How Much Weight on Modeling Case Studies?
I took a 2-hr long proctored case study last week for a large developer in the US. The task was you were given assumptions, and told to build out a CF, Amort table, unlevered/levered returns, two different sensis and then a memo as well while someone from HR watched.
I felt good about it but then reviewed it over the weekend and realized I made a few small mistakes (for example using Yr 5 NOI instead of forward 12 for exit value and copying and pasting the sensi table as values so it's not dynamic). Also made some small typos that I caught after the fact.
Aside from this, I had good behavioral and technical interviews with the team. Will this completely ding me and take me out of the process? How much weight is put on to this. I know at the firm I'm currently at we've hired candidates who have messed up cases slightly before.
Bump
Hard to say but forward NOI and dynamic sensitivity tables are relatively basic. Would assume that the interview carries more weight.
Bump also curious 
Really dependent on the group. In the past, I have had success repairing some mistakes after the fact and sending it to them, not as a resubmission but as a hey I know this was a 2 hour exercise and it is past the deadline but I realized I could have done xyz better so I went ahead and made those updates
Personally, 10/10 times I am hiring the candidate who interviews better/I feel is a better fit for the team. Case study is more of a display of how someone works/thinks through it, leaves room for minor "errors" in my eyes. But I'm sure there are teams who ding people for any and all mistakes on the case study
This is how I got my job.
Is this an entry level Analyst role or an Associate role? If the latter, I’d expect a perfect or near perfect excel test, as these are all things an incoming Associate should be doing in their current role, particularly using the forward 12 for the exit. I’d rather go back to the pool of candidates than hire an Associate that isn’t automatic on that facet. Huge part of an Associate’s job is reviewing analyst work and coaching them on mistakes & best practices with speed and accuracy.
If for an analyst role…. It’s common to have a few mistakes. Not using the forward 12 is the most common mistake I see from that level, so wouldn’t sweat it. Your risk is that you’re up against someone that aced it and interviewed as well as you did. Certainly possible, but not in your hands at this point. Excel tests matter but they are not the end all, unless you bombed it and sounds like you did not. That’s why I give my excel test early in the process, so I can filter out folks who don’t have the technical skills early and not waste time interviewing them. Given it’s coming late in your process, there is theoretically a higher probability your competition doesn’t have the Excel skills…..
It will ding you if they already don't like you as much as someone else or if you blatantly show you don't know what you're doing. But they aren't going to like you more yet pick someone they like less because that person got a 100% on the test and you only got a 90%.
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