Prepare for Your Consulting Case Interview by Learning the Basics and Mentally Preparing for the Intense Practice
How do I prepare for this daunting task?
In tackling case interviews, it’s quite possible for bright candidates, who know exactly what to expect, to lose their composure. In order to repeatedly demonstrate prerequisite skills under the pressure of a real case interview, those skills almost have to become “second nature”. This can only be achieved with sufficient preparation.
Here are three approaches as a timeline that the most successful candidates use at top consultancies like McKinsey, BCG or Bain:
- Self-study: Familiarize yourself with the basic concepts and frameworks. Don't spend too much time memorizing things. Rather, try to go through cases yourself and think about how you can build on the frameworks to develop your own customized structure.
- Interviews with peers: Put theory into practice by solving cases together with like-minded case partners. On our meeting board you will find numerous case partners with whom you can practice. After your first case interview simulation, you will know where you stand in your preparation. From this point on, you can improve continuously until you succeed in solving the cases almost effortlessly.
- Interviews with coaches: Especially if you have limited time and want to get the most out of your case interview preparation, we recommend that you prepare with an experienced case coach. On PrepLounge you will find more than 650 (former) management consultants from top consultancies such as McKinsey, BCG or Bain, who will help you to be perfectly prepared for your interview. You can either book individual sessions or benefit from the price advantage of the coaching packages.
In short, you need to learn the fundamentals and then PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE! The latter naturally being the most important driver. You can think of case interviews as analogous to sports: Athletes spend some time learning the rules and best practices / important plays, but at the end of the day, they need to practice intensely during training to be ready for the big game.
