All questions tagged caseinterview - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hi,

I believe it is a very common misconception among candidates that they need to explicitly state a hypothesis before laying out their structure. But a much better advice is the following:

Delay the explicit statement of a hypothesis until you have something to ground your hypothesis on! Just stating a hypothesis for the sake of it serves no purpose, since it is nothing more than guessing!

For example, if you are structuring a profitability case, where profits have decreased and you are asked for a diagnostic. Unless the interviewer has given you a hint in the case prompt, it does not make any sense to hypothesisze on the concrete reason before laying out your analysis/diagnostic structure! Instead, you can say:

“I would like to first identify the numerical driver of the problem, which can sit either on the revenue or on the cost side (or both). Based on this initial assessment, I would build a hypothesis on the underlying reasons for the detrimental development, then verify the hypothesis, and subsequently derive measures to address these reasons in order to reverse the trend.”

Cheers, Sidi

Hi Ajesh,

Thank you for your kind words and welcome to the PrepLounge community :)

I'm happy to answer your questions and explain to you more in detail what PrepLounge has to offer.

Go through our BootCamp and the Tutorials on PrepLounge - Is this all for free?

BootCamp: Our BootCamp is available for free to all PrepLounge members (this includes the free Basic Membership).

Tutorials: You have free access to 6 out of 14 tutorials. As a Premium Member, you get full access to all tutorials.

Practice cases with case partners (and experts) - Premium package?

Case Partners: All PrepLounge members can do 6 mock interviews for free with other Case Partners. On the Meeting Board, you can either accept an open invitation or post one yourself. As a Premium Member, you can do as many mock interviews as you like. There is no limit :)

Expert Sessions: Our Prep4Success Coaching Program includes 3-10 coaching sessions AND a Premium Membership (and more ;) - see below). So you can practice with case partners AND experts. But you can also book the sessions individually with our Experts.

Learn practical skills with our Project simulations - any advise how to approach?

Project Simulations: All PrepLounge members have free access to 1 out of 9 project simulation. You can follow the instructions and simulate a project like a real consultant. A Premium Membership (included in Prep4Success) will give you access to all of them.

How should you use PrepLounge?

First, you should go through the material you have free access to as a Basic Member. Go through the BootCamp, the Tutorials and do your first mock interviews. Get comfortable with PrepLounge and get a feel for cases. (You will have free access to 10 out of 150+ cases)

Then, you will probably notice how helpful practicing cases will be for your prep. So you should ask yourself these two questions:

1. Is practicing with other candidates sufficient for me? --> If yes, then the Premium Membership with an unlimited number of mock interviews is the right choice for you.

2. Do I want additional help from experts and a way to get the most out of PrepLounge? --> If yes, then the Prep4Success Coaching Program is the best choice for you. It is THE all-inclusive package for your case interview prep and includes:

• 3, 5 or 10 Expert Coaching Sessions (à 60 Minutes)
• One-year Premium Membership (unlimited mock interviews, full access to all cases and the most essential prep material on PrepLounge)
• Individually Tailored Training Plan
• Lots of Additional Study Material (e.g. McKinsey Practice PST)

If you want to discuss your individual Prep4Success Coaching Program, you can set up an info call with us.

Let me know if you have further questions :)

All the best for your case prep,

Astrid

PrepLounge Community Management

Follow us on:

Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | twitter

Hi,

There are no magic pills and we need to know the objective and the context of the case to help you with the structure

Best

Hi,

Focus on the most common industries in the following priority (sorted by probability of getting a case): 1-retail and CPG; 2-airlines; 3-Telecom; 4-banking; 5-natural resources; 6-tech

There are several sources of info to develop business sense:

1) Cases - you simply solve 50-70 cases and get a broad knowledge of different industries, common pitfalls and questions. The key here - find good partners who already had case interviews with MBB companies

2) Company reports, equity reports, IB roadshow docs - usually have a good overview of company and industries. The most useful source!!!

3) HBS cases - quite useful, but not sure if lot's of them available publically. Probably worth buying

4) Books - one good book about airlines with numbers and industry analysis can give you all needed industry knowledge

5) News, Industry blogs

For each industry, you should understand:

• Revenue streams
• Cost structure
• Margins
• Key performance indicators
• Key revenue drivers
• Industry trends

I strongly recommend practice drawing structures for each industry - profitability, value chain, etc

Then I will switch to getting functional knowledge and key concepts in:

• Marketing (Brand and trade marketing tools, etc)
• Supply chain (Ops metrics like cycle time and throughput time, distribution and delivery specifics, etc)
• Finance (Basic Accounting and Valuation)

Good Luck

Hi Michelle,

If your personal situation has changed such that moving to the Middle East is no longer a suitable option for you, I would definitely call the recruiter to let them know. Ultimately their job to help recruit the best people for their firm, and they should be understanding, especially given it relates to a family emergency (not just a change of mind).

Given your concerns about missing your chance, when you call her I would clearly communicate that: a) due to your circumstances, you would like to know if it would be possible to change your interviews for a role in your home country office, but that b) if this wasn't possible, you would still like to go ahead with your interviews in the Middle East. If you did start in the Middle East, you could try pretty quickly to get a transfer for personal reasons - typically, once you are in the system switching offices (especially for personal reasons) is relatively easy.

Good luck!

Dear User,

thank you for your question!

There is one standardized interview process in Germany no matter what competence center or office you prefer.

Nevertheless, you never know what case you'll end up solving.

Best,

Yves

First let me state that for MBB interviews, this kind of behavior is VERY uncommon! I can say that during my time as interviewer for both McKinsey and BCG, we were actively trained to NOT mislead candidates during cases!

So if you are challenged on an approach, chances are that there are indeed points you should consider. In this case I would clarify with the interviewer where the problem lies (i.e., start recapitulating your basic ingoing assumptions and deductively confirming the logical conclusions regarding relevant elements). Going through your approach elements one by one will then force the interviewer to either explicitly discuss "wrong" elements of your approach or to pinpoint missing elements. It is essentially a structured testing for MECEness. The result of this process will be either a refined approach, or the interviewer needs to admit a bluff (as I said, unlikely at MBB).

Cheers, Sidi

Hi Vanessa,

Yes it is heard of - In fact, I had a coaching call with a member of the firm before I started!

Though in my experience this was more of a general chat of how these interviews go down, what to look out for with regards to that specific firm, and how to prepare for the interview - but it is not a coaching session in the sense that you "practice" and interview incl. case practice etc.

With regards to the reasoning behind it, it might be that they have a good impression of you based on previous interactions or your CV, or that they think that you might be particularly in need of a coaching call, e.g. because of coming from a non-business background.

If you have the opportunity to do such a call, I would definitely advise you to take it, and ask as much as possible!

Best wishes

Jonathan

Hi there,

thanks for asking your question on our Consulting Q&A!

To answer your first question:

Yes, case coaching is indeed very helpful and will definitely be worth your investment.

If you fail your case interview, you will have to wait 1-2 years to be able to reapply for the position. So you shouldn't take any chances when it comes to your case prep! Experienced coaches usually know exactly what interviewers want and can turn you into the perfect candidate. Plus, after having landed the job, the amount you have spent on the coaching sessions won't seem like much to you anymore ;)

To answer your second question on the various platforms:

Obviously, we believe that PrepLounge is the best choice for you. Let me explain why...

On PrepLounge, you have a transparent list of all experts. They have many years of experience at top consulting firms and have already helped thousands of candidates land their dream job offer. All expert profiles include:

• Professional and educational background
• Top Skills
• Infos on their individual coaching approach
• Number of conducted coachings
• Reviews & recommendation rate
• Price per session

This allows you to individually choose the perfect experts for your coaching sessions. For example, you can get insights from an expert who has worked at the exact same company you are applying to. Neither managementconsulted nor caseinterview offer transparency like we do.

You can individually book the sessions directly with each expert or take advantage from our Prep4Success coaching package. This is a bundle of 3, 5 or 10 coaching sessions that gives you an overall discount and includes additional benefits like a one-year premium membership, an individually tailored training plan, a McKinsey Practice PST and all the prep material you need.

If you have any further question, don't hesitate to contact us.

Hope this helps and best of luck for your case prep and upcoming case interviews!

Astrid

PrepLounge Community Management

Follow us on: Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | twitter

Hi Anonym,

bei Accenture Strategy werden Cases in der Tat gerne mal in Englisch gegeben. Nicht immer, aber man sollte definitiv damit rechnen. Ich würde davon ausgehen, dass ich zumindest in jedem zweiten Interview englisch sprechen muss.

Viel Erfolg!

Sidi

The way to approach this, especially if you have some time before interviews, is to:

1) Read about the content area you know well: This way you'll be able to speak even better about your background, be it in heavy industry or consumer goods or FS. You'll also understand more about how McKinsey approaches 'your' field, and be able to give good, layered responses.

2) Read reports/ articles on the geography you're applying for: Say you're keen on Spain, read all the reports McK has published to do with Spain, so you understand not just from (1) content focus, but also (2) a more geography focus and more about what McK does in your home market.

3) Read what interests you: Lastly, read for fun. Pick out as many articles or reports you can that speak to you, interest you, and make notes so you can flick through your brief notes prior to the interview.

Good luck!

Hi,

I see the 3 options here:

1. The interviewer takes the leadership from the beginning asks you to think specifically just about the potential structure. (E.g. "Could you please develop a structure on how to assess the potential markets to enter?")
2. It's not clear from the beginning which type of the case it is. In that case, after I present my structure I would ask proactively something like: "Is that structure good to move forward with? Should I add something or maybe prioritize any particular area of the analysis?" Thus the interviewer will tell you what to do next.
3. You just start driving the case and see whether the interviewer will take the initiative

Also please don't forget to ask the clarifying questions in the beginning:

1) Clarify the business model / how the business actually makes money. Even if you think you understand it, try to repeat it to make sure that you understand it correctly. e.g. if the case is about oil&gas company which revenues are declining, ask if it is Up / mid / down-stream problem. In this case, defining a revenue stream is critical to setting up the right structure.

2) Clarify the objective. Here make sure that your goal is:

• Measurable
• Has a time-framed
• Has / has no limitations

e.g. Should I invest 100k in this business for 1 year if I want to get 15% return?

3) Ask the questions that will help you build a relevant structure and remove ambiguity.

Best!

Hi,

Here is a set of things you need to know:

1) Math and formulas:

• Interest rates calculations
• Compound margin
• NPV using the Rule of 72, Perpetuity
• CAGR using the Rule of 72
• Currencies exchange calculations
• Speed, time, distance calculations
• Equations, systems of equations
• Ratio & Proportions
• Little's Law
• Solving the problems by calculating the area of the triangle
• Profit / breakeven formula
• Correlations, outliers (being able to spot on the graphs, tables)

2) Fast math skills

• Rounding up and down
• Learn how to multiply double digit numbers (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ndkkPZYJHo)
• Learn the division table up to 1/11 (i.e. 5/6 = 83.3)
• Learn how to work with zeros using powers (e.g.: 4000000 = 4*10ˆ6)

Use math tools (Mimir math for iOS), Math tool on Viktor Cheng website to practice

3) Working with tables and graphs and deriving conclusions

• Study "Say it with Charts" book
• Check all available MBB presentations and publications. Practice to derive conclusions and check yourself with the actual ones from the article / presentation
• GMAT IR part (Official guide and Manhattan prep)
• Learn basic statistics (Any GMAT or MBA prep guides)

Good luck!