Client goal
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a private organization with vast ambitions; one of its goals is to reduce extreme poverty worldwide. The foundation has asked McKinsey to design a basic financial-services offering for residents in remote communities in Mexico.
Situation description
The majority of Mexico’s rural population is relatively poor, relying in part on government benefits for their livelihood. Since they tend not to have bank accounts, they usually collect those benefits in cash from a limited number of state-owned bank branches. These branches are often a long way from where the recipients live, so it can take a lot of time and effort to collect benefits. In addition, while traveling to the branches, people can be at risk of falling victim to crime.
The Mexican government also owns and operates a chain of 22,000 stores throughout Mexico, called Diconsa, which provide basic food, clothes, and other essential goods to rural populations. These stores are supplied through a network of central and regional warehouses and several thousand delivery trucks.
McKinsey study
McKinsey has been asked to investigate and assess the possibility of using the Diconsa network to provide a set of basic financial services to supplement the limited number of state-owned bank branches. This would start with dispensing benefit payments and would gradually grow to include savings accounts, bill payments, insurance, loans, and other financial products.
Helpful hints
- Write down important information.
- Feel free to ask the interviewer to explain anything that is not clear to you.
Practice Case Questions
Question 1:.
What should the team investigate to determine whether the Diconsa network could and should be leveraged to provide a range of basic financial services to Mexico’s rural population?
- Take time to organize your thoughts before answering. This will help show your interviewer that you have a logical approach and can think in an organized way, regardless of the accuracy of the outcome.
- Develop an overall approach before diving into details.
Reveal Answer
Some of the factors you might discuss with your interviewer could include:
Benefits to the Mexican rural population. How much time, effort, and expense would a benefit recipient save through the Diconsa network—for example, through shorter travel times? Beyond what was stated in the summary, what benefits would there be for rural populations being given greater access to a broader range of financial services? Would there be better security for their money?
Benefits to the government, state bank, and Diconsa network. Would the government benefit in terms of increased compliance with, or the collection of benefits such as lower administration costs? Would these financial services result in better financial management among the rural population, like more business for Diconsa stores? Would this alternative model reduce pressure on and increase efficiency at the bank branches that currently distribute benefit payments?
Potential risks due to this venture. Does the Diconsa network have the capacity or ability to deal with financial payments and products? Does the state bank have the capacity to operate financial services across a much larger network of outlets? Is there a greater risk of fraud or theft due to less centralized control of benefit payments?
Question 2:
The team has estimated that it currently costs a family 50 pesos per month in transportation and food to make the journey to collect benefit payments. The team also estimates that if benefits were available for collection at local Diconsa stores, the cost would be reduced by 30 percent.
Twenty percent of Mexico’s population is rural, and of that number, half currently receive state benefits.
You can assume that Mexico has a population of 100 million.
You can also assume that families in Mexico have an average four members, and that this does not vary by region.
If every family could collect state benefits at their local Diconsa stores, how much in total per year would be saved across all Mexican rural families receiving state benefits?
- Don’t feel rushed into performing calculations. Take your time.
- Remember that calculators are not allowed—you may want to write out your calculations on paper during the interview.
- Talk your interviewer through your steps so that you can demonstrate an organized approach; the more you talk the easier it will be for your interviewer to help you.
One possible approach to discuss with your interviewer could be::
- There are five million families in rural Mexico: 20 percent times 100 million, divided by four people per family
- There are 2.5 million families receiving benefits: 50 percent times five million families
- Each family currently spends 600 pesos per year to receive benefits: 50 pesos per month times 12 months
- In total, families spend 1.5 billion pesos per year to receive benefits: 600 pesos times 2.5 million families
- 450 million pesos could be saved: 30 percent times 1.5 billion pesos
Question 3:
The team conducted a survey on a sample of the rural population in three different regions of Mexico. Participants were shown several statements about the concept of collecting benefits at their nearest Diconsa store and asked how much they agreed with each statement. The average response to some of the questions in each region is shown below:
What are your observations regarding this information, and how would you explain these trends?
- Take some time to look at the information and note down any observations you have.
- Challenge yourself to identify trends that are not immediately obvious from the data.
Some of the observations you might discuss with your interviewer could include:
- There are significant differences by region as to how interested people are in collecting benefits at their nearest Diconsa
- Everyone has security concerns about collecting benefits at a Diconsa, but this is especially true in Region B
- People are not so concerned about whether they will receive their benefits, except in Region B
- Not everyone is completely convinced it will cost them less to collect benefits from their nearest Diconsa, despite the fact that they all agree it will save time
- Broadly speaking, security, trust, and cost effectiveness all seem to influence whether someone is interested in collecting benefits at a Diconsa. People’s perception of these seem to differ by region, with Region B being a particular issue. One potential explanation for the results in Region B is that this region has far higher levels of crime and corruption, which means people are less convinced that they will receive their benefits or that they can keep them secure once received.
Question 4:
In a subsequent meeting, representatives from the state-owned bank express concern about how challenging it will be to offer basic financial products to the rural population.
One of the representatives mentions that these are regions where people have minimal education and are unfamiliar with banking products. There is also significant crime and fraud. He asks for the team’s thoughts about how the bank could sell these services effectively to the population given these challenges.
Helpful hint
Consider the issues raised in the question and group your thoughts around them. This will ensure that you are giving the most relevant answers.
Some of the thoughts you might discuss with your interviewer could include:
Examples suggestions on how to overcome lower levels of education and familiarity with banking products:
- Pilot some products in certain regions where the population might be more receptive, so that less receptive people can see that they are already being used by others in similar situations
- Arrange in-store talks and demonstrations, focusing on educating people about what the products are and how they can be used to dispel common causes of distrust
- Collaborate with brands or organizations that are already well-known and trusted by the rural population living in these areas
- Advertise using individuals who have benefited from similar products, for example, people who have made successful insurance claims, or who managed to save money for a specific need
- Motivate Diconsa employees to encourage product take-up
- Offer promotions to encourage initial take-up, for example, pay 50 pesos when people make their first deposit into a savings account
Example suggestions to overcome crime and fraud:
- Increase security at Diconsa stores
- Impose daily or weekly transaction limits
- Introduce technology, such as chip cards, to reduce fraudulent activity and discourage crime by reducing the use of cash
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47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)
One of the best ways to prepare for case interviews at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples.
There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.
The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.
- McKinsey examples
- BCG examples
- Bain examples
- Deloitte examples
- Other firms' examples
- Case books from consulting clubs
- Case interview preparation
1. McKinsey case interview examples
- Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
- Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
- Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
- GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
- National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
- Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
- Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
- Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
- McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
- McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below
2. BCG case interview examples
- Foods Inc and GenCo case samples (BCG website)
- Chateau Boomerang written case interview (BCG website)
- BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
- Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
- BCG live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below
3. Bain case interview examples
- CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
- FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
- Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
- Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
- Written case interview tips (Bain website)
- Bain case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
- Bain live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See above
4. Deloitte case interview examples
- Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
- Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
- Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
- Retail Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
- Finance Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
- Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
- Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
- Footloose written case (by Deloitte)
- Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
5. Accenture case interview examples
- Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
- Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
6. OC&C case interview examples
- Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
- Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)
7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples
- Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
- Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
- Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples
- Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
- Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
- AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples
- Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
- Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples
- Case interview example video walkthrough (L.E.K. website)
- Market sizing case example video walkthrough (L.E.K. website)
11. Roland Berger case interview examples
- Transit oriented development case webinar part 1 (Roland Berger website)
- Transit oriented development case webinar part 2 (Roland Berger website)
- 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1 (Roland Berger website)
- 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2 (Roland Berger website)
- Roland Berger case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
12. Capital One case interview examples
- Case interview example video walkthrough (Capital One website)
- Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
13. Consulting clubs case interview examples
- Berkeley case book (2006)
- Columbia case book (2006)
- Darden case book (2012)
- Darden case book (2018)
- Duke case book (2010)
- Duke case book (2014)
- ESADE case book (2011)
- Goizueta case book (2006)
- Illinois case book (2015)
- LBS case book (2006)
- MIT case book (2001)
- Notre Dame case book (2017)
- Ross case book (2010)
- Wharton case book (2010)
Practice with experts
Using case interview examples is a key part of your interview preparation, but it isn’t enough.
At some point you’ll want to practise with friends or family who can give some useful feedback. However, if you really want the best possible preparation for your case interview, you'll also want to work with ex-consultants who have experience running interviews at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.
If you know anyone who fits that description, fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.
Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can do mock case interviews 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from MBB firms . Start scheduling sessions today!
Any additional resources?
Have we missed any additional case interview resources available for free? Please post them in the comments section below so we can add them to our list.
The IGotAnOffer team
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Table of content
McKinsey case interview
Mckinsey interview process & requirements, mckinsey recruitment process, mckinsey interview process.
What does McKinsey look for?
Mckinsey case interview format, what is a case interview, what are mckinsey case interviews like.
BCG & Bain Case Interview
The comprehensive guide on candidate-led case interviews
McKinsey case interview questions
Type 1 – framework / issue tree, type 2 – market-sizing & guesstimate.
Type 3 – Brain teasers
Type 4 – Chart insights
Type 5 – value proposition.
Type 6 – Information questions
Type 7 – math problems, type 8 – solution-finding, are 8 question types enough, mckinsey case interview tips, tip #1: actively try to take control of the case.
Tip #2: Ask for data as much as possible
Tip #3: use insights from previous questions to answer the next.
Tip #4: Analyze as deep and comprehensive as possible
Tip #5: always follow up answers with takeaways, tip #6: deliver concise and insightful answer pitch.
Tip #7: Make a personal script
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How to prepare for McKinsey case interview
Step 1: familiarize with interviewer-led case examples, step 2: practice consulting math, step 3: develop business intuition, step 4: learn the case interview question types, step 5: perform mock interviews, mckinsey pei – how to prepare, what do they ask in the mckinsey pei, how to prepare for the mckinsey pei, four common mistakes in the mckinsey pei, learn the secrets to case interview, case interview end-to-end secrets program.
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Elevate your case interview skills with a well-rounded preparation package
Studying case interview examples and practicing consulting cases is the best way to prepare for consulting interviews. Below, you'll find 34 of the best case interview examples and practice cases.
McKinsey Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Diconsa case interview practice : Non-profit case focused on deciding whether to leverage a chain of convenience stores to deliver basic financial services to inhabitants of rural Mexico. Great practice case for the non-profit sector.
- Electro-light case interview practice : New product launch case focused on deciding whether a beverage company should launch a new sports drink. Outstanding case to practice interpreting various charts and graphs.
- GlobaPharm case interview practice : Acquisition case focused on deciding whether a large pharmaceutical company should acquire a smaller startup. This case has very difficult math calculations that you can practice.
- National Education case interview practice : Non-profit case focused on helping an Eastern European country’s Department of Education improve their school system. Another great practice case for the non-profit sector.
BCG Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Medical Device Company case interview example : Revenue growth case focused on helping a medical devices company who recently purchased an administrative systems software company increase revenues. This case example is in a written dialogue format.
- Cereal Company case interview example : Distribution strategy case focused on helping a cereal manufacturer decide how to respond to a discount chain growing to become its largest distributor. This case example is in a written dialogue format.
- Airline case interview practice : Profitability case focused on helping a low-cost carrier airline improve profitability. This is an interactive case that lets you practice leading the direction of a case interview. It takes quite a bit of time to get through, but is highly recommended.
- Drug case interview practice : Pricing case focused on helping a pharmaceutical company determine the optimal price for a new drug. This is also an interactive case and is highly recommended.
Bain Case Interview Examples and Practice
- PrintCo case interview example : Market entry case focused on helping a restaurant menu printing company decide whether to enter the electronic restaurant menu market. This case is in a video format and is helpful in understanding what an associate consultant-level interview looks like (post-undergraduate role).
- NextGen Tech case interview example : Partnership case focused on helping a wearable computer device company determine which cellular network company to partner with in order to make $1B over the next two years. This case is in a video format and is helpful in understanding what a consultant-level interview looks like (post-MBA role).
- CoffeeCo case interview practice : Market entry case focused on helping a friend decide whether she should open a coffee shop in Cambridge, England. This case is on the simpler, more basic side.
- FashionCo case interview practice : Profitability case focused on identifying how a fashion retailer can increase revenues. This case is on the simpler, more basic side.
Deloitte Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Retail strategy case interview practice : Business strategy case focused on helping a warehouse club retailer decide between two different business models. This case provides great practice for interpreting charts and graphs and practicing case math.
- Finance strategy case interview practice : Non-profit case focused on helping a Federal Health Agency manage the financial activities related to eliminating Ebola.
- Extreme Athletes World Games case interview practice : General business strategy case focused on helping an Organizing Board develop a strategic plan for hosting the Extreme Athlete World Summer Games.
- Green Apron case interview practice : Operations case focused on helping a grocery chain redesign and implement a new e-commerce platform.
- Technology Institute of the West case interview practice : Post-merger integration case focused on helping an educational institution realign employee and leadership roles after merging six sister institutions.
- Footloose case interview practice : Strategy case focused on helping a footwear company decide whether to focus on growing in the work boot sector of the market or the casual boot sector of the market. This case provides great practice for interpreting multiple different pieces of data simultaneously.
Accenture Case Interview Examples and Practice
- At this time, Accenture does not provide any official case interview examples and practice cases. They provide a case interview handbook , but it is not as helpful as the other resources in this article.
Oliver Wyman Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Wumbleworld case interview practice : Profitability case focused on helping a theme park operator in China improve profitability. This case is fairly basic, but provides great practice for interpreting charts and graphs and practicing case math.
- Aqualine case interview practice : Revenue case focused on helping a small powerboat manufacturer identify sales growth opportunities. This case is fairly basic, but provides great practice for interpreting charts and graphs and practicing case math.
LEK Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Theater Co. case interview example : Revenue growth case focused on helping a theater location increase revenues. This is a very short case in a video format.
- Market sizing example : This video provides an example of how to estimate the market size for medical consumables by general practitioners in the United Kingdom. The video is short and provides a great example on how to structure an approach to market sizing.
AT Kearney Case Interview Examples and Practice
- At this time, AT Kearney does not provide any official practice cases. They provide an overview of a promotional planning case example , but it is not as helpful as the other resources in this article.
Roland Berger Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Transit-oriented development case example : Profitability case focused on helping a local public transit operator improve its profits. This case is split into two videos, part one and part two .
- 3D printed hip implant case example : Market entry case focused on helping the client assess whether additive manufacturing and the selling of hip implants is an attractive business. This case is split into two videos, part one and part two .
Bridgespan Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Robinson Philanthropy case interview practice : Non-profit case focused on helping a philanthropy group develop a strategy for selecting organizations to give multi-year, multi-million dollar grants.
- Home Nurses for New Families case interview practice : Non-profit case focused on helping a nurse home visitation program develop a strategy for growth.
- Reach for the Stars case interview practice : Non-profit case focused on helping a national initiative focused on improving student success in community colleges develop a strategy for growth.
- Venture Philanthropy case interview practice : Non-profit case focused on helping a charity group select opportunities for high-impact philanthropy.
Simon-Kutcher Case Interview Examples and Practice
- At this time, Simon-Kutcher does not provide any official practice cases. They provide a case interview handbook with some example questions, but it is not as helpful as the other resources in this article.
OC&C Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Hotel and Casino Co. case interview practice : Business strategy case focused on helping a hotel and casino operator decide what they should do with their health club business, whether they should divest it, grow it, or acquire another player in the market. This case helps illustrate the difference between good answers and excellent answers.
- Whisky Co. case interview practice : Profitability case focused on helping a whiskey manufacturer and distributor determine how to increase profitability. This case helps illustrate the difference between good answers and excellent answers.
Capital One Case Interview Examples and Practice
- Ice Cream Co. case interview example : Profitability case focused on helping an ice cream company increase profits by considering a pricing promotion strategy. Note that Capital One cases are more quantitative than typical consulting cases. This video is helpful in seeing a wide variety of answers and approaches that candidates take.
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Crafting Cases
Case Interview Examples: The 9 Best in 2022 (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.)
February 26, 2021 By Julio Tarraf
Today I’m gonna show you a curated list of the 9 VERY BEST Case Interview Example videos from all around the web.
So you don’t have to go through the same pains I did back when I was preparing:
- I watched TONS of videos on YouTube, but most of my time was WASTED because many weren’t helpful at all.
- I couldn’t tell which cases were realistic and which were unrealistic, or which were hard and which were easy.
- I couldn’t even tell whether each answer by the candidates was good enough to pass the interview or not (my best proxy was their confidence, which I later found was NOT a good proxy).
So that brings us to this article.
What's in for you:
Every hour you spend on the examples in this article is the equivalent of spending 3-5 hours browsing YouTube on your own, reading Case in Point, or going through piles of casebooks.
This article is the result of...
24 of those videos didn’t make it to the list: they were a mix of poorly recorded, unrealistic and even misleading .
I curated just the best so you wouldn’t have to waste your own 20+ hours to find them.
Table of contents:
- #1. Playworks market entry [Best for beginners]
- #2. Agricultural chemicals product launch [Advanced candidates only]
- #3. A+ Airlines’ reaction to competitor’s change
- #4. Auto manufacturer profitability decrease [Best profitability case]
#5. Swift fox population decrease
- #6. Bed and Bath e-commerce acquisition [Best for solo practice]
#7. FlashFash acquires LaMode
#8. medical supplies manufacturer demand decrease.
- #9. Pepsi’s LA bottling plant
- #10. 1930’s gangster growth strategy
#1. Playworks market entry
- Easy case, with one Estimation, one Quantitative Analysis, and one Chart Interpretation questions within. Overall, good to practice and to get a feel for case interview dynamics
- You can’t see the Exhibit the candidate is shown, but you can find it in this link provided by Yale SOM Consulting Club (go to page 9)
CANDIDATE’S PERFORMANCE
- Stellar framework, touching on all relevant issues and showing a plan to solve the problem from beginning to end
- Great job performing a spontaneous reality check to his estimation
- I would expect more reasoning behind some of the key assumptions (# of high schools and colleges in the US). He was, however, close to the real values – his background as a teacher could have played a role, but as an interviewer I would still have needed to see his reasoning behind those numbers
- Big mistake inadvertently converting square yards to square feet (~10x difference in final answer) combined with math confusion within the Estimation and inefficiencies in Analysis: his analytical skills would have to be tested more thoroughly in a third interview or in a next round
The next case is mostly useful for its framework question.
It’s a high-quality, nuanced case question, similar to the ones you’ll get in McKinsey, Bain and BCG interviews.
The problem with this case is…
It requires either a well-structured answer or a ton of business sense, and the candidate solving it had neither.
As a result, he missed so many great insights, which made the video poor where it could have been rich for those who are practicing: business insight.
To spice up your practice, I’ll list those insights after the video under a spoiler alert, so you can add them to your own business sense library.
Given all of this, I would recommend this video for advanced candidates only .
(To understand what elements a perfect answer would need and how to create one for any case, check out our free course, Case Interview Fundamentals.)
#2. Agricultural chemicals product launch
Product launch
Candidate-led
- Tough case. Full of nuance, and suitable for an MBB first-round (perhaps even for a final-round).
- The analysis at 26:15 is a tough one, great practice for advanced students looking to improve their quantitative skills. Don’t forget that you need to provide an insight after getting to the numerical answer.
- Right from the start, you can see that you’d need to (1) size the financial benefits orchards would get from using your product and (2) run viability and pricing analyses. The candidate fails to see this until the interviewer suggests it.
- The candidate missed several other important insights which would have been impressive. Can you spot any? Read them below, under the spoiler alert.
As I said, I’ll quickly go over the insights this candidate missed, as I think they could greatly add to your business sense library.
1) The one and most important is the pricing and viability analysis.
- One of the first questions that need to be answered when solving this case is, “what’s the size of the financial benefits of this product to the buyer, how much can we capture of it, and does it covers the manufacturing and distribution costs?”.
- The reason is simple: this analysis can be run entirely on data we most likely have (from research while developing the product), and it will quickly tell us if the product isn’t viable or if we need a strategy pivot.
- When guided, the candidate eventually runs this analysis, but the fact that this isn’t even explicit in his initial structure is still a red flag.
- Here’s what I would expect from a top-2% candidate. This analysis should have been outlined in the initial structure, along with a quick brainstorming of how this product might bring increased profits for the buyer.
2) There are several other potential sources of increased ROI that the launch of this product could yield that he didn’t even consider:
- Cross-selling opportunities to these same clients, once we’re selling Mango Maker to them.
- The possibility of selling this product in several other countries (thus potentially decreasing the costs of production with scale gains.)
- The possibility of selling this product to producers of other tropical fruits (to his credit, he did mention this when pressed, by the end of the video).
- The possibility of acting towards increasing the patent duration.
- The possibility of having some cash flow from the product after the patent expires.
The key to getting to those insights would have been to build a more robust initial framework. More business sense would help for sure, but structuring techniques are more feasible to practice and develop.
Lastly: the interviewer says, by the end of the video, that the interviewer would pass his first-round MBB interview with this performance. I do not agree with her.
While it is possible that his interviewers would pass him and let partners decide whether or not he’s suitable for the firm, the risk is just too high.
Some interviewers might pass him, but many others definitely would not.
Before we move on…
Did you know there are ONLY 6 types of questions an interviewer will ask you in a case?
Join our FREE 7-day case interview course to…
- Learn what these six types of questions are…
- Get step-by-step approaches to answering them…
- And get several in-depth examples taylored for solo practice.
Now to the next video…
Yale SOM Consulting Club and Elaine Dang deserve congratulations on the two videos they made.
It’s super high quality work.
Both of their video examples are similar to real case interviews in format and content, and they’re even superior to some made by case interview prep websites.
#3. A+ Airlines' reaction to competitor's change
- Questions and difficulty realistic for McKinsey, Bain, or BCG
- A real case might have more Brainstorming questions within the case
- Negative: you can’t se the exhibits the candidate is shown
- Great: all of her answers were backed by at least one layer of structure
- Insights provided after calculating every new number, which is super important (learn more)
- She did a good job keeping the interviewer on board by doing her math out loud at all times
- One thing she could’ve done better was to not constantly come back to the “cash tied up in the cash box” idea – she should’ve tested it once and definitively as to whether that is relevant or not (it isn’t) – a partner would have certainly challenged her on that
Featuring next: me reviewing my own video from a neutral point of view.
Yes, I know that can’t possibly be unbiased.
But here’s why I think this video will get you ahead of other candidates and why you should ABSOLUTELY NOT miss out on this :
- The case comes nearly straight from my own Bain final round.
- My question in the end is difficult (even for McKinsey, Bain or BCG’s standards), and Bruno’s answer is impressive.
- Bruno’s solution is not perfect, and this gives us both an opportunity to openly discuss how it could’ve been better by the end.
#4. Auto manufacturer profitability decrease
- Average-difficulty profitability case in the first half, and a difficult question at 15:44
- Full realistic drill-down to find the real root cause of the problem, which is a common thing in case interviews that you’ll only find in this video
- Bruno should have presented his answer as a plan before diving into the profit tree , which is an advanced skill that makes you sound more like a consultant and less like a candidate
- Efficient and organized drill-down in the profit tree, a must-master habit for all candidates
- Super insightful answer to the second question because it shows second-order level thinking
If you’re mainly looking to improve your performance in profitability cases, there are two pieces of content worth checking out:
- This video: 5 Tactics To Stand Out In Your Profitability Case Interviews
- And this article, the state-of-the-art in profitability trees: Profitability Trees: The Complete Guide
What I love about the next case is that the first question is on diagnosing a client’s issue, but it’s not a profitability case.
It’s actually a public sector case!
Most beginners think you only use issue trees and drill-down analysis when solving a profit problem, but as you’ll see in this case, this is not true at all.
The candidate’s answer is good, so you can compare your own answer to his.
- This is a difficult, realistic diagnostics case, great for advanced candidates to step up their practice with hard cases
- You are not shown a critical exhibit the candidate gets in the middle of the case, making it unsuitable for practice from then on
- The candidate’s initial structure is insightful because it breaks down the population problem into its key drivers
- The insights the candidate provided on the exhibits are spot-on, but I would expect next-steps after the conclusions (e.g. after 10:33 , he could have said “And to figure out whether this really is the cause of the population decrease, the next thing I would do is…” )
- But he doesn’t make the same mistake twice – at 23:20 , he gets to a number the interviewer asked and, this time, he leads the case perfectly: he comes up with a conclusion (the insight), and then proactively leads the case with next steps
The next video is THE SINGLE BEST in this list for solo practice.
You will see Bruno’s reaction to challenges most people only face in their actual interviews. Mock interviews hardly prepare you for this at all:
- How should you react when an interviewer asks you for more ideas after you’ve given everything you have?
- What do you do when your interviewer asks for a recommendation having given you nearly no data?
Go ahead and see for yourself.
(And how would a real candidate do in this case? I interviewed a candidate with this very same case and recorded it so you could see for yourself. )
#6. Bed and Bath e-commerce acquisition
- Pay special attention to how I made spontaneous challenges to Bruno after his answers. Most mock interviews, even with consultants, don’t have that. So candidates end up getting surprised by them in their actual interviews. You might even want to show this to your peers so they’ll do more realistic mock interviews with you
- In 9:00 I challenge Bruno to see if he’s sure whether customer loyalty was good (higher customer lifetime value) or bad (harder to increase market share) for the acquisition
- In 16:22 I challenge Bruno to find even more ideas other than the ones he had already given
- Due to being interviewer-led AND having great benchmark answers, this is the best video in this list for solo practice
- Super structured brainstorming, which showed me he would not leave any important area behind and helped him give me a ton of creative, insightful ideas
- Insightful framework answer (e.g., 99% of candidates would not talk about whether running this business would be attractive to the friend, much less in depth like he did)
The next case is one of the unmissable videos in this list for two main reasons.
Number one, the candidate’s answers are great, good enough to be benchmarks to your own.
Number two, it’s a difficult M&A case (which is not as exciting as watching the last Avengers movie, I get, but still…).
- Realistic, challenging interviewer-led case for McKinsey, Bain and even BCG (as some interviewers there have been doing this type of case recently)
- Quality answers make it great for solo practice
- Insightful, well-built framework, definitely a benchmark
- Notice how the candidate shows his structure for the quantitative analysis before diving into the math – that’s a great habit you definitely want to copy
I chose this next video mostly due to the quality of the initial case question. Here’s why.
Most profitability cases in casebooks are simple: “industry Y, profits fell. Why?”
But the truth is, in real MBB interviews, the case question almost always has more nuance than that.
That’s what this next video’s initial case question shows.
Just a quick heads up: I would not pass this candidate, as I wasn’t a fan of his initial structure nor of his business sense in general. Your initial structure should be more robust than his.
Profitability
Below average
- The nuances of the case question make it a realistic one for MBB first-round interviews.
- This case could be way more interesting and insightful if the candidate had followed a different path, like finding different sources of revenue, different segments they could cater to at a higher price point, or new markets they could enter with the resources they have.
- Your answers to the initial case question and to all the other brainstormings in the case could (and should, if you’re aiming for the moon) be 5X more robust than this candidate’s. Don’t base your answers off his. (Learn how to create robust brainstorming structures here.)
- The analysis he performs is good, structure and communication-wise.
- Great insight that buyers’ price sensitivity would be driven by the switching costs if there were any ( 19:30 )
The next video shows an operations case example.
It’s a wonderful use of process structures to diagnose an issue on production line.
I don’t really like its style for practicing for two main reasons.
First, it just doesn’t have the right tempo for you to pause and practice and then compare answers.
Second, the comments in the middle break the flow.
Nothing wrong with those comments. They’re actually helpful.
The problem is they make this video good for learning a few new concepts, watching a good structure put to use, but not really to practice by yourself.
If you’re an advanced candidate and your practice is up to date and you’re just looking to learn something new, jump right in.
#9. Pepsi's LA bottling plant
- Only one person playing the interviewer’s and the candidate’s roles, which doesn’t give you an idea of how the case would flow
- Difficult case, great case for advanced candidates to increase their experience/library
- Not really tailored for you to pause and solve at each moment, doesn’t have a good tempo for that
- “Candidate’s” structure at 5:34 is a great example of a process structure put to use in diagnostics cases
- Super insightful brainstorming at 14:50 , with at least one idea you most likely wouldn’t think of
Want to learn to solve cases like the best interviewees in these videos?
Here’s the deal: you can watch as many of these great videos as you want, but they will only help you up to a point.
They’ll help you understand what a case interview is like…
And if you try to answer the questions as you watch them, these videos will even help you get some practice…
But examples of case interviews will never teach you HOW to do cases well.
And if you want to be outstanding at solving cases so that firms like McKinsey, Bain, or BCG are begging you to accept their offers, we have something for you!
We’ve created a free course that will teach you EXACTLY HOW to answer the 6 (and only six!) types of questions you will find in ANY case interview.
(You can even go back to ALL the questions asked within the 9 examples of this article… You’ll see that each of them can be answered using one of the six techniques.)
Just click the button below to get exclusive access:
Join the FREE course now!
Now, you might be asking yourself: is this even worth my time?
I get that! There’s so much content out there, and so little time to practice.
Well, here’s the kind of e-mail we get from candidates all the time… It speaks for itself:
Bonus video!
In the beginning of this article, I told you there’d be a video by the end that didn’t make it to the list.
It’s not that good to make it to a “best of” list.
Still, I want to add it as a bonus, as it will add value to you in its own way.
#10. 1930's gangster growth strategy
But first, a word of warning... .
This video has a comment that could be misleading. Do NOT watch it without reading the comments.
Sometimes the greatest lessons come from mistakes. This is one of those times.
There’s a comment in the video in which the interviewer suggests that a necessary step in every case is “getting to” a chart.
This gives candidates two false impressions:
False Impression #1) There is a chart in every case, and your goal as a candidate it to “get to it”.
False Impression #2) If your interviewer has given you all the charts they had, you’ve done a good job!
Your goal as a consultant is to find the relevant hypotheses to solve the problem in a structured way and to test them with data.
If you do that, you will have done a great job, and your interviewer may or may not have given you a chart along the way.
This is true for interviews and the consulting job alike!
- Interesting case, as it’s a growth strategy in an unusual “industry”
- It is one of the few cases available online that let you practice Chart Interpretation questions, a common type at McKinsey, Bain and BCG
- Unfortunately, it gives the impression that “getting to all the charts” is the overarching goal of solving a case
- In the first Chart Interpretation question, the candidate missed a critical insight: that they already have 100% market share in all markets. While the interviewer downplays it , it was a big foul that would be hard to recover from in a real interview
- The candidate provided insight after reading each exhibit – good job. However, he’d never proactively give clear next steps, which is what a well-prepared candidate would do
- If you’re practicing by yourself, remember not to use this candidate’s answers as a quality benchmark
I hope this article was helpful to you 🙂
If it was, I think you’ll also enjoy our free course. Check it out for yourself by clicking here .
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Practicing cases will help you get comfortable with the type of questions asked, and boost your confidence. ... Virtual Interview Zoom Guide.
Our values, practice cases and other resources ... During your interview*, we'll ask you to share examples from your personal experiences.
Practice Case Questions ... Remember that calculators are not allowed—you may want to write out your calculations on paper during the interview.
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