How many cases to practice weekly when your interview is in 3 months time?

You definitely need to be careful of burnout.

I genuinely think you should pause for now and pick it up in early August.

You won't lose the skills, and if you take a break you'll come in with fresh eyes and fresh energy.

Hi there,

I think at your stage, it's more about quality than quantity.

If you have to wait until September, maybe practice 1-2 medium-hard cases each weekend with a good sparring buddy to try to push your limits.

Your aim should be to just keep the mental agility until Mid-July. (maybe work on creating small handbook where you compile your key learnings)

From Mid-July onward, go back to 5-6 cases per week.

Best of luck in the process, feel free to reach out for any additional support.

Khaled

Given the situation, I would pause for a couple of months, and then re-start and do some 3 per week.

Agree you should pace yourself. 

Given that you still have a long time to September, you can afford to take a break now. Resuming practice from July should give you enough time (if you don't foresee you'd be super occupied by then due to whatever reason).

Around 3 high quality cases per week would be good enoug in my opinion. But we all know this varies a lot from person to person, so think carefully for yourself. Don't go for quantity, but go for quality. That'd be my advice. 

Good luck,

Emily

Hello!

Sorry to hear about the pushback with interviews. 

In these upcoming months, you need to find the right balance between keeping yourself fresh with cases (and FIT preparation, super important!) and burnout. 

I would advise you the following: 

• Draft a prep plan you will always have guidance
• Set goals (# of cases) and milestones

Following a plan will allow you to keep balance, ensure tht you practice but also not over-do. 

I would not do more than 2-3 cases a week, at most, particularly if you reach a good level already. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Dear A,
In this case, I would recommend you to take a short break (for 1 month), when you don't practice cases at all and then to resume practicing after one month. Having 2 months prior to your interview and intensify your case practice, as you come closer. Especially, in the last 2 weeks do systematically as many cases as possible. 

If you need any help to secure your BCG offer or other interview invites, I'm happy to help you.


Good luck,

André

Hi there,

I don’t think you can really risk to over-practice honestly, unless you practice with bad peers that provide bad feedback. I guess what is really important instead for you now is to work on the motivation to do well, since you are several months from the interview.

I would recommend the following:

• Estimate the number of cases you need to reach your full potential. If you feel you are already there (but even if you feel so, I would double-check with some challenging peers or a coach in due time), I believe a case every 2/3 days would be fine (you may review that if you see a decrease in performance)
• Lock a time to do the case without any exception. It is very easy for you to dismiss the time now, since the interview is in months. Don’t do that. It is critical that you don’t give up with practice, otherwise your performance when you start again will be far worst. You will then need more cases than the one you could do regularly to get back in shape. Case practice is quite similar to going to the gym – if you don’t use, you lose it

Best,

Francesco

Hi A!

In my experience, practicing 15-20 cases is sufficient, if you do it strategically. My recommendation is as follows:

• Read up on the typical approaches and standard frameworks to get the concept.
• Then, do 5-6 cases to get a practical feeling for what a case is like. Start with easier ones - e.g. market size mini cases, simple profit tree cases, etc. This will help you develop a rudimentary sense for how cases work
• The next 5-6 cases should cover cases from all major types and help you gain the experience and comfort with standard frameworks and the thinking required for solving the cases.
• Lastly, you will want to do 6-7 cases to hone your skills. Practice with people who understand what they are doing - experienced interviewers, coaches, etc. that can give you 1-2 main items of feedback after each case that you can then practice to apply and improve on in the next case. During this time, you should also practice to move away from off-the-shelf frameworks and tailor, or - even better - develop your frameworks specifically during the case.

The further you move towards the final interview, the more important it is to practice with experienced interviewers. While you can easily ask any friend or practice with peers for the first few cases, you should aim for qualified, professional feedback as you approach the finishing line.

However, keep in mind, that this requires a strong plan and strategic approach to the preparation. I regularly see people doing 30-40 or even more cases. While this can also lead to success, in my eyes, it is a bit of a waste of time, especially for experienced hires that often also have a regular job to do while preparing for the consulting interviews.

Let me know if this helps. I'm also happy to elaborate any of the above in more detail. DM me if you like.

Hi there, 

IMO you can definitely keep on practicing 1-2 cases a week so you don't lose the skill. But at this point you can also take a break and start over after a pause. 

Of course, it depends on how good your case solving is already, but considering you're asking this question I think it's more than enough.

You can use this time to practise the other parts of the interview - fit questions and your questions to the interviewer or you can use this time to broaden your view on industries, projects, new etc.

Cheers, 

GB