Chart Reading Resources

Hi there,

The most useful materials to be honest are those research papers and articles published by MBBs. The reason is that they are typically prepared by consultants themselves and these charts resemble the charts you will see in your interviews (also used in actual projects). The best part is - they are free to read from their websites. What you can do is find some charts and practice on your own. Thank you and I hope this helps. 

Cheers,

David 

In my view nothing beats Rocketblocks! Grab their consulting prep course and work through their chart/exhibit exercises.

Please do not use them for frameworking - they've got the worst frameworking I've seen…but the best charts/exhibits practice.

Also, be careful with case coach. Great for finding partners, but their actual content is pretty basic/surface level - easy to learn bad habits.

Hi there!

Sure - happy to share with you the technique. Practice it but most importantly, get feedback on it.

Here are the steps:

1. Read the exhibit with the interviewer without actually reading it. This gives you the chance to get a sense of the exhibit before you even take time to digest it. You can also ask clarifying questions at this point.

2. Ask for time. Take 30-60 seconds. 

3. Aim to come up with 3 insights or so. Each insight basically consist of you pointing at a piece of data, then explaining what that means, then telling the client what they should do as a consequence of this finding. This last part is actually what makes the whole thing an insight. 

4. Once you have a good idea of the 3 insights, get back to the interviewer and present them in a top-down way. 

5. For a distinctive answer, reflect at the end on how these 3 insights tell a story about the client's situation and where they are going. 

6. Suggest next steps (depending on interview type)

Best,

Cristian

Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the (understandable) struggle with exhibit analyses using CaseCoach!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• I would advise you to focus on the reports published by your target consulting firms. These reports are the by far the best resource for exhibit analyses for two reasons: 1) The level of difficulty is most reliable, and 2) the style of the exhibits is exactly how you would find it in the interviews.

You can find more on this topic here: Speed reading techniques.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi,

in addition to what was already said, I always found it helpful for candidates to verbally describe what they are seeing on the chart. Start just being descriptive at first, only go over what you see in general, (e.g. on the different axes). Saying things out loud like that often results in you taking in the exhibit more comprehensively which then can trigger you to notice something else (patterns, outliers, something noteworthy for your case, etc.). 

It also is a way to avoid long stretches of silence in interviews and lets the interviewer know what you are doing and looking at.
Just a suggestion.

Best

Hi there,

Adding 3 steps on every chart reading exercise I always sugges:

1. Read and understand the graph. Ask your interviewer for some time to understand everything before talking. Summarize out loud the graph, reading the title, legend, axis and footnote
2. Analyze the graph and extract insights for the case. Start with simpler and direct insights. Follow with trends and more complex relationships across data points.
3. Propose justified next steps. State your hypotheses for the case based on the graph insights. Justify all your suggestions.

Best,

Alberto

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Check out my latest case based on a real MBB interview: Sierra Springs

Hi,

I second Rocketblocks.

Good luck!

Nick