1 Week Consulting Case Preparation
I have an interview with a large consulting firm in a week and have no idea how to start to prepare. I wasn't really expecting to get the interview, so I hadn't done much. Any resources you guys would recommend? I have Case in Point.
learning how to do a case interview in one week?
If you are learning how to do a case interview in a short period of time, it is important to have a plan. First, you should check the recruiting website of the firm you are interviewing with as many firms will provide a guide for how to approach the case interview. You should review this first.
After you've reviewed these resources, you can review the Case in Point method (CIP). This will teach you how to approach the case, what the interviewers are usually looking for, and what mindset you need to answer the problems. Our users also recommended checking out a guide such as the WSO Consulting Case Guide.
You review the overview of how to do the cases quickly so that you can get to the point of practicing. You should read more and more cases and practice. You can start off reading the problem, and then mapping out on paper how you would answer. You should also be speaking out your answers out loud.
There are two types of cases and you should practice both if you don't know what type of case you will have to attack in your interview:
Business cases - Things like profits declining, sales declining, market entry, competitor analysis, M&A will be important.
Brain teasers / quantitative / market sizing - These types of questions include: How many sticks of gum get sold in the US each year?
Resources for Case Study Practice
- Victor Cheng's Walk Through offers a 6 hour walk through of case study interviews
- MBA casebooks (schools like Harvard and Michigan compile actual cases from consulting firms)
- Consulting Firm Websites
- WSO Consulting Case Interview Guide
Check out part of Victor Chang's guide to case interviews below:
Need Help Preparing for Consulting Case Interviews?
Land at an elite consulting firm with the most comprehensive case interview prep in the world. The WSO Consulting Interview Prep Course has everything you’ll ever need to land the most coveted jobs.
CIP is fine to get a general sense of case studies: how to approach them, what the interviewer is looking for, what mindset you need to be in when tackling them etc etc. Also try the vault guide.
Try to get this initial reading and context done super quick since you only have 1 week. The key is practice. It's tempting to just keep reading through frameworks and tips, but that needs to inform your practice, not be a substitute.
Then do a load of cases. You can start off reading the problem, and then mapping out on paper how you would answer. But you really want to be speaking out your answer out loud, ideally with a practice partner who isn't an idiot (a current or ex-consultant is ideal, a fellow student who's keen on consulting, or just a relatively on the ball person who can act the part is fine).
You want to practice both types of questions:
The questions in the books I mentioned above are fine, particularly if you have limited time. But the best quality questions are those in the MBA casebooks (schools like Harvard and Michigan compile actual cases from consulting firms). Particularly if you are interviewing at a level above undergrad.
How quickly you adapt and get better varies from person to person. But I don't think I've met anyone who got an offer who hasn't done atleast 10-20 cases. Most did more. You want to get to the stage where cases become a thought process and mindset, rather than sticking to frameworks and pre-prepared lists.
Note: not sure what consulting firm you're interviewing for, this is from the perspective of MBB consulting
Good luck mate!
In short.
Read a bit, practice a lot Do what you can in the time you have Once your week is up, stay positive and structured
Drop me a PM and I can provide you with some tips
Almost forgot, Victor Cheng's ~5hr video tutorial is genuinely pretty good. Former McK guy. It was my starting point when prepping. He holds your hand through the process and is great at getting you into the head of the interviewer.
Just make sure you practice what he talks about :) It's at caseinterview.com
Which firm? A lot of the big ones have sample cases on their websites, go through them. There are slight differences in how each firm tends to focus their cases (ex. I hear OW is more quant/logic, BCG a little more qualitative/strat), so it's good to learn a bit about their formats.
If you only have one week, I'd immediately throw out any books and long videos. You can peak through them from reference, you don't have time for the luxury of slow, passive learning. Your goal should be to get to the point where you can practice: with actual consultants (best case scenario), peers, listening along (LOMS-style), or by yourself (worst case scenario, but still helpful).
I'd go to the caseinterivew.com website and download the .pdf that accompanies his presentation as well as the .pdf on frameworks. Go through those and try to understand his approach. That should take 1-3 hours. Then, I would find the Wharton Casebook and read through the portions that are not practice cases or firm briefings...probably take 1-2 hours to do thoroughly.
Now, run a live practice or two to get a feel for your weaknesses. Then let your review sessions from there be an iterative process of test, identify weaknesses, go back to reference materials, repeat.
As another alternative, I've never used them, but if you're rich managementconsulted.com has an expensive crash session case prep.
Feel free to PM me if you want more info.
Also, don't be discouraged that you haven't had much practice. I know two people who have gone through interviews with little or no prior practice and received offers. It can happen; the whole process is a test of the way you think. If you are a hypothesis-driven, analytical thinker by nature, then you should find the interview fun and somewhat natural.
The first person I have ever had a mock interview with was a McKinsey Associate, and prior to applying to McK as a Junior BA, he didn't really had a clue what Management Consulting was, and he really never even did a case study...
For record, most of us are not like Him.....so keep practicing!
One day to learn case study method (Originally Posted: 10/01/2013)
Hi all,
I'm in search of a bare bones resource for quickly understanding and learning the thought process of answering a case study for an interview. I have an IB background and ended up getting an interview last minute for a hybrid strat / dev position so I am in need of something to fill in the gap.
Look for victor cheng's videos. I think they are available on YT. They are free.
Thanks, they did the trick.
How to prepare for a case interview in 3-4 days? (Originally Posted: 07/24/2017)
I was just invited to interview with PwC for their summer internship program for juniors in technology consulting/advisory. I'm finishing up an internship with them right now that's open to sophomores so this is basically an exit interview for next summer.
For those who are unfamiliar with PwC's case interview, it's a 48 hour case (they send the case 48 hrs in advance, then tell you the question the day of and give you 45 mins to draw up slides to "present" your solution.)
I have realistically spent ~10-15 hours total prepping for case interviews so far -- closer to 20-25 if you include time spent watching the Victor Cheng YT videos/LOMS. However, I feel that traditional case prep will not necessarily directly transfer over to this type of interview.
I am looking for advice regarding how to prepare for this specific type of interview. If anyone has practiced for 24/48 hour cases it would be extremely valuable for me to hear your experience. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome, thanks.
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