Case Prep

Hi there,

First of all, please don't worry! I can sense the stress in your post so please know that you can 100% do this.

The best consultant in the Sydney BCG office when I was there was someone who was previously a professional violinist at the Sydney Opera House. The Partner I worked with was a Flautist in a prior life.

Here's how you can improve:

1. Casebooks
2. Daily reading (a lot…robinhood snacks, economist, ft, bcg insights, etc.)
3. Daily listening (youtube/podcasts)
4. Investopedia
5. Case practice
6. Coaching

Also, please remember, you're NOT expected to be an expert in every industry. I never was! No one ever is!

My projects at BCG were LNG, Mining, Telecomms, IT PMO, Digitization, etc….I had no idea about any of them when I started.

You just have to learn how to be objective-driven and think like a consultant.

You are not expected to know to ask for interest rates, gas prices, or the value of the dollar…in fact, that's the wrong way to approach a case anyway.

Good luck!

Hi there, 

Sorry to hear you're finding this difficult. I also come from a non-traditional background and found this rather frustrating when I was preparing for interviews. 

The good news is that consulting interviewers don't test for your knowledge, but your skills. So you're not expected to know all these terms by heart. 

What I recommend to candidates is to develop their knowledge organically. Basically, do cases and whenever you come across a new term, look it up. Once you've done a few dozen cases, you'll see that 80-90% of the terms repeat themselves, which means that you've already achieved the critical mass of terms that you need to know. 

This is significantly more effective than trying to learn random terms and equations that you might never need to use anyway.

Best,
Cristian

Hi! As an undergrad whose professional experiences were all in design, I understand the challenges you're facing. However, it's important to familiarize yourself with key economic and industry factors to succeed in interviews. Here are some suggestions and resources to help you learn these basic business topics and jargon:

Case books:

• My favorite recommendation here! Read case books or listen to case interviews online to gain a sense of what common terminology and questions look like. 
• I would suggest beginning to understand common frameworks for interviews and understand questions to tend to fall in each “bucket” – it's a good place to begin learning.

Online Courses and Tutorials:

• Websites like Coursera, Udemy, and Khan Academy offer a wide range of online courses on economics, business, and industry analysis.
• Look for courses specifically tailored to beginners or non-business majors to ensure a smooth learning curve.
• Take advantage of free resources such as YouTube tutorials or educational podcasts that explain fundamental business concepts.
• Pro tip: I subscribed to Morning Brew and read the bite-sized financial news they send daily to get a sense of even what the general environment looks like.

Business Books:

• "Economics in One Lesson" by Henry Hazlitt is a highly recommended book that provides a comprehensive introduction to economics, covering topics like interest rates, inflation, and the role of government in the economy.
• "The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman offers a broad overview of essential business concepts, including market shares, public vs. private companies, and industry analysis.

Industry Reports and Publications:

• Explore industry-specific reports and publications, such as those provided by research firms like Gartner, Forrester, or IBISWorld.
• These reports often analyze industry trends, key factors affecting businesses, and provide insights into market dynamics.

Business News and Magazines:

• Regularly read business news sources like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, or Financial Times to stay updated on economic factors and industry news.
• Magazines like Harvard Business Review and Forbes can also provide valuable insights into various business topics and practices.

Networking and Informational Interviews:

• Connect with professionals in the field you're interested in through platforms like LinkedIn.
• Request informational interviews to gain insights into their industry and ask specific questions about economic factors or industry dynamics.

Remember, learning these concepts takes time and effort. Start by building a solid foundation with introductory resources and gradually delve deeper into more advanced topics. Combine theoretical knowledge with practical applications to strengthen your understanding. With consistent effort and a curious mindset, you'll gain the necessary business acumen to excel in interviews and beyond. Good luck!

Hi,

Other coaches have already made tons of recommendations / resources you can leverage. 

I will add on that you will need to figure out what is the timeline you are working towards, and then see what is the most practical way to ramp up on the topics that you need to know.

I like Cristian's suggestion of building this knowledge up organically, and you can always supplement this with additional reading - but this assumes that you have some runway. 

All the best!

Hi there,

I would suggest the following:

• read some targeted press (FT, the Economist) to learn the jargon and understand in which context it is used (and take notes)
• practice, practice, practice case solving, you will eventually become familiar with what you need. Write down the concepts you don't know and have do a quick research to deepen your understanding if necessary. 

Overall, don't stress out, because a lot of people are unexperienced when they interview. 

Hope it helps!

Dear candidate, 

A) there are really easy materials on preplounge and you could go through an economic review session with a peer where you practise expertise instead of casing. I also suggest do several cases in the area so you have first hand expertise (learn the solution afterwards as an example). 

B) write down your own little booklet of theory as you study materials, there are for example MBA and Finance seem like two search areasthat seem like a great start.

C) Master creativity and general casing you might get to have he answered by casing well instead of having the know-how.

Best regards

While you may find more complete sources, this link should provide you with some of the very basics (business concepts section):

https://www.preplounge.com/en/case-interview-basics

Another material I recommend is the Darden MBA Case book (google it, it's easy to find) specifically the industry 1-pagers that provide you a quick overview of the topics for every given industry.

A lot of candidates (and even coaches) can definitely relate to this. It can be frustrating but truly you can definitely get there. 
 

The issue with a lot of jargons and concepts is that it's hard to relate to them enough to be able to meaningfully understand. So I recommend starting with a case you can relate. For example you can try a case about a declining coffee shop business (assuming you drink coffee). Then it's a little easier to relate to concepts without worrying about jargons. Honestly majority of the concepts are not too different from a typical coffee shop business so you can build from there. 

Hope this helps. Good luck!