1) Decide physical vs virtual - are you a faster typer or writer?

2) If virtual, pick the best tool - try outlook draft emails (so you can store/organize with your email), try notepad, try a tablet so you can write on it, etc....find the one that works for you

3) Only write down what is important - you should know this! You don't need to capture everything. Just like in a case, figuring out what information is not needed is just as valuable as figuring out what information is needed.

4) And then, what you do write down, write it in shorthand!

I.e. If I say "Your client is Bills Bottles. They earn $800M in profits each year by manufacturing bottles to soda companies in the US and Europe. Over the past two years they've seen profits falling and have brought you in to investigate"

You should write:

• Bills Bottles
• Manufacture
• Client = soda comp
• 800M P
• P [down arrow] 2 yrs
• US + Europe
• Obj: Fix P

Casing Sheets of Paper - Organization

Feel free to message me - I have a casing template that helps you nail interviews.

I can't reveal everything, but some teasers are:

1) A seperate sheet for each "portion" of the case...with clear locations + methods for title/subject, notes, calculations, takeaways, etc.

2) Figuring out a location for everything and where each information type should go

3) Seperate sheet for math calculations

There's much much more, but you get the gist!

Hi there, 

In short:

• Use a different sheet for every question, as well as a different sheet for the prompt
• Number the sheets at the bottom
• Circle and underline every question
• Keep a separate sheet for ‘messy' / random calculations
• Make sure you write down the unit of measurement for numbers (L / km / $ / …?)

This should be enough. Don't develop too many rules otherwise you're going to be thinking about them instead of the problem. The whole point of having a good note taking mechanism is to avoid it getting in your way. 

Best,

Cristian