How Do I Actually Go About Studying Cases?
I've having some trouble getting started with studying Cases. I have the Ivy Case System and I understand what it's asking me, however, the Cases I see arent structured like questions I can just write down or like talk through they feel like something that I NEED someone else to ask me the questions in order to progress and I don't really have someone in my immediate reach to help me with these interviews. Any tips or pointers for I should go about studying Cases?
Hey there,
It can be tricky when you get started, especially if you are not in an environment that can help you out (e.g., college consulting club). I went through the same thing when I prepped.
My approach was as follows:
I found that for entry-level roles, the cases aren't that hard, so you just want to work on minimising small errors, and if you do make one at some point (by omission or other), make sure to catch it and correct it before they do. You can do that by sense checking your figures / conclusions constantly (e.g., you get a revenue figure and you had market share earlier, ok, whats the market size implied? If it's $10M for something nationwide, it's probably wrong, so go back to your notes).
Do remember there is no "magic" number for cases, though I'd say 10-20 is generally a minimum to get the hang of it. There is more benefit to doing weird / out-of-the-box cases than doing 30 pricing cases (after 2-3, you should get it). Coaches can be helpful, especially if you don't have access to former/current MBB/T2 people in your network to practice with, for me it was a big confidence boost. Finally, if after you start getting good at them, you still don't enjoy doing cases, then consulting probably isn't for you (at least not long term).
Best of luck!
FYI, below was the approach I followed for every case (little laundry list of To Do's I ran through each time).
Approach
1. Clarify problem
2. Structure thoughts
3. Investigate/Analyse
4. Summarise/Synthesise
Not nearly as helpful as the other posts, but want to emphasize that you practice them - don’t just study them. Reading a case by yourself will do very little for interview prep imo
So how do I go about practice it? I’ve given the other comments a good read so I have a rough idea but I wanna make sure I can get a clearer picture.
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To get started find either 1) someone else who is also preparing for a case interview, or 2) a business-minded friend who loves you a lot or can be persuaded with gifts/favors, and ask them to role-play as the interviewer. If 1), typically you’ll each give a case to each other (schedule at least 90 minutes for this). The case documents typically give some guidance to the interviewer (“Ask the candidate the following question”) so it’s not an impossible task for them.
Some ways to find 1) include attending webinars by consulting firms or participating in case prep workshops. As someone else mentioned, many universities have consulting clubs that will help. If you’re not currently a student you could try reaching out to the leaders of the club at your alma mater or a college nearby. Once you find a practice buddy, ask them to introduce you to their other case prep partners — widening your practice network will give you more diverse feedback perspectives and increase opportunities for scheduling practice sessions.
For case materials, you can pay for access to case libraries online, but you can also ask practice partners if they have case books they’re willing to share since there are a lot of PDFs from business schools floating around people’s hard drives.
Lastly, the most critical piece of advice I can give based on my own experience is to get started actually practicing as soon as possible. Don’t just read about casing or go through worked examples. You have to do the cases with another person. It feels scary in the beginning but it is the only way you’re going to get there.
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