Maximizing Prep

Hi there,

Hope you are well and good job on preparing for 3 months already! I would suggest the following to maximize your chances in the next 3 weeks:

1. Do not over-practice. I see a lot of candidates practicing 100+ cases. I do not see much incremental value in practicing more than 30+ cases. I would suggest only practicing with a coach or existing MBB consultants in your network (I assume you are already at a decent level after 3 months of prep)

2. Identify your weaknesses and refine your skills for that. For example, if your gap is in interpreting charts/tables, you can find MBB reports/articles on their websites to practice on your own.

3. Read up on industry-specific reports to understand a bit more about the main revenue/cost drivers, value chains, business model etc. of various industries because you never know what cases you will get. 

4. Most importantly, pace yourself in the last couple of weeks and maintain a normal lifestyle. You need to be at your physical and mental best to ace the interviews!

All the best on your preparations and feel free to reach out if you need any support on this.

Cheers,

David

Hi there,

the time you have allowed yourself for preparation is definitely sufficient. If you have prepared for the last 3 months, you will have a good understanding of your stronger and weaker areas at this point. Here are a few suggestions of things you should consider for the final stretch:

• Do a practice case with a coach (if you haven't already done so) to get objective and actionable feedback on where you stand with your case prep and what to improve
• Instead of doing full cases only, include specific focused drills that address the areas you might feel like you are still struggling with (e.g. charts/exhibits, mental math, issue trees)
• Allocate some time for the personal fit portion of the interview process - prepare your personal stories around the typical topics (incl. leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution, entrepreneurial spirit) so you can tell them in a structured and compelling way
• Don't overload but rather allow yourself time to digest all of the things you have been practicing and learning about - if you are already feeling burnt out, it will be counter-productive to keep up the high pace
• Research your interviewers if you know their names in advance (what areas are they working in? what are current trends in these areas?)

Best of luck

Hi there,

Q: I was hoping to get some advice on how to maximize my time for the next three weeks before my interview. 

It is difficult to comment as we don’t know what you have done before or your level. But if you feel burned out, first of all, I would recommend taking a small break to recharge.

In general, I would recommend the following. You have most likely already covered some of the points below, but it might be good to review:

1. Define a calendar for your preparation. Identify how many hours you have before your interview and allocate a time slot for preparation in your calendar for each day, working on the points below. Many candidates need 100+ hours to be ready before the interview starting from zero so you can keep that as a benchmark.
2. Start reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (INSEAD is a good one to start). Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing, upgrade your structure with the new insights. Try to read a new case per day – in this way you will absorb better the information with constant learning.
3. After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start to practice live. PrepLounge can be helpful to connect with other candidates for that. There is a relevant part of the interview score that is based on your communication, which you cannot practice at all if you read cases only.
4. Keep track of your mistakes and see which ones you are repeating. If so, try to identify the source of the mistake (feedback from experienced partners would be particularly useful for this). Be sure to focus on both the behavioral part and the case part during the mocks. The case part should also cover market sizing, math and graph analysis.
5. Before the interviews, be sure to prepare your questions for the interviewer  – a great way to show you prepared in advance and to connect with the interviewer for a good final impression. Ideally, try to get information on who they are and study their profile to have good questions to ask.

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If you want to spend a few hours only instead of 100+ and cover everything mentioned above, I developed a program precisely for that. 

You can check the program at the following link to learn more:

▶ GYM Program

If you have any questions please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

#1 Maximizer = COACHING

Hard for us to give you a tailored plan without knowing exactly where you stand! We need to do an assessment of where you stand (strengths/weaknesses). We need to figure out how you're studying, what you've done, where you've blocked, what your work/study schedule is like, etc.

You will get a sub-optimal answer on a generic Q&A when compared to hiring a personal trainer/coach.

Do consider taking a break for a few days to recharge/reset.

Then, here are some additional tips for you:

The Most Common Pitfalls in Case Interview Preparation

How to Shift Your Mindset to Ace the Case

Hi!

I totally understand that, at some point, you feel completely bored and exhausted with the process. This is also the moment when you feel like additional cases don't make a big difference. 

This is the moment when you should get an assessment of your performance from either an expert or a tenured consultant (who does interviews in their firm). This way you'll get to understand what are the actual areas you should be working on and how. 

And of course, block a few days to just rest and not engage with any sort of interview prep. This will help make you feel refreshed. 

Good luck!
Cristian

Hi there,

If you already have some previous preparation on your fit and case part I suggest:

• You get a coach to run a mock interview and assess how close / far you are from passing the interviews
• Keep practicing on your own or with peers on the feedback coach 
• Have specific deep-dive sessions with the coach on any dimension you need more help with (e.g., structuring, math, etc.)

Happy to keep talking about this in private, just send me a message.

Best,

Alberto

—

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

Hello, 

Happy to chat 20 min (free) if it helps to structure a plan. 

If you have been practising for 3 months already, I would say: 

- Spend more time reviewing and learning from your cases VS doing a LOT more cases. People often blitz through cases without taking all the learning opportunities => although that is when you really progress and create step changes between practices 

- Sometimes, take a break! Read about exciting news, developments in AI, industries … It is not only about cases, but your business logic, mind and approach! 

- Prepare your fit! Remember that both sections are important in an interview and people tend to overprepare cases and lack prep in fit. If burn-out on cases, do some reflection and structuring on your fit! 

Best of success in the prep! Let me know if I can help!
Cheers!  Nicolas Vilmin

Hi,

Here are my top tips for maximizing your prep in your last 3 weeks:

1. Focus on your key weak areas / shaky areas 
   • At this stage, you have to prioritize - figure out what are the top areas you are not confident of and focus on that
2. Take time to do non-interview stuff and remind yourself of your motivation
   • Given you are burnt out, factor in time to also do things that help you de-stress or create a fresh mind that is conducive for learning 
   • More importantly, use this time to re-motivate yourself on why you are preparing/want to join consulting - mindset is fundamental for being ‘game ready’ for the interview
3. Get some external perspective to help give you that last push
   • A reliable 3rd party perspective can help to validate your weak areas and also potentially identify some blind spots

Hope this helps!

Without knowing where you are, it's impossible to suggest adequate priorities.