Prepping for Consulting

Hello  - I post this resource list every few weeks since it's always in demand!

Resources list: 

• CraftingCases (free) - has articles + free 7 day crash course - personal favourite of mine since it dives into case components, has self-study drills and walkthrough examples
• PrepLounge (free) - has a market for matching individuals case prepping with one another - it's a hit or miss where you sometimes find some incredible people globally and many students casing for the first time
• RocketBlocks (free trial) - offers 7 day free trial and has (in my opinion) the most helpful consulting drills to practice mental math, case structuring, data extrapolation and some other stuff 
• Victor Cheng's Looking Over My Shoulder (paid) - a paid case interview walkthrough where you hear an interviewee deliver a case and the narrator highlights why the execution was good, this is *invaluable* after you've done ~5-10 cases and become conscious of the case cues to hit 
• Case in Point (free) - offers a *foundational* understanding of the case interview process along with some basic/rudimentary frameworks - this gives you a bit of insight into the high-level areas to brainstorm around and some common questions, but keep in mind that frameworks need to be customized for the case
• Case Interview Secrets (free) - offers a more in-depth look into the consulting mindset and how to structure frameworks from scratch - I'd argue this is more applicable to on-the-job thinking, but I've seen it work really well (and I've referenced it myself)  
• University Case Books (free) offers more cases than anyone could possibly cover in a lifetime; you can find them by simply googling a university + Case Book and a year. "Darden 2013 Case Book" for instance.

Here is my proposed breakdown: 

• Begin by reading Case in Point, of the 300 pages, about 100 relate to the foundational frameworks/understanding of the case and 200 pages give examples of cases and solutions. Reading the first 100 pages doesn't take too long since it's not too content dense
• Once you have an overview understanding of the case interview process, begin by spending 7 days in the following order:
  • CraftingCases Module x 1 - can take anywhere for ~3-4 hours
  • RocketBlocks Drill - can take 30 mins to 1 hour
  • Mock Cases - depends on stamina, but each mock case takes about 30-45 mins [either through friends, PrepLounge or another service]
• After about 5-10 cases, I'd recommend listening to LOMS for a few hours and reflecting on where you need to improve on the case component. 

There's no one size fits all for casing and the breakdown above is assuming (1) you have an abundance of time and (2) you have no prior consulting exposure. Over time, candidates move on from reading frameworks/concepts to simply doing x number of cases a week. Those that pass MBB do anywhere from 10-50 cases, of course, there are exceptions with some people that are naturally skilled in casing, not me of course - I did 40-50 myself. 

I hope this helps!