Efficient Prep for Consulting Case Interviews.

Question

As someone who is just starting to prepare for management consulting case interviews, what are some efficient strategies or tips you would recommend to ensure that I'm making the most of my study time over the next 3-6 months?

Answer 1

Hello,

Great question! For someone who is just starting out, I usually recommend starting by doing some reading on case interviews to get a sense of how they work, what some standard frameworks are, etc. You could take a look at some of the guides here on PrepLounge, skim through classic books like Case Interview Secrets or Case In Point, or look at consulting firm websites, which usually have some guides or video examples of case interviews.

Once you've gotten a sense of what case interviews look like, I recommend diving straight into live case prep! You might not feel like you're ready, but that's ok - by far the best way to practice for case interviews is to regularly do mock cases yourself (i.e., don't just read cases by yourself - have someone, be it a coach, case partner, or friend run an actual case interview with you). Everyone faces a steep learning curve at first and then quickly gets better. If you are interested in working with a coach at all, having a few coaching sessions early would also speed up your learning and help you get a better sense of where to direct your focus.

Last but not least, don't neglect the behavioral/fit components of the interview! While case interviews feel more idiosyncratic and require a little more getting used to, it's still important to spend time preparing and practicing your answers for the behavioral portions (which most firms will incorporate as part of the interview process). I recommend looking up common behavioral interview questions in consulting, and spending some time writing up and practicing your answers.

If you have any more questions about getting started with the process, feel free to get in touch. Best of luck!

Answer 2

Hi there,

Q: What are some efficient strategies or tips you would recommend to ensure that I'm making the most of my study time over the next 3-6 months?

I would recommend the following assuming you are starting from zero:

Identify the companies interesting to you. Create a DB with all the companies you want to target so that you can look for a referral later for them (see point #7).
Define a calendar for your preparation. Identify how many hours you have before your expected interview and allocate the time slots for preparation in your calendar, working on the points below. Many candidates need 100+ hours to be ready before a consulting interview starting from zero so you can keep that as a benchmark.
Start reading good MBA Consulting Casebooks – 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.
After the first 5-10 cases in books/casebooks 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.
Keep track of your mistakes and see which ones you are repeating. This is extremely important, as otherwise you may do a ton of cases without fixing the real issues. If you find common mistakes, try to identify the reason for them (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.
Before your application, be sure to review your CV and Cover, so that they are in the required format for a strategy role.
At least 3 weeks before the application deadline, start networking to find referrals. You can find some tips here.
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 find out who they are and study their profile to have good questions to ask.

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If you have to do tests as well, you can find some material to prepare below. Full disclosure – I am the author ;)

▶ BCG Online Case Software Simulation

▶ McKinsey Solve Game Video 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

Answer 3

Hello,

Some good resources already linked by other coaches. I'll add what I think are the top 3 things I think you should look out and avoid based on what I've seen:

Not practicing with a partner
- Self-practice and reading cases by yourself have roles to play in your overall prep, but doing a case ‘live’ in front of someone is very different
Not being able to get quality feedback
- Part of the process of improving involves understanding where you went wrong and how to improve it
- It's often helpful to get someone to point out your mistakes, as everyone has blind spots
Neglecting fit/behavioural prep
- Many fall into this pit fall because they think that fit/behavioural is ‘easier’ and ‘faster’ to prepare
- It takes time to really find authentic stories from your past experiences and then craft and shape them up to be great, impactful stories
- Suggest to start on this early (and like the case, get feedback on it)

All the best!

Answer 4

Hi there,

Amazing question!

Sharing below a few articles that you mind find useful to read as a crash course into the industry and the preparation process:

Aside from this, I'd recommend you speak to a coach right at the start of the process. You don't need to commit to long-term coaching. But use that session to carve out an application plan, figure out what to focus on best, get feedback on your CV, etc. Basically, figure out what is the most efficient way to move through this process and what are the strengths that you have and which could emphasise in the process.

Best,
Cristian

Answer 5

Hi there,

#1 learn from others (what you're doing now).

There are things that work well and are efficient (using Rocketblocks for charts/exhibits) and things that don't work well (using Rocketblocks for frameworking).

Always reflect on if, what you are doing, is the most efficient.

For example, reading case after case in a casebook has quickly dimishing returns! Get a feel for it, sure, but then get out there and case others. When casing, reflect on if you have the right partners, if they're giving you the right cases, if you're optimizng your learning from casing them.

I provide a customized training plan to all of my candidates (let's them know exactly what they do daily and weekly) - this makes sure every minute/hour of study is optimized. Feel free to reach out for this!

Also, here's some additional reading to keep in mind: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/pitfalls-case-interview-preparation

Love that you've asked this question…exactly the right way to think about things!