Consulting Case Books

Question

Hi Community,

to start with my case prep I have started with some books outlining frameworks with explicit cases in the end.

I have tried to solve those cases on my own first and then compare my approach to the case solution provided by the writers of the cases. I was fairly stunned in what detail they expect you to go when solving such cases.

I have showed my solution to some friends who have done consulting internships already and they said they were actualy quite good.

I am a bit intrigued now, because the cases and respective solutions are drafted by real consultants, and I just feel that for some cases I would never have had the idea to approach it in the way they did.

Do you have any advice on that?

Answer 1

Hi there,

Doing written cases on your own is fine, but in general, running through cases live and seeing if you can adjust your framework on the fly is more important.

So I'd just go through some live cases (DM me if you'd like) and see if you can get to a reasonable answer. You can easily spend 10 minutes making something amazing on paper, but ultimately that's less useful than being able to engage your interviewer, be creative, and getting to a reasonable answer. The initial framework is just a part of that process.

Bryan

Answer 2

Hi,

First - casebooks are not drafted by real consultants. Casebooks are written by MBA case clubs and the authors do not work at MBB

Second - there is no sense in practicing cases on your own. Please do it with a partner. That's critical for prep

Best!

Answer 3

Hi Anonymous,

if you are referring to MBA casebooks, they are generally not very good in terms of structure, although they can be useful to develop creativity. Thus your approach may not be necessarily bad if different.

When you go through cases, you should read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing in your structure, upgrade it with the new insides if they make sense. However, don’t feel your structure should necessarily replicate the one proposed in the case - I saw a lot of cases in casebooks with terrible structures that would not make the bar for an MBB interview.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 4

To fix the theory Cosentino's Case in Point is enough. Then you should practice 40+ cases live with other candidates. It's important to simulate the interview, not to read by yourself the case solution.
In case you need some good materials to practice with feel free to text me

Best,
Antonello

Answer 5

Hi there,
It depends on which case book you used. Not all case book is written by consultants and not all cases are based on real project experiences. While case book is a good tool to practice, the real learning would come from actual practice, preferably with someone has real consulting experiences. So that you can discuss in details and understand why you should structure a case in a certain way and what depth you should go into.
Best,

Emily