Keeping track of cases

Question

Hi,

I wonder what's the best strategy to keep track of the practiced cases - for example, the industry covered, the feedback obtained, etc. I feel like as I keep doing more cases, my learning is stagnating as I fail to keep a good track of the solved cases. How do you keep track of solved cases and the learnings? Is there any online tool or something that can be useful here?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I used google sheets and modified their "assignment tracker" template (I've removed my comments for the screenshot):

Case Tracker Table for your Case Interview Prep

My comments tend to be the areas I could improve on e.g. need to practise multiplying numbers with multiple zeroes, remember to tick off entire structure.

Answer 2

Hi,

There are several rules I recommend to follow:

Have a feedback log and constantly track it
After the case with a partner spend some time to write down the same case again in a clean manner
Every 10 cases revisit the previous cases and think how you would structure them differently now having the new experience and having solved the new types of cases
Give the cases to the partners to memorize them better
Build the business judgment. Read about different industries and functions. I strongly recommend practice drawing structures for each industry - profitability, value chain, etc . Then I will switch to getting functional knowledge and key concepts in Marketing (Brand and trade marketing tools, etc), Supply chain (Ops metrics like cycle time and throughput time, distribution and delivery specifics, etc), Finance (Basic Accounting and Valuation).

Best

Answer 3

The actual cases and industries arent what's more important. Focus on the actionable feedback you've been given.

Quality over quantity, you will progress by learning from your and others' mistakes, not by doing a case of each kind (which is near impossible". You know, that whole "teach a man to fish" thing...

Answer 4

Separately to keeping track of the actual cases: What I used to have (and what I recommend to my clients) is to start a document with "key learnings" or "tips and tricks" from each case you do. The actual case you did doesn't matter as much in this case. If for example in a case you learned about some new types of synergies, you should note this down with a brief explanation in your "learning log". It can then be really useful to go through the log in the days before an interview to try refresh your memory on all the things you learned.

Good luck!