Which strategy to adopt for a second time case prep for MBBs?

Hi there,

1) I will be interviewing for Bain and Mckinsey in September. How should I plan my prep? I don't know where to start.

I would recommend the following:

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 over 100 hours to get ready starting from scratch before the interview, but since you have already prepared in the past, you will probably need less than that.
2. Start by reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (INSEAD is a good one to start). If you have a list of cases you did in the past that you found challenging, you can work on that as well. Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see something is missing, upgrade your structure with the new insights. Try to read a new case per day – in this way you will absorb the information better with constant learning.
3. After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start practicing live. PrepLounge can be helpful for connecting 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 only read cases.
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 that 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.

2) Should prioritize repracticing cases I already did and drills? Or should I focus on doing as many live cases as possible? 

If you have a list of old cases that you found challenging, it could be a good starting point. There is no need to do as many live cases as possible – I would rather recommend doing fewer cases from which you learn. 

The objective of doing cases should be to understand the areas of improvement so that you can fix them. A few cases helping you to understand that will work better than more cases from which you learn nothing.

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi,

Thanks for your question.

While everyone has different style to prepare, this is one approach.

You can start with reviewing some of the good cases you have done in the past, the fundamental formulas for case solving such as contribution margin, break even calculation, profit margin, valuation etc. and the frameworks you have used in the past  for different types of cases, for a refresh. May be even do a quick review of books you have prepared  from in the past - like Victor Cheng case interview secrets which is a short book.

Once you have done the foundation review, I would suggest the following:

1. Start practicing cases with peers in prep-lounge. The more you practice, you will be able to identify your weaknesses and areas you need to address.

2. The more variety of cases you solve, you will be able to see what you are missing in your thought process and framework to solve the case. You can never solve for all types of cases - but the more difficult cases you do, the more you get used to solving and dealing with ambiguity for the big day.

3. In the additional time, refine your mental math skills, get used to reading charts quickly , read additional case materials you can find for good cases and case solving practices/frameworks. Mental math skills are very important both from efficiency and confidence perspective when you are under high pressure so don't overlook that piece.

4. Go through the practice cases in McKinsey and Bain website to solve their sample cases. 

5. Do some cases with coaches if you can afford and work on the feedback they provide.

As a new coach, I’m offering a limited number of free coaching sessions. If you need more help, feel free to reach out!.

Thanks,
Sohini

Hi there,

First, you need to learn and internalize a proper approach to case interviews, then practice.

Doing 70 cases or more does not automatically improve your performance as long as you don't have a solid foundation and know what to do and how to practice effectively. 

Additionally, just doing cases is a bit of a time-waster because you need to invest specifically in areas where you are lacking. If you always do a full case, that's a lot of repetitive work for skills you might already be good at.

Hence, I would suggest that you first invest in a good coach (just one session can move the needle in the right direction), learn the correct approach to cases, understand your weaknesses and strengths, and then create a practice plan with the coach you can execute.

This helps to make your preparation as efficient and effective as possible and increases your chances significantly.

Cheers,

Florian

Hi,

Great question.

I would challenge you to think about what you need to do differently this time around, because the first time prep did not achieve the outcomes that you need.

To me, there are many different activities you could do to try and prepare, but what is most important is quality feedback from someone who has at least been an interviewer before at the firms you are looking to join. This means you are getting the most realistic and practical feedback. 

All the best!