Hi,
what are some good resources to improve charts and graph interpretation/reading?
Thanks
A little late for this question, but thought I give it a shot, since I use charts in my cases often.
What's the biggest mistake I see? Looking for patterns in values. To give an example: Let's say, I show a simple bar chart for an white goods company, depicting fluctuating sales numbers (in units) for refrigerators and washing machines from 2000-2015. Very often, candidates come up with answers like this: "One can see that sales overall were very flat over time, average probably 300,000 units a year, except for the big drop in 2009, maybe because of the financial crisis. Interestingly the share of washing machines is quite constant at 60% of units over time".
Why is this bad?
It's obvious that candidates have no clue what to do, but this is the worst way to buy time. OK, since you asked, how SHOULD you do it?
Key elements of any chart are: Title, axes descriptions (units!!), and legend. The values are far, far less important, in the end they only go into the equations. My favorite approach:
How would a good answer look like? "On this chart, I see the sales number of refrigerators and washing machines from 2000-2015 for the client in thousand units. In order to now estimate the sales potential for the new detergent line as add on, I need to estimate the number of washing machines of our client's brand in households. I would thus take the sales numbers from ..."
--> Repetition buys time and brings clarity (= shows your understanding to the interviewer, and thus your listening skills), and is not "wrong". Repeating the "why" shows you're in control and managing the situation, heading to solve the case.
This is a trick consultants use all the time: Repeat facts or repeat the overall goal. :) For steps 1 and 2, you don't yet need to think AT ALL, bring any prior knowledge, or even understand the chart. And you still sound smart and have a bit more time to figure things out.
Hope this helps, good luck for the interviews!
Hi Anonymous,
As a general first step, before every graph analysis it is important to ask for time to be able to read it.
After you took some time you should proceed with the following.
Best,
Francesco
(edited)
Hi,
You can use the following approach:
Sources to learn from (prioritized):
Good luck!
Mckinsey way:
- first read "around the chart" then "into" it. Lots of context for the data is written around the graph.
- focus on "insights". Whenever I show a graph to someone where the profits were growing from yr1-5 and falling from yr5-7 but margins were falling much faster from yr5-7, and if they come back repeat that same info to me, they get rejected in my book. I can SEE the graph, tell me something DEEPER. For example, tell me that margins falling faster than revenue is likely because it's a fixed cost heavy biz.
- get good at narrowing down what you want to focus on in the graph. If your case is about P&L, focus on finding about profits, costs, F & Var costs, etc. Do not over-rotate on margins/profitability. Do NOT waste time trying to mentally calculate margins fell by 22.67% in year 2-4 -- it may impress the interviewer but not at the cost of you actually telling her something that takes the case fwd!
Hemant
Hi Anonymous,
I assume you are referring to chart reading in general and not to any specific types of charts.
In general, your interviewer may ask you to read a chart and interpret it in a consulting interview. These may be all types of charts, hence you should be familiar with the basics of chart reading. The key here is always to
There is a good tutorial on preplounge that explains the steps I just explained in more detail.
Best
Dorothea
Hi, there's a Case in Point Graph Analysis book (there should be more traps hidden in their graphs, they are rather plain) and graph based math exercises on http://mconsultingprep.com/chart-based-math-drills/ (not free). Graphs from cases are probably just as good.
Cheers
3 steps:
First, give the lay of the land, what the exhibit talks about
Second, read the data, what's the story
Third and most important, what's the insight, what will you do with this.
I had a case at BCG 1sr round, consisting of a half dozen exhibits, one after the other. I followed these steps, aced the case in 15 minutes, got into the 2nd round in spite of a disappointing 1st case.
There is a risk of over-complicating things in case studies. I'd second Guennael's pretty straightforward approach here and can verify that it's very effective.
Hello!
I also particularly struggled with this back in the day.
The best way to get better at it is getting familiar with it. Hence: practice, practice, practice!
I found particularly useful the "Integrated Reasoning" part of the GMAT exam. It is full of graphs, exhibits... quite tricky and very complete.
There are free exams in the internet that you can use for practice (the one of LBS MBA page, Verits prep, as well as some free trials for courses such as the one of The Economist (https://gmat.economist.com/)
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
As others suggested, I would suggest to leverage the framework you set at beginning and see to which elements of it the chart relates to and how. Once you have your mental/written list of insights next to your framwork buckets, I would circle the 3-4 key insights and say those first and then mention all others. This will show your ability to prioritize what is key vs. what is nice to have.
Hope it helps,
Andrea
Dear A,
Here are some steps to interpret graphs and charts.
First of all, read the title, look at the key, read the labels. Then study the graph to understand what it shows. Secondly, read the title of the graph or chart. The title tells what information is being displayed. Then look at the key, which typically is in a box next to the graph or chart. It will explain the symbols and colors used in the graph or chart. Read the labels of the graph or chart. The labels tell you what variables or parameters are being displayed. Draw conclusions based on the data. You can reach conclusions faster with graphs than you can use a data table or a written description of the data.
GMAT Integrated Reasoning questions can help you to practice all these bullets!
I wish you good luck. If you need some help, just drop me a line!
Best,
André
If you want to practice on these skills, refer to SHL or GMAT tests.
Text me if you want some useful links for those.
Best,
Luca
Hi,
In addition to the brilliant answer of Francesco, I strongly recommend starting by reading the title of the slide. Some of my candidates usually miss it, by suddenly focusing on the content.
Best,
Antonello
MConsulting prep has a good chart quant resource to buy. It has follow up questions and is quite challenging!
Hey anonymous,
For me the best (and easiest) way to pull insights from tables or graphs is to try to relate with original framework/hypothesis, as well as trying to keep in mind what’s the overall goal of the case, so that when you’re reading them you can try to get insights that help solving the original problem
Best
Bruno
Great answer, Dolf!! Thanks a lot!
