How to use my time properly for case prep?

Hi MorningStar47,

By and large, most (or probably all) casebooks, YouTube videos, etc. on the market (mostly created by authors who have been still very junior when they left Consulting or did not even work in Consulting!) are teaching a fundamentally flawed way how to think about business / strategy / organizational problems!

My recommendation would be to allow enough time for your preparation and to find someone who REALLY understands consulting—not someone who just had a 1-3 year stint—to coach and mentor you on how to properly think through such problems. 

In the optimal scenario, you receive coaching by an experienced former interviewer, and you complement this with a hand-picked set of determined high-quality practice partners (e.g., other candidates that are applying to the same firms).

You then have to distinguish between coaching sessions and practice sessions.

• The coaching sessions are used to get an understanding of what is tested in the interview, how you need to think, how to craft bullet-proof logic, and how to navigate through this logic.
• The practice sessions are used to get additional repetitions under your belt to make it "second nature".

From experience, my mentees applying from a full-time position need about 8-12 weeks to get from zero to a level that could be called "MBB offer-ready". Assuming that your intrinsic base capabilities in terms of articulation, raw intellect and ability to focus meet a certain minimum standard.

Cheers, Sidi

_______________________

Dr. Sidi Koné 

Former Senior Engagement Manager & Interviewer at McKinsey | Former Senior Consultant at BCG | Co-Founder of The MBB Offer Machine™

Hi there,
 

1. HOW CAN I PRODUCTIVELY USE MY TIME PREPARING FOR CASES? Is my plan good enough? 
-→ You should acquire the right theoretical basis first (see point 2,3) and then sit down and develop a thought-through timeline covering mock interviews, drills, math & exhibit practice and other areas you need to develop. 

2. Which case books that are beginner-friendly should I get? (please specify the year if you can)
-→ The only one I can really recommend is “The 1%” by Florian Smeritschnig who is also a coach in this forum. It also goes into detail regarding how you could draft your preparation journey (point 1).

3. What is your opinion on the Crafting Cases platform?

-→The free course is better than many of the other materials I have seen and provides a solid introduction to the skills you need. However, you need to do cases and develop a solid understanding of your development areas to push yourself further in the most relevant dimensions. Nothing can help you better here than an experienced coach/mentor from your network or paid. 

4. Should I do the cases from the Case Book alone before finding a case partner?

-→ Read through some if you feel it makes you more confident, but I would encourage you not to delay your first mock interview case for too long. Having experienced one will help you better contextualize and grasp theoretical contents.

Hope that helps!

Best,

Gero

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on your admission to ESCP Business School, which is also my alma mater!

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

• I would highly advise you not to buy any of these books, as they all teach a somewhat strange way of preparing for case study and personal fit interviews. Instead, please read PrepLounge's Case Interview Basics, which is a great resource to start with.
• When it comes to business schools case books, I highly recommend Columbia, Darden, Esade, Fuqua, Kellog, LBS, McCombs, Michigan, Ross, Sloan, and especially Yale.
• While I have not used Crafting Cases myself, many of my coachees who have used their resources prior to working with me have not done well with case structuring, which I believe is one of the main components of Crafting Cases.
• I think it's fine to do a few case studies on your own, but I would highly advise you to start practicing with peers as soon as possible, for which PrepLounge is by far the best platform.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Lots of answers already and I would recommend you identify the overlap between them as a good form of guidance. 

My strong recommendation would be to just go for it. 

Meaning, there are lots and lots of ways of getting started. 

But with most people, it just translates into postponing the process or creating a lot of intermediary milestones before them. 

You can literally get started today by reaching out to a couple of candidates on the platform and scheduling a case practice call. 

You'll leave 1 hour after that knowing more about how it feels and how it goes than if you spent the next week on youtube. 

The big lever is using a coach, which is why so many people are going for it. Having a coach early in the process is like having a trainer telling you exactly what you need to do to be successful. 

Sharing here a few articles that might help you get started:

• Expert Guide: Build A Winning Application Strategy
• Expert Guide: What Do Management Consultants Do?

Reach out if you have questions. 

And wishing you the best of luck in the meantime. 

Cristian

1. You need different books. Case in Point you should really avoid. You can skim Case Interview secrets, but it's approach to developing frameworks is (at best) outdated. 

2. Stern, Ross, Columbia, Darden, are good case books. You can also use the cases here within Preplounge platform

3. Positive opinion on Crafting Cases. Weak point is on “first layer” of frameworks, as they are not objective driven

4. You should do some cases alone first. 

Bonus: After you've done your basic research, get a good coach (don't use one doing mock interviews, that's is not what you need at this point in time, you need one using a mentoring, step-by-step, feedback-in-the-moment type of coach).

Good luck for your preparation and feel free to reach out!

Hi there,

Fully agree with Pedro here. Avoid Case in Point. The information in there has been misleading generations of applicants.

It does not teach you how to approach a case interview in 2024 but relies on an approach that worked 20 years ago when cases were cookie-cutter exercises with schematic answers. All consulting firms have moved on from that type of interview years ago. Even when I was recruiting as a candidate in 2014, it no longer worked.

Current cases require a completely different approach.

1. As a starting point, find a different book (Victor Cheng's is better or mine, which I published last year and it is the highest-rated case book on Amazon). 

Once you have the basics, you need solid practice materials and drills. Uni case books alone usually do not cut it. I would invest in either courses or drill programs or if you can work with a coach to fine-tune your skills.

Also, when starting you should go through full cases but learn individual skills first in bulk (e.g., work for 2 hours just on structuring, then 2 hours on math, 2 hours on charts, etc.). This is a way more effective way of learning and internalizing the relevant skills (steps, communication, thinking technique) for every part of the case.

Once that runs on autopilot, you can start working on full cases and with others.

I am attaching a picture from a recent presentation I gave.

2. Reach out. I can share two great ones!

3. Can't really comment.

4. See point 1.

Reach out if you have more questions!

Cheers,

Florian