Hi,

Sharing my perspective having also struggled with math. I majored in the arts/social sciences in college, and I felt that math was all along not my ‘strong point’.

(1) What is the best way to improve this area? Any materials aside from case books that you would suggest?

• First of all - you must have a solid foundation of the basic functions (+ - / *) → having this will take away alot of the stress or pressure to make calculations
• Next, in terms of improving the quantitative reasoning or thinking, the only way you get better at this is to train your brain to work that way
• What worked for me was to start forcing myself to think and reason quantitatively in as many scenarios as possible in life, and come up with ‘formulas’ to try and get to a quantitative answer or solution to a situation or problem or question
  • E.g. if I was deciding which credit card to sign up for, how would I quantify this decision? e.g. maybe considering cost of annual fees, upside of redemption points etc
  • E.g. if I was deciding between going MBA versus staying in my job, how would I decide on this quantitatively?
  • E.g. you are facing a long queue at the supermarket - ask yourself a hypothethical question of how many additional counters would be needed to reduce the queue/waiting time by [50%]

(2) Any tips on increasing the “motivation” of working on this area? I tend to feel math part is like a student exam and is dull and unrealistic to real life. How can I change this mindset?

• Your mindset is currently wrong - math and case math is in fact extremely realistic and practical
• You can change your mindset by building a realistic understanding of how the business/corporate world works and how consultants help their clients
  • Read more about the business world
  • Speak to actual consultants to hear about their project work and how they use math/quant
• Ultimately in the capitalist world, every business exists to make money. So numbers cannot be avoided
• Math is used on many projects in consulting as a way to help quantify the impact and translate solutions/ideas/initiatives into something tangible and relevant for the client
• Here are a few actual examples of ‘math’ I have had to do in the course of my career in consulting
  • Help a client decide between using YouTube vs their own TV channel as a revenue generator
  • Understand (quantify) the impact of the weather on the clients agriculture-based business
  • Estimate the operational requirements (and by extension costs) of setting up a new delivery model for a grocery player
  • Size the market for personal loans in a developing country

You will tested on quantitative problem solving if you join consulting. FYI - consultants who have only been tested on qualitative cases/process cases will never be ranked as high as consultants who have done well in both qual & quant cases. So it's great you starting to change your mindset now, if you want to do well in consulting, you will need it. 

All the best!

Regarding Improving Fast Math Skills

• Math sheets (print these and do them on paper): https://www.math-drills.com/
• Leverage the free preplounge resource:https://www.preplounge.com/en/mental-math.php
• Rocketblocks is great for math in the context of a case

Some key formulas/concepts:

• Breakeven
• NPV (with + without growth, perpituity + 1-2 years from now)
• % Change
• ROI
• Margin
• Markup
• Inventory turnover

Regarding Improving Axienty

1) Practice, practice, practice - just like playing an instrument, practice until it becomes second nature...then when you perform in front of an audience, muscle memory takes over from stage fright!

2) Practice with people who make you nervous - Don't keep casing yourself or casing with other PrepLoungers! You need to feel as nervous when practicing as you will in the real thing. To do so, you can do any (or all) of the following:

• Ask for a buddy/case partner from target firms to which you're applying
• Ask anyone you have a relationship with at your target firms to give you a practice case
• Ask your school's career office to give you a case
• Ask a coach to give you a case (and ask them to be tough/strict/non-friendly)
• Still ask PrepLoungers to case you, but ask them to jump straight into it without conversation beforehand (i.e. simulate the real thing)
• Change your enviroment - instead of casing at home, go to a library or office room. Changing the scenery may trigger you to be less relaxed

3) Practice with the unknown - ask people to give you "weird" cases. Ask people to throw everything they have at you (curveballs, confusing statements, etc.)...you'll get comfortable with tripping up (and recovering)

4) Practice fast math - You said you get nervous here...well, practice it until it's the easiest thing you've ever done! How? Use the following:

How to structure math in a case

1. Have a seperate "math" scrap sheet of paper
2. Grab a new sheet of paper every time you're entering a new phase of the case...number and title it
3. Use tables to organize numbers
4. Write out the equation before doing the math
5. Never forget to write down units
6. Circle key numbers AND write down the "so what"

Mental Math Q&A: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/is-quick-mental-math-a-skill-that-can-be-learned-5210

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mental-math-help-7962

Interview Anxiety: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/tips-on-interview-anxiety-7095

Hi there!

Happy to help with this. I usually run a calculations-focused session with my candidates to refine their technique around how to approach such questions. 

Feel free to reach out and I can share the support material for it. 

The most important thing to have in mind is that you need to separate cognitive stages and build buffer / thinking time between them.

Practically, that means not to attempt to do logic and computations at the same time, live with the interivewer, without asking for thinking time. 

First clarify what you need to do and the tools / data that you have your disposal. 

Then develop the approach only, without touching the computations. 

Then move on to computations. 

Then once it's all validated move on to the interpretation.

Once you absorb the technique it's relatively easy to flow through it. 

Re motivation - nothing motivates better than progress. So change your approach, start seeing and acknowledging progress and you'll feel fired up in no time. 

Best,
Cristian

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Practicing for interviews? Check out my latest case based on a first-round MBB interview >>> SoyTechnologies  

Hi,

(1) What is the best way to improve this area? Any materials aside from case books that you would suggest?

Hire a math tutor (non necessarily with a consulting background) to help you with your sticking points. Oftentimes even a few sessions can make a difference. I myself hired a tutor to help me with shortcuts in calculations back in the day. Now I teach some of these concepts to my own students.

(2) Any tips on increasing the “motivation” of working on this area? I tend to feel math part is like a student exam and is dull and unrealistic to real life. How can I change this mindset?

Ideally, if the tutor you hire makes it interesting for you by offering a program that is both entertaining and challenging at the same time. For example, my tutor had me develop a McKinsey-style PST as homework in order to solidify my understanding of some logical concepts. Believe me, math can be fun.

Good luck!
Nick

(editiert)