH APPROACH:

1. Repeat the question – sometimes candidates do mistakes answering the wrong question
2. Ask for time and present how you would like to proceed from a theoretical point of view
3. Perform the math and present the interim steps to keep the interviewer aligned – don’t just say the final number
4. Continue with the computations until you find the final answer
5. Propose next steps on the basis of the results you found

MATH TIPS:

1. Use correctly 10^ powers in your math computation. For example 3.2B/723M can be transformed in 3200*10^6/732*10^6, which makes it easier to deal with math
2. Ask if it is fine to approximate. When you have to deal with math in market sizing - and sometimes even in business cases - you are allowed to approximate math to simplify the computation. In the previous example you could transform the computation in 320*10^7/70*10^7
3. Keep good notes. One of the reasons people do mistakes with big numbers is that they don't keep their notes in order and forget/misreport numbers
4. Divide complex math in logical steps. This is something you can use for big numbers after the application of the 10^ power mentioned above. For example: (96*39)*10^6 à 96*40 - 96*1 = 100*40 - 4*40 - 96*1 = 4000 – 160 – 100 + 4 = 3744*10^6
5. Use shortcuts for fractions. You can learn by heart fractions and thus speed up/simplify the computation - the most useful to know are 1/6, 1/7, 1/8, 1/9.

Best,
Francesco