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Case interview: the ultimate CONTENTS

guide 1. Examples and tips

2. Frameworks
3. Maths
4. Fit and PEI questions
5. Preparation
6. Q&A

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Case interview articles

McKinsey Case Prep Programme
BCG & Bain Case Prep Programme

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Part 1: Case examples and tips ↑

1.1 What are case interviews?

Strategy consulting !rms like McKinsey, BCG or Bain use case interviews in their
recruiting process for new hires. Case interviews last about 30 minutes during
which you will analyse and solve a business problem. These cases are usually
inspired from past consulting projects your interviewer will have worked on.

The objective of a case interview is to recreate the conditions you will face in a
real consulting project so that your interviewer can get an idea of how you will
perform on the job.

Here are a few typical examples of case interviews you could come across in
your consulting interviews:

"Your client is Coca-Cola, and their pro!ts have been declining in recent
years. Can you help !nd the root-cause of the pro!t decline and turn the
situation around?"
"Your client is Nike, and it wants to launch a new line of sneakers in
Europe. How would you go about advising the CEO what new product to
launch?"
"Your client is the UK Department of Foreign A"airs who is seeking to
restructure its organisation. What are the di"erent elements you would
consider to make a recommendation?"

1.2 Case interview examples

We have created a comprehensive list of case interview examples in the past.

Here are some for McKinsey, BCG and Bain to get you started.

McKinsey case interview examples

Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)

Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnO"er)
McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnO"er) - See below

BCG case interview examples

MedCount case sample (BCG website)

Big M Mart case sample (BCG website)
Interactive case questions (BCG website)
BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnO"er)
Written cases guide (by IGotAnO"er)
BCG live case interview extract (by IGotAnO"er) - See below

Bain case interview examples

Bain case interview questions (Bain website)

Written case interview tips (Bain website)
Bain case interview guide (by IGotAnO"er)
Written cases guide (by IGotAnO"er)
Bain live case interview extract (by IGotAnO"er) - See above

Deloitte and Accenture case interviews

We have also written comprehensive guides about Deloitte case interviews and
Accenture case interviews that we recommend reading if you are preparing for
these !rms.

1.3 Case interview tips

We have written a comprehensive list of 15 case interview tips in the past. Here
is the !ve most important ones that the best candidates seem to be focusing on.

Tip #1: Listen carefully and ask clari!cation questions

At the beginning of the case, your interviewer will layout the situation of the
company you are trying to help (e.g.: Coca-cola's pro!ts have decreased by 10%
over the past 12 months). Your job in that part of the interview is to make sure
that you understand the situation correctly by asking the right clari!cation
questions (e.g.: in which countries have pro!ts declined? And for which
products?).

This is what partners at McKinsey and other !rms do with clients. They sit down
with them, listen carefully to the problem they have, and ask clari!cation
questions before trying to solve the problem. They do this because it's
impossible to solve a business problem you don't understand in details. And you
should therefore follow a similar approach in your cases.

Tip #2: Don't reuse frameworks

One trap many candidates fall into is to reuse pre-existing frameworks in their
interviews. As we explain in our case frameworks guide, interviewers will
immediately notice if you do this and you will get penalised. Each case is unique,
and you should therefore create a custom framework for every case you do.
This might sound di#cult but it actually isn't if you take the right approach. This
is one of the things we teach in our McKinsey and BCG & Bain case interview
training programmes.

Tip #3: Brush up your maths

Virtually all case interviews involve doing maths computations without a

calculator. Having rusty maths at the beginning of your preparation is normal.
But in our experience successful candidates take some time to brush up when
they start practicing. You should take the time to refresh your memory and be
100% comfortable doing basic additions, subtractions, divisions, multiplications
and growth rate calculations mentally. We really encourage you to take the time
to do this. Trust us, it's really worth it!

Tip #4: Give a clear recommendation

Consultants get paid for making recommendations. One of the things clients
hate is to pay a large sum of money and not get a clear answer or opinion about
the problem they are trying to solve. Even if they are halfway through the
project, consultants avoid telling their clients: "We don't know." What they say
instead is: "Based on what we have seen so far, our current hypothesis is that
the pro!t decline you are experiencing is mainly driven by the Chinese market.
We think this is the case for 3 reasons. Reason #1 is etc."

You need to do the same in your cases. At the end of the interview, your
interviewer will ask for your conclusion. You can't dodge the question. You've
got to give a clear answer with supporting arguments based on what you have
learned doing the analysis. The trick is to caveat your answer with a sentence
such as "Based on this initial analysis, etc." And to also highlight additional areas
to explore to con!rm that your current understanding is the right one.

Tip #5: Catch the hints

Finally, 99% of interviewers have good intentions. They're here to help you
perform at your best. During your interviews they will give you hints about
whether you are doing well or not. If they try to steer you in a direction, follow
them, they're trying to help you. This might sound obvious but candidates
sometimes get so stressed out that they don't pick up on the hints interviewers
give them.

Part 2: Case frameworks ↑

We have created a comprehensive list of case interview frameworks in the past.
Here we cover the most important frameworks to know about. And we also
explain why you should NOT reuse pre-existing frameworks in your interviews.

2.1 Frameworks to know about

Pro!tability framework

The pro!tability framework is the most basic framework in business analysis. It

simply breaks down pro!ts into its basic revenue and cost components and is
commonly used to identify the root cause of pro!tability issues.

Revenue can simply be broken down in the Number of units sold by the
business times the Price per unit.
Costs can be broken down in Variable and Fixed costs. And Variable costs
can then in turn be broken down in the Number of units produced and the
Cost per unit.

Market entry framework

The market entry framework is commonly used to make decisions on whether a

company should enter a new market or not. For instance, you could use it to
decide if Startbucks should enter the Chinese market. Or if Nike should enter
the sports broadcasting business.

Market: What are the characteristics of the market we are trying to enter?
Key elements to consider include: market size and pro!tability, products
already available in the market, intensity of the competition, heaviness of
the regulation etc.
Client capabilities: Does the client have the right capabilities to enter that
new market? Key elements to consider include: di"erences between the
client's current market and the new one they are now targeting, number of
times client has entered new markets and success achieved, other
companies already in the new market, etc.
Financials: Does it make !nancial sense to enter the new market? Key
elements to consider include: current !nancial situation of the client, cost
to enter new market, ongoing costs once market entered, expected
revenues and return on investment, etc.
Entry strategy: How should the client go about entering the new market?
Key elements to consider include: timing of market entry (now vs. delay),
speed of market entry (test region vs. whole country), opportunity to buy
competitor or do a JV, management approach (control from HQ vs.
decentralise), etc.

3Cs framework

The 3Cs framework is also commonly used to put together strategies for
companies. As you will notice below, a lot of its components overlap with the
Porter’s 5 forces.

Customers: Who is the customer? Key elements to consider include:

customer demographics (E.g.: age, sex, income, etc.), customer needs,
customer segments size and growth rates, customer willingness to pay and
price sensitivity, etc.
Competition: What are the competitive dynamics? Key elements to
consider include: competitors’ value proposition and brand, competitors’
market share and growth, competitors’ !nancial health, etc.
Company: What de!nes the company? Key elements to consider include:
product o"ering, pro!tability, core competencies, unique selling point,
!nancial performance and resources, etc.

Merger and acquisition framework

Finally, the merger and acquisition framework is used when companies are
looking to acquire or merge with competitors. These situations are not very
frequent in a CEO's life but highly stressful which helps understand why
consultants are often asked to support such initiatives.

The market: What are the characteristics of the market in which the target
evolves? Key elements to consider include: market size and growth, market
pro!tability and intensity of the competition, market regulation, etc.
The target: How attractive is the target to be acquired? Key elements to
consider include: current and future !nancial position of the target,
important assets or capabilities owned by the target, quality of the target's
management team, target / buyer culture !t, etc.
The buyer: What's driving the buyer to make the acquisition? Key elements
to consider include: acquisition rationale (e.g. target undervalued, etc.),
acquisition !nancing, buyer's acquisition experience, acquisition timing,
etc.
Synergies and risks: What are the acquisition synergies and risks? Key
elements to consider include: value of individual and combined entities,
cost synergies, revenue synergies, biggest risks of failure, etc.

2.2 Do not reuse pre-existing frameworks

Once you are familiar with frameworks, the question then becomes: how do you
now use that knowledge in case interviews? There are a lot of opinions about
how you should do this on the Internet. But the main two schools of thought
seem to be: Marc Cosentino’s Case In Point and Victor Cheng’s LOMS.

In Case In Point, Marc Cosentino attempts to classify case interviews into 10+
categories and then suggests that candidates should learn a speci!c framework
by heart for each of them. This is an interesting exercise as it exposes you to a
range of business problems and helps you think about them in di"erent ways.
However, in our experience, learning 10+ frameworks is di#cult and time
consuming.

More importantly, in live case interviews, trying to recognise one of the 10+ case
categories and the framework they are associated to is a real nightmare! Instead
of focusing on solving the problem at hand, you end up trying to remember a
framework that will not even perfectly !t the case you are solving. In our
experience, the best candidates avoid this strategy.

In his LOMS programme, Victor Cheng advocates for a much simpler method
than Case In Point and suggests you should only learn two frameworks: the
pro!t framework for pro!tability cases, and a general framework for all other
cases (Product, Consumer, Company, Competition). The bene!t of this approach
is its simplicity. It gives you a starting point that’s easy to remember when you
are putting a framework together.

However, in our experience, this approach has got a fatal drawback. In practice,
there aren’t that many pro!tability cases, and as a consequence you always end
up using the general framework. Even if you adapt this general framework to
the case you are given, it will not be perfectly tailored to the case you are trying
to solve. More importantly perhaps, your interviewer will quickly realise that you
are using a pre-cooked framework and that will re$ect very negatively on you.

Both Case In Point and LOMS share the same $aw: they try to force pre-de!ned
frameworks onto cases. In our experience, this is bound to produce average
results because all cases are unique.

So here is the hard truth about case interview frameworks: the best candidates
DO NOT learn frameworks by heart, instead they learn a consistent METHOD to
craft bespoke frameworks for each case.

A good framework is a bit like a tailor made suit: it is adapted to the problem
you are trying to solve, the company, the industry and it is also as MECE as
possible. If you use pre-de!ned frameworks, you run the risk of missing
important elements of the speci!c problem you are trying to solve. This will
therefore mean you perform less well than you could have if you had created a
framework adapted to the speci!c problem from scratch.

In real life, consultants extremely rarely use pre-de!ned frameworks. They are
familiar with them because they have studied them but they do not directly re-
use them as-is on projects. Instead, they create a framework or issue tree
speci!c to the problem they are working on. To do so they rely on conversations
with their client as well as past experiences.

This might sound intimidating but the good news is that creating bespoke
frameworks is actually much simpler than you think. It requires a few things:

Changing your approach from adapting frameworks to creating them from

scratch
Learning a step-by-step method to create bespoke frameworks
Practicing this step-by-step method on multiple examples

Part 3: Fast case maths ↑

We've covered in detail how to improve your speed in our case interview maths
guide. Let's discuss the main maths formulas you need to know here and also
walk through a few maths tips and shortcuts.

3.1 Must-know maths formulas

Revenue = Volume x Price

Cost = Fixed costs + Variable costs

Pro!t = Revenue - Cost

Pro!t margin (aka Pro!tability) = Pro!t / Revenue

Return on investment (ROI) = Annual pro!t / Initial investment

Breakeven (aka Payback period) = Initial investment / Annual pro!t

If you have any questions about the formulas above you can ask them at the
bottom of this page and our team will answer them. Alternatively, you can also
read our in-depth articles about !nance concepts for case interviews and for the
McKinsey PST or watch this video where we explain these concepts in great
detail. In addition, we've also covered more advanced maths formulas here.

3.2 Fast maths tips and tricks

Let's talk about fast maths tips and tricks now. Standard long division and
multiplication approaches are great because they're generic and you can use
them for any calculation. But they are also extremely slow. In our experience,
you can become MUCH faster at maths by using non-standard approaches.

We've listed a few approaches below but you can learn more about this in our
case interview maths guide. All these approaches have ONE thing in common:
they aim at rearranging and simplifying calculations to !nd the EASIEST path to
the result.

Rounding numbers

The !rst step towards becoming faster is to round numbers whenever you can.
365 days becomes 350. The US population of 326m becomes 300m. Etc. You get
the idea.

The tricky thing about rounding numbers is that if you round them too much
you risk a) distorting the !nal result / !nding, and b) your interviewer telling you
to round the numbers less.

Rounding numbers is more of an art than a science, but in our experience the
following two tips tend to work well:

We usually recommend to not round numbers by more than +/- 10%. This
is a rough rule of thumb but gives good results based on conversations
with past candidates.
You also need to alternate between rounding up and rounding down so
the e"ects cancel out. For instance, if you're calculating A x B, we would
recommend rounding A UP, and rounding B DOWN so the roundings
compensate each other.

Note you won't always be able to round numbers. In addition, even after you
round numbers the calculations could still be di#cult. So let's go through a few
tips that can help in these situations.

Handling large numbers

Large numbers are di#cult to deal with because of all the 0s. To be faster you
need to use notations that enable you to get rid of these annoying 0s. We
recommend you use labels and the scienti!c notation if you aren't already doing
so.

Labels (k, m, b)

Use labels for thousand (k), million (m) and billion (b). You'll write numbers
faster and it will force you to simplify calculations. Let's use 20,000 x 6,000,000
as an example.

No labels: 20,000 x 60,000,000 = ... ???

Labels: 20k x 6m = 120k x m = 120b

This approach also works for divisions. Let's try 480,000,000,000 divided by
240,000,000.

No labels: 480,000,000,000 / 240,000,000 = ... ???

Labes: 480b / 240m = 480k / 240 = 2k

Scienti!c notation

When you can't use labels, the scienti!c notation is a good alternative. If you're
not sure what this is, you're really missing out. But fortunately Khan Academy
has put together a good primer on the topic here.

Multiplication example: 600 x 500 = 6 x 5 x 102 X 102 = 30 x 104 = 300,000 =

300k
Division example: (720,000 / 1,200) / 30 = (72 / (12 x 3)) x (104 / (102 x 10)) =
(72 / 36) x (10) = 20

When you're comfortable with labels and the scienti!c notation you can even
start mixing them:

200k x 600k = 2 x 6 x 104 x m = 2 x 6 x 10 x b = 120b

Factoring

To be fast at maths, you need to avoid writing down long divisions and
multiplications as they take a LOT of time. In our experience, doing multiple easy
calculations is faster and leads to less errors than doing one big long calculation.

A great way to achieve this is to factor and expand expressions to create simpler
calculations. If you're not sure what the basics of factoring and expanding are,
you can use Khan Academy here and here. Let's start with factoring.
Simple numbers: 5, 15, 25, 50, 75, etc.

In case interviews and tests like the McKinsey PST or BCG Potential Test some
numbers come up very frequently and it's useful to know shortcuts to handle
them. Here are some of these numbers: 5, 15, 25, 50, 75, etc. These numbers
are frequent but not particularly easy to deal with.

For instance, consider 36 x 25. It's not obvious what the result is. And a lot of
people would need to write down the multiplication on paper to !nd the
answer. However there's a MUCH faster way based on the fact that 25 = 100 / 4.
Here's the fast way to get to the answer:

36 x 25 = (36 / 4) x 100 = 9 x 100 = 900

Here's another example: 68 x 25. Again, the answer is not immediately obvious.
Unless you use the shortcut we just talked; divide by 4 !rst and then multiply by
100:

68 x 25 = (68 / 4) x 100 = 17 x 100 = 1,700

Factoring works both for multiplications and divisions. When dividing by 25, you
just need to divide by 100 !rst, and then multiply by 4. In many situations this
will save you wasting time on a long division. Here are a couple of examples:

2,600 / 25 = (2,600 / 100) x 4 = 26 x 4 = 104

1,625 / 25 = (1,625 / 100) x 4 = 16.25 x 4 = 65

The great thing about this factoring approach is that you can actually use it for
other numbers than 25. Here is a list which we !nd helpful to get you started:

2.5 = 10 / 4
5 = 10 / 2
7.5 = 10 x 3 / 4
15 = 10 x 3 / 2
25 = 100 / 4
50 = 100 / 2
75 = 100 x 3 / 4
Etc.

Once you're comfortable using this approach you can also mix it with the
scien!c notation on numbers such as 0.75, 0.5, 0.25 etc.

Factoring the numerator / denominator

For divisions, if there are no simple numbers (e.g. 5, 25, 50, etc.), the next best
thing you can do is to try to factor the numerator and / or denominator to
simplify the calculations. Here are a few examples:

Factoring the numerator: 300 / 4 = 3 x 100 / 4 = 3 x 25 = 75

Factoring the denominator: 432 / 12 = (432 / 4) / 3 = 108 / 3 = 36
Looking for common factors: 90 / 42 = 6 x 15 / 6 x 7 = 15 / 7

Part 4: Consulting !t and PEI

questions ↑
Interviewers typically ask both a case question AND a few !t / behavioural
interview questions to get to know you better and to gauge whether you’d be a
good !t for their !rm.

While case questions are used to assess your problem solving skills, !t questions
are more focused on the three other attributes consulting !rms look for:
leadership abilities, entrepreneurial drive and personal impact.

Behavioural interview questions can be categorised in two buckets:

Fit questions. These are generic questions such as “Why consulting?” or

“Why McKinsey / BCG / Bain?”
Personal Experience Interview (PEI) questions. These are questions such as
“Tell me about a time when you lead a team through a di#cult situation.”
Or “Tell me about a time where you had to manage a team con$ict”

All !rms ask a mix of these two types of questions but some are more focused
on one type than others. For instance, McKinsey almost exclusively asks
personal experience interview questions. But Bain tends to put much more
focus on typical !t questions such as “Why Bain?” or “Walk me through your
resume?”

So what speci!c questions do you need to prepare for? We have analysed

hundreds of interview questions on glassdoor.com for McKinsey, BCG and Bain
and have summarised our !ndings below. These questions are also consistent
with the type of questions the candidates we work with are currently getting in
interviews.

4.1 Top 5 !t questions

Let’s step through the top 5 !t questions you will come across in your interviews
and brie$y discuss each of them.

Please note that the percentages listed below are of total !t questions. For
instance, for 100 !t questions 26 will be “Why !rm X?” As mentioned above, the
balance between !t questions and PEI questions varies from !rm to !rm.

#1 Why !rm X? (26% of !t questions)

We've covered the "Why McKinsey / BCG / Bain?" question in detail in the past.
Almost all consulting !rms will ask you that question at some point. This is to
check that your interest in their !rm is genuine and not only based on their
reputation.

As you prepare for consulting interviews you should try to grasp what sets each
of the di"erent !rms apart by talking to consultants in your network or at
recruiting events. If you know anyone working at the !rm you are interviewing
with this is the right time to mention them and to say that they recommended
the !rm to you.

If you are interviewing o"-cycle and do not know anyone working at your target
!rm that’s !ne too. If your interviewer asks you that question you could say
something like: “I’ve done my research on the !rm and I’m excited about the
type of work you seem to be doing. For instance I’ve read about project X and Y.
But to be honest, I have not met anyone from the !rm before today. So I’m
actually excited to be interviewing to get a sense of whether I’d be a good !t. ”
This will show that you have a genuine interest about !nding out about the
company. This after all is what your interviewer cares about.

#2 Why consulting? (24% of !t questions)

Consulting is an intense job. Consulting !rms will therefore want to check that
you have actually done your homework and that you have thought about why
you want to be a consultant.

There are many great reasons to go into consulting. But here our three favourite
ones:

You will work for senior execs from early on in your career. This
opportunity is unique. In most industry jobs you have to wait for many
years to have the same level of exposure to CEOs / CFOs.
You will learn a lot - very quickly. Changing industry and project every 3 to
6 months is one of the things that make the job challenging. But it also
means your rate of learning will be much higher than in other industry
jobs.
You will work with bright people. Getting into consulting is hard and as a
result your teammates will be extremely intelligent people. Consulting is
one of the most stimulating environments you can be in.

#3 Introduce yourself / Walk me through your resume (14% of !t question)

This question is a great opportunity to summarise what you have done in the
past in a way that illustrates you would make a great consultant.

For instance you could say something like: “I’m Chris, I’m currently doing a
master’s degree in economics at Cambridge. I think I’ve done three things in my
studies / career so far that are relevant to consulting and motivated me to apply
for this job. First, etc. ” And you could then enumerate the three most relevant
points on your resume.

#4 Tell me something that’s not on your resume (6% of !t questions)

Some interviewers will also want you to tell them something that’s not on your
resume. This might be surprising if you have not prepared for it so it’s worth
thinking about ahead of your interview. This question is particularly popular at
Bain.

When your interviewer asks that question they are trying to get to know you on
a more personal level. They are trying to !nd out what kind of fun stu" you do
outside of work. It could literally be anything: playing basketball, being part of
band, writing a book, etc.

WHAT you do outside of work does not really matter. In fact the more
di"erentiated the better. What’s more important is HOW you do it. Your
interviewer will be looking for signs that you are pursuing that activity with
passion, drive and intensity.

For instance, answering that you are part of the Northern Irish team for a niche
and obscure board game (!) will get you noticed and your interviewer will think:
“Cool that’s pretty unique.” Whereas if you just say you play basketball once or
twice a month your interviewer will probably think: “Ok, that’s not unheard of.”

#5 Tell me about your greatest accomplishment (4% of !t questions)

Unless your interviewer speci!es that it’s ok to talk about an accomplishment

outside of work / university you should stick to these two areas. A great answer
will focus on a recent achievement that’s relevant to the skills you need to be a
good management consultant.

The best thing to do for this question is to reuse one of the stories you will be
preparing for Personal Experience Interview questions which we will cover
below.

#6 Other (26% of !t questions)

Finally, there is a long tail of !t questions that consulting !rms ask. You should
prioritise the top 5 we have listed above !rst, as well as your case interview
preparation over those questions. But if you do have time towards the end of
your preparation we suggest coming back to them. In particular, we recommend
covering the following:

What are your strengths / weaknesses? (3% of !t questions)

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? (3% of !t questions)
What do consultants do in your opinion? (2% of !t questions)
Why do you want to work for this speci!c o#ce? (2% of !t questions)

4.3 Top 5 PEI questions

Personal experience interview questions are di"erent to !t questions because

they are less generic. They aim at testing the SPECIFIC skills you need to be a
good management consultant.

Here are the main !ve themes that will be covered in these personal experience
interview questions:

#1 Leading others (23% of PEI questions)

E.g.: Tell me about a time you led a team through a di#cult challenge

#2 Managing a team con#ict / situation (22% of PEI questions)

E.g.: Tell me about a time you worked in a team and had to manage a con$ict

#3 Managing a personal con#ict (21% of PEI questions)

E.g.: Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with a colleague / your boss

#4 In#uencing others (17% of PEI questions)

E.g.: Tell me about a time you changed the mind of a group of people / an
individual

#5 Overcoming challenges (11% of PEI questions)

E.g.: Tell me about a challenge you had to push yourself hard to overcome

#6 Other (7%)

People remember stories. On the day of your interview, your interviewer will see
6 to 8 other candidates. You therefore need to build strong stories that they will
remember to make sure you stand out. In fact the way the question is asked
(“Tell me about a time …”) is really an invitation to tell a story.

There are multiple ways to tell a story. But we like to keep things relatively
simple with the framework below. We would encourage you to use it to create
!ve stories for your interview:

Situation: start by giving the necessary context

Problem: outline the problem you and your team were facing
Solution: explain the solution you came up with to solve the problem
outlined
Impact: if possible, quantify the impact you had in solving the problem
Lessons: conclude with any lessons you might have learned in the process

Once you’ve written down your !ve stories, rehearse telling them out loud.
Getting into this habit will help you tremendously on the actual day of your
interviews.

Finally, if you are preparing for McKinsey we would also encourage you to read
our article on McKinsey PEI questions. The same !ve themes are used by
McKinsey but in slightly di"erent proportions. And we also share common
mistakes to avoid in that article.

Part 5: Case interview preparation ↑

So how do you make sure you succeed at case interviews and land your dream
job? In our experience, the following four-step approach makes for a great
preparation.

First, develop fast and reliable maths skills

Second, master a consistent method to crack cases
Third, practice case interviews
Fourth, work on !t / PEI interview questions

For full disclosure, this is the approach we take in the McKinsey Case Interview
Training Programme and BCG & Bain Case Interview Training Programme and
more than 80% of people who used it ended up being successful. But even if you
don't end up using these programmes, we still encourage you to take this four-
step approach. Trust us, it really works!

Let's step through each stage of the preparation plan to give you more details
about what you should do in each.

5.1 Develop fast and reliable maths skills

The !rst step of your preparation should be to develop fast and reliable maths
skills. Virtually all case interviews involve maths. As a consequence, doing maths
quickly and accurately is essential to have good chances of success.

To be clear, you don't need to become a maths Phd to crack case interviews. You
just need to be able to do basic maths extremely e#ciently. Our advice is to
proceed in two steps here.

First if your maths are really rusty, you should review how to do basic
operations such as additions, subtractions, divisions and multiplications
mentally. This might sound very basic, but 80% of the maths mistakes people
make are basic calculation errors. You can avoid this by spending sometime
upfront making sure you have solid maths fundamentals.

Second, you should spend some time learning slightly more advanced
techniques that can greatly increase the speed at which you do maths
calculations. This includes techniques such as how to apply growth rates over
multiple years, or how to factorise / expand maths expressions e#ciently. The
following blog post covers some of these interview maths techniques. It is
focused on the McKinsey PST but applies to case interviews too.

5.2 Master a consistent method to crack cases

The second step of your preparation should be to master a consistent method

to crack case interviews. On the day of your interview, you will likely be
extremely stressed. Being able to fall back on a consistent method you have
mastered will be invaluable as a result.

In case interviews, you will encounter 7 di"erent types of questions. In our

experience, the best way to consistently crack cases is to learn how to
consistently crack each type of question in isolation. When you are able to solve
each of the distinct question types, then you will be able to solve the case as a
whole. You can learn what these 7 question types are, in the video below:

This makes the whole learning process much more manageable. It means you
can more easily measure your progress and focus your preparation on the areas
of consulting interviews you are less comfortable with. For each of the 7
question types you should therefore develop a step-by-step method that you
always use.

5.3 Practice case interviews

The third step of your preparation should be to apply the method you have
developed in actual case interviews. The best way to do this is to !nd peers to
practice with either at University or online. You can also ask friends who are not
necessarily preparing for consulting interviews to help and give you a few cases.
If you know any former consultants you should also not hesitate to ask them to
do one or two interviews with you.

In addition, it can also be helpful to practice case interviews by yourself. This is

one of the top reasons people use our case interview training programmes.
They include live case interview videos which are structured so that you can
listen to the interviewer's question, hit pause, and answer the question as if you
were in a real interview. This is an extremely e#cient way to progress quickly.
And here is a small selection of the case interview tips we provide in our
programme.

5.4 Impress your interviewer on !t / PEI questions

Finally, one of the most common mistakes candidates make when preparing for
consulting interviews is to focus too much on cases, and to neglect !t / personal
experience interview questions.

We recommend putting about 25% of your preparation time aside to prepare

good answers to common !t and PEI questions. We are currently working on
adding a section about this speci!c topic to this guide. In the meantime you
should read this blog post on frequent McKinsey PEI questions how to answer
them.

Additional resources

If you would like to fast track your case interview preparation and maximise
your chances of getting an o"er at McKinsey, BCG or Bain, come and train with
us. More than 80% of the candidates training with our programmes end up
getting an o"er at their target !rm. We know this because we give half of
their money back to people who don't.

McKinsey Case Interview Training BCG & Bain Case Interview Training
Programme Programme

Any questions about case interviews?

If you have any questions about case interviews, do not hesitate to ask them
below and we will be more than happy to answer them. All questions are good
questions, so go ahead!

The IGotAnO"er team

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Name

Satvika • a month ago

Hi
I am a BSc graduate and a fresher.
I am joining a non target B-school coming July(IIM, but not BLACKI).
1. How do I make sure I secure an interview?
2. What skills or certificates I should acquire to make sure my resume stands
out?
3. Ideally how long or how many cases should I solve to be well prepared?
4. Where can I find good partners for case preparation?
5. Which role should I be applying for? BA or associate?

Thank you
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Satvika • 24 days ago

Hi Satvika,

Jon here from IGotAnOffer. Let me see if I can help you with your
questions:

1. That's a tough one. No matter how impressive your credentials are,

you can't really guarantee yourself an interview. However, there are some
steps that you can take to boost your chances of securing an interview.
You mentioned you will be starting B-school soon. A couple important
steps you can take are as follows: A. Get a high GPA. An impressive GPA
can make a big difference in your chances. B. try to join (or form) some
groups early-on that are related to consulting. C. do whatever you can to
meet and connect with people who are already in the consulting industry.
2. That depends on the type of role you plan to apply for. For instance, if
you're looking at a strategy role, then you'll want to build up your
problem solving skills. On the other hand, if you're looking for a more
technical role, then certifications can become a bigger driver.
3. You should plan to practice for at least 30 hours. However, if you're
completely new to case interviews, then you'll probably want to plan for
even more time than that.
4. If there are consulting focused groups or organizations at your B-
school, that can be a really great place to meet people to practice cases
with.
5. B-school graduates would typically go for Associate level positions.

I hope that helps, good luck with your preparation!

Best,
Jon
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Satvika > IGotAnOffer • 19 days ago

Thank you
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Satvika • 19 days ago

You're welcome! Happy to help.

Best,
Jon
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Ruchir • a year ago

Hi Sir,

I want to be management consultant.I have experience in wide range of fields.

1.Software Engineer (2 yrs Experience- JOB)
2.Film-Industry (as Asst. Director)
(As Entrepreneur)
3.Import/Export
4.Car Washing Business
5.Digital Marketing
6.Forex Trading
7.Data Science

Education- B.Tech(Mechanical) - Average Student

Currently I am preparing for Mckinsey Digital- Consulting.Please advise me what

role will be good for me while applying. From where should I start my journey?
Should I apply for BA or Junior Associate?

Please guide me.

Thanks in advance !!!
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Ruchir • 10 months ago

Hi Ruchir,

Thanks for your question. It looks like some of your experiences, like
Digital Marketing and Software Engineering, could be aligned with the
types of positions in McKinsey Digital, but the exact role you should
apply for will depend on some other factors as well. For example, you'll
also need to consider which roles McKinsey Digital is currently recruiting
for, how those specific roles are aligned with your experience, and the
location you want to be based.

I think a really helpful next step for you, would be to read our McKinsey
Careers guide, which you can find on the blog here:
https://igotanoffer.com/blo...

This should be a really helpful place for you to start, given your situation,
because it provides a summary of the job types within McKinsey, as well
as an in-depth look at McKinsey's levels (e.g. BA, Associate, etc.).
There's also a section that provides additional details on McKinsey
Digital, which includes a direct link to the positions that McKinsey is
currently recruiting for.

I hope that helps as a starting point. Let us know if you have further
questions.

All the best,

Jon
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Ruchir > IGotAnOffer • 10 months ago

Thank you so much Jon !!! That blog was very helpful.
Currently,openings for both roles are available.

BA - Digital (Consulting) - https://www.mckinsey.com/ca...

Junior Associate - Digital (Consulting) -

https://www.mckinsey.com/ca...

Also job description of both roles is almost same.

△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Beautyintheeyes • a year ago

And how do I present myself at a student career fair to stand out? I have 1 year
consulting experience after graduating from UTA but in environmental
consulting. I want to move to management consulting with Bain, or Accenture.
How do improve my chances at the career fair?
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Beautyintheeyes • a year ago

Hi Beau

Your objective should be to have conversations with consultants from

Bain and Accenture and to understand how the firms are different and if
you would really enjoy working there.

Let them do the selling and focus on understanding which firm is the
best fit for you. You should also make sure you remember the name of
the people you talk to so that you can mention them in your cover letter
and application form. In our experience this helps a lot to get an
interview.

Hope that helps!

Max
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
 Beautyintheeyes • a year ago
"As we mentioned in the second part of this guide, there are 7 different types of
questions in case interviews"

Please where can I find these?

△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Beautyintheeyes • a year ago

Hi there,

Good question! You can find the details on the 7 case interview question
types on our YouTube channel, here: ▶ Case interview structure - 7
question types to know about — disq.us

We've also edited that sentence above to make things more clear.

Cheers,
Jon
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Aaryan • a year ago

Hi! I really want to get into management consultant but I have 10 years
experience as a software engineer/manager. Would I still be eligible for the
consulting firms ?
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Aaryan • a year ago

Hi Aaryan

You've got a few options here:

1.
Apply as an experienced hire. This is the toughest route I think given
your background. But you might be able to make it by networking and
building contacts within MBB.
2. Do an MBA. If you get into a good MBA programme you shouldn't
have too much trouble getting interviews with MBB.
3.
Apply to the digital practices of MBB. You could also get into MBB as
an engineering manager / engineer and transfer laterally to more
consulting roles over time. You'd be surprised by how much flexibility
there is internally at these firms once you are inside.

Does that help / make sense?

Max​​​
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Aaryan > IGotAnOffer • a year ago

Does an eMBA/Part Time MBA work ? /i'm already a little older
candidate(32+) and full time MBA has a huge opportunity cost for
2 years.
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Aaryan • a year ago

Hi Aaryan

MBB usually recruits from full time MBAs but they might
also recruit from some part time ones, I'm not 100% sure.
I'd recommend emailing the top 3 part time MBA
programmes you're thinking of and asking them if MBB
goes on campus to meet their part time students or just
their full time ones.

Hope that helps

Max
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Miguel Frazão • a year ago

Hi! I really want to get into management consultant but, my final goal, is to be a
business founder (or owner), possibly in the tech industry. Can I disclose this on
an interview?

To give some context: I'm fresh out of college, where I studied Applied
Mathematics so, I still have a lot to learn about business and myself, create a
network (I have no network from college), gain some money etc.
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Miguel Frazão • a year ago

Hi Miguel

I wouldn't really recommend disclosing this during your interview

process. Consulting firms want to hire future partners. Hiring you is a big
investment for them and they'll want you to stay for as long as possible.

If you tell them you want to start a tech business they'll probably ask you
why not start one now? Or why not go work for a tech business and get
experience there? These are good questions to think about. But probably
ones you want to avoid during your interview process!

Hope that helps!

Max
1△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

MoE Habashy • 2 years ago

Hello - can someone please shed some light about the interview process of a
Senior Implementation Consultant? Does that go through the case
interview/PST?
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > MoE Habashy • 2 years ago

Hi MoE!

Yes, you will definitely have case interviews as part of your process. In
addition McKinsey might also ask you to take the PST if they feel they
need to test your quant skills more in-depth but this tends to vary from
case to case. Finally, you can also expect implementation-specific
questions to test your knowledge / experience around this topic.

Hope that helps! Don't hesitate to let me know if you've got other
questions.

Max
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

Ramesh Jakhar • 2 years ago

how to prepare for the case study and presentation for ABB. ABB have some
different case & it does'nt allow questions answers . help please.....
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > Ramesh Jakhar • 2 years ago

Hi Ramesh!

This sounds very similar to written case interviews at BCG and Bain
where you are given case study materials and are asked to prepare a
presentation. You can read more about this and how to prepare for it
here: https://igotanoffer.com/pag...

Hope it helps! Any other questions feel free to let us know.

The IGotAnOffer Team

△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IMS • 2 years ago

Hi, and thank you for article.
Can you say if the process is the same for Digital McKinsey?
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

IGotAnOffer Mod > IMS • 2 years ago

Hi IMS,

That's a good question. The answer is that it depends on which role you
are applying for at McKinsey Digital Labs.

If you are applying for a Software Developer or Data Scientist position,

you will get Personal Experience Interview questions (see article here for
what this is: https://igotanoffer.com/blo.... But you won't get a case
interview.

However, if you apply for a consultant position withing McKinsey Digital

Labs, then you will go through the normal process described above and
you will have to prepare for case interviews. This is what the McKinsey
Case Interview Training Programme is designed to prepare for.

For more details about case interviews at McKinsey, you can check out
this post: https://igotanoffer.com/blo...

Hope that helps, and don't hesitate to ask any other questions!

The IGotAnOffer team

△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›

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