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I've noticed that I often get serious math nerves during case interview situations. The qualitative part comes easy for me, but I always mess up on the quantitative part. It's usually silly mistakes like 90% = .09, or 1*2 = 3... sigh... Does anyone else experience this? How have you dealth with this in the past?...
I've noticed that I often get serious math nerves during case interview situations. The qualitative part comes easy for me, but I always mess up on the quantitative part. It's usually silly mistakes like 90% = .09, or 1*2 = 3... sigh... Does anyone else experience this? How have you dealth with this in the past?...
Rocketblocks is great for math in the context of a case:https://www.rocketblocks.me/
Regarding Improving Axienty
1) Practice, practice, practice - just like playing an instrument, practice until it becomes second nature...then when you perform in front of an audience, muscle memory takes over from stage fright!
2) Practice with people who make you nervous - Don't keep casing yourself or casing with other PrepLoungers! You need to feel as nervous when practicing as you will in the real thing. To do so, you can do any (or all) of the following:
Ask for a buddy/case partner from target firms to which you're applying
Ask anyone you have a relationship with at your target firms to give you a practice case
Ask your school's career office to give you a case
Ask a coach to give you a case (and ask them to be tough/strict/non-friendly)
Still ask PrepLoungers to case you, but ask them to jump straight into it without conversation beforehand (i.e. simulate the real thing)
Change your enviroment - instead of casing at home, go to a library or office room. Changing the scenery may trigger you to be less relaxed
3) Practice with the unknown - ask people to give you "weird" cases. Ask people to throw everything they have at you (curveballs, confusing statements, etc.)...you'll get comfortable with tripping up (and recovering)
4) Practice fast math - You said you get nervous here...well, practice it until it's the easiest thing you've ever done! How? Use the following:
Rocketblocks is great for math in the context of a case:https://www.rocketblocks.me/
Regarding Improving Axienty
1) Practice, practice, practice - just like playing an instrument, practice until it becomes second nature...then when you perform in front of an audience, muscle memory takes over from stage fright!
2) Practice with people who make you nervous - Don't keep casing yourself or casing with other PrepLoungers! You need to feel as nervous when practicing as you will in the real thing. To do so, you can do any (or all) of the following:
Ask for a buddy/case partner from target firms to which you're applying
Ask anyone you have a relationship with at your target firms to give you a practice case
Ask your school's career office to give you a case
Ask a coach to give you a case (and ask them to be tough/strict/non-friendly)
Still ask PrepLoungers to case you, but ask them to jump straight into it without conversation beforehand (i.e. simulate the real thing)
Change your enviroment - instead of casing at home, go to a library or office room. Changing the scenery may trigger you to be less relaxed
3) Practice with the unknown - ask people to give you "weird" cases. Ask people to throw everything they have at you (curveballs, confusing statements, etc.)...you'll get comfortable with tripping up (and recovering)
4) Practice fast math - You said you get nervous here...well, practice it until it's the easiest thing you've ever done! How? Use the following:
Ken had some excellent points in his answer. The calculation is just one part of a math question in the McKinsey interview.
Before that, you need to:
Discuss the objective and numbers with the interviewer
Layout an approach on how you want to calculate and discuss with the interviewer
After the feared calculations you need to
Communicate your answer top-down
Discuss implications for the client in the context of the case
In addition, throughout all of this, the interviewer will take note of your structure, communication, the creativity of approach, maturity, etc.
There is so much more to math in cases than calculating a few large numbers. Focusing on this extensively is almost always a self-fulfilling prophecy for candidates who throw in the towel as soon as the interviewer hands out some numbers...
That being said, there is no excuse for not performing math drills for hours every day if that is a key weakness for you. Build that math muscle vigorously.
All the best (from someone who also f*cked up math during their actual McK interviews and still got in...)
Florian
Hey there,
Ken had some excellent points in his answer. The calculation is just one part of a math question in the McKinsey interview.
Before that, you need to:
Discuss the objective and numbers with the interviewer
Layout an approach on how you want to calculate and discuss with the interviewer
After the feared calculations you need to
Communicate your answer top-down
Discuss implications for the client in the context of the case
In addition, throughout all of this, the interviewer will take note of your structure, communication, the creativity of approach, maturity, etc.
There is so much more to math in cases than calculating a few large numbers. Focusing on this extensively is almost always a self-fulfilling prophecy for candidates who throw in the towel as soon as the interviewer hands out some numbers...
That being said, there is no excuse for not performing math drills for hours every day if that is a key weakness for you. Build that math muscle vigorously.
All the best (from someone who also f*cked up math during their actual McK interviews and still got in...)
I totally hear you, and this happens to many people -furthermore, it´s easy to see it as an interviewer-.
Interview math, unfortunately, only gets better with practicing. Good news is that there are many ways of doing so!
I would recommend you, for instance, practicing iwth GMAT. 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
Hello!
I totally hear you, and this happens to many people -furthermore, it´s easy to see it as an interviewer-.
Interview math, unfortunately, only gets better with practicing. Good news is that there are many ways of doing so!
I would recommend you, for instance, practicing iwth GMAT. 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/)
Comfort with numbers comes from familiarity and confidence which is best gained through practice I'm afraid. Through focused practice, you will also find practical tricks that help you avoid silly mistakes too.
The other thing is a change in mindset where math is often more of a hygiene factor than an important differentiator when interviewers are deciding on whether to extend an offer or not. For McKinsey, the "math" section is not just about the arithmetics but how you structure a quantitative problem, how you define and clarify on the key pieces of information, how you find shortcuts to solve a numericla problem, how you pull out insights from exhibits, how you draw out key implications from the "answer" you have calculated, etc. etc.
Good luck!
Comfort with numbers comes from familiarity and confidence which is best gained through practice I'm afraid. Through focused practice, you will also find practical tricks that help you avoid silly mistakes too.
The other thing is a change in mindset where math is often more of a hygiene factor than an important differentiator when interviewers are deciding on whether to extend an offer or not. For McKinsey, the "math" section is not just about the arithmetics but how you structure a quantitative problem, how you define and clarify on the key pieces of information, how you find shortcuts to solve a numericla problem, how you pull out insights from exhibits, how you draw out key implications from the "answer" you have calculated, etc. etc.
MBB Final Round Case - Smart EducationOur client is SmartBridge, a nonprofit educational institution offering face-to-face tutoring services. The client operates in the US.
The mission of SmartBridge is to help as many students as possible to complete studies and prevent that they drop from the school system, in particular in disadvantaged areas.
The client is considering starting operations for its services in the Chicago area. They hired us to understand if that makes sense. Due to the nonprofit regulation, SmartBridge should operate on its own in the market, without any partnership.
How would you help our client?
Our client is SmartBridge, a nonprofit educational institution offering face-to-face tutoring services. The client operates in the US.
The mission of SmartBridge is to help as many students as possible to complete studies and prevent that they drop from the school system, in particular in disadvant ... Open whole case
Airline EconomicsWe are an airline major operating out of India. We want to increase the number of passengers on all our flights. Could you please calculate the financial return of adding one more passenger per flight?
We are an airline major operating out of India. We want to increase the number of passengers on all our flights. Could you please calculate the financial return of adding one more passenger per flight?
Open whole case
REA ReinsuranceYour client, REA, is a reinsurance company.
REA recently acquired another reinsurance company (approximatively same size): the choice of this company was notably based on its product portfolio as well as its market presence which appeared complement with REA.
However, the acquisition is not well received by the market. The acquisition price is considered too high and the transaction has not been well graded. REA management asks you to evaluate the transaction.
Your client, REA, is a reinsurance company.
REA recently acquired another reinsurance company (approximatively same size): the choice of this company was notably based on its product portfolio as well as its market presence which appeared complement with REA.
However, the acquisition is not well r ... Open whole case
Bain 1st Round Case – BlissOtticaOur client is a BlissOttica, an Eyewear Manufacturer that is looking to reach a 10% increase in profits. How would you help our client?
Our client is a BlissOttica, an Eyewear Manufacturer that is looking to reach a 10% increase in profits. How would you help our client?
Open whole case
Cutting Carbs - Divestiture in the Electrical Power MarketOur client is Energy England, one of northern England’s largest electric utility companies. They were created over the past decade through an aggressive series of mergers of existing utility companies each specializing in a single energy generation source.
Recently, the CEO has embarked on an initiative to return to the core of the business. She is looking to increase free cash flow and cash reserves in order to prepare the business for evolving future trends.
The following can be verbally provided to interviewee if asked:
Energy England is made up of assets across the energy-generation space. These include coal, gas, nuclear, and wind
We are looking to divest from just one of our previous acquisitions (i.e one target is sufficient)
There are no specific goals/metrics – the client trusts our judgement
Our client is Energy England, one of northern England’s largest electric utility companies. They were created over the past decade through an aggressive series of mergers of existing utility companies each specializing in a single energy generation source.
Recently, the CEO has embarked on an initi ... Open whole case
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