When preparing for a case interview, especially under time constraints, working with an experienced coach can significantly enhance your chances of success.
💡 Pro Tip: PrepLounge offers access to over 800 (former) management consultants from top firms like McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, who are ready to help you perfect your interview technique.
What Are the Key Advantages of Practicing With a Coach?
Personalized Feedback
One of the primary benefits of working with a case coach is receiving tailored feedback. Unlike general preparation methods, a coach can pinpoint your specific weaknesses and provide actionable advice to improve. This personalized approach ensures that your preparation is efficient and targeted, addressing your unique needs and challenges.
Realistic Simulation
Practicing with a coach allows you to experience a realistic interview setting. Coaches who have conducted numerous case interviews can replicate the pressure and dynamics of a real interview, helping you become more comfortable and confident. This experience is invaluable, as it prepares you to handle the stress and spontaneity of actual interviews.
Insider Knowledge
Experienced coaches often come from prestigious consulting backgrounds themselves. Their insider knowledge about what top firms are looking for can give you a significant edge. They can share insights about the interview process, common pitfalls, and the specific attributes that firms value, ensuring that you are well-prepared to meet these expectations.
Structured Approach
A coach can help you develop a structured approach to solving case problems. This structured thinking is crucial in case interviews, where clear, logical, and well-organized answers are highly valued. Coaches can teach you frameworks and methodologies that streamline your problem-solving process, making your responses more coherent and compelling.
Time Efficiency
For candidates with limited preparation time, coaching is a highly efficient way to get ready. Coaches can quickly identify areas that need improvement, helping you focus your efforts where they are most needed. This targeted preparation can save you time and help you progress faster than you would on your own.
Confidence Boost
Confidence plays a crucial role in interview performance. Regular practice with a coach can boost your confidence by familiarizing you with the interview format and helping you refine your answers. Knowing that you have prepared thoroughly with expert guidance can significantly reduce anxiety and improve your overall performance.
How PrepLounge Optimally Supports You With a Wide Range of Coaching Options
🚀 Flexibility and Convenience
PrepLounge offers a variety of coaching options to fit your needs and preferences. You can choose from individual sessions, CV reviews, or comprehensive coaching packages that include multiple sessions or focus on specific topics. Additionally, there are programs available that combine a premium membership with coaching credits, providing a cost-effective way to access top-notch coaching services.
📅 Workshops and Online Events
PrepLounge also regularly hosts workshops and online events led by experienced coaches. These sessions cover a range of topics and provide opportunities for interactive learning and direct feedback. Participating in these events can further enhance your preparation and keep you updated on the latest trends and techniques in case interviews.
How to Find the Perfect Coach to Suit Your Needs
To find the perfect coach for your case interview preparation, you can proceed in three steps within the coach overview:
Filtering: Begin by filtering the coaches based on your most important criteria, such as price per coaching session, or employer.
Selection: Choose up to 10 coaches whose profiles, ratings, Q&A contributions, and PrepLounge awards you wish to explore further.
Contacting: Reach out to 2-3 coaches to address any potential questions or concerns about their coaching approach. Feel free to ask if they offer a free intro call.
What Makes a Good Coach?
Good coaches are characterized by the following features:
Customization: they tailor the coaching to your specific needs.
Good rapport: They make you feel comfortable and work well with them.
Transparency: They offer you full transparency about the coaching process on PrepLounge.
Final Thoughts on Working With a Coach
Practicing with a coach is a strategic investment in your case interview preparation. The personalized feedback, realistic simulation, insider knowledge, and confidence boost that coaches provide can make a significant difference in your performance. With the expert guidance available on PrepLounge, you can ensure that you are thoroughly prepared and ready to excel in your case interviews.
By leveraging the expertise of experienced case coaches and taking advantage of the diverse coaching options and events available on PrepLounge, you can maximize your preparation efficiency, build your confidence, and increase your chances of securing a position at a top consulting firm.
Revolut's problem solving interviews are different from traditional consulting. They are very execution focused. They care less about polished frameworks and more about whether you can actually break down a messy problem and fix it fast. The interview usually gives you a real operational scenario. Something like, customer complaints spiked 40 percent in two weeks, what do you do? Or, we are launching in a new market and need to build a KYC process from scratch, walk me through it. These are day to day operations problems, not abstract strategy. What they really want to see is how you think when things are messy. Can you figure out what is going on, find the root cause, and come up with a practical fix? They want someone who can jump into chaos and bring order. Not with a fancy presentation, but with clear thinking and action. A few things that help you stand out. Start by clarifying the problem. Don't rush to solutions. Ask what data you have, what changed recently, what the impact is. Think in terms of process. Show that you naturally think about how things flow, where bottlenecks happen, what can be automated, and how to measure if something is working. Be specific. Don't say "I would improve the process." Say "I would map out the steps, find where the delay happens, test a small fix, then roll it out." Revolut values speed and ownership. Don't be the person who says "I would escalate this" or "I would set up a committee." Be the person who says "here is what I would do in the first 48 hours." They want operators, not managers who just delegate. If you have experience with data, lean into it. Revolut is very data driven. Saying "I would pull this data, look at this metric, and decide based on that" will land well.
Hi there,
Actually I will say that I would live the same life that I am living with more comfort and less stress in the daily routine. For instance, I would keep the same job that I am doing (Consulting) but I will buy a more comfortable house and car in order to focus more on my actual job and perform better.
In this way you can show that you have carefully chosen your career and you are very motivated to apply for consulting or working there.
Hi there, A 5-month consulting stint is usually not what’s causing automatic rejections. Most ATS systems don’t reject based on tenure length — they filter based on keywords, formatting, and match to job description. Deleting the role is generally not advisable, especially if it was legitimate experience. Instead, I’d suggest: Optimize your CV for ATS by mirroring keywords from the job description Use standard section headers (Experience, Education, Skills) Avoid graphics, tables, or complex formatting Quantify impact clearly with action verbs Make sure relevant tools, industries, and skills appear explicitly If you’re getting mostly automated rejections, it’s more likely a keyword alignment issue than the 5 months. You can also slightly reframe it as “Consultant” without overemphasizing duration, and focus on impact rather than timeline. Happy to help you review your CV and improve ATS alignment if useful BestEvelina
Best preparation strategy & resources for MBB interviews Italy - looking for real experiences
10 hrs
< 100
5
Best answer by
Alessandro
Ciao Susanna, Your profile is stronger than most people who apply to MBB Italy. Engineering-to-management, top grades, Big Four consulting experience. The hard part isn't getting noticed, it's converting that into an offer. Get the foundation right before anything else Before you dive into volume, get a coach or experienced mentor to set the foundation with you. A few sessions early on will save you weeks of practicing bad habits. Unlearning is harder than learning. This applies to both cases and PEI, don't treat them separately. PEI deserves as much preparation as the case Most people treat fit prep as an afterthought. It isn't. McKinsey's PEI is a structured deep-dive where a single story gets drilled for 10+ minutes. You need 3-4 experiences that are genuinely rich, with real complexity, real stakes, and a clear personal role. If the story is thin, they'll find out fast. Start building these in parallel with cases from day one. On cases: learn to think, not to recognize patterns The goal of doing many cases isn't pattern recognition, it's building the muscle of structuring under pressure. The candidates who fail aren't the ones who got the math wrong. They're the ones who froze, went circular, or couldn't hold a clear thread. Do a lot of cases, but with real intention behind each one. Communication beats correct answers Interviewers aren't grading your spreadsheet. They're asking: can I put this person in front of a client? Lead with your conclusion, structure your reasoning out loud, flag your assumptions early. A clear, confident wrong answer lands better than a correct one buried in hesitation. Build a practice system, not just a practice habit Mix expert coaching with peer mocks. Peers are great for volume and live pressure, but they make the same mistakes you do. Without expert feedback, small errors compound and nobody catches them. Set recurring check-ins with a coach throughout prep, not just at the start. It's easy to drift and convince yourself you're better than you are. Do math drills everywhere, commuting, in the shower, before bed. Fumbling a simple calculation mid-case kills your flow even if you recover. Use your background as a differentiator Aerospace engineering stands out, especially for infrastructure and energy work, where all three firms are active in Italy. But translate it. Not "I worked on TPRM." Instead: "I helped clients reduce exposure across complex vendor ecosystems and made risk recommendations with incomplete data."
Hi Ashish, You actually have a strong differentiator — you just need to frame it correctly. On leveraging your STEM background Don’t present DRDO and ISRO as “prestigious.” Present them as proof of Analytical rigor Working on complex, high-stakes systems Handling ambiguity and technical depth Solving structured problems under constraints Consulting firms love candidates who can say:“I worked on complex aerospace systems where small design decisions had large downstream impact. That trained me to think in structured cause–effect logic.” Translate everything into business language Optimization Trade-offs Data analysis Stakeholder coordination Quantifiable impact That’s how you stand out during screening. On the 3-month manufacturing experience Yes, include it — short experiences are not red flags if they are real. You don’t need to proactively explain the banking issue on your CV. If asked in interviews, keep it simple and factual: “There was a temporary personal/administrative issue that required my attention. It has been resolved.” No over-explaining. No drama. Keep it calm and forward-looking. What matters most is Your trajectory Your performance Your clarity of goals Your technical background is an asset if you translate it into structured thinking and impact. Happy to help you position your CV strategically if helpful BestEvelina
I think you are overcomplicating it. You are really asking for permission to make a change that feels risky. From a consulting hiring perspective, firms care about your degree, experience, and interview performance. They don't care if your Masters took an extra year or you switched programs. What hurts is no degree, a pattern of quitting, or a gap you cannot explain. Quitting to do nothing is risky. Quitting to do something better is not. If you are serious about leaving, secure something first. Internship, job, or confirmed admission elsewhere. Don't quit into nothing. If you are not sure, finish this semester while recruiting. If you land something great, then decide. On your parents They want safety because they care. But you are 23. This is the time for calculated risks. The key word is calculated. Feel free to reach out if you want help thinking through the plan.
Take home case study for a boutique consulting firm
14 hrs
< 100
5
Best answer by
Mateusz
Hello, As someone who spent 4 years at Altman Solon (TMT boutique, ~50% focused on CDD in TMT), happy to connect and support you during the journey. For a TMT-focused firm like Analysys Mason with strong PE exposure, expect the take-home to lean much more toward CDD-style analysis than classic broad consulting frameworks.Take-home case 1️⃣ Framework vs CDD focusPrioritize: Market attractiveness Competitive positioning Customer dynamics Revenue drivers & sustainabilityLess generic “Porter-style” structuring — more investment logic. 2️⃣ Excel / modeling depthThey’re not testing 3-statement modeling.They’re testing: Comfort with numbers Scenario thinking Sensitivity analysis Revenue build-ups (bottom-up logic) Keep the model clean, transparent, and driver-based. Commercial logic > Excel complexity. 3️⃣ Slide count / detailTypically: ~10–15 slides (unless instructed otherwise) Executive-summary first Clear storyline: Recommendation → Why → Risks → Upside Concise, investment-committee ready. 4️⃣ TMT / PE nuances Focus on recurring revenue, churn, pricing power Understand tech disruption risk Highlight value-creation levers Think like an investor: “Would I put money behind this?”Live interviews Expect more investment-style discussions than generic consulting cases. They will test: Structuring under ambiguity Quantitative comfort Valuation intuition (not full DCF, but value logic) Clear recommendation under time pressure Quant skills matter a lot in TMT + PE contexts. Bottom line: think like a commercial advisor to investors, not just a strategy consultant. As a coach, I’m here to help you — we can simulate TMT CDD cases, refine your investment-style thinking, and structure your take-home so it meets boutique-level expectations.
Quarter zip. Too casual in my view. Minimum: formal shirt, no tie needed.Safe choice: shirt + blazer. Looks sharp on camera without going full suit. Rule of thumb: dress one level up, not down. Quarter zip reads startup, not MBB. If HR sent interview instructions, check those first. Otherwise, default to blazer + shirt.
Questions about market size are frequently asked in case interviews in consulting because they require a blend of logic, mathematics, and common sense. They can be asked as standalone questions or as part of a larger case. Applicants who are familiar with market sizing questions can really perform here.
Market entry cases are one of the key issues in the consulting industry and present consultants and firms with unique challenges and opportunities. These cases require deep analysis and strategic planning to successfully enter new markets.
Brainteasers are a type of problem that focuses on a single issue rather than complex business cases. They require out-of-the-box thinking, logic or math skills and can take the form of riddles, word problems or visual puzzles. These tasks are designed to test your problem-solving skills, analytical thinking and ability to remain calm under pressure.Typical problems cover everyday life's topics and might even include unrealistic assumptions. All necessary information is usually included in the question so that further assumptions are not necessary. This article explains in more detail why brainteasers are useful in case interview preparation and how to solve them.