S19E22: 5 Most Common Case Interview Questions and How to Ace Them

(upbeat music) - There are common case interview questions, and then there are uncommon case interview questions. And one of the most important mistakes that we see folks make when they're prepping for the case interview is that they always prepare for the exception to the rule. Well, today we're gonna talk about what the rule is. What are the most common case interview questions and how can you be mentally prepared to train for them? And then once you're trained for those, how you can prepare on top of it for the uncommon questions. We want the best plan for success for you when you're prepping for the case interview. Let's dive in to the five most common case interview questions. Before we dive in, make sure that you're subscribed to this channel for great insights, job opportunities, and more. The first common type of case interview question is the opening structure question of the case interview. Whether it's with McKinsey or with Bain, it's an implied question that many will take the opportunity to answer on their own, or it's a stated question, like in a Deloitte interview, where you would just be asked, how would you structure this problem? Overall, it's an opportunity for you to take two minutes to prep it on your own and come back and to explain what we recommend as a four by three structure for the problem that's at hand. A lot of people just freeze right by this, thinking, I know how to structure a problem, but when we do polls at the end of every session we focus on, structure and math are the two most common areas where people feel like they fail inside the case interview. So we'd really recommend that you prep on this open-ended question, how would you structure this problem? The second common type of case interview question is what we call a math one. It's an initial math question often left with data for you to open-endedly look at. For example, a market sizing question. Let's say that the overall case was about a beverage company that wanted to sell more of its canned drinks. Let's say that the second question would be a math question that would say, how much is the market for kombucha? An open-ended question where you would not be provided with the data. Your job would be to gather the data, develop a structure and propose an insight. The third common type of case interview question is what we call a math two question. The math two questions are often standardized with data that is supplied by the interviewer. These are very common in McKinsey and Bain interviews, but less common in interviews with boutique firms. These kinds of questions imply that they will read out most of the data to you. Have you identified what data you need and what data you have in order to solve the problem? That you will have a conversation with the interviewer and that you will walk through the math with the data that they have provided you out loud. Knowing that there is a math one type question and a math two type question is essential because if you think that a math one question is a math two question, you'll be waiting for data. If you think a math two question is a math one question, you'll be creating data on the fly. So being able not just to do them but to differentiate between them is a critical part of an expert case doer. The fourth common type of case interview question is an open-ended brainstorming question. So in our beverages example, we asked for a structure of how to solve it. We asked for the market size, maybe in a math two question, which can either replace math one or be in addition to it. We would ask how we would focus on entering the market, which of three segments we would target. Then in math four, we would ask a question about costs. How can we keep our costs limited as we're entering this market? It's a brainstorming question, not a math question. And knowing how the wording is and what makes it a brainstorming question will be a really important part of your success. We surveyed 250 candidates who got offers at firms like McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte and Accenture. And we asked them how many cases did you practice before you landed your offer? And the answer was an average of 22 cases. If you haven't already started your prep, you're falling behind your peers. And this isn't meant to scare you, it's meant to urge you to take action today. I needed that urgency to get a successful offer at Bain. If you need expert support or additional guidance, join our Black Belt Case Prep program. You'll work one-on-one with an MBB coach to get case interview ready, including a tailored prep plan that's customized just for you. Our cohorts are phenomenal and they always sell out. Go to the link in the description to learn more about Black Belt and join today. Your consulting offer is just one decision away. The fifth and final type of case interview question that is the most common is the closing question. These questions come in the majority of your case interviews. They ask you to tie together the insights from your structure, math one, math two, and if appropriate, your creative questions as well. You're often asked to do it in a way where you would be presenting either to the manager or to the CEO of the client company. It's important that you understand the three parts of a case closing structure. First, a quick recap of the problem. Second, an answer or a recommendation. And third, next steps. Overall, there are very common types of case interview questions. And in our case library with over 550 cases, you'll see these questions come up over and over and over again. Pattern recognition is a really important part of case interview training. But as I mentioned, there are uncommon case questions as well. Questions like estimation questions or creative questions that really can't be structured and don't have a common business approach. These kinds of questions are only to be practiced by candidates later on in the process. Because if you don't know how to open a case, how to solve a math problem, how to do a creative question, how can you answer left field business questions? It's really, really hard to do. So while you wanna prepare for the most difficult circumstances inside case interviews, you also wanna prepare with great form and knowing the most common case interview questions will help you do just that. If you want a case prep plan that has worked for over 10,000 people that have broken into consulting, follow this one. First, start with math one type questions as a standalone. Market sizing questions are amazing in this category. Second, do five cases out loud while you're watching them on video. Our videos are amazing resources for this. Third, go through one diagnostic case, ideally with a great partner so you can figure out where your natural baseline is in the casing process. Fourth, after your diagnostic case, focus on drill-based learning to identify some opportunities for you to build skills in a focused, in-depth way. This is one of our key secrets to success at Management Consulted. And number five, after you've done all of the steps one through four, focus on 10 individual one-on-one cases with different business problems at their core. As a bonus step, if you have gone through each one of these areas and still feel like you could not be ready for some of the curveballs that will come at you inside case interviews, focus on creative case interviews, level two case interviews, which are focused on the second round, or case interviews that are very heavy on exhibits and charts. Overall, we want you to be super prepared, but we don't want you to waste time doing anything that doesn't make sense for the case interview process. After all, people who succeed in the consulting interview are busy, involved, and productive, and we want you to keep that focus as well. Thank you so much for listening to this episode on common case interview questions. Please check out our free case prep guide in the show notes for more info on solving case interviews. In addition, if you want more help, we would love to work with you. We have an amazing team of MBV coaches that offer programs, including black belt and super prep, for a structured approach to the case interview process. The link is in the show notes. And of course, if you've got questions that don't fall into these categories, but you just want to ask them, our doors are always open. You can email us at [email protected].