Hi there,

Sharing a couple of thoughts on your situation and the case interview in general

• Reading cases by yourself is totally different from going through one live
• There are 2 parts to charts/math or basically most skills when it comes to the case interview
  1. Having the ability / fundamentals to be able to get to the right answer
  2. Having the ability to get to the right answer under pressure and under stress
• Candidates can build up part #1 either by themselves, or with a help of a partner, although many things can be practiced and improved by yourself
• Ultimately however, you need to put yourself into as similar situation as the real interview to get comfortable with part #2
• But without #1, you will definitely not be able to do #2

So what should you do?

• It's hard for us here on the forums to judge where exactly your problem is without having assessed you ourselves
• However, I would suggest working on both, with a greater weightage on Part #1 first before moving to Part #2 (practicing with a partner)
• Do note, very importantly, that practicing by yourself only works if you are practicing in the correct / optimal way
  • If you need to seek advice on how to do that, please do. Otherwise you end up not building up the right skills and foundations

All the best!

Hi there,

Why would you avoid the exact thing that you're struggling in?

Of course you should keep casing! You need to practice being in the moment.

Now, my guess is that you haven't learned the steps for reading charts/exhibits. Remember that you need to take a step back, summarize, ask for a moment (if needed) then draw insights.

When practicing on your own, talk outloud and record yourself. This will help you practice it in the moment like in live case practice.

But please don't stop casing with partnes!

Hi there,

You should work on both because practicing on your own is more efficient, yet practicing with others seems to be where the problem is coming from.

Do an honest review of your work.

• What is different when you practice alone vs. with others? Is it nerves, types of problems?
• What types of math are you struggling with the most? Is break-even calculations, is it operational calculations (just examples)?
• What stage of the problem are you struggling with (the logic and approach or the calculations)?

Generally, I would recommend you to go through a good foundational case math course, then work on drills on your own and with others.

Create realistic conditions, time yourself, and choose hard problems.

All the best,

Florian

Hi there,

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• I would highly advise you to practice both ways, on your own (at the beginning) and with peers. Practicing math and exhibit analysis on your own will help you build up your basic skills, but practicing with peers will give you the opportunity to apply these skills in a simulated interview setting.
• Moreover, I would advise you to consider seeking feedback from a coach to identify specific areas where you need improvement.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi there,

focus on practicing by yourself for a bit until you feel more comfortable with the mental math and chart reading. Then get back into doing cases with partners again because that resembles more of a realistic interview scenario. But hopefully you won't get hung up on the math/charts so easily anymore and can focus on other things you are doing during the live case.

If you have the budget, you should get a session with a coach to get feedback on your performance and define an actionable development plan.

Best of luck

Hi there, 

I'd recommend you continue practicing with partners as well as on your own. 

Even more so, it might be worth getting a coach to help you unlock these issues around maths. They might pop up because you have the wrong technique in terms of how you are approaching them. 

Best,

Cristian

I echo other coaches's comments- continue both.

In addition I get a feeling that you perhaps struggle with managing the interview anxiety/nerves. Have a look at this article for some guidance in case it helps-https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/job-interview-stress

All the best.

Hi there,

I would strongly suggest to practise math/ reading charts on your own first so during the mock interviews with the partners you can focus more on cracking the case and strategic thinking.

Doing maths, reading charts & interpretting data are really table stakes when it comes to MBB interviews, so you want to get to a good level with your math/ data interpretation skills first to be able to focus on more important aspects of cases during your partner practice.

Alternatively, if you don't manage to practise/ improve on your own, I suggest use the practise time with others to strengthen this point first: i.e. in one hour you can ask them to give you 4-5 mini-cases focusing on charts and calcs part only.

Good luck, 

Lilit