Hi All,
I recently joined PrepLounge and its great to be a part of a collaborative community! Over my casing interviews, I have noticed three main problems in my casing:
1) Not super great frameworks – average at best
2) Having an overflow of information when it comes to numbers and sometimes getting lost in the weeds.
3) Some times not taking away the big ideas from chart analysis.
Curious to know if anyone has any thoughts on remedying these issues. Thanks in advance!
Hi there,
Welcome!
These challenges that you are facing are totally normal if you're at the start of your journey. You will gain mastery of them through practice and under the right guidance.
It makes a lot of sense to get one session of expert support right at the start of the journey in order to understand how to move efficiently and effectively through the process. It's a minor investment that can help you save even half of the preparation time that you'd otherwise put it.
Sharing with you also a couple of articles that you might find useful in the process:
Best,
Cristian
Coaching.
There is a lot here. You're basically saying you struggle with 80% of what a case is.
A coach's job is to figure out why you're struggling (your issues with 1-3 could have a dozen different root causes) and then setup a plan to remedy it. It's exactly why we're here!
It's like saying “I'm overweight. Why?”
We can tell you diet and exercise, but we actually don't know exactly what's going on. Are you not exercising period? Or not doing the right exercises? Or not doing the right exercises in the right way? Is your schedule wrong? Should you consume protein? Are you eating too many sweets? Is it a motivation thing? Is it an injury?
Feel free to reach out for an intro call and we can get started diagnosing you and getting a plan of attack to get you 100% in casing!
Hi there,
Welcome to PrepLounge and the wider consulting community! I can definitely relate to the challenges you're facing. When I started out, I grappled with similar issues, and they are common stumbling blocks in mastering case interviews. It can be helpful to work with a coach who has been in your shoes, but always great to get a foundation yourself. Here's what helped me improve in each of these areas:
1. Frameworks: Remember, the goal isn't to memorize frameworks but to understand the logic behind them. Try to understand why certain elements are included and how they interrelate. This way, you'll be better able to adapt them to the specific case at hand. Practicing a variety of cases can also help expose you to different frameworks and their applications.
2. Managing Information: This is indeed a common challenge in cases with many numbers. One approach that can help is to practice active listening and note-taking. Write down the key numbers and their units as they're mentioned. And don't hesitate to take a moment to organize your thoughts before diving into the analysis. Also, it can be useful to periodically summarize the information you've gathered, which helps reinforce understanding and identify gaps.
3. Chart Analysis: For chart analysis, it can be helpful to adopt a systematic approach. Start by understanding the chart's title, labels, and units. Then, look for trends, comparisons, and anomalies. Remember to interpret the data in the context of the case question, and don't rush. With time and practice, extracting key insights will become second nature.
I'd also add, don't be too hard on yourself. It's a learning curve, and with regular practice and feedback, you'll improve. If you ever need help or have any other questions, feel free to reach out. Many of us have been where you are and are more than willing to support your journey. Good luck with your preparations!
Thank you Emily for the response. I greatly appreciate it! These are definitely great tips that I will take into my cases going forward.
Dear candidate,
Yes, sure. There is the what to do and how to get there. Some tips on the what. Gladly reach out for more tips.
A) Practice the case bit by bit so answer the first framework question with your framework and do all before that like clarifying the answer and ask your interviewer for concrete feedback.
B) As you then answer the next two to three questions, stop again and ask for great feedback so you are clear about several ways that you should have answered better.
C) learn how to drive enough through the case: when mentioning conclusions, show how they answer the overall case question and where to go next so you make the big picture clear also to the interviewer throughout. Also answer conclusionary as much as you practise how to get to immediate and overall conclusions.
Best regards
Frameworks are just tools to help you kickstart the thinking. In almost all situations, you don't really want the interviewer to see a recognizable framework, rather a logical structure you come up with. Personally, I find it helpful to start with questions you want to answer. For example, for a “should you enter a new market” case, you can have 3-4 overarching questions like “is there sufficient demand in this market?”, “do i have enough resources to carry this out?” and “are there significant competition that would put my new business at risk?”. Most of these are logical thoughts a typical business owner would ask anyway, but it would naturally take a shape similar to the 3C framework, without even starting from the framework itself.
If you are provided with the information, go through them to understand what you have, then put them in the back of your head. Go back to designing your logical structure first, then validate if you have the information and tweak your structure again if necessary. Don't let the data dictate your structure - in real life situation this may lead to bias to conclude with data you have, not with data you need.
I'm only scratching the surface above. Your best bet would be to invest in coaching to orientate your focus areas. You really shouldn't struggle on your own to understand better where and how you can improve your casing ability.
Good luck!
Unfortunately, what you are saying is that you are not performing well in cases. It is good that you are able to do it in a structured way, but the truth is that even so what you describe is so broad that it is difficult to give you targeted advice. Either you need a more precise evaluation, targeted coaching, or you are still early on in your preparation and still have a good learning curve ahead of you.
