Hello Emma,

From my experience, it is completely normal to ask a couple of quick clarifying questions after your big pause, as long as you handle it well like a conversation i.e. after asking those clarifying questions - you should not ask for more time to fix your structure etc. At that point you should be ready to embed the answer you get into your structure immediately and start presenting the structure.

All the best!

Rushabh

Hi there,

Of course! In fact, the more clarifying questions you ask before you put your structure, the higher chances you'll land on a structure that won't need to change much during the case. 

If you rush into putting the structure, it will take 1 misunderstood input to mess it up fully. Remember, you only get few minutes to lay down your structure once, and that's at the beginning. Do that once you clarified the given as much as possible.

Mario

Absolutely you are! That said, try to ask before and during. If you ask after you've created the full framework, then it indicates that you missed something that would have informed the framework.

If you're already ready to explain the thought process, then ask the interviewer a question, and the answer changes your thought process, what do you do now? Ideally, ask the question when you think of it!

hi 

You can ask the questions as long as they are relevant and really impact the direction/structure of the case. You can frame it a bit differently if it comes to that - “as I was putting together my structure, I realized that answers to a few more clarifications questions will further help me strengthen my thought process/structure”.  

happy to a have a quick chat offline and elaborate further if needed 

good luck 

Yes. 
The case interview is not an artificial meeting, but a normal discussion with a person that knows more than you about the matter. 
So, approach it normally, asking questions that are needed to narrow down the scope and extract insights.

Hi Emma,

Q: However, are we allowed to ask more clarifying questions after thinking about the structure?

Yes. Ideally you should ask clarifying questions before taking time to structure, as this should help to personalize the structure itself. But if you forgot something critical, better to ask than not.

Best,

Francesco

For all cases you want to use the prompt to make sure you've really understood the case. Replay the prompt back to make sure you've understood it (sometimes you think you've had but actually you haven't), and clarify anything that you've understood. 

Then, for interviewee led cases (where you're taking the interviewer through the case rather than there being set questions), you want to ask a series of questions to further your understanding. Generally the prompts are shorter than the interviewer led cases and there's more that's missing. Make sure you've clarified the client's objective and the context. So the questions that you've laid out are exactly right. 

Good luck! 

You should always ask clarifying questions. Their purpose is to clarify things for you after all. Nothing worse than going down a wrong path because you misunderstood the problem statement or you just assumed things without confirming.

You can ask questions throughout your case - ideally within the context of what you are currently discussing. So anything fundamental you want to get settled right after the prompt. You can address nuances along the way. 

And obviously you don't ask the interviewer for the solution :)

I think ideally you don't, but as always, don't beat yourself up.

If you really need to ask something, then do.

Just to add to what everyone has said - structure your clarifying question. “I would like to clarify three things: A,B and C. starting with A …”

Yes - always ask genuine clarifying questions as you need to. Where it becomes an issue is where people ask questions just because they feel it is important to ask them.