Consulting Case Book PDF's
I went through the consulting interview process a few months ago and found these case books really useful for practicing, both with people in mock interviews and for solo issue tree practice. I have also really benefited time and time again from WSO so thought I might give something back by leaving all this here. It includes older Harvard consulting case books and Wharton Consulting casebooks.
these books are all readily "findable" on the internet if you look hard enough but can be a little time consuming.
Hope they help someone out!
Recommended Reading
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Darden 2012 1.5 MB | 1.5 MB |
| fuqua 2014 3.25 MB | 3.25 MB |
| HBS (older) 2.93 MB | 2.93 MB |
| Illinois 2015 4.02 MB | 4.02 MB |
| INSEAD 2011 1.19 MB | 1.19 MB |
| LBS 2013 3.09 MB | 3.09 MB |
| McCombs 2008 801.46 KB | 801.46 KB |
| McGill 2013 4.68 MB | 4.68 MB |
| Wharton 2007 412.78 KB | 412.78 KB |
| Wharton 2009 1.54 MB | 1.54 MB |
| Wharton 2010 758.61 KB | 758.61 KB |
| HBS 2011 1.94 MB | 1.94 MB |
Thank you DropBear
Thank you for uploading all these resources. Was curious how many times did you go over these cases in order to feel pretty confident in the interview? I've seen some on this forum gone through 25-50+ cases to be prepared for case interviews.
I went through consulting recruiting last year, and from what I've seen, 25-50 is not at all uncommon for successful candidates. That said, the ideal number varies from person to person.
Personally, I hit diminishing returns around my 20th case, although I still did about 30 by the end. Looking back, I think I plateaued earlier than most people, since I had pretty good business intuition to start with (probably thanks to my multiple internships in finance beforehand). Recruiting went quite well for me, as I reached the final round at 3/4ths of the places I interviewed before I took an equity research offer instead.
However, if you have no business experience/intuition whatsoever, you'll probably need to do 50 at minimum -- I had a pre-med friend who still needed a lot of improvement at his 30th case, and I doubt 40 would've been enough for him either. And there are also some people out there who virtually never hit diminishing returns with practice. The more they practice, the better they get.
I think Fantastic is spot on with regards to the amount of case interviews. I do not come from a business background at all, so probably did around 50 actual, sit down in front of someone for 30-40 minute style interviews.
But some of the older more simple case books were easy to just go through to practice you initial structure and math. In these ones I would just read the initial prompt and go from there and just give myself a few minutes to make an issue tree, then if there was any math further down I would do that too. Obviously this method won't do anything for you communication skills but is a great way to practice lots of case's quickly (about 10 minutes per case) and doesn't require a partner.
You will also find that you start turning every little thing you hear in the news into an issue tree... Or at least I did.
YOU ARE THE MAN!!! Can't thank you enough for this, SB'ed!
Oh and did you secure an offer if you don't mind me asking?
Unfortunately I didn't get the role I was after, but I did get to the final interview and was given some great feedback. I have a pretty strange background which made me a bit of a wildcard at best.
Sorry to hear, hope you are keeping at it!
I am from a non-business background trying to break in too, I would love to hear more background of your story
Looking for case partner and case books (Originally Posted: 03/29/2011)
Hi everyone,
I plan to apply for associate position (McKinsey) in the fall recruiting cycle and I'm looking for a case partner to do some practice over the next few months, please shoot me an email if you are interested. I consider myself an intermediate to advanced level candidate.
Also, I am looking for some recent Kellogg or Booth casebooks, I wonder if anyone is willing to share?
Thanks! Enjoy your Spring!
-KL
Much obliged to you for transferring every one of these assets. Was interested how often did you go over these cases keeping in mind the end goal to feel really certain about this.
Because I don't have a business background, I spent a lot of time going over cases. I did a lot of practice interviews, and also spent a lot of time just practicing issue trees and mental math. I found though that once you start doing a lot of that even listening to the news is case practice because you constantly run through issue trees in your head for EVERYTHING.... Even what to have for dinner!
I am preparing for my case interview in July. You can add me to your skype or email me. My skype ID is arun.bhota
I'm also preparing for case interviews (not yet scheduled though)....my skype name is albert-choi
Another one here. I also have a decent collection of casebooks I can share. Skype name: neelguru , and I'm in the LA area if anyone here would like to meet up and do face to face cases.
Side note to keep in mind for those using case books for preparation: the actual cases that companies give in interviews evolve over time. For that reason, be careful not to get too accustomed to a case "style" that you find in an earlier (>3 years old) casebook.
This is a minor consideration, mostly for those in business school that have a solid fundamental base for casing and are refining their approach (probably after the ~20 case mark for most people). Early on, a case is a case and every new situation is a way to stretch your mind, but later on some of the finer details start to matter.
got casebooks? let's swap (Originally Posted: 09/22/2011)
i have 16 casebooks. but i'm burning through these like crazy. (and throwing out a lot of cases with incomplete info)
if you have one i don't have, send it to me. i'll send you the zip file with everything i have.
columbia 2006 haas 2006 hbs 2004 kellogg 2004 sloan 2001 stern 2008 tuck 2000 tuck 2006 tuck 2008 umich 2001 umich 2006 wharton 2005 wharton 2006 wharton 2007 wharton 2008 wharton 2009
deal?
good advice @dmw86" whether practicing by myself of or in interviews these were mostly just a guide and were a good source of business questions when I and my friends were feeling too lazy to think of something original. You can find excellent sources for case interviews by watching the news.
wharton 1962 what's your mailing address
OMG 16 is too much! I got 4 and I think that's enough :-s
i pm'd you
Wharton Consulting Casebook: 07-08 Edition (Originally Posted: 09/02/2008)
Figured somebody here might want this:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/student/club/consulting/File%20Down…
Thanks
thx
good find.
thanks
Thank you.
Great material, thanks.
ak
Interesting stuff
I haven't read it, but I'm sure it would help me a lot. thanks.
"We are lawyers! We sue people! Occasionally, we get aggressive and garnish wages, but WE DO NOT ABDUCT!" -Boston Legal-
anyone have it for HBS?
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/student/club/consulting/students/in…
Some are behind a login but others like the HBS cases and the Duke cases can be freely accessed.
Excellent material, Cheers!!
Thanks for the materials. Is there any way to get access to recent casebooks (do they even exist)? I've been hard pressed to find anything after 13' from major business schools. Is it that many M7 schools have just done such a good job of hiding their casebooks from the public for 5+ years or there just hasn't been a new one released for a while?
The newest book my school has is 2012 (M7 school). We are working on developing a new one but may not be until next year.
Care to forward it when it's released?
I would say it's a little from column (a) and a little from column (b).
I wouldn't think there is a great deal that needs to be changed in them though from year to year. Some time ago McKinsey moved to a more interviewer lead format so business schools spent a lot of time revising their case books. I'm not sure there has been anything particularly significant like that over the last few years to justify re-writing new books other than to just refresh the cases from time to time.
Just my thoughts though...
Thanks for this DropBear, you're owed a beer or two from everyone here!
You are very welcome - hope it helps!
Thank you so much @DropBear You're very kind and I, and I'm sure everyone here, send you lots of positive energy!
You're welcome Monkey44 - I hope it's useful
Thank you so much @DropBear .
You're very welcome chocopudding - Tell your friends to drop by and grab it too!
DropBear Just to let you know..This is really appreciated.. Thank you. I am a fresh graduate and I have my interviews in 2 weeks without any prior knowledge about case interviews due to my engineering background and i feel this would be very helpful. Thanks!
Yes, great resources!! Btw, let me know if you would like to do some case practice online in the coming days.
Yh, I would love to!! I've sent you a PM.
Hi moseswso - Be sure to drop by and let us know how you go!
DropBear DCM17 Yeah I would. I recently passed the McKinsey PST a week ago and would be having 1st round Interviews upper Friday. I'm really nervous cos it all seems new to me. I'm trying my best in preparing though. I have read the theoretical aspects of the HBS and Wharton Case books and also Victor Cheng's book. I just need to start practicing cases now. I have few partners to practice with so i'm gonna do the bulk of my case practice alone
That's the critical ingredient - "practice".
Although it's certainly ideal to practice in person with someone so you can practice your communication and adaptability when you are challenged on your logic, you can still get a lot out of practicing yourself. Just read the case opening and practice making your issue trees, take your time and do it very thoroughly, speed can come later.
One thing that surprised me when I did my interviews, was how much time you actually have to do things like your issue trees and lay out your structure. In many cases I would take a minute or two to do my introductory issue tree and I would go to start talking and they would remind me not to rush and take all the time I need. So don't ever feel like you are in a rush... You probably won't be remembered if you take 1 minute longer than usual, but you will if you rush it and perform poorly.
Another key piece of advice which worked for me was taking time to think about how to segment each piece of analysis and to keep it as un-technical (or fancy) as possible for as many layers as necessary. As an example, I come from an oil and gas drilling background, and when the question was, words to the effect of "how our client, big oil, increase their production across the reservoir portfolio" my mind starts thinking of all sorts of technical things like seawater steam injection, advanced perforation stimulation etc. But the correct answer in this case would probably be something like:
how our client, big oil, increase their production across the reservoir portfolio? There are two options (one or both of the following): 1) increase recovery per reservoir 2) increase number of reservoirs
This is a completely non technical answer, and anyone who did grade 5 math can probably follow the logic, but this is what you should be aiming for. If you then wanted to look at 1. above, you would do something like:
Increase recovery per reservoir (one or both of the following): a) increase number of wells b) increase flow rate per well
*potentially at this point you might have to start looking at something a little more technical, but this would almost certainly be out of scope for a strategy case interview.
On the other side "2) increase number of reservoirs" you would do something like the following:
a) Find new reservoirs (Notice how plain and simple the language is. don't try and sound sophisticated) b) Buy reservoirs
Under "a) Find new reservoirs", you could look at something like:
i) further explore current fields ii) explore new fields
The next question could be something like how would you select which field to explore from the following list (or something like that)
This is all fictitious and likely more simple then the interviews you might see at MBB, but it's an illustration as to the sort of simplicity you need to be thinking with.
I have attached an example of how you could do this in an interview, and how simple it would look. I would have another sheet where I have scribbled down the actual question and as a bit of a scratch pad, but the actual issue tree should be as clean as possible. You can then talk through your logic while pointing to each section of your tree.
They will almost certainly have a specific area they want you to look at anyway, so this is all just to see how your logic works. They could have a sheet of paper with some semi technical information about where they could explore next, some different reservoirs they might be able to purchase, a few options for increasing flow etc etc. Your job would then be to show some sort of logical and structured approach to choosing a specific recommendation and why, that part will almost certainly have some math involved.
If anyone has any more questions I am more than happy to help. I am certainly no expert, but have spent so much time on this over the last year, it would be a shame not to pass it on to at least one person.
Good luck!!!
Thank you all for the Bananas! if you like any of my posts throughout this page and want to give me a Banana (or throw some monkey shit at me) could you please do it to the top post in the thread, it will ensure that this post stays fresh for others to use. Cheers!
Thank you so much!
I Would like to say thanks for this knowledgeable resource it really helpful for who want to gain tips about interviews
Much obliged to you for transferring every one of these assets. Was interested how often did you go over these cases keeping in mind the end goal to feel really certain about this.
I was probably doing these at least a few times a week. Whenever I had a spare 20-30 minutes I would open a new one, read the prompt and practice making an issue tree. I personally didn't find the communication style too difficult to learn, but was not familiar with MECE issue trees so in my case it was fine to practice by myself. However don't neglect the communication aspect of this so practice with friends/colleagues as much as possible. You need to be able to solve the case and actually communicate it while you do it.
Excellent! Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing your materials and your insight - so useful. SB'd.
As someone who recently went through the whole application process (and got multiple offers) I can also recommend the Yale casebook and the casebook from Esade. I can upload them if someone is interested.
Also, the Wharton casebooks are pretty mathematical (at least the ones I got; 2005 & 2010). Practice some of this cases with people you are not that familiar with and see how well you do to the math when you are a bit under stress because you do not want to fail.
Another tip: Most casebooks start with different frameworks, different ways to open a case. Do not learn every method from every casebook, you'll get confused in the end. Choose a couple frameworks you feel comfortable with and that can cover most of the different case types and tweak every framework to make it work for a specific case.
that would be most appreciated! which year are they published? I am on the lookout for more recent case books as the ones here are quite dated.
Pm me your email and I send it. It does not seem possible to attach files in a comment or thread. At least I do not know how.
Agreed! Please post the Yale & Esade casebooks!
TYIA
Does anyone have information of the copyrights of those cases ? Is it legal to use them (and publish online) during university's case sessions ?
Thanks in advance:)
Most casebooks begin with various structures, distinctive approaches to open a case. Try not to take in each technique from each casebook, you'll get confounded at last. Pick a few structures you feel good with and that can cover a large portion of the distinctive case composes and change each system to influence it to work for a particular case.
Much obliged to you for transferring each this type of belongings. Was interested how regularly did you cross over those cases maintaining in thoughts the give up aim to feel actually positive approximately this.
Wharton casebooks are quite numerical (in any event the ones I got; 2005 and 2010). Practice a portion of these cases with individuals you are not unreasonably comfortable with and perceive how well you do to the math when you are somewhat under pressure since you would prefer not to come up short.
Much obliged to you for transferring each this form of property. Was fascinated how often did you go over the one's instances retaining in thoughts the surrender goal to experience clearly advantageous about this.
It was interesting to explore this information. I think it can help a lot)
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Unfortunately I did not get the position I changed into after, however, I did get to the final interview and turned into given some super remarks. I actually have a quite strange heritage which made me a bit of a wildcard at nice.
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