CASE PREP 1

Case Prep 101

VP of Casing
Christopher
What
is a Case Lam | Raymond Wang
Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Introduction to Casing
Practice

MCSC 2016

Agenda
CASING 101 What youre getting yourself into
1.
2.
3.
4.

What is a case interview?

Starting a case
Types of cases
How to prepare after this meeting

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

What is a case interview?

Description

A case interview is a job interview in which the applicant is

given a question, situation, problem, or challenge and asked
to resolve the situation
The case is often a real situation or scenario that the
interviewer has worked on in real life

Casing isnt just for consulting

Purpose

Case interviews are designed to holistically test the

candidates skillset. The skills tested fall into one of the three
following areas:

Business Acumen
The candidates
understanding of the
foundations and
general principals
involved in business

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Analytical Skills
& Logic
The candidates ability
to create a logical
structure around a
business problem, and
to analyze and
synthesize complex
data

Types of Cases

Interpersonal &
Communication
Skills
The candidates ability
to effectively
communicate in a
concise and clear
manner

Practice

Getting yourself prepared

What you need heading into a case interview

What you need to practice

Lots of white paper

Multiple pens Find a pen that writes
smoothly, legibly, and works for you
A stopwatch/timer to make sure youre
keeping yourself to a timeline
Binder to document past work and so that
you can refer back when youre presenting
the case

Portfolio Pad
3-5 copies of your resume
5-10 pages of blank white paper
2-3 black / blue pens
Business professional
Watch (recommended)
Marshall nametag (if on campus)

Time permitting start each practice case

with a behavioral

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

Most consulting interviews fit into a standard structure

Behavioral

Case

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

Resume
Walkthrough

IMPACT
Story
Questions

Chronological
description
connecting
past
experience to
the job for
which you are
interviewing
for

Situational
questions
regarding your
past
experience
and skillset

What is a Case

Understand
and Identify
the Problem

Description of
the business
issue you are
expected to
address
High-level
overview and
clarification of
the problem
you were
presented in
the prompt

Starting a Case

Structure
Approach
& Create
Hypothesis

Collect &
Analyze
Data to test
Hypothesis

The logical
approach and
structure you
will use to
determine key
drivers/factors
related to
issue at hand

Data is
gathered,
synthesized,
and
transformed
into actionable
solutions

Types of Cases

Generate
Conclusions
& Recs

Overview of
actionable
solutions,
including short
and long term
plans, risks,
and risk
mitigation
tactics

Practice

Structure of a case interview

Understand and
identify Problem

Structure approach
/ Create
Hypothesis

1 3 minutes

1 minute

PROMPT
Structuring and
organizing your
paper
Efficient note
taking and
shorthand

FRAMEWORK
Profit Tree and
Profitability cases
Case specificity
Breadth of
thinking
MECE

Collect and
analyze data to
test hypothesis
15 20 minutes

ANALYSIS
Questioning
Testing
framework

Generate
conclusions and
recommendations
1 3 minutes

CONCLUSION
General wrap up
Rec, Risks, Next
Steps

RECAP
Distilling key
facts
Recap Brevity
Clarifying
questions (1-3)

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

Approaching a case question and developing a

framework
Understand and
identify Problem

Structure approach
/ Create
Hypothesis

1 3 minutes

1 minute

PROMPT
Structuring and
organizing your
paper
Efficient note
taking and
shorthand

FRAMEWORK
Profit Tree and
Profitability cases
Case specificity
Breadth of
thinking
MECE

Collect and
analyze data to
test hypothesis
15 20 minutes

ANALYSIS
Questioning
Testing
framework

Generate
conclusions and
recommendations
1 3 minutes

CONCLUSION
General wrap up
Rec, Risks, Next
Steps

Todays
Primary Focus

RECAP
Distilling key
facts
Recap Brevity
Clarifying
questions (1-3)

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

The case prompt: Listening and note taking

What will the prompt sound like?
The prompt can vary greatly in
terms of length and information.
You may be given a large amount of
data or just the key issue at hand

Potential Initial Layout

Case Prompt
Information
Framework and Structure
What should I listen for in the prompt?

Key question or problem

Metrics
Size of company, lines of
business, historical data, etc
Numbers are usually important!
Events Information
Occurrences that may have led
to the key issue

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Data Points /
Clarifying
Questions

Types of Cases

Practice

Recap and clarification: Aligning the issue at hand

What am I
recapping?

What am I
clarifying?

What is a Case

The recap should be a brief

review of the prompt, focusing
on the primary issue at hand.

Clarifying questions should be

high level questions that affect
your understanding of, and
approach to the issue.

Starting a Case

Do
Repeat the key issue at
hand
Include high level context
Dont
Recite every piece of
information from the
prompt

Do
Keep questions high level
Ask about pieces of the
prompt you do not
understand
Dont
Ask specific, detail-oriented
questions

Types of Cases

Practice

Questions

Example 1

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

10

Questions

Example 2

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

11

Questions

Example 3

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

12

The framework is the roadmap to a case solution

A strong framework is MECE

Mutually Exclusive
Buckets or categories of factors that affect the
case should not overlap

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Collectively Exhaustive
The framework should cover all factors that
could potentially influence the issue at hand

Types of Cases

Practice

13

Different types of cases/frameworks

Additional Case Topics/Frameworks

Vertical/Firm Specific Cases

Market sizing
ex. How many tooth brushes are
sold in the United States every year
Profitability
New product/business/market
M&A
Pricing
Optimization
Mid-case frameworks
etc.

Human Capital
Technology
M&A questions
Take-home, presentation based case
Group cases
Written cases

All cases require

Structure
Logic
Clarity
Dont be rigid
Dont memorize think! Be case specific
What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

14

Example framework
Profitability Framework

Profit

Revenue

Price

Costs

Volume

Driver #1

Sub-driver A
Sub-driver B
Sub-driver C

What is a Case

Variable x
Volume

Fixed

Driver #2

Starting a Case

Sub-driver A
Sub-driver B
Sub-driver C

Types of Cases

Driver #3

Sub-driver A
Sub-driver B
Sub-driver C

Practice

15

Example Case
Prompt
Your client manufactures and sells deposit slips to banks at a price of $1/slip. They
are the leading firm in this $100 MM industry with 60% market share. There is only
one other competitor.
Federal regulations will decrease the industry size by 10% next year. Our client
wants to maintain its profit to fund other projects. What options does it have and
are any of these appealing?

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

16

How to best prepare yourself for an actual case

Watch a case online
Crack the Case with Ohrvall
http://www.mbacase.com/videos/full-length-cases/
LEK Case Interview Example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT7HUOGBqg8
Victor Chengs Look Over My Shoulder
Read & follow along the case dialogues in Case in Point

Case with someone else

Case with your peers
Case with a second year
Reach out to your mentor (or Vinson Pham)

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

17

Tools to prepare for interviews and Case Certification

Case Tracker

Case Book 1

You are responsible for tracking your own

progress
(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1oFIfBQIc
O9KH8m5GKvOAKX04KCJMlCUyuqxmy6EuWE)

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

18

How to use the case tracker excel

How points will be tallied
Accepting a case (1pt):
Going through a case
playing the role of the
interviewee

Giving a case (0.5pt):

Going through a case
playing the role of the
interviewer
Reviewing a case (0.5pt):
After accepting a case,
going through the case to
identify areas of
opportunity within the
case. Should be completed
just as is you were doing
the entire case over again

You must have 20 points to

qualify for Super Sunday 1

What is a Case

There are a lot of different ways to case, try to case with

different people to learn from each other

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

19

Questions

Questions?

What is a Case

Starting a Case

Types of Cases

Practice

20