Hi there,

interesting question - thanks for sharing.

A few things that typically help to improve your note-taking skill..

• Use a Template: use a standard note-taking format,  which should include headings of the key case opening steps - summary, objective(s), clarifying information - and bullet placeholders to fill in. Have it prepared before the prompt starts - this ensures you focus your case opening on the critical things and don't get distracted while the interviewer starts talking.
• Be concise: this may sound counter-intuitive to some, but it's very effective to only jot down key words, abbreviations & symbols rather than full sentences in the fear of missing something. Good notes serve as memory aid, not as complete documentation of everything said - this allows to keep your mind focused on listening, rather than writing.  
• Listen actively: for any terms / points unclear or , don't be shy to ask the interviewer to clarify. When you need validate your understanding, verbalize as well, so the interviewer can help correct any ambiguous points, especially in very technical cases, heavy on acronyms. 
• Use your own words: paraphrasing helps you retain information better. Exception is for technical terms / acronyms that need to be remembered exactly - don't change those.
• Practice “under pressure”: run specific, time-boxed drills on case opening with a case partner and ask him/her to score it. The more you get used to this, the less you will get nervous when something is at stake.

Feel free to reach out, if you have any questions or you'd like to access some further, research-based readings on the topic.

Hope this helps. 

Regards, Andi

Hi there,

1) Decide physical vs virtual - are you a faster typer or writer?

2) If virtual, pick the best tool - try outlook draft emails (so you can store/organize with your email), try notepad, try a tablet so you can write on it, etc....find the one that works for you

3) Only write down what is important - you should know this! You don't need to capture everything. Just like in a case, figuring out what information is not needed is just as valuable as figuring out what information is needed.

4) And then, what you do write down, write it in shorthand!

I.e. If I say "Your client is Bills Bottles. They earn $800M in profits each year by manufacturing bottles to soda companies in the US and Europe. Over the past two years they've seen profits falling and have brought you in to investigate"

You should write:

• Bills Bottles
• Manufacture
• Client = soda comp
• 800M P
• P [down arrow] 2 yrs
• US + Europe
• Obj: Fix P

5) If you must, skip - If you miss something, put a line or x or ? in that spot. Ask it when repeating the info back to the interviewer

Casing Sheets of Paper - Organization

Feel free to message me - I have a casing template that helps you nail interviews.

I can't reveal everything, but some teasers are:

1) A seperate sheet for each "portion" of the case...with clear locations + methods for title/subject, notes, calculations, takeaways, etc.

2) Figuring out a location for everything and where each information type should go

3) Seperate sheet for math calculations

There's much much more, but you get the gist!

(edited)

Hi there,

Q: How can I improve this skill since it is literally the easiest part of the entire case?

I would recommend the following.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FIRST PAGE

I would suggest to divide the first page into 4 parts as below:

• Top-left: client name/type
• Bottom left: initial information
• Top right: objectives
• Bottom right: structure

Landscape format in general works better. Sometimes you will have to go back and forth, as you may get information, objective 1, additional information, objective 2, etc.

The vertical line should be closer to the left border and the horizontal line should be closer to the top border so that there is more space for the structure.

FOLLOWING PAGES

After the first page, you can structure it as reported below:

• Top-left: question asked
• Bottom left: structure to answer
• Top right: question asked
• Bottom right: structure to answer

The vertical line can now be in the middle so that the left and right parts have the same space.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Besides that, you can also improve your notes with the following:

• Ask the interviewer to repeat in case you missed information.
• Do a recap after the prompt. This ensures you took notes correctly, the interviewer will correct you if you repeat something wrong.
• Use abbreviations. Eg, for revenues use R, for costs use C, for increase use ⬆, etc.
• Write down essential information only. You won’t have time to write down everything, therefore you should focus on key info only. If you have a client that produces steel with four plants with a revenue problem, your notes could be something as Steel producer, R ⬇, 4 plants.
• Keep a separate sheet for math if you tend to be disorganized when you perform calculations.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Practice - is your only way out.

You can use freely available online Text-to-speech synthesizers (or even MS Word on mobile) to read aloud the case prompt.

Keep practicing to see what information layout suits you best. Different people have different styles. There is no single answer.

Hi there,

This is a great question!

The easy answer is: practice. 

I've never seen any candidate who had done several dozen cases and still struggled with this. In short, it will solve itself in time. 

The more important thing you can do in the meantime is work on your mindset. Candidates put a lot of pressure on themselves about hearing all the information and taking down all the notes. It's a vicious cycle that ends up hurting them in the end. 

What you should do instead is to just listen to the prompt. Try to actively listen and engage with the situation rather than writing down all the notes. Jot down just the key figures. Then ask the interviewer for a few seconds to review your notes. If anything is unclear, ask them to repeat it, check if the numbers you wrote down are the correct ones, and so on. 

Nobody expects perfection, so don't pressure yourself like that. If anything is unclear, just ask and move on. 

Best,

Cristian