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How the HBS Case Method Works

How the Case Method Works

Read and analyze the case. Each case is a 10-20 page document written from the viewpoint of a real person leading a real organization. In addition to background information on the situation, each case ends in a key decision to be made. Your job is to sift through the information, incomplete by design, and decide what you would do.
Discuss the case. Each morning, you’ll bring your ideas to a small team of classmates from diverse professional backgrounds, your discussion group, to share your findings and listen to theirs. Together, you begin to see the case from different perspectives, better preparing you for class.
Engage in class. Be prepared to change the way you think as you debate with classmates the best path forward for this organization. The highly engaged conversation is facilitated by the faculty member, but it’s driven by your classmates’ comments and experiences. HBS brings together amazingly talented people from diverse backgrounds and puts that experience front and center. Students do the majority of the talking (and lots of active listening), and your job is to better understand the decision at hand, what you would do in the case protagonist’s shoes, and why. You will not leave a class thinking about the case the same way you thought about it coming in! In addition to learning more about many businesses, in the case method you will develop communication, listening, analysis, and leadership skills. It is a truly dynamic and immersive learning environment.
Reflect. The case method prepares you to be in leadership positions where you will face time-sensitive decisions with limited information. Reflecting on each class discussion will prepare you to face these situations in your future roles.

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“You walk into work every morning and it's like a fire hose of decisions that need to be made, often without enough information. Just like an HBS case.”

Celebrating the Inaugural HBS Case

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How to Write a Case Analysis in Business School – Madelyn Capehart

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One of the most important skills MBA students will learn is how to think strategically and make smart business decisions. And one tool that business schools use to train MBA students in these skills is case studies or case analysis.

Case studies outline real-life business situations wherein business executives are faced with difficult decisions or situations.

For example, what if a business has a software product scheduled to launch in one month, but the product still has a lot of bugs. Should the company launch the product on schedule? Or should they delay the launch at the risk of disappointing shareholders or allowing a competitor to launch a similar product first and eat up market share?

Case studies like these allow students to improve strategic thinking skills, hone analytical abilities and develop persuasive speaking expertise.

Want to rock your next case study? Here’s how to write a case analysis in a few simple steps.

Analyzing The Case Study

Before you prepare your case study write-up, you need to analyze the case study and come up with possible solutions.

Read the case study carefully and take notes

Start by reading the case study and pay attention to important details. Take notes on any key problems that the business needs to address and highlight important facts that may be useful later.

Analyze the situation

Next, analyze the business situation and identify the key problems that the organization is facing.

What are the factors causing problems for the organization? How will these problems affect the organization and its people?

Create a detailed analysis of the problem so that you know exactly what issues to address with your solution.

Brainstorm and research possible case study solutions

Once you’ve completed your analysis, brainstorm and research possible solutions. List out every possible solution you can think of as well as the pros and cons of each solution.

During the brainstorming phase, feel free to think outside the box. All ideas are fair game at this point.

Do some research to find outside data, studies, and ideas to back up each solution.

Choose the best solution

Finally, select the best solution to the business’s problem. Think about questions other people might ask or objections they may have to your solution. Prepare analysis and intelligent counter-arguments so that you can make a strong case for the solution that you’ve chosen.

Writing Your Case Analysis

Now that you’ve selected a solution, here’s how to write a case study analysis. The format that you use may depend on your school’s requirements, but here’s a general format that you can follow if guidelines aren’t provided.

In the introduction section of your case study, list out the core problems uncovered in your analysis. The introduction can include a thesis statement that summarizes your analysis in a sentence or two.

Background and analysis

Write a section to delve deeper into the company’s background and your analysis of the situation. List all important facts and data as well as any other information that a reader will need to fully understand the situation.

A well-written background section should show the reader that you’ve done thorough research on the topic.

Brainstorm possible solutions

In the next section, share all the possible solutions that you brainstormed and list the pros and cons of each solution. Use detailed analysis and show any data that supports each solution.

Discuss the strong and weak points of each solution. Use reasoning and analysis to outline why certain solutions might be better than others.

Select the best solution

Make a recommendation to solve the company’s problem and talk about why you selected this solution over the other possible solutions. Go into detail about why you rejected the other solutions.

Think about how other people might object to your solution and preemptively prepare arguments against those objections. Make your solution seem like the best way to solve the problem by providing an analysis and data to back up your claims.

Further recommendations

If you have additional recommendations or suggestions beyond your proposed solution, list them in a recommendations section. Think about actions that other people in the organization can take to resolve the issue and discuss resources required and possible timelines.

Bonus Step: Review and Get feedback

As a bonus step, review your case study solution and try to get feedback on your solution from outside parties. Other business students who aren’t involved with your case study, personal friends and even forums could be good places to gather unbiased feedback.

Other people may come up with ideas or objections that you haven’t thought of yet. Having other people analyze your solution can be a great way to improve your position or even come up with a stronger solution.

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7 MBA Business Leaders Who Changed the Game

Top 20 MBA Case Studies with Detailed Findings

What is an MBA?
What is an MBA Case Study?
Importance of Case Studies in MBA
Case Study: A Step-by-Step Approach
Top 20 MBA Case Studies with Detailed Findings:
Top Case Study Areas
Top MBA Case Study Interview Questions in 2024
How to Solve MBA Case Studies?
Conclusion

Discover the wide world of case studies for MBAs! In these fictitious business scenarios, you assume the position of a consultant, gathering data, creating solutions, and offering advice. By bridging the theoretical and practice gap, they aid in the development of your analytical, critical thinking, and communication abilities. Case studies equip you for everything from group discussions to public speaking, which helps you develop into a well-rounded corporate leader.

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What is an MBA?

The abbreviation for MBA is Master of Business Administration. This postgraduate study will equip you with the knowledge and skills needed to be successful in leadership and management roles across a range of business sectors.

Amrita AHEAD, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham offers MBA with a wide variety of specializations such as:

MBA Finance : Amrita AHEAD provides you with various other electives in Finance such as Master of Business Administration with Electives in International Finance and Accounting.
MBA Marketing : An MBA in Marketing is a specialized graduate program that aims to provide you with the necessary expertise and understanding to thrive in the ever-changing marketing industry of today.
MBA in Human Resource Management (HRM) : Obtaining an MBA in Human Resource Management (HRM) will provide you with the skills and knowledge necessary to become a valuable strategic collaborator in company.
MBA in Artificial Intelligence : An MBA in Artificial Intelligence (AI) gives you the business and technological skills to use AI for strategic decision-making.
MBA General Management : General Management MBAs prepare you to lead a diverse business.
MBA in Operations: Mastering operations in MBA prepares you to run a firm smoothly. To deliver products and services flawlessly, you’ll study efficient production, logistics, and data analysis.

What is an MBA Case Study?

An MBA case study is a simulated business challenge encountered in the course of an MBA education. The case study portrays a genuine scenario faced by a firm, including its difficulties, opportunities, and crucial decisions. Your work will entail analysing data, assessing different perspectives, and formulating a strategic action plan, much like that of a consultant. Case studies are valuable tools that bridge the gap between academic concepts and practical applications. They promote the growth of critical thinking, analytical skills, and decision-making abilities. Furthermore, these activities enhance your communication skills by fostering collaborative discussions and providing opportunities for public speaking engagements. This prepares you to excel as a diverse and skilled corporate leader.

Importance of Case Studies in MBA

Case studies provide a bridge between theoretical understanding and practical application in the real world. They offer a diverse array of benefits that go beyond conventional textbooks and lectures:

Improving Critical Thinking: By examining complex situations, identifying key elements, and evaluating many options, you will strengthen your ability to participate in critical thinking and make well-supported decisions.
Enhancing Analytical Skills: Case studies improve your ability to assess and interpret data, financial statements, and market trends. It is crucial to analyze this data while formulating your recommendations.
Enhancing the process of decision-making: Analysing several viewpoints and potential risks in a case study offers a robust framework for making informed business decisions in real-world scenarios.
Improving Communication Skills: Many case studies involve group discussions and presentations. This allows you to improve your skill in articulating your insight persuasively and collaborating effectively with your team – essential talents for every business executive.

Case Study: A Step-by-Step Approach

Here is a strategy methodology that allow you to thrive in case study analysis and become a master:

Specify the issue: The first phase is accurately identifying the main obstacle that the organisation is facing.
Perform a comprehensive analysis of the situation: Analyse the case data meticulously, encompassing financials, market trends, and competitive analysis, to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the context.
Identify the primary issues or areas of concern: Avoid conducting a cursory analysis of the topic. Examine the primary reasons and underlying elements that are contributing to the current scenario.
Generate Potential Solutions: Generate a range of potential solutions, including their feasibility, cost implications, and long-term impacts. Embrace unorthodox thinking!
Evaluate other options: Analyse the benefits and drawbacks of each alternative that you have developed during the brainstorming process. Analyse the potential risks and advantages associated with each alternative.
Offer a recommendation: Based on your research, propose a well-substantiated option that you consider to be the most efficient course of action.
Develop an Action Plan: Please outline a comprehensive strategy outlining the necessary steps to implement the solution you have proposed.

Top 20 MBA Case Studies with Detailed Findings:

To give you a taste of the fascinating world of case studies, here are a few examples that explore diverse business challenges:

The Mumbai Dabbawala Story (Supply Chain & Efficiency): Findings: The Dabbawalas’ success highlights the power of a well-organized system, even with minimal technology. They demonstrate lean operations, cost-effectiveness, and the importance of clear communication and collaboration in a complex logistical network.
Cola Wars (Marketing Strategy & Competition): Findings: The case explores the ongoing battle between Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, showcasing the importance of effective marketing strategies, brand positioning, and constant innovation to maintain market share. It emphasizes the need for understanding consumer preferences and adapting to changing market trends.
Patanjali’s Ayurvedic Gamble (Brand Strategy & Market Disruption): Findings: Patanjali’s rise highlights the growing consumer demand for natural and healthy products. Their targeted brand strategy and clever marketing tactics demonstrate how a new player can disrupt a market by catering to a specific segment with a unique value proposition.
Reliance Jio’s Disruptive Growth (Market Entry & Pricing Strategies): Findings: Reliance Jio’s case showcases the power of disruptive innovation and unconventional pricing models. They revolutionized the Indian telecom industry by offering low-cost data plans, demonstrating the effectiveness of aggressive marketing and a focus on affordability to gain a foothold in a competitive market.
Apple’s Innovation Machine (Product Development & Brand Building): Findings: Apple’s success lies in their commitment to design thinking, user-centric product development, and building a strong brand image associated with premium quality and innovation. The case emphasizes the importance of fostering a culture of creativity and prioritizing user experience.
OpenAI’s Quest for Safe AGI (Technology Ethics & Responsible AI): Findings: This case explores the ethical considerations of developing Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). It highlights the need for responsible AI development, considering potential risks and benefits, and navigating the complex ethical and philosophical implications of advanced AI.
Netflix’s Global Expansion (Globalization & Content Localization): Findings: Netflix’s case underlines the challenges and opportunities of globalizing a streaming service. It emphasizes the importance of content localization to cater to diverse cultural preferences and the need for a nuanced understanding of different markets to achieve successful global expansion.
Tesla’s Disruption of the Auto Industry (Innovation & Sustainability): Findings: Tesla’s story demonstrates the power of disruptive innovation and the growing consumer interest in sustainable transportation. They challenged the traditional auto industry with electric vehicles and a focus on environmental responsibility, proving that innovation can drive market change.
Amazon’s Disruption of Retail (E-commerce & Customer Experience): Findings: Amazon’s case highlights the transformative power of e-commerce and the importance of prioritizing customer convenience. Their relentless focus on user experience and efficient logistics demonstrates how digital transformation can revolutionize an industry.
GE’s Downfall: A Case of Lost Direction (Leadership & Strategic Decision Making): Findings: GE’s decline serves as a cautionary tale about the importance of strong leadership and strategic decision making. The case emphasizes the need for clear vision, adaptability to changing market conditions, and avoiding diversification that dilutes core competencies.
Southwest Airlines’ Low-Cost Model (Cost Optimization & Market Niche): Findings: Southwest Airlines’ success highlights the effectiveness of a low-cost carrier model with a focus on cost optimization and efficiency. They carved out a niche market for budget-conscious travelers by offering a friendly and efficient travel experience at a competitive price point.
Warby Parker’s Direct-to-Consumer Revolution (Direct Sales & Online Marketing): Findings: Warby Parker’s case demonstrates the growing popularity of direct-to-consumer models and the power of online marketing. They disrupted the eyewear industry by bypassing traditional retail channels and offering stylish and affordable glasses directly to consumers through effective online marketing strategies.
Lego’s Brick-and-Click Strategy (Innovation & Adaptability): Findings: Lego’s case highlights the importance of balancing tradition with innovation. They successfully navigated the digital age by integrating traditional toy manufacturing with digital games and experiences, demonstrating the need for adaptability to keep pace with changing consumer behavior.
Zara’s Fast Fashion Formula (Supply Chain Management & Trend Response): Findings: Zara’s success lies in their efficient supply chain management and rapid response to fashion trends. Their just-in-time manufacturing allows them to quickly adapt to consumer preferences and keep their clothing lines fresh and relevant.
Disneyland’s Pricing Strategy (Revenue Management & Customer Flow): Findings: Disneyland’s case explores the complexities of pricing strategies in a theme park setting. They utilize yield management techniques to optimize revenue based on demand and customer flow, demonstrating the importance of balancing ticket prices with managing park capacity to ensure a positive visitor experience.
Airbnb’s Sharing Economy Disruption (Market Disruption & Platform Development): Findings: Airbnb’s story highlights the rise of the sharing economy and the power of disruptive platforms. They revolutionized the hospitality industry by creating a peer-to-peer accommodation marketplace, proving that innovative platforms can create new opportunities for both consumers and providers.
The Hershey Company’s Turnaround Strategy (Market Revitalization & Product Innovation): Findings: The Hershey Company’s case demonstrates the importance of turnaround strategies when facing market challenges. They revitalized their brand by focusing on product innovation, strategic marketing, and reconnecting with core consumers, proving that even established companies can adapt and recover.
The Body Shop’s Ethical Sourcing Dilemma (Corporate Social Responsibility & Brand Values): Findings: The Body Shop’s case explores the ethical considerations businesses face in sourcing materials and maintaining brand values. It highlights the growing importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the challenges of balancing ethical sourcing practices with business needs.
Tesla’s Autopilot Safety Concerns (Technology Ethics & Responsible Innovation): Findings: Tesla’s Autopilot technology raises important questions about the ethics of self-driving cars and the need for responsible innovation. The case emphasizes the importance of prioritizing safety, conducting thorough testing, and ensuring transparency about the limitations of such technologies.
Starbucks’ Global Coffee Empire (Brand Building & Customer Loyalty): Findings: Starbucks’ case showcases the power of brand building and creating a unique customer experience. They built a global brand around coffee by offering a welcoming atmosphere, high-quality products, and personalized service. Their focus on creating a “third place” between home and work fostered customer loyalty and encouraged repeat visits.

This strategy, combined with effective franchising models, allowed them to expand their reach internationally while maintaining a consistent brand image. The case highlights the importance of building customer relationships, emotional connection with the brand, and offering a differentiated experience in a competitive market.

These 20 cases provide a diverse range of real-world business scenarios that challenge students to analyze problems, develop solutions, and apply their business knowledge in a practical setting.

Top Case Study Areas

Implementation of Data Science and AI: Emphasise case studies that demonstrate how companies are using data science and AI for activities such as consumer segmentation, targeted marketing, and product development.
Emerging Technologies: Discussion of possible case studies involving emerging technologies such as blockchain, augmented reality/virtual reality, and the internet of things (IoT) to develop novel solutions or improve efficiency is welcome.
Sustainability and Social Impact: Make note of upcoming case studies that investigate how businesses are utilising data and technology to tackle sustainability issues or make a good difference in society.
Crisis Management and Reputational Branding: Quickly go over the potential for case studies that examine how companies handle public relations disasters by using data-driven tactics and productive communication.

How to Solve MBA Case Studies?

Mastering MBA case studies involves a three-pronged approach: preparation, structured analysis, and impactful communication. Beforehand, brush up on business fundamentals and practice with sample cases. During the case, utilize frameworks like DECIDE to define the problem, analyze data, brainstorm solutions, choose the best option with clear reasoning, and outline implementation. Finally, present your findings confidently, highlighting data-driven insights and strong communication skills to impress the admissions committee.

Define the Problem: Identify the core issue the company faces.
Evaluate the Situation: Analyze the case data, including financial statements, market research, and competitor analysis.
Consider Alternatives: Brainstorm and evaluate different potential solutions, considering their feasibility, risks, and potential benefits.
Decide on a Solution: Select the most compelling solution and justify your choice with sound reasoning and data.
Execute and Evaluate: Briefly outline the implementation plan and potential metrics to measure the success of your solution.

Conclusion

Lastly, MBA case studies provide a helpful bridge connecting academic understanding with real-world business challenges. With scenario analysis, data-driven decision-making, and strong recommendation-making, you will develop the critical thinking, analytical skills, and leadership qualities required for success. Remember that it takes careful planning, structured study frameworks, and compelling communication to comprehend case studies and impress admissions committees.

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Creating a Business Case for the MBA

When you enroll in an mba, you’ll spend rather a lot of time with cases—reading cases, discussing cases, packing (suit) cases..

However, there is an important case you may wish to prepare before you start a programme—a business case for your employer, forming a persuasive argument for company support of your MBA.

By Rachel Waites
January 22, 2014
Executive MBA - Admissions
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Before you get started, it’s useful to ask yourself some questions.

What are your reasons for choosing the Chicago Booth Executive MBA? Why is this school and programme a better choice (for you) than others on the market?

Will this programme help meet a specific need at the company (can a business challenge or issue be addressed by the content of the course)?

Does this programme fit in with my career development plan at the company? Does it address a need that has been identified in a performance review?

Is there a precedent for MBA support at the company? What level of support has been given in the past? Is there an in-house company training programme I need to compare the MBA against?

What am I prepared to commit to the company (ie, lock in periods, bonus or salary sacrifice, tuition refund in the event I leave)?

What do I want the company to commit? (be specific about funding and time off).

Who will make a decision on my request? This question will help you develop the right level of content for your case.

The important thing to remember is that your case, at least in the first two sections, should not focus on your needs . The case is an opportunity to highlight business needs that can be met by the Executive MBA, to outline the ROI and to create a persuasive recommendation that your company should provide support accordingly.

Like any other business case, your case should include sections on:

1. Identify Business Need (specific, current business challenges or needs faced by the company)

2. Analysis (ie, how the programme will help the company meet these specific needs. Think about the ROI from your company’s point of view, of the additional benefits the company gets from accessing the school network, intellectual capital, etc)

3. Recommendation (of yourself, as a suitable candidate. This section should focus on your commitment to the company, your dedication to meeting business needs and challenges, and your desire to take on further roles and responsibilities).

4. The Request (with specific details of the financial support and/or time support you require. You should also demonstrate the investment that you are prepared to make, via your own financial contribution, by sacrificing holiday time, by working overtime or by being available outside office hours).

5. Appendices (your audience may know very little about the school and programme, so include as much supplementary information as possible. It may also be useful to include specific info, for example, research articles or school press clippings relevant to your industry or company).

Good luck! We’re here to help, so please let us know if you need a hand.

Rachel Waites

Director of Recruitment and Admissions, London

Follow Rachel’s posts for information on admissions, particularly in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa regions. Rachel also chronicles women’s initiatives and Chicago Booth’s global network.

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Case Study: Tips and Strategy

Analytical Skills: The core competence of an MBA is analysis of the situation: breaking down data, formulating it into a pattern that makes sense and deriving an efficient conclusion or recommendation. You should display this skill through targeted and accurate piecing together of the data while simultaneously wrestling the group towards a solution for the case. After self-analysis, you should cogently present the findings and recommendations for the group to discuss further.

Quantitative Skills: Some case studies involve working with numbers to reach an effective solution. In such a situation, a quick calculation on rough sheet to present the relevant figures for the group will make you stand in very good light with the evaluator.

Flexibility: This refers to the ability of the candidate to consider the opposing point of view in light of the facts/figures presented in the case. There is no single solution to the case and thus a flexible candidate should not leave out good options in his analysis even if they were presented with an opposing point of view.

Leadership Skills: Leadership is demonstrated by taking charge of the discussion and trying to achieve a consensus. The consensus does not have to be the best; instead, it should aim to incorporate all viewpoints.

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Presentation/Communication Skills: Just like group discussion, effective communication forms an integral part of case study too. The skills tested are: articulation in presentation, fluency, body language, eye contact and coherence. Remember, when speaking, it is always better to take a small pause rather than babble!
Behavioral/Personality traits: The personality traits being evaluated during case studies are: attitude, well balanced conduct, patience, team work, cogency and assertiveness.
Goal Orientation: This parameter is evaluated through the candidate's willingness to arrive at a solution and intelligent use of other's content.
Confidence: Last but not the least, the level of confidence, pro-activeness and action orientation form an important part of a candidate's performance in a case.
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Action plan to handle challenges in case studies

The following action plan should enable you to sail your way past the case study with ease:

Situation/Context Analysis: The first step in a case analysis is to go over the case line-by-line and jot down the relevant points, facts and data. The aim of this exercise is to capture the crux of the case in brief. Both the internal as well as the external factors relevant to the case should be elucidated. This analysis provides a shape for things to come in further analysis. The factors external to a case , say, related to an organization would comprise things like level of competition, market share, raw material prices, tight labour market conditions, price-cutting, customer preferences, etc. The factors internal to the organization comprise mainly of its labour policies, dispute-redressal systems, project approval schemes, marketing strategy, capacity expansions, etc.
P- Problem Definition: The problem should ideally be defined in a crisp, single line, incorporating the most important decision issue to be solved in the case. To have a better grasp of the problem, being quantitative at this stage helps. An important thing to remember is not to mistake the symptoms for the root problem. For example, a falling market share or a decline in sales is, invariably, a symptom while the real problem may lie with the nature of the industry or the quality of the product.
A- Alternatives Generation: The next step is to list down the various alternatives to resolve the problem and achieve the objectives set out in the case study. At this stage, all the alternatives that come to mind should be listed even if an alternative provides only a part solution to the problem at hand. Sometimes, this part solution can be later combined with some other alternative to provide a complete solution.
C- Criteria for evaluation of alternatives: List down the parameters that are important to the solution of the problem at hand. These parameters can be profitability, growth in market share, image, sales, etc.
E- Evaluate the alternatives: This stage uses the criteria to evaluate the various alternatives generated earlier. The positive and negative aspects of each alternative are to be kept in mind while evaluating the alternatives.
R- Recommendations: At the end of the analysis, provide recommendations to resolve the situation. Also look at short-term as well as long-term implications of the recommendations in solving the problem.

Popular “Do's” and “Don'ts” in a case study

Take time to analyze and think through the case
Weigh the pros and cons and various trade-offs between two or more choices
Break down the complex problem into small, distinct pieces to enable better articulation
Listen attentively, even to conflicting ideas, as they might provide part solution to the problem
Summarize the analysis periodically
Be consistent, and not monotonous
Jump to a conclusion at the start
Worry about speaking all the time
Worry about not having specific industry knowledge
Worry if you are not able to completely solve the case. Remember, the structure of thoughts is as important as the final result

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Case Interview: A comprehensive guide
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The key to landing your consulting job
What is a case interview?
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How we can help

1. The key to landing your consulting job.

Case interviews - where you are asked to solve a business case study under scrutiny - are the core of the selection process right across McKinsey, Bain and BCG (the “MBB” firms). This interview format is also used pretty much universally across other high-end consultancies; including LEK, Kearney, Oliver Wyman and the consulting wings of the “Big Four”.

If you want to land a job at any of these firms, you will have to ace multiple case interviews.

It is increasingly likely that you will also have to solve online cases given by chatbots. You might need to pass these either before making it to interview or be asked to sit them alongside first round interviews.

Importantly, case studies aren’t something you can just wing . Firms explicitly expect you to have thoroughly prepared and many of your competitors on interview day will have been prepping for months.

Don’t worry though - MCC is here to help!

This article will take you through a full overview of everything you’ll need to know to do well, linking to more detailed articles and resources at each stage to let you really drill down into the details.

As well as traditional case interviews, we’ll also attend to the new formats in which cases are being delivered and otherwise make sure you’re up to speed with recent trends in this overall part of consulting recruitment.

Before we can figure out how to prepare for a case interview, though, we will first have to properly understand in detail what exactly you are up against. What format does a standard consulting case interview take? What is expected of you? How will you be assessed?

Let's dive right in and find out!

Professional help

Before going further, if this sounds like a lot to get your head around on your own, don't worry - help is available!

Our Case Academy course gives you everything you need to know to crack cases like a pro:

Case Academy Course

To put what you learn into practice (and secure some savings in the process) you can add mock interview coaching sessions with expereinced MBB consultants:

Coaching options

And, if you just want an experienced consultant to take charge of the whole selection process for you, you can check out our comprehensive mentoring programmes:

Explore mentoring

Now, back to the article!

2. What is a case interview?

Before we can hope to tackle a case interview, we have to understand what one is.

In short, a case interview simulates real consulting work by having you solve a business case study in conversation with your interviewer.

This case study will be a business problem where you have to advise a client - that is, an imaginary business or similar organisation in need of guidance.

You must help this client solve a problem and/or make a decision. This requires you to analyse the information you are given about that client organisation and figure out a final recommendation for what they should do next.

Business problems in general obviously vary in difficulty. Some are quite straightforward and can be addressed with fairly standard solutions. However, consulting firms exist precisely to solve the tough issues that businesses have failed to deal with internally - and so consultants will typically work on complex, idiosyncratic problems requiring novel solutions.

Some examples of case study questions might be:

How much would you pay for a banking licence in Ghana?
Estimate the potential value of the electric vehicle market in Germany
How much gas storage capacity should a UK domestic energy supplier build?

Consulting firms need the brightest minds they can find to put to work on these important, difficult projects. You can expect the case studies you have to solve in interview, then, to echo the unique, complicated problems consultancies deal with every day. As we’ll explain here, this means that you need to be ready to think outside the box to figure out genuinely novel solutions.

2.1. Where are case interviews in the consulting selection process?

Not everyone who applies to a consulting firm will have a case interview - far from it!

In fact, case interviews are pretty expensive and inconvenient for firms to host, requiring them to take consultants off active projects and even fly them back to the office from location for in-person interviews (although this happens less frequently now). Ideally, firms want to cut costs and save time by narrowing down the candidate pool as much as possible before any live interviews.

As such, there are some hoops to jump through before you make it to interview rounds.

Firms will typically eliminate as much as 80% of the applicant pool before interviews start . For most firms, 50%+ of applicants might be cut based on resumes, before a similar cut is made on those remaining based on aptitude tests. McKinsey currently gives their Solve assessment to most applicants, but will use their resulting test scores alongside resumes to cut 70%+ of the candidate pool before interviews.

You'll need to be on top of your game to get as far as a case interview with a top firm. Getting through the resume screen and any aptitude tests is an achievement in itself! Also we need to note that the general timeline of an application can differ depending on a series of factors, including which position you apply, your background, and the office you are applying to. For example, an undergraduate applying for a Business Analyst position (the entry level job at McKinsey) will most likely be part of a recruitment cycle and as such have pretty fixed dates when they need to sit the pre-screening test, and have the first and second round interviews (see more on those below). Conversely, an experienced hire will most likely have a much greater choice of test and interview dates as well as more time at their disposal to prepare.

For readers not yet embroiled in the selection process themselves, let’s put case interviews in context and take a quick look at each stage in turn. Importantly, note that you might also be asked to solve case studies outside interviews as well…

2.1.1. Application screen

It’s sometimes easy to forget that such a large cut is made at the application stage. At larger firms, this will mean your resume and cover letter is looked at by some combination of AI tools, recruitment staff and junior consulting staff (often someone from your own university).

Only the best applications will be passed to later stages, so make sure to check out our free resume and cover letter guides, and potentially get help with editing , to give yourself the best chance possible.

2.1.2. Aptitude tests and online cases

This part of the selection process has been changing quickly in recent years and is increasingly beginning to blur into the traditionally separate case interview rounds.

In the past, GMAT or PST style tests were the norm. Firms then used increasingly sophisticated and often gamified aptitude tests, like the Pymetrics test currently used by several firms, including BCG and Bain, and the original version of McKinsey’s Solve assessment (then branded as the Problem Solving Game).

Now, though, there is a move towards delivering relatively sophisticated case studies online. For example, McKinsey has replaced half the old Solve assessment with an online case. BCG’s Casey chatbot case now directly replaces a live first round case interview, and in the new era of AI chatbots, we expect these online cases to quickly become more realistic and increasingly start to relieve firms of some of the costs of live case interviews.

Our consultants collectively reckon that, over time, 50% of case interviews are likely to be replaced with these kinds of cases . We give some specific advice for online cases in section six. However, the important thing to note is that these are still just simulations of traditional case interviews - you still need to learn how to solve cases in precisely the same way, and your prep will largely remain the same.

2.1.3. Rounds of Interviews

Now, let’s not go overboard with talk of AI. Even in the long term, the client facing nature of consulting means that firms will have live case interviews for as long as they are hiring anyone. And in the immediate term, case interviews are still absolutely the core of consulting selection.

Before landing an offer at McKinsey, Bain, BCG or any similar firm, you won’t just have one case interview, but will have to complete four to six case interviews, usually divided into two rounds, with each interview lasting approximately 50-60 minutes .

Being invited to first round usually means two or three case interviews. As noted above, you might also be asked to complete an online case or similar alongside your first round interviews.

If you ace first round, you will be invited to second round to face the same again, but more gruelling. Only then - after up to six case interviews in total, can you hope to receive an offer.

2.2. Differences between first and second round interviews

Despite case interviews in the first and second round following the same format, second/final round interviews will be significantly more intense . The seniority of the interviewer, time pressure (with up to three interviews back-to-back), and the sheer value of the job at stake will likely make a second round consulting case interview one of the most challenging moments of your professional life.

There are three key differences between the two rounds:

Time Pressure : Final round case interviews test your ability to perform under pressure, with as many as three interviews in a row and often only very small breaks between them.
Focus : Since second round interviewers tend to be more senior (usually partners with 12+ years experience) and will be more interested in your personality and ability to handle challenges independently. Some partners will drill down into your experiences and achievements to the extreme. They want to understand how you react to challenges and your ability to identify and learn from past mistakes.
Psychological Pressure: While case interviews in the first round are usually more focused on you simply cracking the case, second round interviewers often employ a "bad cop" strategy to test the way you react to challenges and uncertainty.

2.3. What skills do case interviews assess?

Reliably impressing your interviewers means knowing what they are looking for. This means understanding the skills you are being assessed against in some detail.

Overall, it’s important always to remember that, with case studies, there are no strict right or wrong answers. What really matters is how you think problems through, how confident you are with your conclusions and how quick you are with the back of the envelope arithmetic.

The objective of this kind of interview isn’t to get to one particular solution, but to assess your skillset. This is even true of modern online cases, where sophisticated AI algorithms score how you work as well as the solutions you generate.

If you visit McKinsey , Bain and BCG web pages on case interviews, you will find that the three firms look for very similar traits, and the same will be true of other top consultancies.

Broadly speaking, your interviewer will be evaluating you across five key areas:

2.1.1.One: Probing mind

Showing intellectual curiosity by asking relevant and insightful questions that demonstrate critical thinking and a proactive nature. For instance, if we are told that revenues for a leading supermarket chain have been declining over the last ten years, a successful candidate would ask:

“ We know revenues have declined. This could be due to price or volume. Do we know how they changed over the same period? ”

This is as opposed to a laundry list of questions like:

Did customers change their preferences?
Which segment has shown the decline in volume?
Is there a price war in the industry?

2.1.2. Structure

Structure in this context means structuring a problem. This, in turn, means creating a framework - that is, a series of clear, sequential steps in order to get to a solution.

As with the case interview in general, the focus with case study structures isn’t on reaching a solution, but on how you get there.

This is the trickiest part of the case interview and the single most common reason candidates fail.

We discuss how to properly structure a case in more detail in section three. In terms of what your interviewer is looking for at high level, though, key pieces of your structure should be:

Proper understanding of the objective of the case - Ask yourself: "What is the single crucial piece of advice that the client absolutely needs?"
Identification of the drivers - Ask yourself: "What are the key forces that play a role in defining the outcome?"

Our Problem Driven Structure method, discussed in section three, bakes this approach in at a fundamental level. This is as opposed to the framework-based approach you will find in older case-solving

Focus on going through memorised sequences of steps too-often means failing to develop a full understanding of the case and the real key drivers.

At this link, we run through a case to illustrate the difference between a standard framework-based approach and our Problem Driven Structure method.

2.1.3. Problem Solving

You’ll be tested on your ability to identify problems and drivers, isolate causes and effects, demonstrate creativity and prioritise issues. In particular, the interviewer will look for the following skills:

Prioritisation - Can you distinguish relevant and irrelevant facts?
Connecting the dots - Can you connect new facts and evidence to the big picture?
Establishing conclusions - Can you establish correct conclusions without rushing to inferences not supported by evidence?

2.1.4. Numerical Agility

In case interviews, you are expected to be quick and confident with both precise and approximated numbers. This translates to:

Performing simple calculations quickly - Essential to solve cases quickly and impress clients with quick estimates and preliminary conclusions.
Analysing data - Extract data from graphs and charts, elaborate and draw insightful conclusions.
Solving business problems - Translate a real world case to a mathematical problem and solve it.

Our article on consulting math is a great resource here, though the extensive math content in our MCC Academy is the best and most comprehensive material available.

2.1.5. Communication

Real consulting work isn’t just about the raw analysis to come up with a recommendation - this then needs to be sold to the client as the right course of action.

Similarly, in a case interview, you must be able to turn your answer into a compelling recommendation. This is just as essential to impressing your interviewer as your structure and analysis.

Consultants already comment on how difficult it is to find candidates with the right communication skills. Add to this the current direction of travel, where AI will be able to automate more and more of the routine analytic side of consulting, and communication becomes a bigger and bigger part of what consultants are being paid for.

So, how do you make sure that your recommendations are relevant, smart, and engaging? The answer is to master what is known as CEO-level communication .

This art of speaking like a CEO can be quite challenging, as it often involves presenting information in effectively the opposite way to how you might normally.

To get it right, there are three key areas to focus on in your communications:

Top down : A CEO wants to hear the key message first. They will only ask for more details if they think that will actually be useful. Always consider what is absolutely critical for the CEO to know, and start with that. You can read more in our article on the Pyramid Principle .
Concise : This is not the time for "boiling the ocean" or listing an endless number possible solutions. CEOs, and thus consultants, want a structured, quick and concise recommendation for their business problem, that they can implement immediately.
Fact-based : Consultants share CEOs' hatred of opinions based on gut feel rather than facts. They want recommendations based on facts to make sure they are actually in control. Always go on to back up your conclusions with the relevant facts.

Being concise and to the point is key in many areas, networking being one for them. For more detail on all this, check out our full article on delivering recommendations .

Prep the right way

3. types of case interview.

While most case interviews share a similar structure, firms will have some differences in the particular ways they like to do things in terms of both the case study and the fit component.

As we’ll see, these differences aren’t hugely impactful in terms of how you prepare. That said, it's always good to know as much as possible about what you will be going up against.

3.1. Different case objectives

A guiding thread throughout this article and our approach in general will be to treat each case as a self-contained problem and not try to pigeonhole it into a certain category. Having said that, there are of course similarities between cases and we can identify certain parameters and objectives.

Broadly speaking, cases can be divided into issue-based cases and strategic decision cases. In the former you will be asked to solve a certain issue, such as declining profits, or low productivity whereas in the latter you will be ask whether your client should or should not do something, such as enter a specific market or acquire another company. The chart below is a good breakdown of these different objectives:

3.2. How do interviewers craft cases

While interviewers will very likely be given a case bank to choose from by their company, a good number of them will also choose to adapt the cases they would currently be working on to a case interview setting. The difference is that the latter cases will be harder to pigeonhole and apply standard frameworks to, so a tailored approach will be paramount.

If you’ve applied for a specific practice or type of consulting - such as operational consulting, for example - it’s very likely that you will receive a case geared towards that particular area alongside a ‘generalist’ consulting case (however, if that’s the case, you will generally be notified). The other main distinction when it comes to case interviews is between interviewer-led and candidate-led.

3.3. Candidate-led cases

Most consulting case interview questions test your ability to crack a broad problem, with a case prompt often going something like:

" How much would you pay to secure the rights to run a restaurant in the British Museum? "

You, as a candidate, are then expected to identify your path to solve the case (that is, provide a structure), leveraging your interviewer to collect the data and test your assumptions.

This is known as a “candidate-led” case interview and is used by Bain, BCG and other firms. From a structuring perspective, it’s easier to lose direction in a candidate-led case as there are no sign-posts along the way. As such, you need to come up with an approach that is both broad enough to cover all of the potential drivers in a case but also tailored enough to the problem you are asked to solve. It’s also up to you to figure out when you need to delve deeper into a certain branch of the case, brainstorm or ask for data. The following case from Bain is an excellent example on how to navigate a candidate-led case.

3.4. Interviewer-led cases

This type of case - employed most famously by McKinsey - is slightly different, with the interviewer controlling the pace and direction of the conversation much more than with other case interviews.

At McKinsey, your interviewer will ask you a set of pre-determined questions, regardless of your initial structure. For each question, you will have to understand the problem, come up with a mini structure, ask for additional data (if necessary) and come to the conclusion that answers the question. This more structured format of case also shows up in online cases by other firms - notably including BCG’s Casey chatbot (with the amusing result that practising McKinsey-style cases can be a great addition when prepping for BCG).

Essentially, these interviewer-led case studies are large cases made up of lots of mini-cases. You still use basically the same method as you would for standard (or candidate-led) cases - the main difference is simply that, instead of using that method to solve one big case, you are solving several mini-cases sequentially. These cases are easier to follow as the interviewer will guide you in the right direction. However, this doesn’t mean you should pay less attention to structure and deliver a generic framework! Also, usually (but not always!) the first question will ask you to map your approach and is the equivalent of the structuring question in candidate-led cases. Sometimes, if you’re missing key elements, the interviewer might prompt you in the right direction - so make sure to take those prompts seriously as they are there to help you get back on track (ask for 30 seconds to think on the prompt and structure your approach). Other times - and this is a less fortunate scenario - the interviewer might say nothing and simply move on to the next question. This is why you should put just as much thought (if not more) into the framework you build for interviewer-led cases , as you may be penalized if you produce something too generic or that doesn’t encompass all the issues of the case.

3.5. Case and fit

The standard case interview can be thought of as splitting into two standalone sub-interviews. Thus “case interviews” can be divided into the case study itself and a “fit interview” section, where culture fit questions are asked.

This can lead to a bit of confusion, as the actual case interview component might take up as little as half of your scheduled “case interview”. You need to make sure you are ready for both aspects.

To illustrate, here is the typical case interview timeline:

First 15-30 minutes: Fit Interview - with questions assessing your motivation to be a consultant in that specific firm and your traits around leadership and teamwork. Learn more about the fit interview in our in-depth article here .
Next 30-40 minutes: Case Interview - solving a case study
Last 5 minutes: Fit Interview again - this time focussing on your questions for your interviewer.

Both the Case and Fit interviews play crucial roles in the finial hiring decision. There is no “average” taken between case and fit interviews: if your performance is not up to scratch in either of the two, you will not be able to move on to the next interview round or get an offer.

NB: No case without fit

Note that, even if you have only been told you are having a case interview or otherwise are just doing a case study, always be prepared to answer fit questions. At most firms, it is standard practice to include some fit questions in all case interviews, even if there are also separate explicit fit interviews, and interviewers will almost invariably include some of these questions around your case. This is perfectly natural - imagine how odd and artificial it would be to show up to an interview, simply do a case and leave again, without talking about anything else with the interviewer before or after.

3.5.1 Differences between firms

For the most part, a case interview is a case interview. However, firms will have some differences in the particular ways they like to do things in terms of both the case study and the fit component.

3.5.2. The McKinsey PEI

McKinsey brands its fit aspect of interviews as the Personal Experience Interview or PEI. Despite the different name, this is really much the same interview you will be going up against in Bain, BCG and any similar firms.

McKinsey does have a reputation for pushing candidates a little harder with fit or PEI questions , focusing on one story per interview and drilling down further into the specific details each time. We discuss this tendency more in our fit interview article . However, no top end firm is going to go easy on you and you should absolutely be ready for the same level of grilling at Bain, BCG and others. Thus any difference isn’t hugely salient in terms of prep.

3.6. What is different in 2023?

For the foreseeable future, you are going to have to go through multiple live case interviews to secure any decent consulting job. These might increasingly happen via Zoom rather than in person, but they should remain largely the same otherwise.

However, things are changing and the rise of AI in recent months seems pretty much guaranteed to accelerate existing trends.

Even before the explosive development of AI chatbots like ChatGPT we have seen in recent months, automation was already starting to change the recruitment process.

As we mentioned, case interviews are expensive and inconvenient for firms to run . Ideally, then, firms will try to reduce the number of interviews required for recruitment as far as possible. For many years, tests of various kinds served to cut down the applicant pool and thus the number of interviews. However, these tests had a limited capacity to assess candidates against the full consulting skillset in the way that case interviews do so well.

More recently, though, the development of online testing has allowed for more and more advanced assessments. Top consulting firms have been leveraging screening tests that better and better capture the same skillset as case interviews. Eventually this is converging on automated case studies. We see this very clearly with the addition of the Redrock case to McKinsey’s Solve assessment.

As these digital cases become closer to the real thing, the line between test and case interview blurs. Online cases don’t just reduce the number of candidates to case interview, but start directly replacing them.

Case in point here is BCG’s Casey chatbot . Previously, BCG had deployed less advanced online cases and similar tests to weed out some candidates before live case interviews began. Now, though, Casey actually replaces one first round case interview.

Casey, at time of writing, is still a relatively “basic” chatbot, basically running through a pre-set script. The Whatsapp-like interface does a lot of work to make it feel like one is chatting to a “real person” - the chatbot itself, though, cannot provide feedback or nudges to candidates as would a human interviewer.

We fully expect that, as soon as BCG and other firms can train a truer AI, these online cases will become more widespread and start replacing more live interviews.

We discuss the likely impacts of advanced AI on consulting recruitment and the industry more broadly in our blog.

Here, though, the real message is that you should expect to run into digital cases as well as traditional case interviews.

Luckily, despite any changes in specific case interview format, you will still need to master the same fundamental skills and prepare in much the same way.

We’ll cover a few ways to help prepare for chatbot cases in section four. Ultimately, though, firms are looking for the same problem solving ability and mindset as a real interviewer. Especially as chatbots get better at mimicking a real interviewer, candidates who are well prepared for case cracking in general should have no problem with AI administered cases.

3.6.1. Automated fit interviews

Analogous to online cases, in recent years there has been a trend towards automated, “one way” fit interviews, with these typically being administered for consultancies by specialist contractors like HireVue or SparkHire.

These are kind of like Zoom interviews, but if the interviewer didn’t show up. Instead you will be given fit questions to answer and must record your answer in your computer webcam. Your response will then go on to be assessed by an algorithm, scoring both what you say and how you say it.

Again, with advances in AI, it is easy to imagine these automated case interviews going from fully scripted interactions, where all candidates are asked the same list of questions, to a more interactive experience. Thus, we might soon arrive at a point where you are being grilled on the details of your stories - McKinsey PEI style - but by a bot rather than a human.

We include some tips on this kind of “one way” fit interview in section six here.

4. How to solve cases with the Problem-Driven Structure?

If you look around online for material on how to solve case studies, a lot of what you find will set out framework-based approaches. However, as we have mentioned, these frameworks tend to break down with more complex, unique cases - with these being exactly the kind of tough case studies you can expect to be given in your case interviews.

To address this problem, the MyConsultingCoach team has synthesized a new approach to case cracking that replicates how top management consultants approach actual engagements.

MyConsultingCoach’s Problem Driven Structure approach is a universal problem solving method that can be applied to any business problem , irrespective of its nature.

As opposed to just selecting a generic framework for each case interview, the Problem Driven Structure approach works by generating a bespoke structure for each individual question and is a simplified version of the roadmap McKinsey consultants use when working on engagements.

The canonical seven steps from McKinsey on real projects are simplified to four for case interview questions, as the analysis required for a six-month engagement is somewhat less than that needed for a 45-minute case study. However, the underlying flow is the same (see the method in action in the video below)

Let's zoom in to see how our method actually works in more detail:

4.1. Identify the problem

Identifying the problem means properly understanding the prompt/question you are given, so you get to the actual point of the case.

This might sound simple, but cases are often very tricky, and many candidates irretrievably mess things up within the first few minutes of starting. Often, they won’t notice this has happened until they are getting to the end of their analysis. Then, they suddenly realise that they have misunderstood the case prompt - and have effectively been answering the wrong question all along!

With no time to go back and start again, there is nothing to do. Even if there were time, making such a silly mistake early on will make a terrible impression on their interviewer, who might well have written them off already. The interview is scuppered and all the candidate’s preparation has been for nothing.

This error is so galling as it is so readily avoidable.

Our method prevents this problem by placing huge emphasis on a full understanding of the case prompt. This lays the foundations for success as, once we have identified the fundamental, underlying problem our client is facing, we focus our whole analysis around finding solutions to this specific issue.

Now, some case interview prompts are easy to digest. For example, “Our client, a supermarket, has seen a decline in profits. How can we bring them up?”. However, many of the prompts given in interviews for top firms are much more difficult and might refer to unfamiliar business areas or industries. For example, “How much would you pay for a banking license in Ghana?” or “What would be your key areas of concern be when setting up an NGO?”

Don’t worry if you have no idea how you might go about tackling some of these prompts!

In our article on identifying the problem and in our full lesson on the subject in our MCC Academy course, we teach a systematic, four step approach to identifying the problem , as well as running through common errors to ensure you start off on the right foot every time!

This is summarised here:

Following this method lets you excel where your competitors mess up and get off to a great start in impressing your interviewer!

4.2. Build your problem driven structure

After you have properly understood the problem, the next step is to successfully crack a case is to draw up a bespoke structure that captures all the unique features of the case.

This is what will guide your analysis through the rest of the case study and is precisely the same method used by real consultants working on real engagements.

Of course, it might be easier here to simply roll out one an old-fashioned framework, and a lot of candidates will do so. This is likely to be faster at this stage and requires a lot less thought than our problem-driven structure approach.

However, whilst our problem driven structure approach requires more work from you, our method has the advantage of actually working in the kind of complex case studies where generic frameworks fail - that is exactly the kind of cases you can expect at an MBB interview .

Since we effectively start from first principles every time, we can tackle any case with the same overarching method. Simple or complex, every case is the same to you and you don’t have to gamble a job on whether a framework will actually work

4.2.1 Issue trees

Issue trees break down the overall problem into a set of smaller problems that you can then solve individually. Representing this on a diagram also makes it easy for both you and your interviewer to keep track of your analysis.

To see how this is done, let’s look at the issue tree below breaking down the revenues of an airline:

These revenues can be segmented as the number of customers multiplied by the average ticket price. The number of customers can be further broken down into a number of flights multiplied by the number of seats, times average occupancy rate. The node corresponding to the average ticket price can then be segmented further.

4.2.2 Hypothesis trees

Hypothesis trees are similar, the only difference being that rather than just trying to break up the issue into smaller issues you are assuming that the problem can be solved and you are formulating solutions.

In the example above, you would assume revenues can be increased by either increasing the average ticket price or the number of customers . You can then hypothesize that you can increase the average occupancy rate in three ways: align the schedule of short and long haul flights, run a promotion to boost occupancy in off-peak times, or offer early bird discounts.

4.2.3 Other structures:structured lists

Structured lists are simply subcategories of a problem into which you can fit similar elements. This McKinsey case answer starts off by identifying several buckets such as retailer response, competitor response, current capabilities and brand image and then proceeds to consider what could fit into these categories.

Buckets can be a good way to start the structure of a complex case but when using them it can be very difficult to be MECE and consistent, so you should always aim to then re-organize them into either an issue or a hypothesis tree.

It is worth noting that the same problem can be structured in multiple valid ways by choosing different means to segment the key issues. Ultimately all these lists are methods to set out a logical hierachy among elements.

4.2.4 Structures in practice

That said, not all valid structures are equally useful in solving the underlying problem. A good structure fulfils several requirements - including MECE-ness , level consistency, materiality, simplicity, and actionability. It’s important to put in the time to master segmentation, so you can choose a scheme isn’t only valid, but actually useful in addressing the problem.

After taking the effort to identify the problem properly, an advantage of our method is that it will help ensure you stay focused on that same fundamental problem throughout. This might not sound like much, but many candidates end up getting lost in their own analysis, veering off on huge tangents and returning with an answer to a question they weren’t asked.

Another frequent issue - particularly with certain frameworks - is that candidates finish their analysis and, even if they have successfully stuck to the initial question, they have not actually reached a definite solution. Instead, they might simply have generated a laundry list of pros and cons, with no clear single recommendation for action.

Clients employ consultants for actionable answers, and this is what is expected in the case interview. The problem driven structure excels in ensuring that everything you do is clearly related back to the key question in a way that will generate a definitive answer. Thus, the problem driven structure builds in the hypothesis driven approach so characteristic of real consulting practice.

You can learn how to set out your own problem driven structures in our article here and in our full lesson in the MCC Academy course.

4.2. Lead the analysis

A problem driven structure might ensure we reach a proper solution eventually, but how do we actually get there?

We call this step " leading the analysis ", and it is the process whereby you systematically navigate through your structure, identifying the key factors driving the issue you are addressing.

Generally, this will mean continuing to grow your tree diagram, further segmenting what you identify as the most salient end nodes and thus drilling down into the most crucial factors causing the client’s central problem.

Once you have gotten right down into the detail of what is actually causing the company’s issues, solutions can then be generated quite straightforwardly.

To see this process in action, we can return to our airline revenue example:

Lead the analysis for the Airline Case Study

Let’s say we discover the average ticket price to be a key issue in the airline’s problems. Looking closer at the drivers of average ticket price, we find that the problem lies with economy class ticket prices. We can then further segment that price into the base fare and additional items such as food.

Having broken down the issue to such a fine-grained level and considering the 80/20 rule(see below), solutions occur quite naturally. In this case, we can suggest incentivising the crew to increase onboard sales, improving assortment in the plane, or offering discounts for online purchases.

Our article on leading the analysis is a great primer on the subject, with our video lesson in the MCC Academy providing the most comprehensive guide available.

4.4. Provide recommendations

So you have a solution - but you aren’t finished yet!

Now, you need to deliver your solution as a final recommendation.

This should be done as if you are briefing a busy CEO and thus should be a one minute, top-down, concise, structured, clear, and fact-based account of your findings.

The brevity of the final recommendation belies its importance. In real life consulting, the recommendation is what the client has potentially paid millions for - from their point of view, it is the only thing that matters.

In a case interview, your performance in this final summing up of your case is going to significantly colour your interviewer’s parting impression of you - and thus your chances of getting hired!

So, how do we do it right?

Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle elegantly sums up almost everything required for a perfect recommendation. The answer comes first , as this is what is most important. This is then supported by a few key arguments , which are in turn buttressed by supporting facts .

Across the whole recommendation, the goal isn’t to just summarise what you have done. Instead, you are aiming to synthesize your findings to extract the key "so what?" insight that is useful to the client going forward.

All this might seem like common sense, but it is actually the opposite of how we relay results in academia and other fields. There, we typically move from data, through arguments and eventually to conclusions. As such, making good recommendations is a skill that takes practice to master.

We can see the Pyramid Principle illustrated in the diagram below:

The Pyramid principle often used in consulting

To supplement the basic Pyramid Principle scheme, we suggest candidates add a few brief remarks on potential risks and suggested next steps . This helps demonstrate the ability for critical self-reflection and lets your interviewer see you going the extra mile.

The combination of logical rigour and communication skills that is so definitive of consulting is particularly on display in the final recommendation.

Despite it only lasting 60 seconds, you will need to leverage a full set of key consulting skills to deliver a really excellent recommendation and leave your interviewer with a good final impression of your case solving abilities.

Our specific article on final recommendations and the specific video lesson on the same topic within our MCC Academy are great, comprehensive resources. Beyond those, our lesson on consulting thinking and our articles on MECE and the Pyramid Principle are also very useful.

4.5. What if I get stuck?

Naturally with case interviews being difficult problems there may be times where you’re unsure what to do or which direction to take. The most common scenario is that you will get stuck midway through the case and there are essentially two things that you should do:

1. Go back to your structure
2. Ask the interviewer for clarification

Your structure should always be your best friend - after all, this is why you put so much thought and effort into it: if it’s MECE it will point you in the right direction. This may seem abstract but let’s take the very simple example of a profitability case interview: if you’ve started your analysis by segmenting profit into revenue minus costs and you’ve seen that the cost side of the analysis is leading you nowhere, you can be certain that the declining profit is due to a decline in revenue.

Similarly, when you’re stuck on the quantitative section of the case interview, make sure that your framework for calculations is set up correctly (you can confirm this with the interviewer) and see what it is you’re trying to solve for: for example if you’re trying to find what price the client should sell their new t-shirt in order to break even on their investment, you should realize that what you’re trying to find is the break even point, so you can start by calculating either the costs or the revenues. You have all the data for the costs side and you know they’re trying to sell 10.000 pairs so you can simply set up the equation with x being the price.

As we’ve emphasised on several occasions, your case interview will be a dialogue. As such, if you don’t know what to do next or don’t understand something, make sure to ask the interviewer (and as a general rule always follow their prompts as they are trying to help, not trick you). This is especially true for the quantitative questions, where you should really understand what data you’re looking at before you jump into any calculations. Ideally you should ask your questions before you take time to formulate your approach but don’t be afraid to ask for further clarification if you really can’t make sense of what’s going on. It’s always good to walk your interviewer through your approach before you start doing the calculations and it’s no mistake to make sure that you both have the same understanding of the data. For example when confronted with the chart below, you might ask what GW (in this case gigawatt) means from the get-go and ask to confirm the different metrics (i.e. whether 1 GW = 1000 megawatts). You will never be penalised for asking a question like that.

5. What to remember in case interviews

If you’re new to case cracking you might feel a bit hopeless when you see a difficult case question, not having any idea where to start.

In fact though, cracking case interviews is much like playing chess. The rules you need to know to get started are actually pretty simple. What will make you really proficient is time and practice.

In this section, we’ll run through a high level overview of everything you need to know, linking to more detailed resources at every step.

5.1. An overall clear structure

You will probably hear this more than you care for but it is the most important thing to keep in mind as you start solving cases, as not only it is a key evaluation criterion but the greatest tool you will have at your disposal. The ability to build a clear structure in all aspects of the case inteview will be the difference between breezing through a complicated case and struggling at its every step. Let’s look a bit closer at the key areas where you should be structured!

5.1.1 Structured notes

Every case interview starts with a prompt, usually verbal, and as such you will have to take some notes. And here is where your foray into structure begins, as the notes you take should be clear, concise and structured in a way that will allow you to repeat the case back to the interviewer without writing down any unnecessary information.

This may sound very basic but you should absolutely not be dismissive about it: taking clear and organized notes will allow what we found helps is to have separate sections for:

The case brief
Follow-up questions and answers
Numerical data
Case structure (the most crucial part when solving the case)
Any scrap work during the case (usually calculations)

When solving the case - or, as we call it here, in the Lead the analysis step, it is highly recommended to keep on feeding and integrating your structure, so that you never get lost. Maintaining a clear high level view is one of the most critical aspects in case interviews as it is a key skill in consulting: by constantly keeping track of where you are following your structure, you’ll never lose your focus on the end goal.

In the case of an interviewer-led case, you can also have separate sheets for each question (e.g. Question 1. What factors can we look at that drive profitability?). If you develop a system like this you’ll know exactly where to look for each point of data rather than rummage around in untidy notes. There are a couple more sections that you may have, depending on preference - we’ll get to these in the next sections.

5.1.2 Structured communication

There will be three main types of communication in cases:

1. Asking and answering questions
2. Walking the interviewer through your structure (either the case or calculation framework - we’ll get to that in a bit!)
3. Delivering your recommendation

Asking and answering questions will be the most common of these and the key thing to do before you speak is ask for some time to collect your thoughts and get organised. What you want to avoid is a ‘laundry list’ of questions or anything that sounds too much like a stream of consciousness.

Different systems work for different candidates but a sure-fire way of being organised is numbering your questions and answers. So rather than saying something like ‘I would like to ask about the business model, operational capacity and customer personas’ it’s much better to break it down and say something along the lines of ‘I’ve got three key questions. Firstly I would like to inquire into the business model of our client. Secondly I would like to ask about their operational capacity. Thirdly I would like to know more about the different customer personas they are serving’.

A similar principle should be applied when walking the interviewer through your structure, and this is especially true of online case interviews (more and more frequent now) when the interviewer can’t see your notes. Even if you have your branches or buckets clearly defined, you should still use a numbering system to make it obvious to the interviewer. So, for example, when asked to identify whether a company should make an acquisition, you might say ‘I would like to examine the following key areas. Firstly the financial aspects of this issue, secondly the synergies and thirdly the client’s expertise’

The recommendation should be delivered top-down (see section 4.4 for specifics) and should employ the same numbering principle. To do so in a speedy manner, you should circle or mark the key facts that you encounter throughout the case so you can easily pull them out at the end.

5.1.3 Structured framework

It’s very important that you have a systematic approach - or framework - for every case. Let’s get one thing straight: there is a difference between having a problem-solving framework for your case and trying to force a case into a predetermined framework. Doing the former is an absolute must , whilst doing the latter will most likely have you unceremoniously dismissed.

We have seen there are several ways of building a framework, from identifying several categories of issues (or ‘buckets’) to building an issue or hypothesis tree (which is the most efficient type of framework). For the purpose of organization, we recommend having a separate sheet for the framework of the case, or, if it’s too much to manage, you can have it on the same sheet as the initial case prompt. That way you’ll have all the details as well as your proposed solution in one place.

5.1.4 Structured calculations

Whether it’s interviewer or candidate-led, at some point in the case you will get a bunch of numerical data and you will have to perform some calculations (for the specifics of the math you’ll need on consulting interviews, have a look at our Consulting Math Guide ). Here’s where we urge you to take your time and not dive straight into calculating! And here’s why: while your numerical agility is sure to impress interviewers, what they’re actually looking for is your logic and the calculations you need to perform in order to solve the problem . So it’s ok if you make a small mistake, as long as you’re solving for the right thing.

As such, make it easy for them - and yourself. Before you start, write down in steps the calculations you need to perform. Here’s an example: let’s say you need to find out by how much profits will change if variable costs are reduced by 10%. Your approach should look something like:

1. Calculate current profits: Profits = Revenues - (Variable costs + Fixed costs)
2. Calculate the reduction in variable costs: Variable costs x 0.9
3. Calculate new profits: New profits = Revenues - (New variable costs + Fixed costs)

Of course, there may be more efficient ways to do that calculation, but what’s important - much like in the framework section - is to show your interviewer that you have a plan, in the form of a structured approach. You can write your plan on the sheet containing the data, then perform the calculations on a scrap sheet and fill in the results afterward.

5.2. Common business knowledge and formulas

Although some consulting firms claim they don’t evaluate candidates based on their business knowledge, familiarity with basic business concepts and formulae is very useful in terms of understanding the case studies you are given in the first instance and drawing inspiration for structuring and brainstorming.

If you are coming from a business undergrad, an MBA or are an experienced hire, you might well have this covered already. For those coming from a different background, it may be useful to cover some.

Luckily, you don’t need a degree-level understanding of business to crack case interviews , and a lot of the information you will pick up by osmosis as you read through articles like this and go through cases.

However, some things you will just need to sit down and learn. We cover everything you need to know in some detail in our Case Academy Course course. However, some examples here of things you need to learn are:

Basic accounting (particularly how to understand all the elements of a balance sheet)
Basic economics
Basic marketing
Basic strategy

Below we include a few elementary concepts and formulae so you can hit the ground running in solving cases. We should note that you should not memorise these and indeed a good portion of them can be worked out logically, but you should have at least some idea of what to expect as this will make you faster and will free up much of your mental computing power. In what follows we’ll tackle concepts that you will encounter in the private business sector as well as some situations that come up in cases that feature clients from the NGO or governmental sector.

5.2.1 Business sector concepts

These concepts are the bread and butter of almost any business case so you need to make sure you have them down. Naturally, there will be specificities and differences between cases but for the most part here is a breakdown of each of them.

5.2.1.1. Revenue

The revenue is the money that the company brings in and is usually equal to the number of products they sell multiplied to the price per item and can be expressed with the following equation:

Revenue = Volume x Price

Companies may have various sources of revenue or indeed multiple types of products, all priced differently which is something you will need to account for in your case interview. Let’s consider some situations. A clothing company such as Nike will derive most of their revenue from the number of products they sell times the average price per item. Conversely, for a retail bank revenue is measured as the volume of loans multiplied by the interest rate at which the loans are given out. As we’ll see below, we might consider primary revenues and ancillary revenues: in the case of a football club, we might calculate primary revenues by multiplying the number of tickets sold by the average ticket price, and ancillary revenues those coming from sales of merchandise (similarly, let’s say average t-shirt price times the number of t-shirts sold), tv rights and sponsorships.

These are but a few examples and another reminder that you should always aim to ask questions and understand the precise revenue structure of the companies you encounter in cases.

5.2.1.2. Costs

The costs are the expenses that a company incurs during its operations. Generally, they can be broken down into fixed and variable costs :

Costs = Fixed Costs + Variable Costs

As their name implies, fixed costs do not change based on the number of units produced or sold. For example, if you produce shoes and are renting the space for your factory, you will have to pay the rent regardless of whether you produce one pair or 100. On the other hand, variable costs depend on the level of activity, so in our shoe factory example they would be equivalent to the materials used to produce each pair of shoes and would increase the more we produce.

These concepts are of course guidelines used in order to simplify the analysis in cases, and you should be aware that in reality often the situation can be more complicated. However, this should be enough for case interviews. Costs can also be quasi-fixed, in that they increase marginally with volume. Take the example of a restaurant which has a regular staff, incurring a fixed cost but during very busy hours or periods they also employ some part-time workers. This cost is not exactly variable (as it doesn’t increase with the quantity of food produced) but also not entirely fixed, as the number of extra hands will depend on how busy the restaurant is. Fixed costs can also be non-linear in nature. Let’s consider the rent in the same restaurant: we would normally pay a fixed amount every month, but if the restaurant becomes very popular we might need to rent out some extra space so the cost will increase. Again, this is not always relevant for case interviews.

5.2.1.3. Profit and profit margin

The profit is the amount of money a company is left with after it has paid all of its expenses and can be expressed as follows:

Profit = Revenue - Costs

It’s very likely that you will encounter a profitability issue in one of your case interviews, namely you will be asked to increase a company’s profit. There are two main ways of doing this: increasing revenues and reducing costs , so these will be the two main areas you will have to investigate. This may seem simple but what you will really need to understand in a case are the key drivers of a business (and this should be done through clarifying questions to the interviewer - just as a real consultant would question their client).

For example, if your client is an airline you can assume that the main source of revenue is sales of tickets, but you should inquire how many types of ticket the specific airline sells. You may naturally consider economy and business class tickets, but you may find out that there is a more premium option - such as first class - and several in-between options. Similarly to our football club example, there may be ancillary revenues from selling of food and beverage as well as advertising certain products or services on flights.

You may also come across the profit margin in case interviews. This is simply the percentage of profit compared to the revenue and can be expressed as follows:

Profit margin = Profit/Revenue x 100

5.2.1.4. Break-even point

An ancillary concept to profit, the break-even point is the moment where revenues equal costs making the profit zero and can be expressed as the following equation:

Revenues = Costs (Fixed costs + Variable costs)

This formula will be useful when you are asked questions such as ‘What is the minimum price I should sell product X?’ or ‘What quantity do I need to sell in order to recoup my investment?’. Let’s say in a case interview an owner of a sandwich store asks us to figure out how many salami and cheese salami sandwiches she needs to sell in order to break even. She’s spending $4 on salami and $2 for cheese and lettuce per sandwich, and believes she can sell the sandwiches at around $7. The cost of utilities and personnel is around $5000 per month. We could lay this all out in the break-even equation:

7 x Q ( quantity ) = (4+2) x Q + 5000 ( variable + fixed costs )

In a different scenario, we may be asked to calculate the break-even price . Let’s consider our sandwich example and say our owner knows she has enough ingredients for about 5000 sandwiches per month but is not sure how much to sell them for. In that case, if we know our break-even equation, we can simply make the following changes:

P ( price ) x 5000 = (4+2) x 5000 + 5000

By solving the equation we get to the price of $7 per sandwich.

5.2.1.5. Market share and market size

We can also consider the market closely with profit, as in fact the company’s performance in the market is what drives profits. The market size is the total number of potential customers for a certain business or product, whereas the market share is the percentage of that market that your business controls (or could control, depending on the case).

There is a good chance you will have to estimate the market size in one of your case interviews and we get into more details on how to do that below. You may be asked to estimate this in either number of potential customers or total value . The latter simply refers to the number of customers multiplied by the average value of the product or service.

To calculate the market share you will have to divide the company’s share by the total market size and multiply by 100:

Note, though, that learning the very basics of business is the beginning rather than the end of your journey. Once you are able to “speak business” at a rudimentary level, you should try to “become fluent” and immerse yourself in reading/viewing/listening to as wide a variety of business material as possible, getting a feel for all kinds of companies and industries - and especially the kinds of problems that can come up in each context and how they are solved. The material put out by the consulting firms themselves is a great place to start, but you should also follow the business news and find out about different companies and sectors as much as possible between now and interviews. Remember, if you’re going to be a consultant, this should be fun rather than a chore!

5.3 Public sector and NGO concepts

As we mentioned, there will be some cases (see section 6.6 for a more detailed example) where the key performance indicators (or KPIs in short) will not be connected to profit. The most common ones will involve the government of a country or an NGO, but they can be way more diverse and require more thought and application of first principles. We have laid out a couple of the key concepts or KPIs that come up below

5.3.1 Quantifiability

In many such scenarios you will be asked to make an important strategic decision of some kind or to optimise a process. Of course these are not restricted to non-private sector cases but this is where they really come into their own as there can be great variation in the type of decision and the types of field.

While there may be no familiar business concepts to anchor yourself onto, a concept that is essential is quantifiability . This means, however qualitative the decision might seem, consultants rely on data so you should always aim to have aspects of a decision that can be quantified, even if the data doesn’t present itself in a straightforward manner.

Let’s take a practical example. Your younger sibling asks you to help them decide which university they should choose if they want to study engineering. One way to structure your approach would be to segment the problem into factors affecting your sibling’s experience at university and experience post-university. Within the ‘at uni’ category you might think about the following:

Financials : How much are tuition costs and accommodation costs?
Quality of teaching and research : How are possible universities ranked in the QS guide based on teaching and research?
Quality of resources : How well stocked is their library, are the labs well equipped etc.?
Subject ranking : How is engineering at different unis ranked?
Life on campus and the city : What are the living costs in the city where the university is based? What are the extracurricular opportunities and would your sibling like to live in that specific city based on them?

Within the ‘out of uni’ category you might think about:

Exit options : What are the fields in which your sibling could be employed and how long does it take the average student of that university to find a job?
Alumni network : What percentage of alumni are employed by major companies?
Signal : What percentage of applicants from the university get an interview in major engineering companies and related technical fields?

You will perhaps notice that all the buckets discussed pose quantifiable questions meant to provide us with data necessary to make a decision. It’s no point to ask ‘Which university has the nicest teaching staff?’ as that can be a very subjective metric.

5.3.1 Impact

Another key concept to consider when dealing with sectors other than the private one is how impactful a decision or a line of inquiry is on the overarching issue , or whether all our branches in our issue tree have a similar impact. This can often come in the form of impact on lives, such as in McKinsey’s conservation case discussed below, namely how many species can we save with our choice of habitat.

5.4 Common consulting concepts

Consultants use basic business concepts on an every day basis, as they help them articulate their frameworks to problems. However, they also use some consulting specific tools to quality check their analysis and perform in the most efficient way possible. These principles can be applied to all aspects of a consultant’s work, but for brevity we can say they mostly impact a consultant’s systematic approach and communication - two very important things that are also tested in case interviews. Therefore, it’s imperative that you not only get to know them, but learn how and when to use them as they are at the very core of good casing. They are MECE-ness, the Pareto Principle and the Pyramid principle and are explained briefly below - you should, however, go on to study them in-depth in their respective articles.

Perhaps the central pillar of all consulting work and an invaluable tool to solve cases, MECE stands for Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive . It can refer to any and every aspect in a case but is most often used when talking about structure. We have a detailed article explaining the concept here , but the short version is that MECE-ness ensures that there is no overlap between elements of a structure (i.e. the Mutually Exclusive component) and that it covers all the drivers or areas of a problem (Collectively Exhaustive). It is a concept that can be applied to any segmentation when dividing a set into subsets that include it wholly but do not overlap.

Let’s take a simple example and then a case framework example. In simple terms, when we are asked to break down the set ‘cars’ into subsets, dividing cars into ‘red cars’ and ‘sports cars’ is neither mutually exclusive (as there are indeed red sports cars) nor exhaustive of the whole set (i.e. there are also yellow non-sports cars that are not covered by this segmentation). A MECE way to segment would be ‘cars produced before 2000’ and ‘cars produced after 2000’ as this segmentation allows for no overlap and covers all the cars in existence.

Dividing cars can be simple, but how can we ensure MECEness in a case-interview a.k.a. a business situation. While the same principles apply, a good tip to ensure that your structure is MECE is to think about all the stakeholders - i.e. those whom a specific venture involves.

Let’s consider that our client is a soda manufacturer who wants to move from a business-to-business strategy, i.e. selling to large chains of stores and supermarkets, to a business-to-consumer strategy where it sells directly to consumers. In doing so they would like to retrain part of their account managers as direct salespeople and need to know what factors to consider.

A stakeholder-driven approach would be to consider the workforce and customers and move further down the issue tree, thinking about individual issues that might affect them. In the case of the workforce, we might consider how the shift would affect their workload and whether it takes their skillset into account. As for the customers, we might wonder whether existing customers would be satisfied with this move: will the remaining B2B account managers be able to provide for the needs of all their clients and will the fact that the company is selling directly to consumers now not cannibalise their businesses? We see how by taking a stakeholder-centred approach we can ensure that every single perspective and potential issue arising from it is fully covered.

5.4.2 The Pareto Principle

Also known as the 80/20 rule, this principle is important when gauging the impact of a decision or a factor in your analysis. It simply states that in business (but not only) 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes. What this means is you can make a few significant changes that will impact most of your business organisation, sales model, cost structure etc.

Let’s have a look at 3 quick examples to illustrate this:

80% of all accidents are caused by 20% of drivers
20% of a company’s products account for 80% of the sales
80% of all results in a company are driven by 20% of its employees

The 80/20 rule will be a very good guide line in real engagements as well as case interviews, as it will essentially point to the easiest and most straightforward way of doing things. Let’s say one of the questions in a case is asking you to come up with an approach to understand the appeal of a new beard trimmer. Obviously you can’t interview the whole male population so you might think about setting up a webpage and asking people to comment their thoughts. But what you would get would be a laundry list of difficult to sift through data.

Using an 80/20 approach you would segment the population based on critical factors (age groups, grooming habits etc.) and then approach a significant sample size of each (e.g. 20), analysing the data and reaching a conclusion.

5.4.3 The Pyramid Principle

This principle refers to organising your communication in a top-down , efficient manner. While this is generally applicable, the pyramid principle will most often be employed when delivering the final recommendation to your client. This means - as is implicit in the name - that you would organise your recommendation (and communication in general) as a pyramid, stating the conclusion or most important element at the top then go down the pyramid listing 3 supporting arguments and then further (ideally also 3) supporting arguments for those supporting arguments.

Let’s look at this in practice in a case interview context: your client is a German air-conditioning unit manufacturer who was looking to expand into the French market. However, after your analysis you’ve determined that the market share they were looking to capture would not be feasible. A final recommendation using the Pyramid Principle would sound something like this: ‘I recommend that we do not enter the German market for the following three reasons. Firstly, the market is too small for our ambitions of $50 million. Secondly the market is heavily concentrated, being controlled by three major players and our 5 year goal would amount to controlling 25% of the market, a share larger than that of any of the players. Thirdly, the alternative of going into the corporate market would not be feasible, as it has high barriers to entry.Then, if needed, we could delve deeper into each of our categories

6. Case examples or building blocks?

As we mentioned before, in your case interview preparation you will undoubtedly find preparation resources that claim that there are several standard types of cases and that there is a general framework that can be applied to each type of case. While there are indeed cases that are straightforward at least in appearance and seemingly invite the application of such frameworks, the reality is never that simple and cases often involve multiple or more complicated components that cannot be fitted into a simple framework.

At MCC we don’t want you to get into the habit of trying to identify which case type you’re dealing with and pull out a framework, but we do recognize that there are recurring elements in frameworks that are useful - such as the profitability of a venture (with its revenues and costs), the valuation of a business, estimating and segmenting a market and pricing a product.

We call these building blocks because they can be used to build case frameworks but are not a framework in and of themselves, and they can be shuffled around and rearranged in any way necessary to be tailored to our case. Hence, our approach is not to make you think in terms of case types but work from first principles and use these building blocks to build your own framework. Let’s take two case prompts to illustrate our point.

The first is from the Bain website, where the candidate is asked whether they think it’s a good idea for their friend to open a coffee shop in Cambridge UK (see the case here ). The answer framework provided here is a very straightforward profitability analysis framework, examining the potential revenues and potential costs of the venture:

While this is a good point to start for your case interview (especially taken together with the clarifying questions), we will notice that this approach will need more tailoring to the case - for example the quantity of coffee will be determined by the market for coffee drinkers in Cambridge, which we have to determine based on preference. We are in England so a lot of people will be drinking tea but we are in a university town so perhaps more people than average are drinking coffee as it provides a better boost when studying. All these are some much needed case-tailored hypotheses that we can make based on the initial approach.

Just by looking at this case we might be tempted to say that we can just take a profitability case and apply it without any issues. However, this generic framework is just a starting point and in reality we would need to tailor it much further in the way we had started to do in order to get to a satisfactory answer. For example, the framework for this specific case interview doesn’t cover aspects such as the customer’s expertise: does the friend have any knowledge of the coffee business, such as where to source coffee and how to prepare it? Also, we could argue there may be some legal factors to consider here, such as any approvals that they might need from the city council to run a coffee shop on site, or some specific trade licences that are not really covered in the basic profitability framework.

Let’s take a different case , however, from the McKinsey website. In this scenario, the candidate is being asked to identify some factors in order to choose where to focus the client’s conservation efforts. Immediately we can realise that this case doesn’t lend itself to any pre-packaged framework and we will need to come up with something from scratch - and take a look at McKinsey’s answer of the areas to focus on:

We notice immediately that this framework is 100% tailored to the case - of course there are elements which we encounter in other cases, such as costs and risks but again these are applied in an organic way. It’s pretty clear that while no standard framework would work in this case, the aforementioned concepts - costs and risks - and the way to approach them (a.k.a building blocks ) are fundamentally similar throughout cases (with the obvious specificities of each case).

In what follows, we’ll give a brief description of each building block starting from the Bain example discussed previously, in order to give you a general idea of what they are and their adaptability, but you should make sure to follow the link to the in-depth articles to learn all their ins and outs.

6.1 Estimates and segmentation

This building block will come into play mostly when you’re thinking about the market for a certain product (but make sure to read the full article for more details). Let’s take our Bain Cambridge coffee example. As we mentioned under the quantity bucket we need to understand what the market size for coffee in Cambridge would be - so we can make an estimation based on segmentation .

The key to a good estimation is the ability to logically break down the problem into more manageable pieces. This will generally mean segmenting a wider population to find a particular target group. We can start off with the population of Cambridge - which we estimate at 100.000. In reality the population is closer to 150.000 but that doesn’t matter - the estimation has to be reasonable and not accurate , so unless the interviewer gives you a reason to reconsider you can follow your instinct. We can divide that into people who do and don’t drink coffee. Given our arguments before, we can conclude that 80% of those, so 80.000 drink coffee. Then we can further segment into those who drink regularly - let’s say every day - and those who drink occasionally - let’s say once a week. Based on the assumptions before about the student population needing coffee to function, and with Cambridge having a high student population, we can assume that 80% of those drinking coffee are regular drinkers, so that would be 64.000 regular drinkers and 16.000 occasional drinkers. We can then decide whom we want to target what our strategy needs to be:

This type of estimation and segmentation can be applied to any case specifics - hence why it is a building block.

6.2 Profitability

We had several looks at this building block so far (see an in-depth look here ) as it will show up in most case interivew scenarios, since profit is a key element in any company’s strategy. As we have seen, the starting point to this analysis is to consider both the costs and revenues of a company, and try to determine whether revenues need to be improved or whether costs need to be lowered. In the coffee example, the revenues are dictated by the average price per coffe x the number of coffees sold , whereas costs can be split into fixed and variable .

Some examples of fixed costs would be the rent for the stores and the cost of the personnel and utilities, while the most obvious variable costs would be the coffee beans used and the takeaway containers (when needed). We may further split revenues in this case into Main revenues - i.e. the sales of coffee - and Ancillary revenues , which can be divided into Sales of food products (sales of pastries, sandwiches etc., each with the same price x quantity schema) and Revenues from events - i.e renting out the coffee shop to events and catering for the events themselves. Bear in mind that revenues will be heavily influenced by the penetration rate , i.e. the share of the market which we can capture.

6.3 Pricing

Helping a company determine how much they should charge for their goods or services is another theme that comes up frequently in cases. While it may seem less complicated than the other building blocks, we assure you it’s not - you will have to understand and consider several factors, such as the costs a company is incurring, their general strategic positioning, availability, market trends as well as the customers’ willingness to pay (or WTP in short) - so make sure to check out our in-depth guide here .

In our example, we may determine that the cost per cup (coffee beans, staff, rent) is £1. We want to be student friendly so we should consider how much students would want to pay for a coffee as well as how much are competitors are charging. Based on those factors, it would be reasonable to charge on average £2 per cup of coffee. It’s true that our competitors are charging £3 but they are targeting mostly the adult market, whose willingness to pay is higher, so their pricing model takes that into account as well as the lower volume of customers in that demographic.

6.4. Valuation

A variant of the pricing building block, a valuation problem generally asks the candidate to determine how much a client should pay for a specific company (the target of an acquisition) as well as what other factors to consider. The two most important factors (but not the only ones - for a comprehensive review see our Valuation article ) to consider are the net present value (in consulting interviews usually in perpetuity) and the synergies .

In short, the net present value of a company is how much profit it currently brings in, divided by how much that cash flow will depreciate in the future and can be represented with the equation below:

The synergies refer to what could be achieved should the companies operate as one, and can be divided into cost and revenue synergies .

Let’s expand our coffee example a bit to understand these. Imagine that our friend manages to open a chain of coffee shops in Cambridge and in the future considers acquiring a chain of take-out restaurants. The most straightforward example of revenue synergies would be cross-selling, in this case selling coffee in the restaurants as well as in the dedicated stores, and thus getting an immediate boost in market share by using the existing customers of the restaurant chain. A cost synergy would be merging the delivery services of the two businesses to deliver both food and coffee, thus avoiding redundancies and reducing costs associated with twice the number of drivers and vehicles.

6.5. Competitive interaction

This component of cases deals with situations where the market in which a company is operating changes and the company must decide what to do. These changes often have to do with a new player entering the market (again for more details make sure to dive into the Competitive Interaction article ).

Let’s assume that our Cambridge coffee shop has now become a chain and has flagged up to other competitors that Cambridge is a blooming market for coffee. As such, Starbucks has decided to open a few stores in Cambridge themselves, to test this market. The question which might be posed to a candidate is what should our coffee chain do. One way (and a MECE one) to approach the problem is to decide between doing something and doing nothing . We might consider merging with another coffee chain and pooling our resources or playing to our strengths and repositioning ourselves as ‘your student-friendly, shop around the corner’. Just as easily we may just wait the situation out and see whether indeed Starbucks is cutting into our market share - after all, the advantages of our product and services might speak for themselves and Starbucks might end up tanking. Both of these are viable options if argued right and depending on the further specifics of the case.

6.6. Special cases

Most cases deal with private sectors, where the overarching objective entails profit in some form. However, as hinted before, there are cases which deal with other sectors where there are other KPIs in place . The former will usually contain one or several of these building blocks whereas the latter will very likely have neither. This latter category is arguably the one that will stretch your analytical and organisational skills to the limit, since there will be very little familiarity that you can fall back on (McKinsey famously employs such cases in their interview process).

So how do we tackle the structure for such cases? The short answer would be starting from first principles and using the problem driven structure outlined above, but let’s look at a quick example in the form of a McKinsey case :

The first question addressed to the candidate is the following:

This is in fact asking us to build a structure for the case. So what should we have in mind here? Most importantly, we should start with a structure that is MECE and we should remember to do that by considering all the stakeholders . They are on the one hand the government and affiliated institutions and on the other the population. We might then consider which issues might arise for each shareholder and what the benefits for them would be, as well as the risks. This approach is illustrated in the answer McKinsey provides as well:

More than anything, this type of case shows us how important it is to practise and build different types of structures, and think about MECE ways of segmenting the problem.

7. How Do I prepare for case interviews

In consulting fashion, the overall preparation can be structured into theoretical preparation and practical preparation , with each category then being subdivided into individual prep and prep with a partner .

As a general rule, the level and intensity of the preparation will differ based on your background - naturally if you have a business background (and have been part of a consulting club or something similar) your preparation will be less intensive than if you’re starting from scratch. The way we suggest you go about it is to start with theoretical preparation , which means learning about case interviews, business and basic consulting concepts (you can do this using free resources - such as the ones we provide - or if you want a more through preparation you can consider joining our Case Academy as well).

You can then move on to the practical preparation which should start with doing solo cases and focusing on areas of improvement, and then move on to preparation with a partner , which should be another candidate or - ideally - an ex-consultant.

Let’s go into more details with respect to each type of preparation.

7.1. Solo practice

The two most important areas of focus in sole preparation are:

Mental math

As we mentioned briefly, the best use of your time is to focus on solving cases. You can start with cases listed on MBB sites since they are clearly stated and have worked solutions as well (e.g. Bain is a good place to start) and then move to more complex cases (our Case Library also offers a range of cases of different complexities). To build your confidence, start out on easier case questions, work through with the solutions, and don't worry about time. As you get better, you can move on to more difficult cases and try to get through them more quickly. You should practice around eight case studies on your own to build your confidence.

Another important area of practice is your mental mathematics as this skill will considerably increase your confidence and is neglected by many applicants - much to their immediate regret in the case interview. Find our mental math tool here or in our course, and practice at least ten minutes per day, from day one until the day before the interview.

7.2. Preparation with a partner

There are aspects of a case interview - such as asking clarifying questions - which you cannot do alone and this is why, after you feel comfortable, you should move on to practice with another person. There are two options here:

Practicing with a peer
Practicing with an ex-consultant

In theory they can be complementary - especially if you’re peer is also preparing for consulting interviews - and each have advantages and disadvantages. A peer is likely to practice with you for free for longer, however you may end up reinforcing some bad habits or unable to get actionable feedback. A consultant will be able to provide you the latter but having their help for the same number of hours as a peer will come at a higher cost. Let’s look at each option in more detail.

7.2.1. Peer preparation

Once you have worked through eight cases solo, you should be ready to simulate the case interview more closely and start working with another person.

Here, many candidates turn to peer practice - that is, doing mock case interviews with friends, classmates or others also applying to consulting. If you’re in university, and especially in business school, there will very likely be a consulting club for you to join and do lots of case practice with. If you don’t have anyone to practice, though, or if you just want to get a bit more volume in with others, our free meeting board lets you find fellow applicants from around the world with whom to practice. We recommend practicing around 10 to 15 ‘live’ cases to really get to a point where you feel comfortable.

7.2.2. Preparation with a consultant

You can do a lot practising by yourself and with peers. However, nothing will bring up your skills so quickly and profoundly as working with a real consultant.

Perhaps think about it like boxing. You can practice drills and work on punch bags all you want, but at some point you need to get into the ring and do some actual sparring if you ever want to be ready to fight.

Practicing with an ex consultant is essentialy a simulation of a case interview. Of course, it isn’t possible to secure the time of experienced top-tier consultants for free. However, when considering whether you should invest to boost your chances of success, it is worth considering the difference in your salary over even just a few years between getting into a top-tier firm versus a second-tier one. In the light of thousands in increased annual earnings (easily accumulating into millions over multiple years), it becomes clear that getting expert interview help really is one of the best investments you can make in your own future.

Should you decide to make this step, MyConsultingCoach can help, offering bespoke mentoring programmes , where you are paired with a 5+ year experienced, ex-MBB mentor of your choosing, who will then oversee your whole case interview preparation from start to finish - giving you your best possible chance of landing a job!

7.3. Practice for online interviews

Standard preparation for interview case studies will carry directly over to online cases.

However, if you want to do some more specific prep, you can work through cases solo to a timer and using a calculator and/or Excel (online cases generally allow calculators and second computers to help you, whilst these are banned in live case interviews).

Older PST-style questions also make great prep, but a particularly good simulation is the self-assessment tests included in our Case Academy course . These multiple choice business questions conducted with a strict time limit are great preparation for the current crop of online cases.

7.4. Fit interviews

As we’ve noted, even something billed as a case interview is very likely to contain a fit interview as a subset.

We have an article on fit interviews and also include a full set of lessons on how to answer fit questions properly as a subset of our comprehensive Case Academy course .

Here though, the important thing to convey is that you take preparing for fit questions every bit as seriously as you do case prep.

Since they sound the same as you might encounter when interviewing for other industries, the temptation is to regard these as “just normal interview questions”.

However, consulting firms take your answers to these questions a good deal more seriously than elsewhere.

This isn’t just for fluffy “corporate culture” reasons. The long hours and close teamwork, as well as the client-facing nature of management consulting, mean that your personality and ability to get on with others is going to be a big part of making you a tolerable and effective co-worker.

If you know you’ll have to spend 14+ hour working days with someone you hire and that your annual bonus depends on them not alienating clients, you better believe you’ll pay attention to their character in interview.

There are also hard-nosed financial reasons for the likes of McKinsey, Bain and BCG to drill down so hard on your answers.

In particular, top consultancies have huge issues with staff retention. The average management consultant only stays with these firms for around two years before they have moved on to a new industry.

In some cases, consultants bail out because they can’t keep up with the arduous consulting lifestyle of long hours and endless travel. In many instances, though, departing consultants are lured away by exit opportunities - such as the well trodden paths towards internal strategy roles, private equity or becoming a start-up founder.

Indeed, many individuals will intentionally use a two year stint in consulting as something like an MBA they are getting paid for - giving them accelerated exposure to the business world and letting them pivot into something new.

Consulting firms want to get a decent return on investment for training new recruits. Thus, they want hires who not only intend to stick with consulting longer-term, but also have a temperament that makes this feasible and an overall career trajectory where it just makes sense for them to stay put.

This should hammer home the point that, if you want to get an offer, you need to be fully prepared to answer fit questions - and to do so excellently - any time you have a case interview.

8. Interview day - what to expect, with tips

Of course, all this theory is well and good, but a lot of readers might be concerned about what exactly to expect in real life . It’s perfectly reasonable to want to get as clear a picture as possible here - we all want to know what we are going up against when we face a new challenge!

Indeed, it is important to think about your interview in more holistic terms, rather than just focusing on small aspects of analysis. Getting everything exactly correct is less important than the overall approach you take to reasoning and how you communicate - and candidates often lose sight of this fact.

In this section, then, we’ll run through the case interview experience from start to finish, directing you to resources with more details where appropriate. As a supplement to this, the following video from Bain is excellent. It portrays an abridged version of a case interview, but is very useful as a guide to what to expect - not just from Bain, but from McKinsey, BCG and any other high-level consulting firm.

8.1. Getting started

Though you might be shown through to the office by a staff member, usually your interviewer will come and collect you from a waiting area. Either way, when you first encounter them, you should greet your interviewer with a warm smile and a handshake (unless they do not offer their hand). Be confident without verging into arrogance. You will be asked to take a seat in the interviewer’s office, where the case interview can then begin.

8.1.1. First impressions

In reality, your assessment begins before you even sit down at your interviewer’s desk. Whether at a conscious level or not, the impression you make within the first few seconds of meeting your interviewer is likely to significantly inform the final hiring decision (again, whether consciously or not).

Your presentation and how you hold yourself and behave are all important . If this seems strange, consider that, if hired, you will be personally responsible for many clients’ impressions of the firm. These things are part of the job! Much of material on the fit interview is useful here, whilst we also cover first impressions and presentation generally in our article on what to wear to interview .

As we have noted above, your interview might start with a fit segment - that is, with the interviewer asking questions about your experiences, your soft skills, and motivation to want to join consulting generally and that firm in particular. In short, the kinds of things a case study can’t tell them about you. We have a fit interview article and course to get you up to speed here.

8.1.2. Down to business

Following an initial conversation, your interviewer will introduce your case study , providing a prompt for the question you have to answer. You will have a pen and paper in front of you and should (neatly) note down the salient pieces of information (keep this up throughout the interview).

It is crucial here that you don’t delve into analysis or calculations straight away . Case prompts can be tricky and easy to misunderstand, especially when you are under pressure. Rather, ask any questions you need to fully understand the case question and then validate that understanding with the interviewer before you kick off any analysis. Better to eliminate mistakes now than experience that sinking feeling of realising you have gotten the whole thing wrong halfway through your case!

This process is covered in our article on identifying the problem and in greater detail in our Case Academy lesson on that subject.

8.1.3. Analysis

Once you understand the problem, you should take a few seconds to set your thoughts in order and draw up an initial structure for how you want to proceed. You might benefit from utilising one or more of our building blocks here to make a strong start. Present this to your interviewer and get their approval before you get into the nuts and bolts of analysis.

We cover the mechanics of how to structure your problem and lead the analysis in our articles here and here and more thoroughly in the MCC Case Academy . What it is important to convey here, though, is that your case interview is supposed to be a conversation rather than a written exam . Your interviewer takes a role closer to a co-worker than an invigilator and you should be conversing with them throughout.

Indeed, how you communicate with your interviewer and explain your rationale is a crucial element of how you will be assessed. Case questions in general, are not posed to see if you can produce the correct answer, but rather to see how you think . Your interviewer wants to see you approach the case in a structured, rational fashion. The only way they are going to know your thought processes, though, is if you tell them!

To demonstrate this point, here is another excellent video from Bain, where candidates are compared.

Note that multiple different answers to each question are considered acceptable and that Bain is primarily concerned with the thought processes of the candidate’s exhibit .

Another reason why communication is absolutely essential to case interview success is the simple reason that you will not have all the facts you need to complete your analysis at the outset. Rather, you will usually have to ask the interviewer for additional data throughout the case to allow you to proceed .

NB: Don't be let down by your math!

Your ability to quickly and accurately interpret these charts and other figures under pressure is one of the skills that is being assessed. You will also need to make any calculations with the same speed and accuracy (without a calculator!). As such, be sure that you are up to speed on your consulting math .

8.1.4. Recommendation

Finally, you will be asked to present a recommendation. This should be delivered in a brief, top-down "elevator pitch" format , as if you are speaking to a time-pressured CEO. Again here, how you communicate will be just as important as the details of what you say, and you should aim to speak clearly and with confidence.

For more detail on how to give the perfect recommendation, take a look at our articles on the Pyramid Principle and providing recommendations , as well the relevant lesson within MCC Academy .

8.1.5. Wrapping up

After your case is complete, there might be a few more fit questions - including a chance for you to ask some questions of the interviewer . This is your opportunity to make a good parting impression.

We deal with the details in our fit interview resources. However, it is always worth bearing in mind just how many candidates your interviewers are going to see giving similar answers to the same questions in the same office. A pretty obvious pre-requisite to being considered for a job is that your interviewer remembers you in the first place. Whilst you shouldn't do something stupid just to be noticed, asking interesting parting questions is a good way to be remembered.

Now, with the interview wrapped up, it’s time to shake hands, thank the interviewer for their time and leave the room .

You might have other case interviews or tests that day or you might be heading home. Either way, if know that you did all you could to prepare, you can leave content in the knowledge that you have the best possible chance of receiving an email with a job offer. This is our mission at MCC - to provide all the resources you need to realise your full potential and land your dream consulting job!

8.2. Remote and one-way interview tips

Zoom case interviews and “one-way” automated fit interviews are becoming more common as selection processes are increasingly remote, with these new formats being accompanied by their own unique challenges.

Obviously you won’t have to worry about lobbies and shaking hands for a video interview. However, a lot remains the same. You still need to do the same prep in terms of getting good at case cracking and expressing your fit answers. The specific considerations around remote case interviews are, in effect, around making sure you come across as effectively as you would in person.

8.2.1. Connection

It sounds trivial, but a successful video case interview of any kind presupposes a functioning computer with a stable and sufficient internet connection.

Absolutely don’t forget to have your laptop plugged in, as your battery will definitely let you down mid-interview. Similarly, make sure any housemates or family know not to use the microwave, vacuum cleaner or anything else that makes wifi cut out (or makes a lot of noise, obviously)

If you have to connect on a platform you don’t use much (for example, if it’s on Teams and you’re used to Zoom), make sure you have the up to date version of the app in advance, rather than having to wait for an obligatory download and end up late to join. Whilst you’re at it, make sure you’re familiar with the controls etc. At the risk of being made fun of, don’t be afraid to have a practice call with a friend.

8.2.2. Dress

You might get guidance on a slightly more relaxed dress code for a Zoom interview. However, if in doubt, dress as you would for the real thing (see our article here ).

Either way, always remember that presentation is part of what you are being assessed on - the firm needs to know you can be presentable for clients. Taking this stuff seriously also shows respect for your interviewer and their time in interviewing you.

8.2.3. Lighting

An aspect of presentation that you have to devote some thought to for a Zoom case interview is your lighting.

Hopefully, you long ago nailed a lighting set-up during the Covid lockdowns. However, make sure to check your lighting in advance with your webcam - bearing in mind what time if day your case interview actually is. If your case interview is late afternoon, don’t just check in the morning. Make sure you aren’t going to be blinded from light coming in a window behind your screen, or that you end up with the weird shadow stripes from blinds all over your face.

Natural light is always best, but if there won’t be much of that during your interview, you’ll likely want to experiment with moving some lamps around.

8.2.4. Clarity

The actual stories you tell in an automated “one-way” fit interview will be the same as for a live equivalent. If anything, things should be easier, as you can rattle off a practised monologue without an interviewer interrupting you to ask for clarifications.

You can probably also assume that the algorithm assessing your performance is sufficiently capable that it will be observing you at much the same level as a human interviewer. However, it is probably still worth speaking as clearly as possible with these kinds of interviews and paying extra attention to your lighting to ensure that your face is clearly visible.

No doubt the AIs scoring these interviews are improving all the time, but you still want to make their job as easy as possible. Just think about the same things as you would with a live Zoom case interview, but more so.

9. How we can help

There are lots of great free resources on this site to get you started with preparation, from all our articles on case solving and consulting skills to our free case library and peer practice meeting board .

To step your preparation up a notch, though, our Case Academy course will give you everything you need to know to solve the most complex of cases - whether those are in live case interviews, with chatbots, written tests or any other format.

Whatever kind of case you end up facing, nothing will bring up your skillset faster than the kind of acute, actionable feedback you can get from a mock case interview a real, MBB consultant. Whilst it's possible to get by without this kind of coaching, it does tend to be the biggest single difference maker for successful candidates.

You can find out more on our coaching page:

Explore Coaching

Of course, for those looking for a truly comprehensive programme, with a 5+ year experienced MBB consultant overseeing their entire prep personally, from networking and applications right through to your offer, we have our mentoring programmes.

You can read more here:

Comprehensive Mentoring

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Case study interview | tips from bain, bcg & mckinsey.

Bain, BCG, or McKinsey, the case study interview is a key part of the consulting interview process ©Philip McMaster

If you want to work in consulting, you’ll have to sit a case study interview. Here’s everything you need to know about the case study interview with tips from experts at Bain, BCG, and McKinsey

Mon Oct 11 2021

The consulting case study interview might just be one part of the application process, but it’s where you can stand out to your prospective employer and show you’ve got what it takes to crack cases day in day out.

Whether you have your eyes set on Bain, BCG, or McKinsey, or a smaller boutique consulting firm , here’s everything you need to know about the case study interview:

What is the consulting case study interview?

The consulting case study interview requires you to solve a simulated problem for a client. There are two types of case interview: The interviewer-led approach and the candidate-led approach.

“We use a client-like problem such as how to reduce a carbon footprint, how to make a workforce more diverse, how to leverage technology, or how to grow a customer base, and ask you three questions that simulate the kind of problem-solving our teams do in a client engagement,” says Amy Ross ( pictured) , senior expert in McKinsey’s global assessment team based in New York.

The three questions aren’t in a set order, but you can expect to focus on identifying the issues, then doing analysis based on information the team collects (that McKinsey provide), then coming up with insights and developing a conclusion. The McKinsey case study interview is consistent across global offices.

The interviewer-led approach of the McKinsey case interview means you’ll be guided through the process by your interviewer. However, there’s a caveat, explains Eugene Goh, the cofounder of HR tech startup, HireQuotient, who worked as a principal for BCG for more than eight years.

“They’re expecting a lot more detail and depth,” says Eugene, who’s recently cowritten From the Interviewer’s Seat: The Insider’s Guide for Aspiring Consultants , a book on the consulting interview.

Candidate-led approach

The candidate-led BCG case study interview will similarly present you with a real BCG case from previous client work. You’ll then be presented with the client’s challenges and have 45 minutes to walk your interviewer through your solution, rather than being led question by question. The BCG case study requires you to build your solution step by step.

“They’re looking for people who can structure their approach from end to end,” Eugene explains.

How can you stand out in your case study interview?

The case interview is supposed to simulate the problem-solving approach of the firm you’re interviewing with, which at McKinsey involves a lot of back-and-forth between team members, says Amy. You'll need to tackle case study interview questions that mimic a real consulting case.

“Candidates should listen to the client context and think about what it means, rather than repeat back everything the interviewer says.

“If the case covers an industry that is unfamiliar, candidates might consider whether there is an analogous industry they are familiar with and see if that helps them think of good ideas.

You should ask questions to clarify your understanding of the data and the issues at hand. Amy advises that you take a moment before speaking to collect your thoughts.

“Listen carefully, making sure you consider the information provided and the meaning behind the specific questions. You’ll stand out by putting the client front-and-center and by sharing interesting insights.”

The Bain case study, like the BCG case study, is often candidate-led. To stand out, your interviewers are looking for your analytical skills; the ability to break down challenging problems into parts you can tackle in a sequence; strong communication skills; the ability to simplify complex concepts; teamwork; and the ability to work successfully among others. That's according to Keith Bevans, head of global consultant recruitment at Bain & Company.

He explains that tackling a Bain case study is akin to playing in a jazz quartet. There’s no script, so you’re going to play a bit, and improvise. Improvisation is a key thing interviewers are looking for when you're solving a Bain case study.

“I think some students want to be perfect and play classical music and don’t want to share their insight or preliminary analysis until it’s right," says Keith. "The truth is I need them to share because what they share may not be perfect, but it’ll spark something in somebody else. I need students who are comfortable in that sort of environment.”

That's why MBA and business master's graduates are so well placed to enter consulting. They develop the skills that the Big Three consulting firms are looking for through live consulting projects, and constant group work that tests their ability to manage and lead diverse teams of peers to solve complex business problems.

Skills that will help you stand out

How to prepare for your case study interview?

The best thing you can do ahead of your consulting case study interview is prepare. Make sure you work with real case study interview examples.

Your business school will likely have a consulting club that offers consulting case study prep sessions, which will give you ample opportunity to work through mock case study interview questions. You may also have on hand a network of business school alumni who likely work in consulting, as well as professors—use them.

Amy from McKinsey recommends going to the website of the firm you’re applying to—McKinsey have case interview examples you can use to brush up on your casing. That way, you’ll know what to expect when you face your case study interview questions in real time.

She adds that there are many coaches and preparation services available to candidates, but the firm doesn’t expect you to use them.

“Frankly, we are worried there’s a lot of misleading advice out there so, again, we advise to consult our website, and feel free to ask your recruiter to arrange for you to meet one of our consultants who can be your interview coach,” she asserts.

Approach the case study interview like a McKinsey consultant

→ Make sure you understand the information provided.

→ Ask questions.

→ Collect yourself before diving into your answer.

→ Alongside logical ideas, challenge yourself to provide a few that are more ‘out there’, things you and a client team would want to test first. Sometimes, those bolder ideas are the best ones and often they really show McKinsey how you think.

Beware though, as you can see too many case study interview examples and overprepare. Angela Michalik, MBA recruiter at BCG, says that to avoid being overprepared focus on the quality not quantity of your prep.

Do one case, then get feedback, she says. At the end you should know where you were weak, and then in your next case go hard on the areas in which you’re weakest.

“I feel by doing that, students really improve,” she says. “You have to reflect on what you need to work on and practice.”

If you notice that you’re going straight into applying a framework to a case before you take the time to think, you might be overpreparing.

“Each client problem is different and deserves an initial approach that meets their needs. We realize interviews are filled with uncertainty, but the link between preparation and success in our process is not so strong,” Amy from McKinsey notes.

“Practice enough so you know what to expect, stay current with what’s new in the business world, and then bring curiosity and an open mind to your case interview.”

READ: Bain, BCG, McKinsey: How To Get Hired By The Big Three Consulting Firms

Granted, you need to be ready for ambiguity, something that can be hard to prepare for. But there’s a step-by-step approach Eugene says can help break away from the fixed framework approach:

- Define the objectives. What are you trying to do? Understand a bit about the client’s constraints. What’s the timeframe for the project, their budget, for example.

- Dive into the diagnosis. Why does the client have a problem?

- Option generation. What approaches could the client take?

- Option evaluation before coming to a decision

“It sounds generic but almost every problem, even in the real world, requires you to roughly go through those steps,” Eugene ( pictured ) says.

“That is a more helpful approach as it applies to all problems, therefore all cases.”

Case study interview prep is a key component of your overall application. But don’t stress. Focus on the quality of your preparation and lean on your business school network of MBA alumni in the consulting sector, as well as the resources available from your school’s consulting club.

Run through case interview examples from the firm’s you’re interested in and breathe before you approach a problem. That way, you’ll be best placed to ace your interview and launch your post-business school career as a consultant.

Where Do McKinsey, Bain, BCG Hire The Most MBAs?

Main image in this article is credited to Philip McMaster and used under this license

MBB Consulting

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MBA admission: How to crack case-based group discussions?

By:Surbhi Jain
Date: 2018-11-27 14:13:32

Case studies or caselets are now an integral part of admissions to the MBA. Often, candidates should analyze small files during a group discussion (GD), instead of general topics. The idea is to examine the candidate's point of view, logical approach, quick thinking, and his problem-solving attitude before finalizing his/her candidature for the MBA program. The caselets do not require any prior knowledge of the subject. It is considered an effective way of judging the management qualities of a candidate required for admission to the B-School.

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Although the Top management institutes (IIMs) have suppressed the group discussions, various leading business schools still continue to conduct case-based GDs some of the institutes are- XLRI-Jamshedpur, SPJIMR, Mumbai and NMIMS, Mumbai, etc. So what happens in a caselet? Mentors will give 10 minutes to the candidates to read a case summary followed by 10 minutes to write whatever we understood after that there will be a group discussion of 20 minutes. Let us figure out more about GD-based case studies in management institutes:

A case study is all about analysis because everyone gives the same information and therefore starts from the same base.

The case study topics are mainly related to current affairs. Current socio-economic environment, government policies, innovations, global economic climate or socio-political debates prevalent in popular media. Learn about as many case study topics as possible.

The purpose of these case-based GDs is to judge the knowledge, communication skills, leadership qualities and the ability of the candidate to make logical arguments and convince the opposing party, qualities needed to be a good manager.

Read more- GD/PI Tips for MBA Colleges in India

Here are some tips for solving case-based group discussions:

Refer to the topics covered in the GDs of your target institute. You can collect this information online or from coaching institutes. Take note of the topics covered over the years, it is very likely that the topics will go in the same direction this year as well.

Read newspapers, journals, magazines and watch current affairs programs to find out what's going on around you. Case-based GDs typically focus on business and economic issues that affect the social and political climate. Read editorials and articles based on hot topics, so you can use them while making your point of view during GD.

Meet up with your friends who are also MBA aspirants, form a group and hold a case-based group discussion. Exchange ideas, observe and develop confidence.

In case-based GDs, around five minutes are given to prepare, so use this time wisely. If the case is about a topic where the decision is to be made, quickly think of points to back your ‘to’ or ‘for’ stand and choose one. If the subject is such that a decision has already been made and the group has to decide whether it is right or wrong, re-choose aside after quickly weighing your points.

What should be the right approach?

Approach which can identify the crux of the problem, can logically analyze it and can suggest an alternate course of action to solve it, is the right approach. Know the steps that will lead you to solve it

Step1: Attentively read the caselet, following the important points Step2: Understand the objectives of the organization Step3: Get to the core of the problem and its causes Step4: Identify and focus on the obstacles and constraints of the issue in achieving the desired goals Step5: Find out the alternatives, analyze them and pick out the relevant ones. Step6: Filter all of the alternatives and choose the most appropriate one. Step7: Frame the course of action to implement the decision

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How to Read MBA Case Studies Quickly The Case Study method, popularized by the Harvard Business School, is a common feature across all B-schools. For you as a marketer and a B-school student, it becomes important to befriend case studies right away. In this discussion, I will reveal important aspects of case studies and how to read MBA case studies quickly and efficiently.

The Case Study Method initially popularized by Harvard Business School is now a dominant feature in the curriculum of all business schools, worldwide. And the fact is they are all over your curriculum too. Probably that's why you want to know how to read MBA case studies quickly.

If you are looking to get into a management course or are currently in a management program, my advice to you is - fall in love with Case Studies already!

They are going to be around you day and night. And the best way to fall in love or to make that love last is to first befriend it.

In this discussion, I will reveal important aspects of case studies and how to read MBA case studies quickly and efficiently. Let’s begin.

What is a Case Study?

Before answering how to read MBA case studies we need to first understand what is a case study .

A Case Study is a document of real-life business scenario or an imagined business scenario. The case study will present to you a problem, issue, conflict, report or impending decision-making that needs to be addressed, solved or analyzed for a business.

As you would know, the Harvard Case Study method is the most widely accepted pedagogy for MBA teaching and training. In fact, a good number of cases in your B-school would be Harvard published cases.

Won't you be interested to learn first-hand from the Harvard Business School about what their case study method is? During my MBA, I was lucky enough to come across this video which shares an insight on what this pedagogy entails for the students.

I urge you to go through this video. This isn't just a description of what the case study method is, but more importantly this is a sneak peak into what is the classroom experience for an MBA student. There would definitely be massive takeaways.

MBA Case Studies - Not Completely Unknown

While it might look to be a big deal, but most of you who have cracked a competitive exam like the CAT, GMAT, XAT or the others of the like have already dealt with a case study like creature before.

An MBA case study may also be looked at as an amalgamation of Reading Comprehension (RC) and Data Interpretation (DI) type of questions.

Yes, the RC and DI sections that you practiced for CAT. A case study may at times resemble an RC set alone and at time may seem like a cross-over between RC and DI set when charts and graphs are given.

I guess now you know why you are tested on Reading Comprehension and Data Interpretation in CAT? These sections check your reading skills, ability to interpret data given to you, evaluate alternatives and make a right decision; which, are all important and required in your management studies and your management career.

Case Analysis Blueprint Course

Learn how to analyze MBA business case studies comprehensively in just five steps

Get to know how to analyze a marketing case study comprehensively in just 5 slides. Which means that the next time you need to analyze a case or participate in a case competition, you would know exactly how to ace the case

Why are MBA Case Studies Important?

A case study is designed to make you step into a manager’s shoes and think like one. What if you are the manager, how would you solve this problem.

Solving a case study would make you explore your analytical , reasoning , leadership and decision-making skills and most importantly make you trust your educated instincts.

Case study method helps you to go a long way in applying your theoretical knowledge and its practical application in a very dynamic and a VUCA world. VUCA, as you may know, is an acronym based on leadership theories that stands for Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity.

As a Manager (or a management student) you should be able to provide realistic solutions to the problems presented in a case study. You should be able to explain and justify your decision.

Application of such critical faculties while solving a case study makes it an important feature in the curriculum of an aspiring manager. With each case, you need to change how read and perceive the information and, ultimately, how you think

With the importance of case studies explained, next, is a very important question - How do you solve a case study?

How to Solve MBA Case Studies?

There is no one way to solve a case study. Once you start solving an MBA case study you will have your own take on it. However, listed below are general guidelines that, more or less, remain the same and are effective in solving an MBA case study:

Place yourself in the role of a leader/manager or as the Harvard Business School likes to call it – Protagonist
Identify the problem that you face as a protagonist
Examine the causes for the problems and the issues that are there. Don't worry, you might find conclusive evidences for them. But just form your hypothesis.
Create alternatives or possible courses of actions that are within the purview of the organization’s goals and objectives
Get back to your hypothesis and assumptions and choose a course of action that is the most favorable. You most likely will need data from the exhibits to decide on one strategy.
Put it to vote. Discuss. Brainstorm. Identify possible trade-offs for each alternative
Suggest a final alternative and justify it
Discuss the case study with fellow students, professors, colleagues, and note all interesting/new/innovative solutions that others have to offer
Enjoy the learning and process

How to Analyse Marketing Case Studies Free Marketing Ebook

Want a step-by-step framework to analyse Marketing Case Studies?

This guide on How to Analyse Marketing Case Studies tells you the methods to tackle a case. What I suggest in the book is an elaborate explanation of how you can present your case study analysis most effectively, in just 5 slides.

But, How to Read MBA Case Studies Quickly?

To the above question I would also like to add “and efficiently”. How to read MBA case studies quickly and efficiently?

I would suggest two ways reading MBA case studies quickly:

Reading the case study thoroughly when you need to really understand and present it
Reading the case study super -quickly when you are super -pressed for time

Here's a little thumb rule that you should follow while picking the right method to read your case study.

Just to not spoil you with a slightly lesser honest way of reading cases, I would first be talking about what the correct approach of reading an MBA case study should be.

Reading an MBA Case Study Thoroughly [Honest Method]

Here is my standard method of reading MBA case studies efficiently and quickly:

Before the case is given to you, you would know where it fits into the curriculum . Marketing, Finance, Operations etc.
You would also know the topics that you have covered or are about to start in the next discussion. This will definitely give you an idea of what you need to do.
For me, reading a case study for is a 2-3 round affair . And that what makes it quicker, because you are not committed to reading it with full attention in one shot. That's just too much pressure.
In the first read, which should be a super-speed round , read the sub-headings, read each and every line but extremely brazenly – in speed. No regressing at all. Identify the core scenario of the case and what it is that you are required to do.
You will experience that there are mostly two kinds of case studies that you will encounter:
Where you have to take decision as a protagonist or a team leader
Where no decision making is required, you have to only discuss and analyse the case at hand
Identify the key players or stakeholders and identify key issues/problems
Keep your pencil or pen handy . You will be taking notes while solving a case study. Underlining, highlighting would help to reduce the time spent in writing.
Slow down on statements which have some ‘quotes’ from any of the characters or a line which has numbers . These are things to be read properly and even noted down if required.
Skim through the discussion questions. Write relevant pointers for each question that you would have picked up from the case’s preliminary reading. Run the scenario in your brain and raise questions as to what happened and why it happened and most importantly what needs to be done.
Form two or three hypotheses based on your reading. Create a situation analysis, what-ifs, and try to fit the data and the facts in each of them. This could require the 2 nd and 3 rd rounds of reading to cull-out that data
Go back to the case - this could be your 2 nd read and look for any data that you may have missed. Fill the gaps in your hypothesis . This is where you need to find data from the exhibits.
Go for a 3 rd read if some data is still missing or if you have realized that your initial hypotheses aren't shaping up well an you need to form new ones. Some would prefer to do the 2 nd or 3 rd read question-wise while others may prefer analyzing the case as a whole
Now start working on the solving these problems with the data collected

Other way to solve a case is to first read the discussion questions carefully. Then, read the case keeping the questions in mind as a guide to what’s important in the case and what can be ignored.

Now that you know how to read an MBA case study in the most proper way, I am sharing with you a way to read MBA case studies quickly when you are super-pressed for time.

Let me tell you that, this strategy may give you a broad understanding of the case study to do some sort of class participation. But it will not give you enough knowledge which allows you to present the case with its full details.

Reading an MBA Case Study Quickly [ Partially Honest Method]

I would not be calling a dishonest method. Instead, I am calling it the 'partially honest method' for the reason that I am giving you a benefit of doubt - that while you truly wanted to analyse it and do a meaningful class participation, you happen to be pressed for time.

The first step would be to quickly flip the pages and get a feel of the case. The headings , sub-headings and words which are in bold will be of help.
Go to the last page and read the last paragraph . This could be titled as 'Conclusion' in the case study. It could also be titled something else as per the context of the case or their simply may be no heading on this last paragraph.
Get back to the first page and completely read the introduction paragraph. This would help you understand who is the 'protagonist' of the case.
From the next heading onward, start reading the first two sentences and the last two sentences of each sub-section/sub-heading.
By now, you would know three things about the case; the protagonist, the context and what needs to be done by you on behalf of the protagonist
The next step is where the dishonesty comes in. This is where we go and look for a case summary over the internet.
Most of the cases that you will encounter will be Harvard Business School (HBS) Cases. The copies of cases handout to you are also available on the HBS website for sale, along with their synopsis.
Read up the summary and quickly fill up the gaps that you may have in your understanding. In quite a few cases, you may find the summary on other websites.

A big DON'T in any case is this - most of the cases are already solved by students of other B-schools and their presentations are already available on Slideshare or other places.

Do not read these. These would go ahead and 'analyse' the case for you. This would end up making you rigid in your thought process and the class discussion will also not be as fruitful.

Some Examples of MBA Case Studies

MBA case study could be on number of topics.

A Marketing case study example could be about competitive strategy, pricing, entering a new market, ad campaign, target audience, positioning, etc.
A Finance case study could be about adopting new accounting policies, evaluating cash flows, debt equity mix balance of the company, etc.
A Human Resource Management case study could focus on adopting new appraisal format, conflict between employees and management, union conflict, employee benefits etc.
An Operations case study may include warehousing issues, effective inventory management, improving supply chain management, evaluating raw material suppliers etc.
A Strategic case study is where you would be presented with problems/issues spanning more than one topic or domain.

Is the solution always going to be foolproof?

No, remember it is a VUCA world. Today’s approach may be cause doom tomorrow. You need to be in tandem with the market trends and give your pinch of innovative thinking.

Will there always be a solution and a conclusion?

No. Just like this article, most of the case studies will not have a conclusion or a single solution. Such cases are more about understanding what happened and why it happened.

Author of this post

Amandeep is devout student and learner of Marketing Trends and Business Strategies. Aman is an MBA in Marketing from the 2015-17 batch. She has spent the better part of her education and subsequent work experience, in gauging, learning and honing the skills that are important for the businesses to remain relevant among competition. To that end, this blog encapsulates the best business and marketing practices for professionals.

Amandeep Kaur Jakhar

Are Positions of Responsibility Important for MBA Placements? It is believed that being a member of a committee or club and contributing to it as a team player is a must for getting a good placement. How important are these Positions of Responsibilities (PORs) really for you as an MBA student or aspirant? In this article, I’ll share with you whether PORs are important for you as an MBA student and if not, what other things you must focus on during your MBA for a good resume and in order to make a larger impact.

Why a Summer Internship is important in an MBA program? In an MBA program, a summer internship can be one of the most crucial periods. Students get their first exposure to corporate life during this period. Their career trajectory after they graduate with MBA is shaped by this period. This article explains why summer internship is important for an MBA student.

How to Answer MBA Admission Interview Questions on Marketing If you are an MBA aspirant who will be appearing for his interviews soon, this article is for you. My aim in this piece is not just to tell you about the MBA admission interview questions in Marketing that they will ask you. In fact, my aim is to help you market your dream of pursuing MBA in Marketing.

How To Prepare for MBA Summer Placements [Blog]

How to Prepare for MBA Summer Placements? [5 Must Dos] Are you an MBA student with your summer placements around the corner? Do you want to know how to prepare for your MBA summer placements? In this article, I’ll share with you a few things you must keep in mind while preparing for your MBA summer placement that would not only help you build a strong foundation for your summer placements but also for your MBA life and career in general.

Personal Branding for MBA Students We all wonder what is that one thing that made all the difference? On what basis is a person selected or rejected after an interview? What is that makes MBA students get their dream internships and final placement offers? Moreover, what is that one thing that makes them standout even after passing out from their colleges?

Why MBA and Marketing for IT Professionals? Did you not see two of the most asked interview questions hidden in that title? The two big questions- Why MBA for IT professionals? And Why Marketing? I have made up my mind to get the long-standing debate settled and my friends in IT are the chosen ones.

About the Author: Team Super Heuristics

A Step-by-Step Guide To Case Discussion

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Are you comfortable in Decision Making in a given situation How aptly you analyze the situation with a logical approach How much time do you take in arriving at a decision How good are you in taking the rightful course of action

Solved Example:

Hari, the only working member of the family has been working an organization for 25 years. His job required long standing hours. One day, while working, he lost his leg in an accident. The company paid for his medical reimbursement.

Since he was a hardworking employee; the company offered him another compensatory job. He refused by saying, ‘Once a Lion, always a Lion’. As an HR, what solution would you suggest?

Identification of the Problem:

Obvious: accident, refusal of job, only earning member, his attitude, and inability to do his current job Hidden: the reputation of the company at stake, the course of action might influence other employees

Action Plan:

As an HR, you are first expected to check the company records and find out how a similar case has been dealt with in the past. Second, you need to take cognizance of the track record of the employee highlighted by the keyword ‘hardworking’.

Given the situation at hand, he is deemed unfit for his current role. However, the problem arises because of his attitude towards the compensatory job. Hence, in such a case, counselling is required.

Here, three levels of Counselling is required: 1. Ist level is with Hari 2. IInd level of counselling is required with the Union Leader (if any) to keep the collective interest and the reputation of the company in mind 3. IIIrd level of counselling is required with his family members as they constitute of the afflicted party

If the counselling does not work, one should also identify a contingency plan or Plan B. In this case, the Contingency Plan would be – hire someone from his family for a compensatory role.

Note that the following options are out of scope and should be avoided: 1. Increase Hari’s salary so that he gives in and agrees to do the compensatory job 2. Status Quo – do not bother as long as the Company is making a profit 3. Replace Hari with someone else

1. Pinpoint the key issues to be solved and identify their cause and effects

2. Start broad and try to work through a range of issues methodically

3. Connect the facts and evidence and focus on the big picture

4. Discuss any trade-offs or implications of your proposed solution

5. Relate your conclusion back to the problem statement and make sure you have answered all the questions

1. Do not be anxious if you are not able to understand the situation well or unable to justify the problem. Read again, a little slowly, it will help you understand better.

2. Do not jump to conclusions; try to move systematically and gradually.

3. Do not panic if you are unable to analyze the situation. Listen carefully to others as the discussion starts, it will help you gauge the problem at hand.

All the best! Ace the GDPI season.

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47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)

Case interview examples - McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.

One of the best ways to prepare for case interviews at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples.

There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.

The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.

McKinsey examples
BCG examples
Bain examples
Deloitte examples
Other firms' examples
Case books from consulting clubs
Case interview preparation

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

1. mckinsey case interview examples.

Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
Profitability case with ex-McKinsey manager (by IGotAnOffer)
McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

2. BCG case interview examples

Foods Inc and GenCo case samples (BCG website)
Chateau Boomerang written case interview (BCG website)
BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
BCG live case interview with notes (by IGotAnOffer)
BCG mock case interview with ex-BCG associate director - Public sector case (by IGotAnOffer)
BCG mock case interview: Revenue problem case (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

3. Bain case interview examples

CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
Written case interview tips (Bain website)
Bain case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
Digital transformation case with ex-Bain consultant
Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

4. Deloitte case interview examples

Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
Retail Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
Finance Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
Footloose written case (by Deloitte)
Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

5. Accenture case interview examples

Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

6. OC&C case interview examples

Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)

7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples

Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples

Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples

Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples

Case interview example video walkthrough (L.E.K. website)
Market sizing case example video walkthrough (L.E.K. website)

11. Roland Berger case interview examples

Transit oriented development case webinar part 1 (Roland Berger website)
Transit oriented development case webinar part 2 (Roland Berger website)
3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1 (Roland Berger website)
3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2 (Roland Berger website)
Roland Berger case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

12. Capital One case interview examples

Case interview example video walkthrough (Capital One website)
Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

12. EY Parthenon case interview examples

Candidate-led case example with feedback (by IGotAnOffer)

14. Consulting clubs case interview examples

Berkeley case book (2006)
Columbia case book (2006)
Darden case book (2012)
Darden case book (2018)
Duke case book (2010)
Duke case book (2014)
ESADE case book (2011)
Goizueta case book (2006)
Illinois case book (2015)
LBS case book (2006)
MIT case book (2001)
Notre Dame case book (2017)
Ross case book (2010)
Wharton case book (2010)

Practice with experts

Using case interview examples is a key part of your interview preparation, but it isn’t enough.

At some point you’ll want to practise with friends or family who can give some useful feedback. However, if you really want the best possible preparation for your case interview, you'll also want to work with ex-consultants who have experience running interviews at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.

If you know anyone who fits that description, fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.

Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can do mock case interviews 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from MBB firms . Start scheduling sessions today!

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Blog Business How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Sep 07, 2023

Okay, let’s get real: case studies can be kinda snooze-worthy. But guess what? They don’t have to be!

In this article, I will cover every element that transforms a mere report into a compelling case study, from selecting the right metrics to using persuasive narrative techniques.

And if you’re feeling a little lost, don’t worry! There are cool tools like Venngage’s Case Study Creator to help you whip up something awesome, even if you’re short on time. Plus, the pre-designed case study templates are like instant polish because let’s be honest, everyone loves a shortcut.

Click to jump ahead:

What is a case study presentation?

What is the purpose of presenting a case study, how to structure a case study presentation, how long should a case study presentation be, 5 case study presentation examples with templates, 6 tips for delivering an effective case study presentation, 5 common mistakes to avoid in a case study presentation, how to present a case study faqs.

A case study presentation involves a comprehensive examination of a specific subject, which could range from an individual, group, location, event, organization or phenomenon.

They’re like puzzles you get to solve with the audience, all while making you think outside the box.

Unlike a basic report or whitepaper, the purpose of a case study presentation is to stimulate critical thinking among the viewers.

The primary objective of a case study is to provide an extensive and profound comprehension of the chosen topic. You don’t just throw numbers at your audience. You use examples and real-life cases to make you think and see things from different angles.

The primary purpose of presenting a case study is to offer a comprehensive, evidence-based argument that informs, persuades and engages your audience.

Here’s the juicy part: presenting that case study can be your secret weapon. Whether you’re pitching a groundbreaking idea to a room full of suits or trying to impress your professor with your A-game, a well-crafted case study can be the magic dust that sprinkles brilliance over your words.

Think of it like digging into a puzzle you can’t quite crack . A case study lets you explore every piece, turn it over and see how it fits together. This close-up look helps you understand the whole picture, not just a blurry snapshot.

It’s also your chance to showcase how you analyze things, step by step, until you reach a conclusion. It’s all about being open and honest about how you got there.

Besides, presenting a case study gives you an opportunity to connect data and real-world scenarios in a compelling narrative. It helps to make your argument more relatable and accessible, increasing its impact on your audience.

One of the contexts where case studies can be very helpful is during the job interview. In some job interviews, you as candidates may be asked to present a case study as part of the selection process.

Having a case study presentation prepared allows the candidate to demonstrate their ability to understand complex issues, formulate strategies and communicate their ideas effectively.

The way you present a case study can make all the difference in how it’s received. A well-structured presentation not only holds the attention of your audience but also ensures that your key points are communicated clearly and effectively.

In this section, let’s go through the key steps that’ll help you structure your case study presentation for maximum impact.

Let’s get into it.

Open with an introductory overview

Start by introducing the subject of your case study and its relevance. Explain why this case study is important and who would benefit from the insights gained. This is your opportunity to grab your audience’s attention.

Explain the problem in question

Dive into the problem or challenge that the case study focuses on. Provide enough background information for the audience to understand the issue. If possible, quantify the problem using data or metrics to show the magnitude or severity.

Detail the solutions to solve the problem

After outlining the problem, describe the steps taken to find a solution. This could include the methodology, any experiments or tests performed and the options that were considered. Make sure to elaborate on why the final solution was chosen over the others.

Key stakeholders Involved

Talk about the individuals, groups or organizations that were directly impacted by or involved in the problem and its solution.

Stakeholders may experience a range of outcomes—some may benefit, while others could face setbacks.

For example, in a business transformation case study, employees could face job relocations or changes in work culture, while shareholders might be looking at potential gains or losses.

Discuss the key results & outcomes

Discuss the results of implementing the solution. Use data and metrics to back up your statements. Did the solution meet its objectives? What impact did it have on the stakeholders? Be honest about any setbacks or areas for improvement as well.

Include visuals to support your analysis

Visual aids can be incredibly effective in helping your audience grasp complex issues. Utilize charts, graphs, images or video clips to supplement your points. Make sure to explain each visual and how it contributes to your overall argument.

Pie charts illustrate the proportion of different components within a whole, useful for visualizing market share, budget allocation or user demographics.

This is particularly useful especially if you’re displaying survey results in your case study presentation.

Stacked charts on the other hand are perfect for visualizing composition and trends. This is great for analyzing things like customer demographics, product breakdowns or budget allocation in your case study.

Consider this example of a stacked bar chart template. It provides a straightforward summary of the top-selling cake flavors across various locations, offering a quick and comprehensive view of the data.

Not the chart you’re looking for? Browse Venngage’s gallery of chart templates to find the perfect one that’ll captivate your audience and level up your data storytelling.

Recommendations and next steps

Wrap up by providing recommendations based on the case study findings. Outline the next steps that stakeholders should take to either expand on the success of the project or address any remaining challenges.

Acknowledgments and references

Thank the people who contributed to the case study and helped in the problem-solving process. Cite any external resources, reports or data sets that contributed to your analysis.

Feedback & Q&A session

Open the floor for questions and feedback from your audience. This allows for further discussion and can provide additional insights that may not have been considered previously.

Closing remarks

Conclude the presentation by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the takeaways. Thank your audience for their time and participation and express your willingness to engage in further discussions or collaborations on the subject.

Well, the length of a case study presentation can vary depending on the complexity of the topic and the needs of your audience. However, a typical business or academic presentation often lasts between 15 to 30 minutes.

This time frame usually allows for a thorough explanation of the case while maintaining audience engagement. However, always consider leaving a few minutes at the end for a Q&A session to address any questions or clarify points made during the presentation.

When it comes to presenting a compelling case study, having a well-structured template can be a game-changer.

It helps you organize your thoughts, data and findings in a coherent and visually pleasing manner.

Not all case studies are created equal and different scenarios require distinct approaches for maximum impact.

To save you time and effort, I have curated a list of 5 versatile case study presentation templates, each designed for specific needs and audiences.

Here are some best case study presentation examples that showcase effective strategies for engaging your audience and conveying complex information clearly.

1 . Lab report case study template

Ever feel like your research gets lost in a world of endless numbers and jargon? Lab case studies are your way out!

Think of it as building a bridge between your cool experiment and everyone else. It’s more than just reporting results – it’s explaining the “why” and “how” in a way that grabs attention and makes sense.

This lap report template acts as a blueprint for your report, guiding you through each essential section (introduction, methods, results, etc.) in a logical order.

College Lab Report Template - Introduction

Want to present your research like a pro? Browse our research presentation template gallery for creative inspiration!

2. Product case study template

It’s time you ditch those boring slideshows and bullet points because I’ve got a better way to win over clients: product case study templates.

Instead of just listing features and benefits, you get to create a clear and concise story that shows potential clients exactly what your product can do for them. It’s like painting a picture they can easily visualize, helping them understand the value your product brings to the table.

Grab the template below, fill in the details, and watch as your product’s impact comes to life!

3. Content marketing case study template

In digital marketing, showcasing your accomplishments is as vital as achieving them.

A well-crafted case study not only acts as a testament to your successes but can also serve as an instructional tool for others.

With this coral content marketing case study template—a perfect blend of vibrant design and structured documentation, you can narrate your marketing triumphs effectively.

4. Case study psychology template

Understanding how people tick is one of psychology’s biggest quests and case studies are like magnifying glasses for the mind. They offer in-depth looks at real-life behaviors, emotions and thought processes, revealing fascinating insights into what makes us human.

Writing a top-notch case study, though, can be a challenge. It requires careful organization, clear presentation and meticulous attention to detail. That’s where a good case study psychology template comes in handy.

Think of it as a helpful guide, taking care of formatting and structure while you focus on the juicy content. No more wrestling with layouts or margins – just pour your research magic into crafting a compelling narrative.

5. Lead generation case study template

Lead generation can be a real head-scratcher. But here’s a little help: a lead generation case study.

Think of it like a friendly handshake and a confident resume all rolled into one. It’s your chance to showcase your expertise, share real-world successes and offer valuable insights. Potential clients get to see your track record, understand your approach and decide if you’re the right fit.

No need to start from scratch, though. This lead generation case study template guides you step-by-step through crafting a clear, compelling narrative that highlights your wins and offers actionable tips for others. Fill in the gaps with your specific data and strategies, and voilà! You’ve got a powerful tool to attract new customers.

Modern Lead Generation Business Case Study Presentation Template

Related: 15+ Professional Case Study Examples [Design Tips + Templates]

So, you’ve spent hours crafting the perfect case study and are now tasked with presenting it. Crafting the case study is only half the battle; delivering it effectively is equally important.

Whether you’re facing a room of executives, academics or potential clients, how you present your findings can make a significant difference in how your work is received.

Forget boring reports and snooze-inducing presentations! Let’s make your case study sing. Here are some key pointers to turn information into an engaging and persuasive performance:

Know your audience : Tailor your presentation to the knowledge level and interests of your audience. Remember to use language and examples that resonate with them.
Rehearse : Rehearsing your case study presentation is the key to a smooth delivery and for ensuring that you stay within the allotted time. Practice helps you fine-tune your pacing, hone your speaking skills with good word pronunciations and become comfortable with the material, leading to a more confident, conversational and effective presentation.
Start strong : Open with a compelling introduction that grabs your audience’s attention. You might want to use an interesting statistic, a provocative question or a brief story that sets the stage for your case study.
Be clear and concise : Avoid jargon and overly complex sentences. Get to the point quickly and stay focused on your objectives.
Use visual aids : Incorporate slides with graphics, charts or videos to supplement your verbal presentation. Make sure they are easy to read and understand.
Tell a story : Use storytelling techniques to make the case study more engaging. A well-told narrative can help you make complex data more relatable and easier to digest.

Ditching the dry reports and slide decks? Venngage’s case study templates let you wow customers with your solutions and gain insights to improve your business plan. Pre-built templates, visual magic and customer captivation – all just a click away. Go tell your story and watch them say “wow!”

Nailed your case study, but want to make your presentation even stronger? Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your audience gets the most out of it:

Overloading with information

A case study is not an encyclopedia. Overloading your presentation with excessive data, text or jargon can make it cumbersome and difficult for the audience to digest the key points. Stick to what’s essential and impactful. Need help making your data clear and impactful? Our data presentation templates can help! Find clear and engaging visuals to showcase your findings.

Lack of structure

Jumping haphazardly between points or topics can confuse your audience. A well-structured presentation, with a logical flow from introduction to conclusion, is crucial for effective communication.

Ignoring the audience

Different audiences have different needs and levels of understanding. Failing to adapt your presentation to your audience can result in a disconnect and a less impactful presentation.

Poor visual elements

While content is king, poor design or lack of visual elements can make your case study dull or hard to follow. Make sure you use high-quality images, graphs and other visual aids to support your narrative.

Not focusing on results

A case study aims to showcase a problem and its solution, but what most people care about are the results. Failing to highlight or adequately explain the outcomes can make your presentation fall flat.

How to start a case study presentation?

Starting a case study presentation effectively involves a few key steps:

Grab attention : Open with a hook—an intriguing statistic, a provocative question or a compelling visual—to engage your audience from the get-go.
Set the stage : Briefly introduce the subject, context and relevance of the case study to give your audience an idea of what to expect.
Outline objectives : Clearly state what the case study aims to achieve. Are you solving a problem, proving a point or showcasing a success?
Agenda : Give a quick outline of the key sections or topics you’ll cover to help the audience follow along.
Set expectations : Let your audience know what you want them to take away from the presentation, whether it’s knowledge, inspiration or a call to action.

How to present a case study on PowerPoint and on Google Slides?

Presenting a case study on PowerPoint and Google Slides involves a structured approach for clarity and impact using presentation slides :

Title slide : Start with a title slide that includes the name of the case study, your name and any relevant institutional affiliations.
Introduction : Follow with a slide that outlines the problem or situation your case study addresses. Include a hook to engage the audience.
Objectives : Clearly state the goals of the case study in a dedicated slide.
Findings : Use charts, graphs and bullet points to present your findings succinctly.
Analysis : Discuss what the findings mean, drawing on supporting data or secondary research as necessary.
Conclusion : Summarize key takeaways and results.
Q&A : End with a slide inviting questions from the audience.

What’s the role of analysis in a case study presentation?

The role of analysis in a case study presentation is to interpret the data and findings, providing context and meaning to them.

It helps your audience understand the implications of the case study, connects the dots between the problem and the solution and may offer recommendations for future action.

Is it important to include real data and results in the presentation?

Yes, including real data and results in a case study presentation is crucial to show experience, credibility and impact. Authentic data lends weight to your findings and conclusions, enabling the audience to trust your analysis and take your recommendations more seriously

How do I conclude a case study presentation effectively?

To conclude a case study presentation effectively, summarize the key findings, insights and recommendations in a clear and concise manner.

End with a strong call-to-action or a thought-provoking question to leave a lasting impression on your audience.

What’s the best way to showcase data in a case study presentation ?

The best way to showcase data in a case study presentation is through visual aids like charts, graphs and infographics which make complex information easily digestible, engaging and creative.

Don’t just report results, visualize them! This template for example lets you transform your social media case study into a captivating infographic that sparks conversation.

Choose the type of visual that best represents the data you’re showing; for example, use bar charts for comparisons or pie charts for parts of a whole.

Ensure that the visuals are high-quality and clearly labeled, so the audience can quickly grasp the key points.

Keep the design consistent and simple, avoiding clutter or overly complex visuals that could distract from the message.

Choose a template that perfectly suits your case study where you can utilize different visual aids for maximum impact.

Need more inspiration on how to turn numbers into impact with the help of infographics? Our ready-to-use infographic templates take the guesswork out of creating visual impact for your case studies with just a few clicks.

Related: 10+ Case Study Infographic Templates That Convert

Congrats on mastering the art of compelling case study presentations! This guide has equipped you with all the essentials, from structure and nuances to avoiding common pitfalls. You’re ready to impress any audience, whether in the boardroom, the classroom or beyond.

And remember, you’re not alone in this journey. Venngage’s Case Study Creator is your trusty companion, ready to elevate your presentations from ordinary to extraordinary. So, let your confidence shine, leverage your newly acquired skills and prepare to deliver presentations that truly resonate.

Go forth and make a lasting impact!

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How To Write Case Study In MBA

Be it any time of the year, an MBA degree has been most popular among students. This two years degree holds excellent value in the e-commerce world. Trending and out there, millions of students opt for this particular subject. Of course, if students have chosen this subject to be their major, time and again, they will be surrounded by several MBA assignments, thesis, or case studies.

Though assignment writing is an easy task to accomplish, writing a case study in MBA is something all the students dread to the next level. The in-depth analysis and research can surely take the sweet night’s sleep away. Hence, students search for an ultimate ready-made savior to help them. To write any kind of MBA case study paper is not every student’s work. Case study writing involves a lot of attention and energy. Moreover, if the course is MBA, then a student can easily double all the attributes of research writing like more energy and more attention.

The helpful 12 tips to get your case study done in MBA

With every hardship comes ease. Just like your worries related to MBA case study , our top tutors have collected some valuable points that can ease down your tension related to case study writing.

The list goes down as follows:

Proper Knowledge OF The Subject

The foremost thing while writing a case study in MBA includes knowing your subject well. The subject should be clear in your mind, like clean water. All your views and knowledge about your subject should be on point with nowhere close to any type of confusion, whatsoever.

Extensive Research

No case study can turn out to be an excellent piece without an extensive research process. Carrying out a lot of research for your case study in MBA is the crucial part of writing a flawless case paper. With proper research done, your case study can easily stand out among your peers.

Requires Too Much Study

To create an error-free case study, the most important factor is to master the art of studying. A lot of studying is essential to write an ideal MBA case study paper . The common domains for studying include books, blogs, journals, magazines, online, websites, newspapers, etc.

On-Point Writing

It’s equally crucial to make your case study in MBA on point. No unnecessary or confusing points should be added to your case study. Avoid as many fluffs as possible. The related information will always hook the reader while making it more and more engaging.

Conform To Your Subject

MBA holds a lot of sub fields in it. So, it is important to strictly stick to one sub field at a time. Like, if the discussion is about the finance subject, the writing should only focus on that. This aspect is one of the most useful tips to write an MBA case study that restricts jumping from one subject to another.

Say No To Plagiarism

It is one of the Vital aspects of case study writing. No plagiarized content should be there in your paper. Try to use an authentic and unique style of writing.

Add Up Diagrams And Examples

Always fancy your case study with diagrams and examples. Like swot analysis, Boston matrix, BCG matrix and supply chain management, etc.

Proofreading

It is the primary duty of the students to make their case studies classic by making them error-free. When the paper is finalized, proper proofreading is a must. Check for all the frequent grammar or spelling mistakes. Double-check the facts and figures stated.

Unique Ideas

The students mostly ignore this particular aspect. The common mistake is to repeat the ideas that instantly lose the grip of the case study. Always make sure to use authentic and unique ideas for every paper. Remember, repetition creates boredom.

Clear Formatting

When you are stuck with your case studies, the only thing that comes to your mind is to buy a case study assignment online . But, if you wish to write it on your own, one vital aspect of it is to format it as clearly as possible. It will later help the reader to get impressed with your work.

Proper Indexing And Numbering

It is also important to correctly index and number your case studies. Try to mention the page number at the bottom of the page. Hence, it will greatly help the reader to locate every topic properly.

Meet The Deadline

There is always a proper time frame for writing an MBA case study. Thus, the students should adhere to it. The whole case study should end within due time.

These workable tips will lend great support in gaining good grades in your class. Keenly follow these and make a remarkable case study.

Related: How To Buy A Case Study Assignment Help

Get Our Best Services For Your MBA Case Study

Our platform TheCaseStudySolutions.com has been serving thousands of students worldwide with their impeccable writing assistance. These tips are specially crafted by our top tutors. As they believe in excellence, they leave no stone upturned in formulating the workable step-to-step guide for the students.

Since writing a case study is a tricky task to accomplish, our writers do make sure to provide easy and feasible help for it. The MBA case study does require extra effort and time to finalize. Luckily, with the help of our useful tips, any student can try to attempt writing it on their own. Moreover, we also provide a sample case study to the students. So, students can freely try working on their case studies with the help of the samples provided by our experienced writers.

So, next time whenever you feel helpless with your case studies, always keep our assistance in your mind. We have a pool of qualified MBA writers who can assist you in the best possible ways. You will find our prices reasonable also. We don’t believe in distressing the students with hefty amounts. Students can feel unburdened with our affordable pricing criteria.

McKinsey Case Interview & PEI - 6 Things You Need to Know

Last Updated January, 2024

Rebecca Smith-Allen

Former McKinsey Engagement Manager

If you’re interested in a career in management consulting, McKinsey & Company is probably on your list of firms to apply to. It’s the oldest consulting firm, established in 1926 by James McKinsey, a University of Chicago professor and expert in management accounting.

Today, the firm employs 30 thousand professionals working in 130 cities around the world. McKinsey regularly ranks at the top of lists of strategy consulting firms and is hired by businesses, governments, and non-profit organizations to help solve their toughest problems.

It’s difficult to get a job offer from McKinsey.

Like its top management consulting competitors, Bain and BCG, McKinsey typically hires only 1% of candidates who apply. In particular, McKinsey case interviews are tough to crack…but not impossible.

If you’re interested in trying to beat the odds, this article will tell you what you need to know to succeed. We’ll tell you:

What’s different about McKinsey,

6 things candidates recruiting with McKinsey should know,

We’ll provide a mock McKinsey case interview video, and

Provide tips on acing your McKinsey interview.

Let’s get started!

What’s Different About McKinsey? 6 Things Candidates Should Know

1. consultants are hired for either the generalist track or a specialist track.

Generalists at McKinsey are consultants who could be staffed to help clients in any industry and dealing with any type of business problem. Specialists are consultants with a particular area of expertise.

Areas of specialization within McKinsey include digital and advanced analytics, marketing and sales, business turn around, operations, software development and design, and implementation.

2. Consultants Work On-Site At The Client 4 Days A Week.

Most consultants travel a lot and at McKinsey, this is definitely the case. Consider whether regular plane flights and hotel stays are right for you.

3. McKinsey Cases Are Interviewer-Led Rather Than Candidate-Led.

Candidates are still expected to identify key issues to be addressed to solve the business problem presented by their interviewer and outline a plan to explore these issues. After they do that, their McKinsey interviewer is likely to tell the candidate which issue they’d like to discuss first. Other management consulting firms, like Bain and BCG typically let candidates steer their case interview.

4. Interviewers Assess Fit As Part Of Every Interview With Personal Experience Interview (PEI) Questions.

While all strategy firms ask candidates Consulting Behavioral Interview Questions to assess their fit with their firm, many have one interviewer focus entirely on fit while others focus entirely on a case study question.

McKinsey interviewers split their interview time between the case and PEI in every interview.

5. McKinsey Looks For Personal Impact And Entrepreneurial Drive In Candidates.

This is in addition to the structured problem solving and leadership skills that McKinsey, as well as other top consulting firms, look for in candidates.

6. Mckinsey Recruiting Uses Solve - a Gamified Digital Assessment.

McKinsey’s Solve Game was launched to broaden the firm’s reach to find the best talent regardless of geography as well as provide deeper insight into candidates’ problem-solving skills.

Keep reading for a deeper dive into these topics.

Generalist versus Specialist Track Roles

When the management consulting industry was first founded, simply having an MBA and expertise in solving business problems was enough to set a consultant apart. Consultants hired by McKinsey could expect to be staffed on a case in any industry and solving any type of problem.

To help clients solve these types of business problems effectively, McKinsey hires people with years of experience in functional specialties. These include advanced analytics, marketing and sales, business turn around, operations, software development and design, and implementation.

Specialists work alongside generalists on projects to leverage their functional expertise across the work of the team. The specialist practices are growing faster than generalist roles and get fewer applications, so if you have the right kind of expertise and apply to the practice, you may have a better chance of landing an interview.

How McKinsey Interviews Differ from Bain and BC

There are two main ways that McKinsey’s interviews differ from those of other top management consulting firms. McKinsey uses interviewer-led case interviews while other firms use candidate-led case interviews.

In the “fit” portion of the interview, McKinsey uses the personal experience interview and each interviewer you meet with in all rounds will assess fit.

Interviewer-led Cases

At the start of any McKinsey case study, candidates need to go through 4 phases to solve the business problem the interviewer has given them in a structured manner: the opening, structure, analysis, and closing.

In a candidate-led case interview, candidates will pick which part of the problem they want to dive into first and proceed with it. In McKinsey’s interviewer-led cases, the interviewer will pick the first part of the business problem they want the candidate to address.

Is the interviewer-led case interview easier or harder than the candidate-led one?

If you’ve structured the business problem well, breaking the problem down into the MECE issues that require further analysis, it should not matter who picks which aspect of the problem to address first. What is helpful is knowing what to expect in your case interview so that you don’t start down one path just to be redirected by your McKinsey interviewer. You don’t want anything to throw you in the middle of your case!

For more information on these 4 phases of answering a case interview question, see Case Interview Prep .

Behavioral Interview Questions - The McKinsey PEI

As mentioned above, fit or personal experience interview (PEI) questions are part of every McKinsey interview.

How else is the PEI different?

While other top management consulting firms focus on bringing the best creative problem-solving to their clients’ problems (BCG is notable here), McKinsey is interested in candidates’ personal impact and entrepreneurial spirit.

McKinsey interviewers look for these characteristics in answers to PEI questions. Because of this, it’s good to have some insight into why the firm thinks these characteristics are important.

Personal Impact

McKinsey says this about personal impact on its career website:

McKinsey does not want to create PowerPoint presentations with elegant solutions that sit on an executive’s shelf, not implemented.

Personal impact means that McKinsey consultants work shoulder-to-shoulder, on-site with client executives, developing solutions that don’t just solve a business problem in theory but also do it in practice. This can require facing resistance to change in the client’s organization head-on and persuading people to reassess long-held beliefs.

During the PEI, questions like the following will be asked to assess personal impact:

Tell me about a team you worked on when you needed to change someone’s mind on a topic that was important to them, or
Tell me about a time when you needed to rely on your communication skills to solve a difficult interpersonal situation.

This belief that personal impact is key to developing an implementable solution is what drives McKinsey consultants to spend 4 days a week on client site.

Entrepreneurial Drive

McKinsey says this about entrepreneurial drive on its career website:

McKinsey doesn’t hire consultants who can only implement solutions they’ve seen in previous businesses. They want people who are willing to try new things, take solutions to new industries or new types of problems.

The McKinsey problem solving approach treats each client problem as unique. Each solution should push thinking about best-practices.

In addition to personal impact and entrepreneurial drive, McKinsey also assesses leadership using the PEI. We won’t address this in detail because this is similar to other consulting firms, but you can find more about how McKinsey assesses leadership in our page on McKinsey PEI Questions.

It also includes What McKinsey Is Looking For and provides a list of 11 Common PEI Questions.

Nail the case & fit interview with strategies from former MBB Interviewers that have helped 89.6% of our clients pass the case interview.

The McKinsey Interview Process - Traditional and Recent Changes

The traditional recruiting process.

For years, McKinsey focused on a group of core schools to find new analyst (undergraduate hires) and associate (MBA hires) candidates.

While the firm now recruits from a broader set of schools as well as more diverse candidates, recruiting at these core schools still starts in much the same way. McKinsey consultants conduct on-campus presentations and coffee chats to talk to potential candidates about what it’s like to work in the management consulting industry and at McKinsey, in particular.

If the firm hosts an event at your campus, you should attend to make personal connections and to find out first-hand if a career at McKinsey is right for you. If there are no events at your school or if you’re already employed, check out the company’s career site for articles and videos that will tell you what it’s like to work at McKinsey and what it takes to get an offer.

Candidates submit their resumes (and optional cover letters) to the firm’s recruiting department via their school’s department of career services and on the firm website. Candidates who are invited to interview typically have their first round interviews on campus.

During first round interviews, candidates meet with 2 interviewers back-to-back. Candidates who pass first round interviews are invited to a McKinsey office for second round interviews.

In second round interviews, candidates meet with 3 interviewers. Unless a candidate’s interviewers are split in their decision, second round interviews are also final round interviews.

In each round of interviews, McKinsey interviewers walk candidates through a business problem and asks a series of McKinsey PEI Questions , aimed at evaluating their potential fit with the organization.

The Recruiting Process for Candidates at Non-core School and Experienced Hires

Candidates from non-core schools submit their resumes (and optional cover letters) directly to the recruiting department of the 3 offices they’d like to work in.

If they are invited to interview, candidates who live relatively close to a McKinsey office will be invited for in-person first round interviews. Others will be asked to do their first round McKinsey interviews via video conference.

Candidates already working in another industry or those working at another consulting firm submit their resumes (and optional cover letters) directly to the recruiting department of the three offices they’d like to work in. They will typically have a phone interview before the “first round” of in-person interviews.

In both cases, once candidates are passed to second round interviews the recruiting process is the same as for core school candidates.

Solve, The McKinsey Problem Solving Game

McKinsey is reaching out to more candidates outside of their traditional core schools to diversify its recruiting. As part of that, it’s launched Solve , an online game that assesses candidates’ problem-solving skills. Solve is both more fun and gives candidates from non-core schools a better shot at getting a McKinsey interview than they’ve had in the past.

Example McKinsey Case Interview - Video

Below, we have 4 videos in which My Consulting Offer founder, Davis Nguyen, walks you through each segment of a McKinsey case interview from beginning to end.

Mock McKinsey Case Interview - Opening the Case

The key thing to do in the opening of a McKinsey case study is to repeat back the question so you’re sure you understand the problem you are solving. Then, ask questions to begin to get more information.

Mock McKinsey Case Interview - Structuring the Case

In the structure section of McKinsey Case Interviews, create a MECE list of important issues you will analyze to solve the client’s problem.

Mock McKinsey Case Interview - The Case Analysis

In the analysis section of a McKinsey case study, you’ll need to do analysis to evaluate the best option for your client. This may require interpreting data from charts or graphs provided by your interviewer or doing calculations based on numbers you’re given.

Mock McKinsey Case Interview - Concluding the Case

In the conclusion of McKinsey case interviews, you’ll need to pull your analysis together into a persuasive recommendation for the client. Restate the question you were asked to solve, lay out key findings from each section of your case structure, and show how your analysis points to the course of action the client should take.

Now that you’ve watched our sample McKinsey case interview, you should be ready to start practicing for your own interviews.

Here are 5 tips on making the most of your preparation time:

5 Tips on Acing Your McKinsey Interview

Practice casing with another person. Answering case interview questions does not come naturally and it is not enough to practice on your own since casing requires having a dialogue. Give yourself as much time to practice mock interviews as possible by starting early.
Record yourself during mock interviews using your computer or phone. Study these videos to see how you can improve your performance in each phase of the case interview. Aim to make your answers more fluent and conversational.
Practice sample McKinsey interview-led case interviews. Use McKinsey-specific case interview examples below to make sure you’re not just familiar with cases, but with McKinsey cases. Make sure you are comfortable with being redirected at times.
Brainstorm several stories to answer common personal experience interview questions. You can find a list of these common questions here .
Find out more about the McKinsey Solve Game before you take it.

After reading this article, you should have a good understanding of what McKinsey’s recruiting process looks like and how McKinsey case interviews are different from other management consulting firms.

Still have questions?

If you have more questions about McKinsey case interviews, the PEI, or working at McKinsey, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s case coaches will answer them.

People interested in this topic have also found the following pages helpful:

Why McKinsey?
McKinsey PEI Questions
McKinsey Problem Solving Game
Case Interview Examples

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COMMENTS

8 Tips to Help You Prepare for the Case Method
Here are eight tips that I hope will be as helpful to you as they have been to me. 1. Develop Your Viewpoint. Effective and efficient case prep is, at least for me, the most challenging part of the whole experience. You can easily spend 2-3 hours on a case if you focus on every detail and supplementary piece of reading.
The HBS Case Method
The case method prepares you to be in leadership positions where you will face time-sensitive decisions with limited information. Reflecting on each class discussion will prepare you to face these situations in your future roles. Student Perspectives. "I've been so touched by how dedicated other people have been to my learning and my ...
Six Strategies for Winning Case Competitions
However, it can be one of the most rewarding experiences of business school. After competing and succeeding in several during our first year at Kellogg, we've gleaned some helpful tips and tricks for designing a "winning" solution and getting the most out of the case competition experience. 1. Make it human-centered.
Case study for MBA with Solved Examples
Prepare for B-school admission rounds, with these MBA case study examples. It is common for B-schools to incorporate a case-based discussion in the group exercise round or give a case study in a personal interview. So, here we have presented two popular MBA case study examples, with analysis and solution.
How to Write a Case Analysis in Business School
Select the best solution. Make a recommendation to solve the company's problem and talk about why you selected this solution over the other possible solutions. Go into detail about why you rejected the other solutions. Think about how other people might object to your solution and preemptively prepare arguments against those objections.
How to Write a Great Business Case
Curiosity. Comfort with ambiguity, since cases may have more than one "right" answer. Command of the topic or subject at hand. Ability to relate to the case protagonists. Enthusiasm for the case teaching method. Capacity for finding the drama in a business situation and making it feel personal to students.
Top 20 MBA Case Studies with Detailed Findings
To give you a taste of the fascinating world of case studies, here are a few examples that explore diverse business challenges: The Mumbai Dabbawala Story (Supply Chain & Efficiency): Findings: The Dabbawalas' success highlights the power of a well-organized system, even with minimal technology.
Creating a Business Case for the MBA
1. Identify Business Need (specific, current business challenges or needs faced by the company) 2. Analysis (ie, how the programme will help the company meet these specific needs. Think about the ROI from your company's point of view, of the additional benefits the company gets from accessing the school network, intellectual capital, etc) 3 ...
How to read and prepare an HBS-style MBA Case
Shoot to get your reading and analysis down to an hour or less per case by the end of first year. At the start, you'll probably need to give yourself something closer to 90-120 minutes. 3. Get your bearings. Before you read the case cover to cover, skim it to get your bearings. First, read the entire first page, then the first line of each ...
How To Prepare For Case Study Discussions At Business School
Each student tends to approach a case study in their own, unique way. There is no single perfect approach, but the steps mentioned below has served us well during our time at b-school.
Case Study Skills
Take time to analyze and think through the case. Weigh the pros and cons and various trade-offs between two or more choices. Break down the complex problem into small, distinct pieces to enable better articulation. Listen attentively, even to conflicting ideas, as they might provide part solution to the problem.
Case Interview: all you need to know (and how to prepare)
1. The key to landing your consulting job. Case interviews - where you are asked to solve a business case study under scrutiny - are the core of the selection process right across McKinsey, Bain and BCG (the "MBB" firms). This interview format is also used pretty much universally across other high-end consultancies; including LEK, Kearney ...
Case Study Interview
The McKinsey case study interview is consistent across global offices. The interviewer-led approach of the McKinsey case interview means you'll be guided through the process by your interviewer. However, there's a caveat, explains Eugene Goh, the cofounder of HR tech startup, HireQuotient, who worked as a principal for BCG for more than ...
MBA admission: How to crack case-based group discussions?
A case study is all about analysis because everyone gives the same information and therefore starts from the same base. ... Meet up with your friends who are also MBA aspirants, form a group and hold a case-based group discussion. ... around five minutes are given to prepare, so use this time wisely. If the case is about a topic where the ...
How to Read MBA Case Studies Quickly
Go to the last page and read the last paragraph. This could be titled as 'Conclusion' in the case study. It could also be titled something else as per the context of the case or their simply may be no heading on this last paragraph. Get back to the first page and completely read the introduction paragraph.
A Step-by-Step Guide To Case Discussion
Start broad and try to work through a range of issues methodically. 3. Connect the facts and evidence and focus on the big picture. 4. Discuss any trade-offs or implications of your proposed solution. 5. Relate your conclusion back to the problem statement and make sure you have answered all the questions.
47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)
One of the best ways to prepare for case interviews at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples. ... And also walk through a few M&A case study examples. Read more . Consulting Jul 20, 2022. Big 4 vs. MBB differences (and moving from Big 4 to MBB)
How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)
To save you time and effort, I have curated a list of 5 versatile case study presentation templates, each designed for specific needs and audiences. Here are some best case study presentation examples that showcase effective strategies for engaging your audience and conveying complex information clearly. 1. Lab report case study template.
How To Write Case Study In MBA Step By Step Guide
The MBA case study does require extra effort and time to finalize. Luckily, with the help of our useful tips, any student can try to attempt writing it on their own. Moreover, we also provide a sample case study to the students. So, students can freely try working on their case studies with the help of the samples provided by our experienced ...
McKinsey Case Interview: How to Pass the Case & PEI [2023]
5 Tips on Acing Your McKinsey Interview. Practice casing with another person. Answering case interview questions does not come naturally and it is not enough to practice on your own since casing requires having a dialogue. Give yourself as much time to practice mock interviews as possible by starting early.
How To Solve Case Study? (With Strategy and Solution) // Unstop
Step 1: Identify the problem statement. Case competitions like Accenture Strategy Case Connect and Colgate Transcend provide an exact problem statement with the expected outcome. But, in most cases, we must dive deep to break down the problem statement and identify the potential causes. Like, for Colgate Transcend, the problem statement was ...
how to solve case study in mba
how to solve case study in mba | Case Study MBA | Case Study analysis | AKTU | MBA#aktu #casestudy #casestudyquestion Join our telegram grouphttps://t.me/lea...

The HBS Case Method

Take a Seat in the MBA Classroom

How the HBS Case Method Works

How the Case Method Works

Student Perspectives

Faculty Perspectives

Alumni Perspectives

Celebrating the Inaugural HBS Case

How to Write a Case Analysis in Business School – Madelyn Capehart

Analyzing The Case Study

Read the case study carefully and take notes

Analyze the situation

Brainstorm and research possible case study solutions

Choose the best solution

Writing Your Case Analysis

Background and analysis

Brainstorm possible solutions

Select the best solution

Further recommendations

Bonus Step: Review and Get feedback

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1. The key to landing your consulting job.

Professional help

2. What is a case interview?

2.1. Where are case interviews in the consulting selection process?

2.1.1. Application screen

2.1.2. Aptitude tests and online cases

2.1.3. Rounds of Interviews

2.2. Differences between first and second round interviews

2.3. What skills do case interviews assess?

2.1.1.One: Probing mind

2.1.2. Structure

2.1.3. Problem Solving

2.1.4. Numerical Agility

2.1.5. Communication