Which resources are best?

Hi Piers,

I think Vlad's answer is spot on. Just a short note on when you are practicing cases

1. Resources: Consulting case 101 (https://www.consultingcase101.com/) is a great resource for practice cases and written solutions. There are also great resources on PrepLounge in the practice case section

2. Approach: Depending on how much time you have, I would recommend starting with Market Sizing cases first and trying to become quite proficient at those.

• It is a great way to practice thinking structured consistently throughout a case, as well as practicing mental maths. Both common pitfalls for candidates.

3. Make a schedule for live practice: Nothing beats doing practice live. Make a 2-4 week practice schedule and plan ahead to find peers as partners. I think it helps to have a professional mock interview after 5-10 practice sessions with friends or peers, then repeat the cycle. I think you get most of the relevant feedback and advice after 2-3 sessions, any more and the marginal benefit tapers out. Also, be sure towrite down the types of feedback you have been getting from your partners and make sure to ask your mock interviewer specific questions on the best way to address them.

Hope that is helpful!

Hi,

I recommend the following approach:

1) Start with "Case in point" book - you can download this book for free everywhere. It's not the best guide on how you should approach the cases, however, it will give you the basic understanding.

2) Start practicing cases with partners here or find them locally

3) Practice fast math

• 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 (Hint: 4000000 = 4*10ˆ6)
• Use math tools (Mimir math for iOS), Math tool on Viktor Cheng website to practice

3) Purchase and read Viktor Cheng Book (Amazon Kindle store) and listen to LOMS (his website). I recommend to reread the book and listen to LOMS every 15 cases. Every time, having more experience, you’ll be finding something new.n

4) Every 10-15  cases revisit the previous cases and think how you would structure them differently now having the new experience and having solved the new types of cases

5) Build business judgment. Read about different industries and functions. 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 sources might be:

• Books - one good book about airlines with numbers and industry analysis can give you all needed industry knowledge 
• Company reports, equity reports, etc - usually have a good overview of company and industries.One of the best sources to prepare
• HBS cases - quite useful, but not sure if lot's of them available publically. Probably worth buying

! Important 1: practice the tests / written cases for the relevant companies. ( https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/ranking-available-mckinsey-pst-resources-1432#a3116

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/bcg-online-test-936#a1829

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/i-have-my-mckinsey-pst-in-another-3-days-i-have-a-basic-idea-of-the-test-please-anyone-help-me-how-to-crack-it-with-only-3-days-preparation-609#a1226

! Important 2: don't forget about the FIT interview part. Crafting you stories and backups stories will require a couple of weeks!

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/pei-interview-at-mckinsey-906#a1760

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/why-consulting-why-mckinseybcgbain-questions-770#a1762

Best!