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What Is a Case Study?

What is a case study interview, how to prep for a case study interview, case study interview example questions, during the case study interview.

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A case study interview isn’t your average interview. While most interviews ask you to give examples of how you use your skills on the job, in a case study interview, you’ll use those skills in front of the interviewer to solve a real-life problem.

It’s like auditioning for the school play. But instead of showing you can sing and dance, you’re using a case interview to show how you provide innovative solutions to pressing business problems. Not sure how to get ready for this kind of interview? We’ve got you covered. This guide explains how to prep for a case study interview.

Case studies are used across a variety of industries — everything from business to medicine. They are an in-depth examination, analysis, and critique of a real-world scenario the company experienced. People discuss the situation and explore what they learned while forming new solutions to try when they face a similar situation in the future and hope to improve their performance.

For example, doctors and nurses use case studies to improve how they diagnose and treat patients. Using real patient information, the medical team analyzes the case to see what the team may have missed and why they missed it. Learning from these errors helps the team better prepare for similar cases in the future to improve patient care.

While many industries use case studies to iterate and improve their performance, not every company uses case study interviews. This type of interview is very common at consulting companies (no matter what kind of consulting it is). But it’s not unusual for companies outside of consulting to use case interviews for marketing or operations roles.

In a case study interview, you’re given a real-world situation the company has faced and are tasked with analyzing it and suggesting a course of action.

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Businesses use case study interviews to assess your abilities in real-time. While you’ll probably draw on a variety of skills, most case study interviews assess:

• Strategic thinking
• Analytical skills
• Common sense

The advantage of a case study interview is that the interviewer can evaluate your ability in each of these areas and see how you’ll actually use them on the job.

What Is a Fit Interview?

Some people use “case study interview” and “fit interview” interchangeably. While a fit interview and a case study interview both ask behavioral interview questions , they are not the same thing.

A case study interview assesses your ability to do the job. It primarily evaluates how you approach business problems and use your skills to solve them. A fit interview is about company culture fit. The interviewer asks questions that assess how well you’ll fit into the company, like asking you questions about what motivates you or how you lead .

Fit and case interviews are important parts of the evaluation process. Getting the job done is just as critical as getting along with coworkers and supporting the company’s mission. Depending on where you interview, you may have one fit interview and one case study interview, or the fit interview may be a smaller part of the case study interview.

What You’ll Learn in a Case Study Interview

A case study interview allows the hiring manager to see your skills in action and how you approach business challenges. But it also teaches you a lot about the company (even if you’re doing most of the talking).

In a sense, you’re behaving as an employee during a case study interview. This gives you a peek behind the curtain, allowing you to see the company’s inner workings, like how they approach business problems and what they expect from you and your performance.

For example, you may offer a novel approach to solving a problem during a case interview. How does the interviewer react to it? Are they impressed? Surprised? Is there a scowl or frown on their face? Their reaction gives you insights into how the company will likely receive your solutions.

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Depending on the specific company, you may have the case study interview questions in advance, but you may not. Whether you do or don’t, here’s how to prepare for a case study interview.

Conduct Deep Research

Good interview prep for any interview means researching the company. That includes things like learning more about the company’s mission and the challenges the industry faces. But when you’re preparing for a case study interview, your research needs to go deeper. 

When you answer a case study question, your answer has to be specific to the company’s clients or business objectives. For example, if you’re interviewing for a role in strategy consulting , your answer shouldn’t focus on aspects of human resources consulting (unless it’s particularly relevant).

Your research needs to include the kinds of clients the company works with and what types of problems the company solves. For example, the company may only consult for Fortune 100 companies that need accounting advice. Keep these facts in mind as you prepare for the interview.

Case Study Interview Formats

There are four types of case study interview formats:

• Candidate-led: The interviewer asks you a specific question (or gives you a prompt), and you walk the interviewer through a detailed answer.
• Employer-led: The interviewer leads you through a series of specific (and predetermined) prompts and questions, no matter your answers.
• Presentation: You’re given a problem in advance to create and present a detailed case study.
• Video: Similar to a presentation case study interview, you’ll create a video presentation of the case study.

Most companies will tell you in advance which style of case study interview you should prepare for. But if they don’t, reach out to your recruiter or check the company’s website. Many include the essential details you need to prepare for the case study interview.

Seek Out Company-Specific Tips

Speaking of companies and their websites, not only do many companies that use case study interviews tell you the format, they often include helpful tips and tricks to help candidates prepare. This includes what to expect, what the company is looking for skill-wise, and what kinds of responses they want. They may even have a few practice questions and videos you can use to help you prep.

Unlike other common interview questions , it’s not as easy to prepare an answer to case study interview questions. Even though you know it’s a case study interview, you don’t necessarily know the specifics of the case or what problems you’ll be asked to solve.

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That said, it’s likely your case study interview questions will cover one or several of these concepts:

• Entering new markets
• Increasing profits
• Cutting costs
• Turnarounds
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Pricing strategy
• Developing new products
• Industry analysis
• Competitive response

While there are many ways to answer case study interview questions, a few basic prep tips can help you get ready for every question.

In addition to what you usually bring to a job interview , make sure you bring a notepad and pen or pencil to a case study interview. Taking notes will help you better understand the questions and formulate your answers. It also gives you a place to calculate numbers and figures if you need to. Not every case study interview allows calculators, so you’ll need to be ready to do your calculations manually.

Ask Specific Questions

As you’re working through the case study, you can and should ask any clarifying questions you need. The interviewer wants to hear specific, detailed answers that solve the problem. So, whenever you’re unclear, ask a follow-up question to not only get what you need but to give the interviewer what they need. 

That said, your question(s) should be very specific. You need to verify exactly what the interview is asking so you can create an appropriate answer. Say the interviewer gives you a broad question: The client’s revenue is falling. How do you help them increase it? You can follow up with a very specific question or two to make sure you understand what the interviewer is asking:

You’re asking how I would help the client raise revenue, correct? Are you also asking how I would help them increase their profit and cut costs?

>>Related: 5 Top Questions to Ask in an Interview (and Why You Should Ask Them)

Talk Them Through It

A big part of the case study interview is seeing you in action. However, in this case, “see” really means “how you think.” Since the interviewer can’t hear your inner monologue, you’ll need to practice thinking out loud.

While the interviewer wants to hear your solution, they also want to hear how you got there. That means talking through your entire thought process. Instead of saying, “I’d do X,” you have to explain how you arrived at your decision while you’re getting there.

Because not everyone thinks out loud, it may feel unnatural to you, and you likely won’t be expected to do it on the job. But it’s crucial to practice this skill — and it is a skill — because the interviewer is expecting you to do it in a case study interview.

Want to give a case study a shot? Try out a Forage consulting virtual simulation program and gain the skills you’ll need to ace a case study interview.

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• Hacking the Case Interview

This is a complete guide to case interviews for beginners. Whether you have no idea what a case interview is or have just started preparing for consulting interviews, we’ll walk you through the case interview fundamentals.

Case interviews can seem complicated, confusing, and difficult to learn. However, with the right knowledge and strategies, case interviews can be fairly straight forward and mastered by anyone.

In this complete guide to case interviews for beginners, we’ll cover:

Introduction to Case Interviews

Purpose of case interviews, key components of a case interview, types of case interviews, case interview preparation strategies for beginners, case interview practice cases for beginners, common case interview beginner mistakes to avoid, case interview beginner tips for success.

• Beginner Case Interview Resources for Further Learning

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course . These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

What is a case interview?

Case interviews are a special type of interview that every single consulting firm uses. They are almost exclusively used by consulting firms, although some companies with ex- consultants may also use them.

A case interview, also known as a “case” for short, is a 30 to 60-minute exercise in which you and the interviewer work together to develop a recommendation or answer to a business problem.

These business problems can be anything that real companies face:

• How can Amazon increase its profitability?
• What can Apple do to increase customer retention?
• How should Tesla price its new electric vehicle?
• Where should Disney open another Disneyland theme park?

Case interviews simulate what the consulting job will be like by placing you in a hypothetical business situation. Cases simulate real business problems that consulting firms solve for their clients. Many case interviews are based on actual projects that interviewers have worked on.

While consulting projects typically last between 3 to 9 months, case interviews condense solving the business problem into just 30 to 45 minutes.

Case interviews can cover any industry, including retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services, energy, education, healthcare, government, and technology.

They can also cover a wide range of business situations, including entering a new market, launching a new product, acquiring a company, improving profitability, and growing revenues.

Although case interviews cover a wide range of industries and business situations, no technical or specialized knowledge is needed.

Unless you are interviewing for a consulting firm that specializes in a particular industry or function, cases are designed to be solved by someone that has general business knowledge.

Nailing your case interviews is critical to getting  into consulting . There is no way to get a consulting job offer without passing your case interviews.

What are examples of a case interview?

Here is an example of what a perfectly solved case interview looks like:

Here is another example of what a case interview looks like. This case interview is one where the interviewer leads most of the interview.

Here is a third example of a case interview. In this case interview, the candidate leads most of the interview. We’ll cover the difference between interviewer-led and candidate-led case interviews later in the article.

Finally, here is a fourth example of what a case interview looks like. This case is primarily focused on market sizing. We’ll cover what market sizing is and how to solve it later in the article.

Why are case interviews used?

Case interviews are the best way for consulting firms to predict which candidates will make the best consultants. Case interviews do not predict this perfectly, but they come quite close.

Since case interviews simulate the consulting job by placing you in a hypothetical business situation, interviewers use case interviews to see how you would perform as a hypothetical consultant.

Many of the skills and qualities needed to successfully complete a case interview are the same skills and qualities needed to successfully finish a consulting case project.

Case interviews also give you a sense of whether you would like the consulting job. If you find case interviews interesting and exciting, you’ll likely enjoy consulting. If you find case interviews dull and boring, consulting may not be the best profession for you.

What do case interviews assess?

Case interviews assess five different qualities or characteristics: logical and structured thinking, analytical problem solving, business acumen, communication skills, and personality and cultural fit.

1. Logical and structured thinking : Consultants need to be organized and methodical in order to work efficiently.

• Can you structure complex problems in a clear, simple way?
• Can you take tremendous amounts of information and data and identify the most important points?
• Can you use logic and reason to make appropriate conclusions?

2. Analytical problem solving : Consultants work with a tremendous amount of data and information in order to develop recommendations to complex problems.

• Can you read and interpret data well?
• Can you perform math computations smoothly and accurately?
• Can you conduct the right analyses to draw the right conclusions?

3. Business acumen : A strong business instinct helps consultants make the right decisions and develop the right recommendations.

• Do you have a basic understanding of fundamental business concepts?
• Do your conclusions and recommendations make sense from a business perspective?

4. Communication skills : Consultants need strong communication skills to collaborate with teammates and clients effectively.

• Can you communicate in a clear, concise way?
• Are you articulate in what you are saying?

5. Personality and cultural fit : Consultants spend a lot of time working closely in small teams. Having a personality and attitude that fits with the team makes the whole team work better together.

• Are you coachable and easy to work with?
• Are you pleasant to be around?

All of these five qualities can be assessed in just a 30 to 60-minute case interview. This is what makes case interviews so effective in assessing consulting candidates.

What companies give case interviews?

Case interviews are primarily used by management consulting firms (e.g., McKinsey, BCG, and Bain), but they are also used by some technology companies (e.g., Meta, Google) and private equity firms (e.g., KKR, Blackstone) that have a lot of ex-consultants.

Management consulting firms that give case interviews

• EY-Parthenon
• PwC and Strategy&
• Roland Berger
• Oliver Wyman

Technology companies that give case interviews

• Microsoft (including LinkedIn)
• Capital One

Private equity firms that give case interviews

• The Blackstone Group
• Bain Capital

When are case interviews given?

Case interviews are given in nearly every single round of interviews. During first round consulting interviews expect 1-2 case interviews. During final round consulting interviews , expect another 2-4 case interviews.

The only round of interviews that will not have a case interview is the initial phone screen with a recruiter. They will ask primarily resume and behavioral interview questions.

First round interviews are heavily focused on case interviews. There will typically be few behavioral or fit interview questions asked. Each case interview is typically 30 to 40 minutes each. Behavioral or fit interview questions may take up less than 10 minutes.

Final round interviews have a bit more focus on behavioral and fit interview questions, but the vast majority of time is still spent on case interviews. Each case interview is typically 40 to 60 minutes each. Behavioral or fit interview questions may take up to 40 minutes.

As you can see, case interviews are the primary way that management consulting firms assess and select candidates.

There are seven key components or steps of a case interview: understanding the case background, asking clarifying questions, structuring a framework, kicking off the case, solving quantitative problems, answering qualitative questions, and delivering a recommendation.

1. Understanding the case background

The case interview will begin with the interviewer giving you the case background information. Let’s say that the interviewer reads you the following:

Interviewer: Our client, Coca-Cola, is a large manufacturer and retailer of non-alcoholic beverages, such as sodas, juices, sports drinks, and teas. They have annual revenues of roughly $30 billion and an operating margin of roughly 30%. Coca-Cola is looking to grow and is considering entering the beer market in the United States. Should they enter?

As the interviewer reads this, take notes. It is important to understand what the objective of the case is and keep track of information.

One strategy for taking notes effectively is to turn your paper landscape and draw a vertical line to divide your paper into two sections. The first section should be roughly two-thirds of the page while the second section will be one-third of the page.

Take notes in the second section of your page:

After the interviewer finishes giving the case background information, confirm that you understand the situation and objective. Provide a concise synthesis like the following:

You: To make sure I understand correctly, our client, Coca-Cola, is a large manufacturer and retailer of non-alcoholic beverages. They are looking to grow and our objective is to determine whether or not they should enter the U.S. beer market.

Interviewer: That sounds right.

Make sure your synthesis is concise. You do not want to regurgitate verbatim everything that the interviewer has said. Only mention the most important pieces of information.

You should also make sure you verify the objective of the case. Answering or solving the wrong case objective is the quickest way to fail a case interview.

2. Asking clarifying questions

Next in the case interview, you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions before you begin thinking about how to solve the case.

At this point, only ask questions that are critical for you to fully understand the case background and objective. You’ll be able to ask more questions later.

Types of questions you should ask:

• Asking for a definition of a term you’re unfamiliar with
• Asking for information that strengthens your understanding of the company or situation
• Asking questions that clarify the objective of the case
• Asking to repeat information you may have missed

You might ask a few questions like the following:

You: Is Coca-Cola looking to specifically grow revenues or profits?

Interviewer: Coca-Cola wants to grow profits.

You: Is there a particular financial goal or metric Coca-Cola is trying to reach within a certain time frame?

Interviewer: They are looking to grow annual profits by $2 billion within 5 years.

You: Great. Those are all the immediate questions I have for now.

3. Structuring a framework

After you understand the case background and objective of the case interview, lay out a framework of what areas you want to look into in order to answer or solve the case.

A case interview framework is simply a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into simpler, smaller components. Think of a framework as brainstorming different ideas and organizing them into different categories.

When creating a framework, it is completely acceptable to ask the interviewer for a few minutes of silence to write out a framework.

You: Would you mind if I take a few minutes to structure my thoughts and develop a framework to tackle this case?

Interviewer: Of course, go ahead.

For this case example, what do you need to know in order to help Coca-Cola decide whether or not they should enter the beer market?

You might brainstorm the following questions:

• Does Coca-Cola know how to produce beer?
• Would people buy beer made by Coca-Cola?
• Where would Coca Cola sell its beer?
• How much would it cost to enter the beer market?
• Will Coca-Cola be profitable from doing this?
• How can Coca-Cola outcompete competitors?
• What is the market size of the beer market?

This is not a very structured way of tackling the case, so organize these ideas into a framework that has 3 – 4 broad areas, also called “buckets”, that you want to investigate.

An easy way to develop these buckets is to ask yourself, what 3 – 4 things must be true for you to 100% recommend that Coca-Cola should enter the beer market.

In an ideal world. These four things would need to be true:

• The beer market is an attractive market with high profit margins
• Competitors are weak and Coca-Cola will be able to capture significant market share
• Coca-Cola has the capabilities to produce an outstanding beer product
• Coca-Cola will be extremely profitable

You can rephrase these points to be the broad categories in your framework. You can write your framework in the first section of your paper:

Next, let’s add a few bullets under each category to give more detail on exactly what information we need to know to decide whether Coca-Cola should enter the beer market.

This entire process of brainstorming ideas and developing a structured framework should only take a few minutes.

How do you come up with a framework so quickly?

Most candidates make the mistake of either using a single memorized framework for every case or memorizing multiple different frameworks for different cases.

The issue with memorized frameworks is that they aren’t tailored to the specific case you are solving for. When given an atypical business problem, your framework elements will not be entirely relevant.

Interviewers can easily tell that you are regurgitating memorized information and not thinking critically.

Instead of memorizing frameworks, I recommend memorizing a list of 8 - 10 broad business elements, such as the following:

When given a case, mentally run through this list and pick the 3-4 elements that are most relevant to the case. This will be your framework. If the list does not give you enough elements, brainstorm and add your own elements to your framework.

This strategy guarantees that your framework elements are relevant to the case. It also demonstrates that you can create unique, tailored frameworks for every business problem.

Using this strategy for this case, you would run through your list of memorized business elements and select the following:

This strategy is a shortcut for creating unique tailored frameworks for every business problem. You do not need to develop a framework entirely from scratch every time.

Now that you have your framework, turn your paper to face the interviewer and walk them through it.

You: To decide whether or not Coca-Cola should enter the market, I want to look into four main areas.

One, I want to look into the beer market attractiveness. Is this an attractive market to enter? I’d want to look into areas such as the market size, growth rate, and profit margins.

Two, I want to look into the beer competitive landscape. Is this market competitive, and will Coca-Cola be able to capture meaningful market share? I want to look into questions such as the number of competitors, how much market share each competitor has, and whether competitors have any competitive advantages.

Three, I want to look into Coca-Cola’s capabilities. Do they have the capabilities to succeed in the beer market? I want to look into things such as whether they have the expertise to produce beer, whether they have the distribution channels to sell beer, and whether there are any existing synergies they can leverage.

Four, I want to look into expected profitability. Will Coca-Cola be profitable from entering the beer market? I want to look into areas such as expected revenues, expected costs, and how long it would take to break even.

The interviewer might ask a few questions on your framework, but will otherwise indicate whether they agree or disagree with your approach.

For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks .

4. Kicking off the case

If this is an interviewer-led case, the interviewer will propose which area of your framework they would like to dive deeper into. They might say something like the following:

Interviewer: Your framework makes sense to me. Why don’t we start by estimating the size of the U.S. beer market.

If this is a candidate-led case, you will be expected to propose an area to look into. There is no right or wrong area to start first. Propose any area of your framework as long as you have a reason for it.

You could say something like:

You: To start, I’d like to look into the beer market attractiveness. I’d like to first understand the market size to determine if the beer market is an attractive market.

If you end up picking an area that the interviewer does not want you to explore, they will redirect you to an area that they do want you to explore.

The two styles of case interviews are nearly identical. The only difference is whether or not you have to proactively propose what area to explore first and what area you want to explore next.

5. Solving quantitative problems

Expect to perform calculations and analyze charts and graphs during your case interview.

Market sizing questions are one type of quantitative question you may get asked.

Let’s say the interviewer asks you:

Interviewer: What is the market size of beer in the U.S.?

Most candidates jump right into the math, stating the U.S. population and then performing various calculations. Doing math without laying out a structure often leads to making unnecessary calculations or reaching a dead-end.

Laying out an upfront approach helps avoid these mistakes and demonstrates that you are a logical, structured thinker.

For this market sizing problem, you could structure your approach in the following way:

• Start with the U.S. population
• Estimate the percentage that are legally allowed to drink alcohol
• Estimate the percentage that drink beer
• Estimate the frequency in which people drink beer
• Estimate the average price per can or bottle of beer

Multiplying these steps together gives you the answer. By laying out an approach up front, the interviewer can easily understand how you are thinking about the problem. With the right structure, the rest of the problem is simple arithmetic.

Sometimes the interviewer will give you numbers to use for these calculations. Other times, you’ll be expected to make assumptions or estimates.

When performing your calculations, make sure to do them on a separate sheet of paper. Calculations often get messy and you want to keep your original paper clean and organized.

A sample answer to this question could look like this:

You: To estimate the market size of beer in the U.S., I’m going to start with the U.S. population. Then, I’ll estimate the percentage that are eligible to drink alcohol. I’ll then estimate the percentage of the remaining population that drinks beer.

If we take this and multiply it by the frequency in which people drink beer and the average price per can or bottle of beer, we will find an estimate for the market size. 

Does this approach make sense to you?

Interviewer: Makes sense to me.

You: Great. I’ll assume the U.S. population is 320M people. Assuming the average life expectancy is 80 years old and an even distribution of ages, roughly 75% of the population can legally drink alcohol.

This gives us 240M people. Of these, let’s assume 75% of people drink beer. That gives us 180M beer drinkers.

Let’s say on average, a person drinks five beers a week, or roughly 250 beers per year, assuming roughly 50 weeks per year.

This gives us 180M * 250 = 45B cans or bottles of beer.

Assuming the average can or bottle of beer costs $2, this gives a market size of $90B.

You should not only answer the question, but tie the answer to the case objective.

In other words, how does knowing the U.S. market size of beer help you decide whether or not Coca-Cola should enter the market?

You could say something like the following:

You: Given that Coca-Cola has annual revenues of $30B, a $90B beer market represents a massive opportunity. The market size makes the beer market look attractive, but I’d like to understand if beer margins are typically high and determine how much market share Coca-Cola could realistically capture.

A second type of quantitative question you could be asked is to calculate profit or profitability. The interviewer may ask you:

Interviewer: Assume that a 12-ounce can of beer sells for $2 on average. To produce a keg of beer, it costs $100 for raw materials, $95 for labor, and $75 for storage. If a keg of beer holds 1,800 oz. of beer, what is the profit margin for beer?

Make sure you structure your approach and connect your answer to the case objective.

A sample answer could look like:

You: To calculate the profit margin for beer, I will first calculate the total costs to produce a keg of beer. Next, I will divide the volume of a keg by the volume of a can to determine how many cans a keg of beer produces.

Afterwards, I will divide the total cost of producing a keg of beer by the number of cans in a keg of beer to determine the cost per can.

Finally, I can use the price and cost per can of beer to calculate the margin of beer. Does this approach make sense to you?

You: Great. The total cost of a keg of beer is $100 plus $95 plus $75, or $270. The number of cans of beer in a keg is 1,800 oz. divided by 12 oz., or 150 cans.

Therefore, the cost per can of beer is $270 divided by 150 cans, or $1.80. Since the average price of beer is $2 per can, the profit is $0.20 per can. This makes the margin $0.20 divided by $2 or 10%.

Compared to Coca-Cola’s overall operating margin of 30%, the beer market profit margin of 10% is significantly lower. Although the market size for beer is large, the low margin makes the beer market less attractive.

A third type of quantitative question you could get asked is interpreting charts and graphs. The interviewer may show you the following:

A helpful strategy is to start your analysis by explaining what the axes of the chart show. This will help you understand the chart better.

Next, don’t just read what numbers the chart shows, but interpret what those numbers mean for the case objective.

A sample answer might look like the following:

You: For this chart, we have market share on the y-axis and different categories of beer on the x-axis. For each category, we see that market share is concentrated among a few large players. This implies a highly competitive market with high barriers to entry. Because of this, the beer market does not look attractive because it is so competitive.

6. Answering qualitative questions

In addition to asking quantitative questions during the case interview, the interviewer will also ask qualitative questions.

One type of qualitative question you could get asked are brainstorming questions. For example, the interviewer might ask:

Interviewer: What are the barriers to entry in the beer market?

Most candidates answer by listing ideas that immediately come to mind:

• Brewing equipment
• Beer production expertise
• Distribution channels

This is a highly unstructured way of answering the question. Make sure to use a simple structure to organize your thoughts.

A simple structure, such as thinking about barriers to entry as either economic barriers or non-economic barriers, helps facilitate brainstorming and demonstrates logic and structure.

With this structure, you might come up with the following answer:

Have a simple structure when answering qualitative questions. Examples of other simple structures to use include the following:

Additionally, take your answer and connect it to the case objective. In this example, are these barriers to entry high or low? Do you think Coca-Cola can overcome these obstacles to enter the beer market?

You might answer this question in the following way:

You: I’m thinking of barriers to entry as economic barriers and non-economic barriers. Economic barriers include things such as equipment, raw material, and other capital. Non-economic barriers include: beer brewing expertise, brand name, and distribution channels.

Looking at these barriers, I think it will take Coca-Cola a lot of work to overcome these barriers. While Coca-Cola does have a brand name and distribution channels, they lack beer brewing expertise and would have to buy a lot of expensive equipment and machinery. These barriers make entering the beer market difficult.

Another type of question you could get asked are business opinion questions, such as the following:

Interviewer: Do you think there are significant production synergies in producing non-alcoholic beverages and producing beer?

As always, structure your answer and connect your answer to the case objective.

Here is a sample answer:

You: Production involves equipment, raw materials, and labor. There is likely some overlap in equipment, such as using the same bottling machines, but Coca-Cola will likely need new equipment for brewing beer.

Raw materials, on the other hand, are completely different. Coca-Cola will need to source barley, hops, and yeast, which it currently does not use in its existing beverages.

Finally, the same labor can be used, but employees will need new training since producing beer is fairly different from producing a non-alcoholic drink.

Overall, I think there are only a few production synergies that Coca-Cola can leverage, which makes entering the market a bit more difficult.

7. Delivering a recommendation

You’ve done a ton of work so far in the case interview and now it is time to put everything together into a recommendation.

Throughout the interview, you should have been making notes of key takeaways after each question you answer.

Take a look at the key takeaways you’ve accumulated so far and decide whether you want to recommend entering the beer market or not entering the beer market:

• The U.S. beer market size is $90B compared to Coca-Cola’s annual revenue of $30B
• The beer market profit margins are 10% compared to Coca-Cola’s average margin of 30%
• The beer market is highly concentrated across all categories
• Barriers to entry are moderate
• There are some synergies with existing production

There is no right or wrong recommendation, as long as you support your recommendation with reasons and evidence.

Regardless of what stance you take, make sure you have a firm recommendation. You do not want to be flimsy and switch back and forth between recommending entering the market and not entering the market.

Secondly, make sure your recommendation is clear and concise. Use the following structure:

• Clearly state what your recommendation is
• Follow that with the 2 - 3 reasons that support your recommendation
• State what potential next steps would be to further validate your recommendation

The conclusion of the case might look like the following:

Interviewer: Let’s say that you bump into the CEO of Coca-Cola in the elevator. He asks you what your preliminary recommendation is. What do you say?

You: I recommend that Coca-Cola should not enter the U.S. beer market for the following three reasons.

One, although the market size is fairly large at $90B, the margins for beer are just 10%, significantly less than Coca-Cola’s overall operating margin of 30%.

Two, the beer market is very competitive. In all beer segments, market share is concentrated among a few players, which implies high barriers to entry. Coca-Cola lacks beer brewing expertise to produce a great product that existing incumbents have.

Three, there are not that many production synergies that Coca-Cola can leverage with its existing products. Coca-Cola would need to buy new equipment, source new raw materials, and provide new training to employees, which will be time-consuming and costly.

For next steps, I want to look into Coca-Cola’s annual expected profits if they were to enter the U.S. beer market. I hypothesize that they will be unable to achieve an increase in annual profits of $2B within five years, but I’d like to confirm this through further analysis.

What are the different types of case interviews?

Case interviews cover a wide variety of functions and business situations. However, there are six common case interview business situations that account for the majority of all case interviews: profitability, market entry, growth, pricing, merger and acquisition, and new product.

There is a very high chance that you’ll see these types of case interviews in your first-round and final-round consulting interviews.

1. Profitability case interviews

Profitability cases ask you to identify why a company is experiencing a decline in profitability and what they should do to address it. This is the most common business situation for case interviews.

To solve these types of cases, you’ll need to understand quantitatively, what is the driver causing the decline in profits? You will need to determine whether revenues have gone down, costs have gone up, or both have occurred.

Afterwards, you’ll need to understand why this is happening. Once you understand this, you can brainstorm potential ideas and prioritize the solutions that are the most impactful and feasible to implement.

2. Market entry case interviews

Market entry cases ask you to determine whether a company should enter a new market. This is the second most common business situation for case interviews.

To make this decision, you’ll need to assess whether the market is attractive, how strong competitors are, whether your company has the capabilities to enter, and what the expected profitability is.

3. Growth case interviews

Growth cases ask you to determine how a company can best increase its revenues.

To solve this case, you’ll need to identify all of the major ways the company can grow.

Should the company grow organically by targeting new geographies or customer segments?

Should they grow by launching new products and services?

Instead, should the company grow inorganically by acquiring or forming a partnership with another company?

Once you have identified all of the major opportunities for growth, you can prioritize the opportunities that are the most impactful and feasible.

4. Pricing case interviews

Pricing cases ask you to determine how to set the optimal price on a product or service. To do this, you’ll need to consider different factors.

How much does the product cost to produce? You don’t want to price the product too low such that you have a loss on each sale.

How much are customers willing to pay for the product? You don’t want to price the product too high such that no customer is willing to purchase your product.

How much are competitors setting prices for similar products? You don’t want to price the product too high such that customers choose to purchase competitor products.

Considering each of these points will help you determine the right price to set.

5. Merger and acquisition case interviews

Merger and acquisition cases ask you to determine whether a particular company should be acquired.

To solve this case, you’ll first need to understand what the reason is for the acquisition. In most cases, the company will be looking to grow its revenues and profits.

Then, you’ll need to assess whether the market that the acquisition target plays in is attractive, whether the acquisition target itself is attractive, whether there will be any meaningful synergies, and whether the financials of the acquisition make sense.

These considerations will help you determine whether the acquisition should be made.

6. New product case interviews

New product cases ask you to determine whether a company should create and launch a particular new product.

To solve this case, you’ll need to assess whether the product’s market is attractive, whether the product meets customer needs, whether the product is superior to competitor products, whether the company has the capabilities to create and launch the product, and what the expected profitability is.

These considerations will help you make a smart and informed decision.

W hat are the different formats of case interviews?

There are three major formats of case interviews: traditional case interviews, written case interviews which assess presentation and communication skills more heavily and group case interviews which assess teamwork and collaboration more heavily.

1. Traditional Case Interview

The traditional case interview is the format that accounts for 80 to 90 percent of all case interviews. It is the format we have covered so far in which you and the interviewer work together to develop a recommendation or answer to a business problem.

The traditional case interview starts with the interviewer explaining the case background information to you. The case interview ends after you have delivered your recommendation to the interviewer.

There are two styles of traditional case interviews, candidate-led case interviews and interviewer-led case interviews.

• Candidate-led case interviews : You will be driving the direction of the case. You will propose what area of your framework to start in, what questions you would want to answer, what analyses you would want to do, and what the next step is to solve the case. If you go down the wrong direction, the interviewer will steer you back on course, but you ultimately decide what to do next.
• Interviewer-led case interviews : The interviewer will be steering and controlling the direction of the case. The interviewer will point you to which questions to answer, what analyses to do, and what the next step is to solve the case.

2. Written Case Interview

Written case interviews are much less common than traditional case interviews.

For written case interviews, you will be given a packet of information at the beginning of the interview. This packet usually has between 20 to 40 pages of graphs, charts, tables, and notes. You’ll be given information on the case background and the objective of the case.

In some written case interviews, you may also be given a list of important questions to answer. In other written case interviews, you’ll only be given the primary business problem you are asked to answer.

You’ll then have 1 to 2 hours to analyze the information packet and then make 3 to 5 slides to present your analysis and recommendation to the interviewer.

In some written case interviews, you’ll have to create these slides completely from scratch. In other written case interviews, you’ll have pre-filled slide templates that you will fill out with your analysis and work.

For written case interviews, you’ll be working by yourself. The interviewer will leave the room to let you work and then return when time is up to hear your presentation. During the presentation, the interviewer may ask follow-up questions on your work and findings.

3. Group Case Interview

Group case interviews are also much less common than traditional case interviews.

For group case interviews, you’ll be put into a group of 3 to 6 people with other candidates that are also interviewing for the same consulting job you are interviewing for. The group will be given materials which contain the case background, objective, and all of the information needed to solve the case.

You’ll then have 1 to 2 hours to work together as a group to create a slide presentation that summarizes your work and recommendation.

During this time, the interviewer will be listening in on the discussions and conversations that the group will have, but they will not interfere or answer any questions.

Once the time is up, your group will deliver your presentation to the interviewer, who may also ask follow-up questions on the work and findings.

For group case interviews, there is a heavy emphasis on assessing how well you work in a team. Consultants spend almost all of their time working closely in small teams, so teamwork and collaboration are essential.

Interviewers will assess you on criteria such as the following:

• Can you make meaningful contributions while working in a group?
• Are you easy to work with?
• Can you handle conflict and disagreement with teammates?
• Do you bring out the best ideas and qualities in other people?

How long does it take to prepare for case interviews?

Candidates typically spend 60 to 80 hours preparing for case interviews, equivalent to 6 to 8 weeks of preparation. However, exceptional candidates with strong business and communication skills might need as little as 4 weeks. Those lacking a business background could require as long as 12 weeks.

We have seen exceptional candidates pass their consulting interviews and receive offers from McKinsey, BCG, or Bain in just one or two weeks. We have also heard of candidates spending more than 100 hours preparing for case interviews, but receiving no consulting offers.

There are four factors that impact how much time you’ll need to dedicate to preparing for case interviews. Assessing these factors will help you set expectations for the amount of time you should expect to spend.

1. Natural intuition and ability

Case interviews require a strong business intuition and excellent communication skills. Some people will have a higher baseline on these skills than others.

If you have studied business in school or have worked a job that does similar work to consulting, you’ll likely already have a good business intuition. If you give speeches, presentations, or participate in debates frequently, you’ll likely already have good communication skills.

Although these abilities can be learned by anyone, some people will naturally have strong abilities to start with. For these people, they will likely need to spend less time preparing for case interviews than the average person.

2. Learning speed

Some people are faster learners than others. There are many skills you’ll need to learn and develop to be proficient in case interviews, such as structuring a framework, developing a hypothesis, solving math problems , and delivering a recommendation.

These skills require no specialized knowledge or expertise. Anyone can learn and master these skills with enough practice. However, some people will pick up these skills faster than others.

3. Quality of practice

The quality of your practice determines how quickly you can learn and master case interviews.

If you practice with case interview partners that don’t know how to properly deliver a case interview and provide feedback, you’ll learn much more slowly than someone practicing with a consultant who has given interviews before.

Similarly, if the practice cases you use are not representative of an actual case interview or don’t have outstanding model answers, you’ll learn much more slowly than someone using high-quality practice cases.

4. Consulting firm requirements

The amount of time needed to prepare for case interviews also depends on the consulting firms that you are applying for.

The top three consulting firms, McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, have the highest standards and requirements when assessing a candidate’s case interview capabilities. Less prestigious consulting firms may have a lower bar that you need to pass.

If you are recruiting for McKinsey, BCG, and Bain, you’ll likely need to spend more time preparing for case interviews than someone recruiting for Deloitte or Accenture.

When should I begin preparing for case interviews?

Given that it takes candidates on average 60 to 80 hours to prepare for case interviews, you should begin preparing for case interviews at least 6 to 8 weeks in advance. To give yourself adequate time, you should ideally start preparing 16 to 24 weeks in advance.

Preparing 16 to 24 weeks in advance provides sufficient buffer time. You may find yourself too busy to prepare for case interviews during some weeks. You may also realize that you have significant skill or capability gaps as you start preparing, requiring more time to improve.

Preparing for case interviews more than 24 weeks in advance should not be necessary. 

Often times, candidates that start preparing too early will burn themselves out from having done too many practice cases. This often happens right before interviews begin, which leads to poor outcomes.

To avoid burning yourself out, start preparing for interviews ideally 16 to 24 weeks in advance and a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks in advance.

How do I prepare for case interviews?

There are seven steps to preparing for case interviews.

1. Understand what a case interview is

The first step in preparing for consulting case interviews is to understand exactly what case interviews are.

Case interviews are a special type of interview that every single consulting firm uses. They typically take 30 – 60 minutes and involve you working with the interviewer to solve a business problem and provide a recommendation.

When you are familiar with what case interviews are, it is important to know what a great case interview performance looks like.

Knowing what a great case interview performance looks like will facilitate how quickly you learn case interview strategies in the next step.

Before continuing onto the next step, you should be familiar with:

• The overall objective of a case interview
• The structure and flow of a case interview
• The types of questions you could get asked
• What a great case interview performance looks like

2. Learn the right strategies

Now that you have sufficient background knowledge, the next step in preparing for case interviews is to learn the right strategies to build good case interview habits.

It is much more effective to learn the right case strategies the first time than to learn poor strategies and try to correct them later.

The quickest, most efficient way to learn these strategies is to go through our Comprehensive Case Interview Course .

If you prefer reading case interview prep books instead, the three I recommend are:

• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook
• Case Interview Secrets

Hacking the Case Interview provides strategies on exactly what to do and what to say in every step of the case interview. It is a concise and straight to the point guide. I recommend this book as the first book to read for beginners.

Case Interview Secrets teaches core concepts such as the issue tree , drill-down analysis, and a hypothesis driven approach. It illustrates these concepts through stories and anecdotes. If you have read Hacking the Case Interview, I recommend also reading this book to get perspectives from a second author. Check out our full review of Case Interview Secrets .

Case in Point provides a ton of specific and complex frameworks. However, you likely won’t be using many of these in an actual case interview because many of them are overly complex and specific. If you have time, it may be useful to skim through this book. Check out our full review of Case in Point .

At the bare minimum, read either the first or second book. If you have the time, read the first two books so that you can get strategies from two different authors.

Make sure to spend sufficient time learning the right strategies before starting to practice cases. It is ineffective to practice cases if you have no idea what strategies to practice and refine.

Before moving onto the next step, you should at least have strategies for the following parts of a case interview:

• Developing unique and tailored frameworks
• Solving quantitative problems
• Answering qualitative questions
• Delivering a recommendation

3. Practice 3-5 cases by yourself

Once you have learned the right strategies, the next step in case interview prep is to practice.

When practicing case interviews, it is usually better to practice with a case interview partner than to practice by yourself . Casing with a partner better simulates the real case interview experience.

However, when you are just starting to practice, I recommend doing the first 3 – 5 cases by yourself.

There are three reasons for this:

• You can get the hang of the case interview structure and format much more quickly working by yourself rather than having to wait to schedule a time with a partner
• There are many aspects of case interviews that you can practice without a partner, such as structuring a framework and solving quantitative problems. You can get much more practice working through these parts by yourself
• You may have difficulty finding a case interview partner if you are a complete beginner. Without having done any cases, you likely won’t know how to properly give a case or provide good feedback

4. Practice 5-10 cases with a partner

The next step in preparing for case interviews is to case with a partner.

Casing with a partner is the best way to simulate a real case interview. There are many aspects of case interviews that you won’t be able to improve on unless you practice live with a partner.

When practicing cases with a partner, ensure you are spending enough time after cases to deliver feedback.

For a case that takes around 30 – 40 minutes, spend at least 15 – 20 minutes for feedback. Much of your learning and improvement will come from these feedback sessions.

Do not move onto the next step until you have done at least 5 – 10 cases and are beginning to feel comfortable with case interviews.

5. Practice with a former or current consultant

At this point, I highly recommend asking former or current consultants to give you a practice case. This will significantly help you prepare for case interviews.

Doing a mock case with a former or current consultant is highly advantageous because they know exactly how to run cases and give feedback. You’ll receive incredibly helpful feedback that your previous case partners likely missed.

If you feel that you are plateauing with your case partner, that is a sign you should do a mock case interview with a former or current consultant.

You can find former or current consultants among:

• People you met during the consulting recruiting process
• Your broader LinkedIn network

I would not ask a consultant that is involved with the consulting recruiting process for a case too prematurely. Although these practice cases are not evaluative, some firms will actually make note of how well you perform during the practice case.

At this point, you will have accumulated a long list of improvement areas from all of the different people you have cased with.

6. Work on your improvement areas

In this step of preparing for case interviews, you will work on strengthening and fine-tuning your improvement areas. Examples of common improvement areas include:

• Creating a more complete and mutually exclusive framework
• Performing math calculations quicker or more smoothly
• Providing more structure to your qualitative answers
• Leading the case more proactively
• Delivering a more succinct recommendation

Try to focus on improving one thing at a time. This is much more effective than trying to improve everything at once.

For some areas, such as math, it will be better to work independently. For other areas, such as learning to proactively lead the case, it will be better to work with a case partner.

If you are looking for more cases, look at the resources listed in step four. If you are looking for specific drills or practice problems for a particular part of a case interview, check out The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook .

Do not move onto the next step until you have finished working on all of your improvement areas.

7. Stay sharp

If you have progressed this far, congratulations! You have almost finished preparing for case interviews.

Once you feel that you have no more improvement areas to work on, the key is to not burn yourself out by doing too many unnecessary cases.

While each case that you do makes you slightly better, there is a point when doing too many cases can create case fatigue right before your interview. Case fatigue can negatively impact your interview performance.

On the other hand, you also don’t want to go weeks without having done a case. You may end up forgetting strategies or become rusty and slow.

Once you have achieved case mastery, I recommend doing no more than 2 cases per week in the weeks leading up to your interview. This ensures that you remain sharp for case interviews, but don’t have case fatigue.

What resources should I use to prepare for case interviews?

Here are our three resources that we recommend for case interview prep.

These resources teach the best case interview strategies that you only need to learn once. These strategies are robust, effective, and will help you stand out from the hundreds or thousands of other candidates competing for a consulting job offer.

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.
• Hacking the Case Interview Book   (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.

If you’re looking for free resources, you can check out:

1. Learn case interviews in 30 minutes video (embedded below)

2. Other videos on the HackingTheCaseInterview YouTube channel

3. MBA casebooks with 700+ free practice cases

4. Free practice cases from consulting firm websites (see next section of article for links)

The best practice cases for beginners are those that will most closely resemble the actual case interview you’ll get on interview day.

Below, we’ve consolidated official practice cases from all of the top consulting firms:

• McKinsey Diconsa case interview :  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.
• McKinsey Electro-light case interview :  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.
• McKinsey GlobaPharm case interview :  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.
• McKinsey National Education case interview : 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 airline case interview :  Profitability case focused on helping a low-cost carrier airline improve profitability. This was an interactive case that was previously on BCG's website, but they took it down. We've linked our YouTube video that walks through it though, for you to follow along.
• BCG drug case interview :  Pricing case focused on helping a pharmaceutical company determine the optimal price for a new drug. This was an interactive case that was previously on BCG's website, but they took it down. We've linked our YouTube video that walks through it though, for you to follow along.
• Bain PrintCo case interview : 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).
• Bain NextGen Tech case interview : 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).
• Bain CoffeeCo case interview :  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.
• Bain FashionCo case interview :  Profitability case focused on identifying how a fashion retailer can increase revenues. This case is on the simpler, more basic side.
• Oliver Wyman 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.
• Oliver Wyman 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 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.
• LEK 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.
• Roland Berger 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 .
• Roland Berger 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 .
• Deloitte Engagement Strategy: Federal Agency V : Strategy case focused on addressing the Agency’s employee engagement issues as the organization shifts to a customer service model
• Deloitte Recreation Unlimited : Strategy case focused on driving 40% annual growth in direct-to-consumer digital channels over the next five years
• Deloitte Strategic Vision: Federal Benefits Provider : Strategy case to develop a strategy to help the Agency institutionalize the goals of their 10-year vision within its work culture
• Deloitte MedX: The Smart Pill Bottle : Business technology case focused on rolling out a new patient portal
• Deloitte Architecture Strategy: Federal Finance Agency : Business technology case focused on developing an implementation plan for a new, shared enterprise architecture solution
• Deloitte Finance strategy: Federal Health Agency : Strategy case focused on identifying programs that will receive additional funding and ensuring accountable use of funds
• Deloitte Talent Management: Federal Civil Cargo Protection Bureau : Strategy case to review and revamp the current human capital operational practices of the agency
• Deloitte 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.
• OC&C Hotel and Casino Co. case interview practice :  Business strategy case from OC&C Strategy Consultants 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.
• OC&C 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.

For even more practice, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases .

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #1: Lack of Structure

Failing to establish a clear framework for approaching the problem can lead to a scattered and unorganized response. It's important to outline a structured approach to solving the case.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #2: Making Assumptions Without Clarification

Assuming information without seeking clarification can lead to incorrect conclusions. It's crucial to ask thoughtful questions to gather all necessary details.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #3: Ignoring the Importance of Communication

Effective communication is key. Failing to articulate your thought process clearly or not actively engaging with the interviewer can hinder your performance.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #4: Overlooking the Objective

Some candidates get so engrossed in solving the problem that they lose sight of the ultimate goal - providing actionable recommendations. Make sure your analysis leads to a clear conclusion.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #5: Rushing Through the Case

Time management is crucial. Rushing through the case without taking the time to think critically about the problem can result in incomplete or inaccurate solutions.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #6: Neglecting Quantitative Analysis

Many cases involve numerical data. Failing to perform thorough quantitative analysis or making calculation errors can be a significant setback.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #7: Ignoring Alternative Perspectives

Tunnel vision can be detrimental. Failing to consider alternative viewpoints or approaches to the problem may lead to overlooking valuable insights.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #8: Focusing Too Much on Memorized Frameworks

While frameworks are useful, relying too heavily on memorized approaches can lead to a superficial understanding of the case. It's important to adapt your framework to the specific context.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #9: Neglecting to Check Assumptions

Sometimes, candidates make assumptions that are later proven to be incorrect. It's important to periodically revisit and validate your assumptions as you gather more information.

Case Interview Beginner Mistake #10: Lack of Practice and Preparation

Insufficient practice and preparation can lead to nervousness and poor performance during the actual interview. It's important to simulate case interview scenarios to build confidence and proficiency.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #1: Understand the Business Objective

The quickest way to fail a case interview is to answer or address the wrong business problem. Therefore, when the interviewer starts the case by reading the case background information, it is imperative that you identify what is the business problem and what is the primary question you are trying to answer. You should always verify the objective of the case with the interviewer.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #2: Ask Clarifying Questions 

Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions. You will not be penalized for this. If there is a term that you are unfamiliar with, ask for the definition. If you don’t understand the objective of the case, ask questions to clarify this. If there is important information that you were not able to write down, ask the interviewer to repeat specific pieces of information.

All of these questions will help strengthen your understanding of the case situation and make it easier for you to solve the case.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #3: Don’t Use Memorized Frameworks

The issue with using memorized frameworks is that they aren’t tailored to the specific case that you are solving for. Many times, some of the elements of your memorized framework will not be relevant or important to the case. Additionally, interviewers can easily tell when you are regurgitating memorized information and not thinking critically.

Instead of memorizing frameworks, memorize a list of 8 – 10 broad business areas, such as the following:

• Competition
• Profitability
• Alternatives

When given a case, mentally run through this list and pick the 3 to 4 areas that are the most relevant to the case. If the list does not give you enough framework areas, brainstorm and add your own areas to your framework.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #4: Structure Your Math Approach 

Before doing any math calculations, lay out an upfront approach or structure to walk the interviewer through what you are about to do. Developing a structure will help you avoid making unnecessary calculations or reaching a dead-end. If the interviewer approves of your approach, then the rest of the math problem is simple arithmetic.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #5: Use Abbreviations for Large Numbers

If you are working with large numbers in the thousands, millions, billions, or trillions, use abbreviations rather than writing out all of the zeroes.

For example, 10,000 can be expressed as 10K, 200,000,000 can be expressed as 200M, and 300,000,000,000 can be expressed as 300B. This reduces the chances that you’ll accidentally add or drop a zero in your numbers.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #6: Talk Through Calculations Out Loud

Talking through your calculations out loud provides two benefits. One, it decreases the likelihood that you’ll make a mistake. Two, it makes it easier for the interviewer to follow what you are doing. If you happen to get stuck or make a mistake, the interviewer can jump in to offer suggestions or guidance. The interviewer cannot do this if you are not communicating exactly what you are doing.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #7: Sense Check Your Numbers

Accidentally missing zeroes or adding extra zeroes during your case interview calculations is the most common math mistake. To avoid this, you can do a quick sense check after each calculation to confirm that your answer is the right order of magnitude.

For example, if you are multiplying 115 million by 22, you should expect your answer to be in the billions because 100 million * 20 = 2 billion.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #8: Talk Through The Axes of Charts and Graphs

When given charts or graphs to interpret, the very first thing you should do is to look at the axes. This is the most effective way to understand what the chart or graph is showing. When you are given multiple charts or graphs, this will also help you understand how each chart or graph relates to each other.

Case Interview Beginner Tip #9: Answer “So What?” After Every Question

When the interviewer asks you a quantitative or qualitative question during a case interview, don’t just answer it and stop there. After answering the question, ask yourself: “so what?” How does your answer help you solve the overall business problem? What implications does your answer have for your potential recommendation? You should be tying each answer that you give back to the case objective.  

Case Interview Beginner Tip #10: Have a Firm Recommendation

You do not want to have a flimsy recommendation in which you switch back and forth between two different recommendations. Instead, have a recommendation that takes a firm stance. Remember that there is no right or wrong recommendation. As long as your recommendation is supported with data and evidence, your recommendation will be accepted.

To see our complete list of 40 case interview tips, check out our comprehensive case interview tips article.

Recommended Consulting Interview Resources

Here are the resources we recommend to land your dream consulting job:

For help landing consulting interviews

• Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple consulting interviews

For help passing case interviews

• Case Interview Coaching : Personalized, one-on-one coaching with a former Bain interviewer.

For help passing consulting behavioral & fit interviews

• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course : Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer.

Land Multiple Consulting Offers

Complete, step-by-step case interview course. 30,000+ happy customers.

A Comprehensive Guide to Case Interview Prep [tips updated 2024]

• Last Updated June, 2024

Rebecca Smith-Allen

Former McKinsey Engagement Manager

What Are the Best Ways to Prepare for Management Consulting Interviews?

Congratulations!

If you’re on this page, you’re probably considering a career in management consulting or are already in the middle of the interview process.

We’re here to help.

We’re a team of more than 20 former McKinsey, Bain, and BCG consultants and recruiters (our average time in consulting is 13 years each) and we put together this guide to help you prepare for getting your consulting offer.

After reading this, we hope “congratulations” is also what you’ll hear when you leave your second round interviews.

Management Consulting Jobs Are in High Demand

Management consulting jobs are among the most sought-after positions in on-campus recruiting, whether you’re applying as an undergraduate or from a business school. 

Consulting firm recruits also include law school students, Ph.D. program candidates and people who’ve already started their professional careers in other industries.

Management consulting firms are filled with smart, driven people working to solve hard business problems. 

This work is a great launching pad for your career. 

Top consultancies offer competitive salaries and also invest significantly in employee development. A job at a management consulting firm will expose you to multiple different industries and types of business problems. 

There’s a lot to like about a career in consulting!

Competition for Jobs with Top Consulting Firms Is Fierce

But attractive jobs are usually highly competitive, and that’s definitely the case in management consulting. 

Top firms typically make offers to only about 1% of the people who apply. It’s not impossible to get a job with firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG (also known as the MBB firms), but it requires preparation.

In particular, successful candidates know that consulting firms use a particular type of interview question — the case study interview — and they know what recruiters are looking for in answers. 

In this article, we’ll help you prepare for management consulting interviews by answering the following questions:

• What is a case interview?
• How do I answer a case question?
• What is the best approach for case prep?

We’ll also provide tips and tricks that will help you to ace your case.  

Whether you’re aiming for a job at one of the MBB firms (McKinsey, Bain, or BCG), with other consultancies such as AT Kearney, L.E.K. or Oliver Wyman, or with the consulting arms of the large accounting firms such as Deloitte, Accenture, PwC, Ernst & Young, or KPMG, we can help you get there.  

What Is a Consulting Case Study Interview (also known as the “Case Interview”)?

A Case Study Interview is a real-time problem-solving test used to screen candidates for their ability to succeed in consulting. 

The case is presented as an open-ended question, often a problem that a specific type of business is facing, that an interviewer asks a candidate to solve.

Sample Case Interview Questions

Sales of drinks in Coffee Bean cafes are decreasing. What is causing the sales decrease?

Turnover of store employees at Burgers R’ Us restaurants has increased over prior years. What would you advise the company to do?

Donations to Caring Hands are decreasing, straining the non-profit’s ability to help the families it targets. What should the organization do to turn this around?

Case Interview 101 – The Basics for Beginners

You don’t need an MBA or an undergraduate degree in economics to land a job in consulting. But you will need to learn some business basics to be able to crack case interviews.

This section covers the concepts non-business students need to become familiar with, such as:

• The income statement – an overview
• Common formulas used in case interviews
• Business concepts you need to know
• Common types of case interviews

Case Interview 101, Part 1: The Income Statement

To solve cases, you first need to understand broadly how companies make money. For any specific case, you’ll want to make sure you understand how that company makes money. 

The most common way companies make money is by selling a product or service for more than it costs to produce, thereby earning a profit . 

Companies use three major financial statements to monitor and report their financial performance: 

(1) The income statement (2) The balance sheet (3) The cash flow statement 

An income statement (or profit and loss statement or statement of revenue and expenses) is a record of a company’s profit or loss over a specific period of time . The profit or loss is calculated by taking the revenues generated and subtracting the expenses incurred over the same period of time. The income statement has 3 major categories: Revenue, Expenses, and Profit or Loss .

Revenue is the total amount of money generated by a company from selling its products or services. It is also referred to as gross sales or “top line” as it sits at the top of the income statement. 

Costs are expenses incurred by a company to make its products or services. In the income statement there are three types of costs: 

• Costs of goods sold (COGS) or cost of sales are the direct costs of making products or providing a service. For a burger restaurant, for example, the COGS would include things like the meat, bun, and hourly labor of cooks, cashiers, and shift supervisors.
• Operating expenses are costs that are indirectly tied to the making of products or services. These include selling, general, and administrative (SGA) expenses, management salaries, depreciation, and amortization. Depreciation and amortization are non-cash expenses that reflect the value of big assets like machinery or buildings going down over time. For example, if our burger restaurant buys a grill to cook burgers on for $1,000 and expects it to last for 10 years, it would spread out the cost over that period, $100 per year. Other operating expenses for our burger restaurant would include things like advertising, the rent on the company’s headquarters, and the salary of the CEO.
• Costs incurred from non-operating activities such as interest paid on loans. These costs are rarely part of case interviews.

Profit or Loss :

Income statements generally show 3 levels of profit (loss) or earnings: Gross Profit; Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA); and Net Profit.

Gross profit or loss

This is calculated by subtracting COGS or the cost of sales from the total revenue generated. If the costs are higher than the revenue generated, then the company has made a loss.

EBITDA and EBIT

EBITDA is calculated by subtracting operating expenses from the gross profit. EBIT is calculated by subtracting depreciation and amortization from EBITDA. 

As mentioned above, depreciation and amortization are non-cash expenses. So if the amount of cash generated by selling a product or service is important to your analysis, you should look at EBITDA. If looking at a more fully loaded cost is the focus of your analysis, use EBIT.

Net Profit or Loss

This is calculated by subtracting interest and tax from EBIT. It is also known as Net Income and refers to the profit (or loss) for the period. This is also known as the “bottom line” as it sits at the bottom of the income statement. This is the ultimate measure of whether a company’s activities are profitable during a certain time period when all costs are considered.  

Case Interview 101, Part 2: Common Formulas Used in Case Interviews

Here is a look at common formulas used in case interviews.

Profitability formula:

The profitability formula is used in profit (or loss) related cases. The profit or loss can be calculated using the following formula:

             Profit (or Loss) = Revenue – Costs

As mentioned above:

• Revenue is the money generated from selling a product or service. It can be broken down into price per unit and number of units sold . 
• Costs are the expenses incurred to make the product or service and can be broken down into cost per unit and number of units sold . 

The formula can further be broken down into:

            Profit (or Loss) = (price per unit x number of units sold) – (cost per unit x number of units sold)

There are other ways to break down revenue and cost depending on the case question.

• Revenue can be broken down by product or service line, customer type, or geographic region (e.g., North American, Europe, Asia)
• Costs can be broken into fixed costs and variable costs, or components such as overhead, salary, etc.

It is often helpful to break costs down into fixed and variable to solve consulting cases, and understanding the difference is important. Fixed costs, like rent for a store or the cost of equipment, are incurred regardless of how many units a company sells; whereas variable costs are only incurred with the production of each additional unit. Because of this, it can be helpful to sell incremental units even at a loss for a short period of time if it helps cover fixed costs.

So the profitability formula can also be written as:

            Profit (or Loss) = (price per unit x number of units sold) – (fixed + variable costs)

P rofitability example:

Your client, a manufacturer, is facing a decline in profits. Your client wants your help solving this problem. We’ll use this example to demonstrate all the formulas in this section.

The first step you could take is to calculate the past year’s profit given the following information:

• Number of units sold = 1 million
• Price per unit = $10
• Cost per unit = $8

          Profit (or Loss) = ($10 x 1 million) – ($8 x 1 million)

          Profit = $2 million

Profit margin formula:

Profit margin indicates how many cents of profit the company generated for each dollar of sale. It’s typically used to measure the financial health of a company . 

You can compare the profit margin of a company against its historical margins to evaluate whether its current performance is better or worse than past performance. You can also compare it against companies in the same industry to evaluate whether its financial performance is stronger or weaker.

Profit margin can be calculated using the formula:

          Profit margin = (Profit / Revenue ) *100%

Profit margin example:

To calculate the profit margin, first, you need to calculate company revenues as follows:

            Revenue = 1 million x $10

           Revenue = $ 10 million

You can now calculate the profit margin as follows:

            Profit margin = ($2 million / $10 million) x 100%

           Profit margin = 20%

Note you can combine both the formulas for faster calculation.

Market share formula:

Market share is the size of the company in relation to the size of the industry in which it operates, where size is typically measured in annual revenues. It is used to compare the size of a company to its competitors and the industry as a whole. It can be used in market entry cases because industries with a lot of small competitors are generally easier to enter than ones with only a few big competitors. It’s also used in profitability cases because, in general, companies with a large market share also have more market power to do things like set prices.

Market share can be calculated using the following formula:

            Market share (%) =total company revenue / total industry revenue  

Market share example:

Using the example from above, say you decide to determine the company’s market share as part of your analysis. In this example, the industry has annual revenues of $ 200 million.

            Market share (%) = $ 10 million / $ 200 million

           Market share = 5%

Growth Rate Formula:

This refers to the specific change of a variable within a specific period of time. Growth rates can be used in assessing the financial performance of a company over time. For example, high revenue growth rates would likely be a sign of strong financial performance. High cost growth rates may be a sign that a company is having financial trouble.

The growth rate is calculated using the formula:

            Growth rate (%) = (New – Old) / Old

Growth rate example:

To calculate the manufacturer’s revenue growth rate. Last year’s revenue was $ 9.5 million therefore the revenue growth rate is:

            Revenue growth rate = ($10 million – $9.5 million) / $9.5 million

            Revenue growth rate =5%

You can assess whether a company’s growth rate is strong by comparing it to other growth rates such as:

• The company’s growth in the prior year.
• The growth of the market or of competitors.
• The rate of inflation.

Mature companies are likely to see single-digit growth rates unless they launch a very successful new product or they acquire a company. On the other hand, startup investors typically expect double- or triple-digit annual growth during a company’s early years.

Return on investment formula:

Return on investment (ROI) is a profitability metric that indicates how well an investment performed (or will perform). It can be used to compare the profitability or efficiency of an investment or decide which of alternative investments to make. 

ROI is calculated using the following formula:

            ROI (%) = Profit / Cost of investment

ROI example:

Suppose our manufacturer mentions that they purchased state-of-the-art machinery to make their product. It cost $8 million. You decide to calculate the ROI on this investment. 

            ROI  = $2 million / $8 million

           ROI=25%

Break-even formula:

Break-even is the point at which the total revenue and total costs are equal, meaning there is no loss or profit at that point. Break-even is typically used to help companies determine the minimum number of units that need to be sold to cover all the costs used to produce those units. 

An executive might want to know that they could break even at 100,000 units sold because if she thought they could sell more than that, it would be profitable to enter the market. If she thought they’d sell less, they wouldn’t enter the market.

Break-even can be calculated using the following formula:

              Breakeven (units) = Fixed costs  / (sales price – variable cost per unit)

Break-even example:

If a product required a $50,000 investment in equipment (a fixed cost), sold for $5, and cost $4 per unit in variable costs, its breakeven would be: 

              Breakeven (units) = $50,000  / ($5 – $4)

              Breakeven= 50,000 units

Payback period formula:

Managers may also look at the payback period on an investment or, in other words, how long it would take to earn back the cash required to enter a new business. This investment could be a new piece of equipment or a marketing campaign needed to create customer awareness of a new product. This is a different way of looking at the same question that the breakeven formula asks: is it worth my while to make this investment?

The payback period can be calculated using the following formula:

              Payback (years) = Investment cost / annual profit

Payback years example:

Using the same example, you decided to calculate the payback years of the new state-of-art machinery

            Payback (years)= $8 million / $2 million

           Payback = 4 years

Capacity of equipment:

The capacity of equipment is the maximum output or units a piece of equipment can produce with the available resources over a set period of time.

Capacity can be calculated using the following formula:

            Capacity (units) =Total capacity / Capacity required to make one unit

Capacity example:

To calculate the capacity of our manufacturer’s machinery, we’d need to know that it can produce a unit every 10 minutes and that the client operates 12-hour shifts.

              Capacity (units) = 12 hours x (60 minutes per hour) / 10 minutes

             Capacity = 72 units / day

The utilization rate of equipment:

Utilization rate is the percent of available time the equipment or machinery is actually used. It measures efficiency and can be used by companies to make informed decisions on timelines and inventory, or whether additional equipment is needed.

The utilization rate of equipment can be calculated by the following formula:

              Utilization rate (%) =Actual output / Maximum output

Utilization rate example:

Using the same example, imagine that the management tells you that in a 12-hour shift, the machine produces 50 units and there are two 45-minute breaks.

First, you would need to calculate the potential output.

               Actual hours of operation = 12 hours – 1.5 hours = 10.5 hours

               Potential output = (10.5 hours / 12 hours) x 72 units

               Potential output = 63 units

Then, calculate the utilization rate.

                Utilization rate = 50 units / 63 units

                Utilization rate = 79%

Utilization rates raise interesting issues in a case. It raises questions such as:

• If potential output is 63 units, why are only 50 being produced (e.g., machine downtime, worker errors), and what can be done to solve these problems?
• Could the company stagger employee breaks to get potential output up to 72 units from 63?

Case Interview 101, Part 3: Business Concepts You Need to Know

Here are some common business concepts that you need to know as you prepare for your interview.

Process : This is a set of actions or operations that lead to results (products or services).

This typically describes how a company makes its products or services. The steps can be performed by workers, equipment, or computers. In a case, this is mostly used in situations where a client would like to make their processes more efficient. For example, a client who is in logistics would like to reduce the cost of its operations by improving the efficiency of its processes, such as by reducing equipment downtime or scheduling deliveries according to time-saving routes. 

Best practices: Best practices are methods or techniques that are considered to be the working standards and guides in a given situation. 

In a business situation, best practices are used to benchmark companies against the standard and can serve as a roadmap on how to improve the efficiency of their operations.

Hypotheses: Tentative answers to a problem or an assumption based on some evidence. 

The hypothesis-driven approach is a common approach to solving problems in the consulting world because consultants don’t want to waste time fully researching all possible solutions. They want to move quickly to the most likely answer and then test whether it is or is not the best answer. This approach can be used to solve case interview questions where you first assume an answer to the case problem and check whether this is true or not through analysis. If it is not true, you revise your hypothesis.

Issue tree: This is a common approach in consulting used to solve complex problems.

An issue tree is used to break down complex problems into key components in a structured manner. In a case interview, you can use the issue tree to break down the client’s problem into manageable chunks or to break down a formula such as the profitability formula into key components.

Read our article for more information on Issue Trees .

MECE: MECE stands for mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive . 

It is a way of bucketing problems, ideas, or solutions with no overlapping between the buckets and with each item having a place in one bucket only (mutually exclusive), and with the buckets including all possible items relevant to the context (collectively exhaustive). In a case interview, you can use MECE with the issue tree when breaking down problems or when identifying solutions for the client. MECE issue trees are considered the gold standard for problem-solving so this concept is very good to know. 

You can also use the concept of MECE when segmenting a market – for example, if you are sizing a market and intend to lay out different purchasing behavior assumptions for different customer segments. For example:

Customer segment                         Purchase frequency for items from coffee shops

Women under 30                             4 times per week, purchase includes food item plus beverage Men under 30                                     2 times per week, purchase includes only beverage Women 31 and over                         4 times per month, purchase includes only beverage Men 31 and over                                 3 times per month, purchase includes only beverage

Note how in this example, everyone would fall into one customer segment and only one customer segment. Read our article for more about MECE problem-solving .

Root causes: This is the core issue or main reason for a problem . It is used in problem-solving to identify solutions that appropriately address the problem. 

The term root cause is used to distinguish between symptoms of a problem, which may be obvious, and the underlying issue that needs to be solved, which may not be obvious. For example, a decline in sales volume is a symptom. The root cause could be high prices, poor product quality, product unavailability, or any number of other issues. You can’t fix the symptom of declining sales volume until you identify the root cause behind the problem. 

In a case interview, you’ll need to identify possible causes of the client’s problem and then ask questions and do analysis to identify the root cause. Once you do, you can make the most appropriate recommendations for the client.

Break-even analysis: This is the calculation used to determine the point at which the total revenue and total costs are equal meaning there is no loss or profit. 

In business situations, it helps determine at which point the business, investment, or new product or service will become profitable. In case interviews, you can use the break-even analysis to determine whether a client should make a certain investment, say in machinery or a new product line, based on how likely it is that they’ll exceed the break-even threshold.

Case Interview 101, Part 4: Common Types of Case Interviews

In this section, we will review 4 common types of case interviews.

Market-sizing Questions

Market-sizing questions typically appear in cases where clients want to grow or expand their business such as market entry or profitability cases. The client either wants to understand the market size of the current business or of a potential new product line or geography or customer group to understand whether it is big enough to be interesting. 

Sample case questions

“How many cups of coffee does Starbucks sell in a day?” “Estimate the fleet size of Delta Airlines.” “Estimate market size for air-conditioners in New York.”  “Estimate market size for an anti-smoking pill in the U.S.”

You are not expected to know the exact answer to market-sizing questions. Instead, the interviewer wants to see that you can use simple math and logical deduction to build out an answer. For these questions, it is good to memorize a few facts that will help you make assumptions. For example, a good place to start is the population of the U.S. or the population of a U.S. city (or country and city that you live in). 

For more information and examples, read our article on Market-sizing Cases .

Revenue Growth Case Interviews

In revenue growth cases, the client typically wants to grow their business. This can be done by increasing revenue of the current product/service line, by adding a new product/service line, or by selling to a new type of customer or in a new geography. 

They could do this by building a new offering, buying another company, or partnering (joint venture) with another company that already offers what they want to sell. 

“A manufacturer sees its revenue stagnating. It wants to know whether raising price or selling more units is a better path to growing revenue, and how to pursue it.”

“A local theater house thinks there is an opportunity to expand their current offerings to the very loyal client base. What new product or service could they offer their customers? What would be the impact on revenue from expanding their offerings?”

“A regional fast-food chain, serving hamburgers and fries, is experiencing increasing demand outside of its main regions of operation and wants to expand. What regions would have the biggest impact on its revenue?”

You should remember that there are multiple ways to achieve revenue growth. One thing to consider is the client and industry context when tackling revenue growth questions. For example, does the client have a good market size in the industry? Does the client have the capability to offer new products/services? Is the industry highly competitive?

For more information, read our article on Revenue Growth Cases .

Market Entry Case Interviews

In market entry cases, the client wants to know if they can enter a market and be profitable. For example, entering a different geography, new demography, or new product/service line. (Note, there can be overlap between revenue growth cases and market entry cases.)

“A U.S.-based consumer electronics manufacturer is thinking of expanding into emerging markets. What is the potential revenue growth if they choose to expand into India?”

“A telecom operator is looking to diversify their presence in the U.S. and wants to enter the video streaming market. How can they capture a significant market share?”

“A renewable energy company that specializes in large equipment such as windmills wants to enter the retail market and sell smaller equipment directly to individual homes. They would like to know if this is a good idea.”

There are a number of frameworks you can build off of to tackle a market-entry case. For example, Porter’s Five Forces, Business Situation Framework or 3C&P (customer, competition, company, and product), and Supply & Demand among others. It is key to consider the “new” market context as well as the client context to enter this market. 

To find out more on this, read our article on The Market Entry Framework .

Cost Optimization Case Interviews

Cost optimization cases or questions can be part of a profitability case where a client is experiencing declining profitability or when a client wants to improve efficiency.

“A national hotel chain has seen its operational costs significantly increase over the last year and would like you to figure out why.”

“A juice manufacturer has been experiencing a steady increase in revenue over the past 5 years however their cost has been increasing at a faster rate, meaning the profits have not grown as expected. What is the root cause of the significant increase in cost?”

“A tour company would like to reduce their costs due to the falling number of tourists over the past few years. What ways would you recommend for them to reduce their costs?’

For cost optimization cases, remember to break down the cost components. For example, you can break them down into fixed and variable costs or cost of goods sold and operational costs and then brainstorm the categories of each that will likely apply to the company at hand. This will make it easier to identify what costs should be reduced or eliminated.

Check out Types of Case Interviews article for more detail on these types of cases and more.

Why Do Top Consulting Firms Use Case Interview Questions?

Management consultancies are not the only types of firms that use case interview questions to evaluate candidates. 

Investment banks, consumer marketing companies, and others use the case interview structure in their interview process.

Because case interviews show how a candidate would problem solve in real time. 

Solving complex, ambiguous problems is at the heart at what consultants do every day.

This type of interview question mimics the analytic process a consultant might go through in a 3-month project, but it does it in 30 minutes, the time allowed in a typical interview. 

The interviewer can probe whether a candidate’s approach is well-structured, creative, and displays good business sense.

How Do Consulting Recruiters Evaluate Candidates?

The main thing that recruiters are looking for in case study interviews is whether or not they’d feel comfortable putting a candidate in front of a client. To assess that, they ask themselves these questions:

• Is this person able to do the job? Do they have the analytic skills to solve tough business problems?
• Is this person client-ready? Are they knowledgeable, professional, and confident enough to work effectively with client staff and leaders?
• Is this someone I’d want to work with? This interview question is sometimes referred to as the airport test. It comes down to, “Would I want to be stuck in an airport with this person if the weather was bad and our flight was delayed?” It assesses whether an individual is smart, fun and passionate about the projects they take on.
• Is this person coachable? No one expects a recruit to know the answer to every thorny business issue right out of undergrad, or even right out of business school, but they do want someone who is willing and able to take suggestions and improve their analysis. Show you are coachable by listening for feedback as you answer a case study interview question and using suggestions to steer you toward the right solution.

Nail the case & fit interview with strategies from former MBB Interviewers that have helped 89.6% of our clients pass the case interview.

Consulting Case Prep Takes Time – Start Early

If you walk into your first consulting interview without having practiced case study interviews beforehand, you’re in for a painful experience. Case questions can cover any industry and multiple different types of business problems, so you’re unlikely to get lucky and know the answer.

We suggest your start your consulting case prep a few weeks before your interview. Starting with more lead time is even better. This will allow you to watch/read through a few consulting cases to get a sense for what to expect (continue to our case videos below for one example!) It will also give you time to find a couple friends or classmates who are also applying to top consulting firms. You can give each other mock case interviews and be even more prepared.

Learn How to Case Quickly by Mastering Each Part of the Case

When you’re starting your consulting interview prep, it’s important to remember that the “right answer” is not simply a conclusion, but the methodical, the well-structured process used to reach the conclusion. 

To answer a case question correctly, you must:

Step 1: Understand the question you are being asked.

After your interviewer describes the client this case interview will involve and the problem they face, you should repeat this information back to them in your own words. 

This can feel awkward when you practice your first case, but it will help you in the long run.

If you don’t have the client and their problem straight, you could spend a lot of time answering the wrong question. If that happens you will not be moving forward to second round interviews no matter how elegant your analysis is.

Example: Our client is a fast-food retailer that has seen decreasing sales revenue over the past couple of years. They want your help in understanding what they can do to improve sales.

Step 2: Take time to think through all the key aspects of the problem.

Ask for a moment to consider your approach to solving the client’s problem. During this time, write down what you want to learn about the client’s situation before you answer the interview question.

Your approach can lean on business frameworks you’re familiar with during your case interview preparation. 

For instance, in the example of a fast-food chain with declining sales, you should break sales down into price and unit volume to understand whether the client is not selling enough units of their products or whether prices have fallen (or both!)

But you don’t need to use familiar frameworks. In fact, it’s best to develop your own structure for breaking down the problem as it shows you can solve a case without forcing a standard framework on the problem.

For more information on business frameworks, you might want to become familiar with during your case study preparation, see  Case Interview Frameworks .

Step 3: Ask pertinent questions and use the answers to form hypotheses.

After you brainstorm key aspects of the case problem and structure your approach to solving it, share your approach with your interviewer.

If the interviewer suggests a place to start your analysis, follow their lead.

Otherwise, suggest the best place to start digging into the case.

Make sure the questions you ask the interviewer touch on all the key aspects of the problem you identified including the client’s internal organization, the market for their product, and their competition.

Step 4: Summarize your case interview with a persuasive conclusion. 

Once you’re confident you have enough information to understand the case and what needs to be done to solve the client’s business problem, you’ll conclude the interview with a logical summary outlining the problem, key conclusions you’ve reached, and providing a persuasive recommendation on how you’d help the client resolve it.

Below, we’ll go into more depth on how to address each of these 4 points in a case.

Questions to Ask Yourself Before Diving Deeper into Case Prep

Right now, you may be thinking to yourself that consulting interviews sound impossibly difficult. Or you may think that they sound like interesting business problems that you’d enjoy solving. 

Perhaps you’re not sure.

If you think that answering case interviews is not something that would come naturally to you, don’t worry, you’re not alone! 

Getting good at consulting interviews requires a lot of preparation.

Before you commit to putting in the time required to prepare for the management consulting interview process, you should ask yourself if a career in management consulting is right for you.

Key Questions to Ask Yourself Before Pursuing a Career in Consulting

• Do you enjoy solving the types of business problems asked in case interviews?
• Do you have a background in business principles or are you willing to invest the time it will take to develop one?
• Are you passionate about pursuing consulting as a career?

Management consulting jobs might pay well and provide the opportunity to pursue attractive careers, but if you don’t like solving business problems, you probably won’t like the work you’ll do as a consultant. If you don’t enjoy analyzing business cases, save yourself a lot of preparation time and frustration. 

Focus on career options that better meet your interests.

Or, perhaps solving business problems with smart, driven professionals sounds like it’s your dream job. 

If so, move onto the deeper dive into case prep below! 

Case Interview Prep – Diving Deeper

If you’re here, we’re assuming you’re serious about investing time in preparing for a career in management consulting. 

The best way to get smarter about  answering case interview questions is to master this four-part approach.

How to Answer a Consulting Case Interview –  a 4 Part Approach

The 4 parts to answering a case interview are:

• Opening  – This is where you make sure you understand the client’s problem.
• Structure  – This is where you brainstorm all factors relevant to the problem and organize them to ensure you address them in a complete and logical manner.
• Analysis  – This is where you gather data to identify which of the factors related to the business case are the most important. You’ll use this data to create a recommendation for your client.
• Conclusion  – Here, you present your recommendation to “the client” (your interviewer), in a well-structured and persuasive manner.

Case Interview Prep Part 1: The Opening

As we saw in the video above, the opening of a case question is a description of a client and the problem they’re facing. Davis repeated back to the interviewer the type of business the client was in and and their business problem.

Remember, this clarification is an important step in the process.

If you did not remember that the client was a top-three beverage producer and answered the question as if the client was a start-up, your answer would ignore the manufacturing and distribution infrastructure the company already had in place to launch its new product.

That would make your answer completely wrong.

During this portion of the interview, you can ask any clarifying questions you need to. If something is not clear—the client’s product or industry, or the problem they want to solve —ask !

Nailing the opening is probably the easiest part of case prep. Get this right, and you’ll start each case off strong.

Case Interview Prep Part 2: Structure

Once Davis clarified the problem, he asked for a moment to prepare her response. In the structure phase of the case interview, there’s silence for several moments.

As with clarifying the question, this can feel awkward.

But asking for this time will show the interviewer that you’re carefully structuring your problem-solving approach.

It will also ensure that you are not quickly addressing a couple of aspects of the business problem but ignoring others, potentially ones that are critical to solving the client’s problem.

Some quick brainstorming is useful here, but also take a step back to maker sure you consider all aspects of the client’s business, its customer demand, and the competition. 

Organize your questions into a comprehensive approach to address all key aspects of the problem.

Mastering the structure phase of the interview is not as easy as the opening, but it’s critical to ensure you have the structured problem-solving approach that will lead you to the right answer to the case.

Focus on this aspect of case interview preparation until you can structure almost every case right.

Case Interview Prep Part 3: Analysis

In the third part of the case study interview, you’ll dig in and analyze the problem.

After Davis outlined his problem-solving approach, the interviewer told him that the client wanted to understand the beverage market and customer preferences to assess the potential success of the product launch.

The interviewer then provided a chart with helpful data.

This part of the interview is important because gives you the data that will help you close down aspects of the case that aren’t at the heart of the problem you need to solve and to better understand key drivers that will point to the solution.

But you’ll also need to do some consulting math .

You should also refer back to the problem-solving structure you laid-out earlier in the interview to make sure your analysis is comprehensive. You don’t want to get lost down one rabbit hole and ignore other important aspects of the problem.

During this portion of the interview, you’ll be assessed on whether you asked relevant questions, have well-reasoned insights into the client problem, and whether you could lead a case like this if you were hired by the firm.

Many consulting candidates find that the analysis phase of the interview is the toughest of the 4 parts.

You need to balance doing consulting math calculations with interpreting data and make sure you cover all aspects of the problem you identified in the structure phase of the case. 

Stick with this aspect of case preparation until you’re an expert at it–it will pay off in your interviews. 

Case Interview Prep Part 4: Conclusion

Davis concluded the case with a direct answer to the case study interview question as it was initially asked.

This answer should be both persuasive and logical based on all the information gathered over the course of the interview. Your answer should also include the next steps your client should undertake.

During the conclusion, you’ll be assessed on whether you present a well thought-out solution based on the relevant facts of the case.

Like the opening, mastering the conclusion is not difficult. Take you time to nail this aspect of case prep anyway as leaving your interviewer with a strong impression of your casing capabilities is important.

Effective Case Interview Prep: The Bottom Line

The case study interview is not as complex as it seems if you break it into 4 parts.

Practicing each part of the case on its own will make your consulting interview preparation both more efficient and more effective.

Now that you’re familiar with the 4-part approach to a case interview, the next thing to learn is the 4 different formats case interviews can take.

4 Formats for Case Interviews

There are four formats a case interview can take:

• Interviewer-led – In this case interview format, a candidate will still be expected to identify and structure the key elements of  a thorny business issue, and then present them to the interviewer. But after they do, the interviewer will direct them to first address a particular aspect of the case. This interview format is typically used in McKinsey cases.
• Written interview – This is not a common interview format but can be common for particular companies and offices. You will be given a packet of PowerPoint slides and time to review them. During this time, you’ll prepare a presentation using the slides you choose from the ones provided as well as others you create, and you’ll then present it to a panel of interviewers. Written interviews are frequently used by boutique consulting firms and regional offices of larger firms such as Bain’s China offices. For more information, see this article on written case interview.
• Group interview – Multiple candidates are brought in to discuss a case together and then present their solution to an interviewer. The group case is also not a frequently used interview format. For more information, see this article on group case interview.

While the candidate-led consulting interview is the most frequently used format, you’ll probably see more of the interview-led interview format in McKinsey interviews.

You should also be aware of the written and group interview formats so that if you get one during the case interview process, you’re not caught by surprise. But don’t spend a lot of time on preparation for that type of interview unless you’re informed you’ll have one.

Congratulations! 

You’ve made it to the end of our crash course on case interview prep. By reading this article, you now have a strong understanding of:

• What a consulting case interview is,
• How to answer case studies using the 4-part approach, and
• What the 4 different formats for case interviews are.

You are well on your way toward preparing for your first case interview and entering the exciting field of management consulting. 

Still have questions?

If you still have questions on case interview prep, leave them in the comments below. We’ll ask our My Consulting Offer coaches and get back to you with answers.

Also, we have tons of other resources to ensure you get an offer from a top management consulting firm. Check out these topics:

• Case Interview Workshop Video
• Case Interview Examples
• Case Interview Practice

Help with Case Prep

Thanks for turning to My Consulting Offer for advice on case prep. My Consulting Offer has helped almost 89.6% of the people we’ve worked with get a job in management consulting. For example, here is how Brenda was able to get a BCG offer when she only had 1 week to prepare.

8 thoughts on “A Comprehensive Guide to Case Interview Prep [updated 2024]”

In the math calculations of the analysis portion, why was it that there were 8 cans per gallon? Where did that number come from?

Hey, Tonia! Thanks for your question.

In the case, we’re given that the size of the market for US sports drinks is 8 billion gallons. Electrolyte drinks are 5% of this total or .4 billion gallons which equals 400 million gallons.

We’re also given that the product size for drinks in this market are 16 ounces. And in our breakeven analysis, we find out we need to sell 400 million bottles (or cans) to break even. We need to do a conversion to compare our breakeven point of 400 million bottles to the 400 million gallon market size to see what market share we would have to achieve to break even.

Conversion: 1 US gallon = 128 ounces. 128 ounces/ gallon divided by 16 ounces/ bottle = 8. We can fill 8 bottles for each gallon of electrolyte drink we produce. So 1 gallon is 8 bottles (or cans) manufactured by our client.

We divide the 400 million bottle (or can) breakeven point by 8 to get to 50 million gallons. We compare the 50 million gallon breakeven point to the 400 million gallon market size to see that we need to capture 12.5% market share.

Note: In answering this question, I noticed that a UK gallon = 160 ounces, so if you are using UK gallons you will get a different answer!

I hope that helps! Sorry about the confusion between US ounces/gallon and UK ounces/gallon!

Hi, what resources are you typically allowed to use during (virtual) case interviews? Such as a pen, paper, calculator etc.

You’re typically allowed a pen and paper in a virtual case interview but NOT a calculator. Part of what your interviewer is testing for is your quantitative skills, so they want to see that you can do calculations in your head or on paper. See our article on virtual case interviews , for more info. Also, we have an article on practicing your case interview math .

Best of luck!

Can you please explain the ROI formula? I do not understand why (2m-8m)/8m = 25%. That calculation gets a result of -75%

Shouldn’t the formula just be (net profit)/(cost of investment)?

George, thanks for pointing this out! The formula was incorrect, and should be Profit/cost of investment. The correct answer is 25%.

All the best, MCO

thanks for information

great information

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• Case Interview: A comprehensive guide
• Pyramid Principle
• Hypothesis driven structure
• Fit Interview
• Consulting math
• The key to landing your consulting job
• What is a case interview?
• Types of case interview
• How to solve cases with the Problem-Driven Structure?
• What to remember in case interviews
• Case examples or building blocks?
• How do I prepare for case interviews
• Interview day tips
• How we can help

1. The key to landing your consulting job.

Case interviews - where you are asked to solve a business case study under scrutiny - are the core of the selection process right across McKinsey, Bain and BCG (the “MBB” firms). This interview format is also used pretty much universally across other high-end consultancies; including LEK, Kearney, Oliver Wyman and the consulting wings of the “Big Four”.

If you want to land a job at any of these firms, you will have to ace multiple case interviews.

It is increasingly likely that you will also have to solve online cases given by chatbots. You might need to pass these either before making it to interview or be asked to sit them alongside first round interviews.

Importantly, case studies aren’t something you can just wing . Firms explicitly expect you to have thoroughly prepared and many of your competitors on interview day will have been prepping for months.

Don’t worry though - MCC is here to help!

This article will take you through a full overview of everything you’ll need to know to do well, linking to more detailed articles and resources at each stage to let you really drill down into the details.

As well as traditional case interviews, we’ll also attend to the new formats in which cases are being delivered and otherwise make sure you’re up to speed with recent trends in this overall part of consulting recruitment.

Before we can figure out how to prepare for a case interview, though, we will first have to properly understand in detail what exactly you are up against. What format does a standard consulting case interview take? What is expected of you? How will you be assessed?

Let's dive right in and find out!

Professional help

Before going further, if this sounds like a lot to get your head around on your own, don't worry - help is available!

Our Case Academy course gives you everything you need to know to crack cases like a pro:

Case Academy Course

To put what you learn into practice (and secure some savings in the process) you can add mock interview coaching sessions with expereinced MBB consultants:

Coaching options

And, if you just want an experienced consultant to take charge of the whole selection process for you, you can check out our comprehensive mentoring programmes:

Explore mentoring

Now, back to the article!

2. What is a case interview?

Before we can hope to tackle a case interview, we have to understand what one is.

In short, a case interview simulates real consulting work by having you solve a business case study in conversation with your interviewer.

This case study will be a business problem where you have to advise a client - that is, an imaginary business or similar organisation in need of guidance.

You must help this client solve a problem and/or make a decision. This requires you to analyse the information you are given about that client organisation and figure out a final recommendation for what they should do next.

Business problems in general obviously vary in difficulty. Some are quite straightforward and can be addressed with fairly standard solutions. However, consulting firms exist precisely to solve the tough issues that businesses have failed to deal with internally - and so consultants will typically work on complex, idiosyncratic problems requiring novel solutions.

Some examples of case study questions might be:

• How much would you pay for a banking licence in Ghana?
• Estimate the potential value of the electric vehicle market in Germany
• How much gas storage capacity should a UK domestic energy supplier build?

Consulting firms need the brightest minds they can find to put to work on these important, difficult projects. You can expect the case studies you have to solve in interview, then, to echo the unique, complicated problems consultancies deal with every day. As we’ll explain here, this means that you need to be ready to think outside the box to figure out genuinely novel solutions.

2.1. Where are case interviews in the consulting selection process?

Not everyone who applies to a consulting firm will have a case interview - far from it!

In fact, case interviews are pretty expensive and inconvenient for firms to host, requiring them to take consultants off active projects and even fly them back to the office from location for in-person interviews (although this happens less frequently now). Ideally, firms want to cut costs and save time by narrowing down the candidate pool as much as possible before any live interviews.

As such, there are some hoops to jump through before you make it to interview rounds.

Firms will typically eliminate as much as 80% of the applicant pool before interviews start . For most firms, 50%+ of applicants might be cut based on resumes, before a similar cut is made on those remaining based on aptitude tests. McKinsey currently gives their Solve assessment to most applicants, but will use their resulting test scores alongside resumes to cut 70%+ of the candidate pool before interviews.

You'll need to be on top of your game to get as far as a case interview with a top firm. Getting through the resume screen and any aptitude tests is an achievement in itself! Also we need to note that the general timeline of an application can differ depending on a series of factors, including which position you apply, your background, and the office you are applying to. For example, an undergraduate applying for a Business Analyst position (the entry level job at McKinsey) will most likely be part of a recruitment cycle and as such have pretty fixed dates when they need to sit the pre-screening test, and have the first and second round interviews (see more on those below). Conversely, an experienced hire will most likely have a much greater choice of test and interview dates as well as more time at their disposal to prepare.

For readers not yet embroiled in the selection process themselves, let’s put case interviews in context and take a quick look at each stage in turn. Importantly, note that you might also be asked to solve case studies outside interviews as well…

2.1.1. Application screen

It’s sometimes easy to forget that such a large cut is made at the application stage. At larger firms, this will mean your resume and cover letter is looked at by some combination of AI tools, recruitment staff and junior consulting staff (often someone from your own university).

Only the best applications will be passed to later stages, so make sure to check out our free resume and cover letter guides, and potentially get help with editing , to give yourself the best chance possible.

2.1.2. Aptitude tests and online cases

This part of the selection process has been changing quickly in recent years and is increasingly beginning to blur into the traditionally separate case interview rounds.

In the past, GMAT or PST style tests were the norm. Firms then used increasingly sophisticated and often gamified aptitude tests, like the Pymetrics test currently used by several firms, including BCG and Bain, and the original version of McKinsey’s Solve assessment (then branded as the Problem Solving Game).

Now, though, there is a move towards delivering relatively sophisticated case studies online. For example, McKinsey has replaced half the old Solve assessment with an online case. BCG’s Casey chatbot case now directly replaces a live first round case interview, and in the new era of AI chatbots, we expect these online cases to quickly become more realistic and increasingly start to relieve firms of some of the costs of live case interviews.

Our consultants collectively reckon that, over time, 50% of case interviews are likely to be replaced with these kinds of cases . We give some specific advice for online cases in section six. However, the important thing to note is that these are still just simulations of traditional case interviews - you still need to learn how to solve cases in precisely the same way, and your prep will largely remain the same.

2.1.3. Rounds of Interviews

Now, let’s not go overboard with talk of AI. Even in the long term, the client facing nature of consulting means that firms will have live case interviews for as long as they are hiring anyone. And in the immediate term, case interviews are still absolutely the core of consulting selection.

Before landing an offer at McKinsey, Bain, BCG or any similar firm, you won’t just have one case interview, but will have to complete four to six case interviews, usually divided into two rounds, with each interview lasting approximately 50-60 minutes .

Being invited to first round usually means two or three case interviews. As noted above, you might also be asked to complete an online case or similar alongside your first round interviews.

If you ace first round, you will be invited to second round to face the same again, but more gruelling. Only then - after up to six case interviews in total, can you hope to receive an offer.

2.2. Differences between first and second round interviews

Despite case interviews in the first and second round following the same format, second/final round interviews will be significantly more intense . The seniority of the interviewer, time pressure (with up to three interviews back-to-back), and the sheer value of the job at stake will likely make a second round consulting case interview one of the most challenging moments of your professional life.

There are three key differences between the two rounds:

• Time Pressure : Final round case interviews test your ability to perform under pressure, with as many as three interviews in a row and often only very small breaks between them.
• Focus : Since second round interviewers tend to be more senior (usually partners with 12+ years experience) and will be more interested in your personality and ability to handle challenges independently. Some partners will drill down into your experiences and achievements to the extreme. They want to understand how you react to challenges and your ability to identify and learn from past mistakes.
• Psychological Pressure: While case interviews in the first round are usually more focused on you simply cracking the case, second round interviewers often employ a "bad cop" strategy to test the way you react to challenges and uncertainty.

2.3. What skills do case interviews assess?

Reliably impressing your interviewers means knowing what they are looking for. This means understanding the skills you are being assessed against in some detail.

Overall, it’s important always to remember that, with case studies, there are no strict right or wrong answers. What really matters is how you think problems through, how confident you are with your conclusions and how quick you are with the back of the envelope arithmetic.

The objective of this kind of interview isn’t to get to one particular solution, but to assess your skillset. This is even true of modern online cases, where sophisticated AI algorithms score how you work as well as the solutions you generate.

If you visit McKinsey , Bain and BCG web pages on case interviews, you will find that the three firms look for very similar traits, and the same will be true of other top consultancies.

Broadly speaking, your interviewer will be evaluating you across five key areas:

2.1.1.One: Probing mind

Showing intellectual curiosity by asking relevant and insightful questions that demonstrate critical thinking and a proactive nature. For instance, if we are told that revenues for a leading supermarket chain have been declining over the last ten years, a successful candidate would ask:

“ We know revenues have declined. This could be due to price or volume. Do we know how they changed over the same period? ”

This is as opposed to a laundry list of questions like:

• Did customers change their preferences?
• Which segment has shown the decline in volume?
• Is there a price war in the industry?

2.1.2. Structure

Structure in this context means structuring a problem. This, in turn, means creating a framework - that is, a series of clear, sequential steps in order to get to a solution.

As with the case interview in general, the focus with case study structures isn’t on reaching a solution, but on how you get there.

This is the trickiest part of the case interview and the single most common reason candidates fail.

We discuss how to properly structure a case in more detail in section three. In terms of what your interviewer is looking for at high level, though, key pieces of your structure should be:

• Proper understanding of the objective of the case - Ask yourself: "What is the single crucial piece of advice that the client absolutely needs?"
• Identification of the drivers - Ask yourself: "What are the key forces that play a role in defining the outcome?"

Our Problem Driven Structure method, discussed in section three, bakes this approach in at a fundamental level. This is as opposed to the framework-based approach you will find in older case-solving

Focus on going through memorised sequences of steps too-often means failing to develop a full understanding of the case and the real key drivers.

At this link, we run through a case to illustrate the difference between a standard framework-based approach and our Problem Driven Structure method.

2.1.3. Problem Solving

You’ll be tested on your ability to identify problems and drivers, isolate causes and effects, demonstrate creativity and prioritise issues. In particular, the interviewer will look for the following skills:

• Prioritisation - Can you distinguish relevant and irrelevant facts?
• Connecting the dots - Can you connect new facts and evidence to the big picture?
• Establishing conclusions - Can you establish correct conclusions without rushing to inferences not supported by evidence?

2.1.4. Numerical Agility

In case interviews, you are expected to be quick and confident with both precise and approximated numbers. This translates to:

• Performing simple calculations quickly - Essential to solve cases quickly and impress clients with quick estimates and preliminary conclusions.
• Analysing data - Extract data from graphs and charts, elaborate and draw insightful conclusions.
• Solving business problems - Translate a real world case to a mathematical problem and solve it.

Our article on consulting math is a great resource here, though the extensive math content in our MCC Academy is the best and most comprehensive material available.

2.1.5. Communication

Real consulting work isn’t just about the raw analysis to come up with a recommendation - this then needs to be sold to the client as the right course of action.

Similarly, in a case interview, you must be able to turn your answer into a compelling recommendation. This is just as essential to impressing your interviewer as your structure and analysis.

Consultants already comment on how difficult it is to find candidates with the right communication skills. Add to this the current direction of travel, where AI will be able to automate more and more of the routine analytic side of consulting, and communication becomes a bigger and bigger part of what consultants are being paid for.

So, how do you make sure that your recommendations are relevant, smart, and engaging? The answer is to master what is known as CEO-level communication .

This art of speaking like a CEO can be quite challenging, as it often involves presenting information in effectively the opposite way to how you might normally.

To get it right, there are three key areas to focus on in your communications:

• Top down : A CEO wants to hear the key message first. They will only ask for more details if they think that will actually be useful. Always consider what is absolutely critical for the CEO to know, and start with that. You can read more in our article on the Pyramid Principle .
• Concise : This is not the time for "boiling the ocean" or listing an endless number possible solutions. CEOs, and thus consultants, want a structured, quick and concise recommendation for their business problem, that they can implement immediately.
• Fact-based : Consultants share CEOs' hatred of opinions based on gut feel rather than facts. They want recommendations based on facts to make sure they are actually in control. Always go on to back up your conclusions with the relevant facts.

Being concise and to the point is key in many areas, networking being one for them. For more detail on all this, check out our full article on delivering recommendations .

Prep the right way

3. types of case interview.

While most case interviews share a similar structure, firms will have some differences in the particular ways they like to do things in terms of both the case study and the fit component.

As we’ll see, these differences aren’t hugely impactful in terms of how you prepare. That said, it's always good to know as much as possible about what you will be going up against.

3.1. Different case objectives

A guiding thread throughout this article and our approach in general will be to treat each case as a self-contained problem and not try to pigeonhole it into a certain category. Having said that, there are of course similarities between cases and we can identify certain parameters and objectives.

Broadly speaking, cases can be divided into issue-based cases and strategic decision cases. In the former you will be asked to solve a certain issue, such as declining profits, or low productivity whereas in the latter you will be ask whether your client should or should not do something, such as enter a specific market or acquire another company. The chart below is a good breakdown of these different objectives:

3.2. How do interviewers craft cases

While interviewers will very likely be given a case bank to choose from by their company, a good number of them will also choose to adapt the cases they would currently be working on to a case interview setting. The difference is that the latter cases will be harder to pigeonhole and apply standard frameworks to, so a tailored approach will be paramount.

If you’ve applied for a specific practice or type of consulting - such as operational consulting, for example - it’s very likely that you will receive a case geared towards that particular area alongside a ‘generalist’ consulting case (however, if that’s the case, you will generally be notified). The other main distinction when it comes to case interviews is between interviewer-led and candidate-led.

3.3. Candidate-led cases

Most consulting case interview questions test your ability to crack a broad problem, with a case prompt often going something like:

" How much would you pay to secure the rights to run a restaurant in the British Museum? "

You, as a candidate, are then expected to identify your path to solve the case (that is, provide a structure), leveraging your interviewer to collect the data and test your assumptions.

This is known as a “candidate-led” case interview and is used by Bain, BCG and other firms. From a structuring perspective, it’s easier to lose direction in a candidate-led case as there are no sign-posts along the way. As such, you need to come up with an approach that is both broad enough to cover all of the potential drivers in a case but also tailored enough to the problem you are asked to solve. It’s also up to you to figure out when you need to delve deeper into a certain branch of the case, brainstorm or ask for data. The following case from Bain is an excellent example on how to navigate a candidate-led case.

3.4. Interviewer-led cases

This type of case - employed most famously by McKinsey - is slightly different, with the interviewer controlling the pace and direction of the conversation much more than with other case interviews.

At McKinsey, your interviewer will ask you a set of pre-determined questions, regardless of your initial structure. For each question, you will have to understand the problem, come up with a mini structure, ask for additional data (if necessary) and come to the conclusion that answers the question. This more structured format of case also shows up in online cases by other firms - notably including BCG’s Casey chatbot (with the amusing result that practising McKinsey-style cases can be a great addition when prepping for BCG).

Essentially, these interviewer-led case studies are large cases made up of lots of mini-cases. You still use basically the same method as you would for standard (or candidate-led) cases - the main difference is simply that, instead of using that method to solve one big case, you are solving several mini-cases sequentially. These cases are easier to follow as the interviewer will guide you in the right direction. However, this doesn’t mean you should pay less attention to structure and deliver a generic framework! Also, usually (but not always!) the first question will ask you to map your approach and is the equivalent of the structuring question in candidate-led cases. Sometimes, if you’re missing key elements, the interviewer might prompt you in the right direction - so make sure to take those prompts seriously as they are there to help you get back on track (ask for 30 seconds to think on the prompt and structure your approach). Other times - and this is a less fortunate scenario - the interviewer might say nothing and simply move on to the next question. This is why you should put just as much thought (if not more) into the framework you build for interviewer-led cases , as you may be penalized if you produce something too generic or that doesn’t encompass all the issues of the case.

3.5. Case and fit

The standard case interview can be thought of as splitting into two standalone sub-interviews. Thus “case interviews” can be divided into the case study itself and a “fit interview” section, where culture fit questions are asked.

This can lead to a bit of confusion, as the actual case interview component might take up as little as half of your scheduled “case interview”. You need to make sure you are ready for both aspects.

To illustrate, here is the typical case interview timeline:

• First 15-30 minutes: Fit Interview - with questions assessing your motivation to be a consultant in that specific firm and your traits around leadership and teamwork. Learn more about the fit interview in our in-depth article here .
• Next 30-40 minutes: Case Interview - solving a case study
• Last 5 minutes: Fit Interview again - this time focussing on your questions for your interviewer.

Both the Case and Fit interviews play crucial roles in the finial hiring decision. There is no “average” taken between case and fit interviews: if your performance is not up to scratch in either of the two, you will not be able to move on to the next interview round or get an offer.

NB: No case without fit

Note that, even if you have only been told you are having a case interview or otherwise are just doing a case study, always be prepared to answer fit questions. At most firms, it is standard practice to include some fit questions in all case interviews, even if there are also separate explicit fit interviews, and interviewers will almost invariably include some of these questions around your case. This is perfectly natural - imagine how odd and artificial it would be to show up to an interview, simply do a case and leave again, without talking about anything else with the interviewer before or after.

3.5.1 Differences between firms

For the most part, a case interview is a case interview. However, firms will have some differences in the particular ways they like to do things in terms of both the case study and the fit component.

3.5.2. The McKinsey PEI

McKinsey brands its fit aspect of interviews as the Personal Experience Interview or PEI. Despite the different name, this is really much the same interview you will be going up against in Bain, BCG and any similar firms.

McKinsey does have a reputation for pushing candidates a little harder with fit or PEI questions , focusing on one story per interview and drilling down further into the specific details each time. We discuss this tendency more in our fit interview article . However, no top end firm is going to go easy on you and you should absolutely be ready for the same level of grilling at Bain, BCG and others. Thus any difference isn’t hugely salient in terms of prep.

3.6. What is different in 2023?

For the foreseeable future, you are going to have to go through multiple live case interviews to secure any decent consulting job. These might increasingly happen via Zoom rather than in person, but they should remain largely the same otherwise.

However, things are changing and the rise of AI in recent months seems pretty much guaranteed to accelerate existing trends.

Even before the explosive development of AI chatbots like ChatGPT we have seen in recent months, automation was already starting to change the recruitment process.

As we mentioned, case interviews are expensive and inconvenient for firms to run . Ideally, then, firms will try to reduce the number of interviews required for recruitment as far as possible. For many years, tests of various kinds served to cut down the applicant pool and thus the number of interviews. However, these tests had a limited capacity to assess candidates against the full consulting skillset in the way that case interviews do so well.

More recently, though, the development of online testing has allowed for more and more advanced assessments. Top consulting firms have been leveraging screening tests that better and better capture the same skillset as case interviews. Eventually this is converging on automated case studies. We see this very clearly with the addition of the Redrock case to McKinsey’s Solve assessment.

As these digital cases become closer to the real thing, the line between test and case interview blurs. Online cases don’t just reduce the number of candidates to case interview, but start directly replacing them.

Case in point here is BCG’s Casey chatbot . Previously, BCG had deployed less advanced online cases and similar tests to weed out some candidates before live case interviews began. Now, though, Casey actually replaces one first round case interview.

Casey, at time of writing, is still a relatively “basic” chatbot, basically running through a pre-set script. The Whatsapp-like interface does a lot of work to make it feel like one is chatting to a “real person” - the chatbot itself, though, cannot provide feedback or nudges to candidates as would a human interviewer.

We fully expect that, as soon as BCG and other firms can train a truer AI, these online cases will become more widespread and start replacing more live interviews.

We discuss the likely impacts of advanced AI on consulting recruitment and the industry more broadly in our blog.

Here, though, the real message is that you should expect to run into digital cases as well as traditional case interviews.

Luckily, despite any changes in specific case interview format, you will still need to master the same fundamental skills and prepare in much the same way.

We’ll cover a few ways to help prepare for chatbot cases in section four. Ultimately, though, firms are looking for the same problem solving ability and mindset as a real interviewer. Especially as chatbots get better at mimicking a real interviewer, candidates who are well prepared for case cracking in general should have no problem with AI administered cases.

3.6.1. Automated fit interviews

Analogous to online cases, in recent years there has been a trend towards automated, “one way” fit interviews, with these typically being administered for consultancies by specialist contractors like HireVue or SparkHire.

These are kind of like Zoom interviews, but if the interviewer didn’t show up. Instead you will be given fit questions to answer and must record your answer in your computer webcam. Your response will then go on to be assessed by an algorithm, scoring both what you say and how you say it.

Again, with advances in AI, it is easy to imagine these automated case interviews going from fully scripted interactions, where all candidates are asked the same list of questions, to a more interactive experience. Thus, we might soon arrive at a point where you are being grilled on the details of your stories - McKinsey PEI style - but by a bot rather than a human.

We include some tips on this kind of “one way” fit interview in section six here.

4. How to solve cases with the Problem-Driven Structure?

If you look around online for material on how to solve case studies, a lot of what you find will set out framework-based approaches. However, as we have mentioned, these frameworks tend to break down with more complex, unique cases - with these being exactly the kind of tough case studies you can expect to be given in your case interviews.

To address this problem, the MyConsultingCoach team has synthesized a new approach to case cracking that replicates how top management consultants approach actual engagements.

MyConsultingCoach’s Problem Driven Structure approach is a universal problem solving method that can be applied to any business problem , irrespective of its nature.

As opposed to just selecting a generic framework for each case interview, the Problem Driven Structure approach works by generating a bespoke structure for each individual question and is a simplified version of the roadmap McKinsey consultants use when working on engagements.

The canonical seven steps from McKinsey on real projects are simplified to four for case interview questions, as the analysis required for a six-month engagement is somewhat less than that needed for a 45-minute case study. However, the underlying flow is the same (see the method in action in the video below)

Let's zoom in to see how our method actually works in more detail:

4.1. Identify the problem

Identifying the problem means properly understanding the prompt/question you are given, so you get to the actual point of the case.

This might sound simple, but cases are often very tricky, and many candidates irretrievably mess things up within the first few minutes of starting. Often, they won’t notice this has happened until they are getting to the end of their analysis. Then, they suddenly realise that they have misunderstood the case prompt - and have effectively been answering the wrong question all along!

With no time to go back and start again, there is nothing to do. Even if there were time, making such a silly mistake early on will make a terrible impression on their interviewer, who might well have written them off already. The interview is scuppered and all the candidate’s preparation has been for nothing.

This error is so galling as it is so readily avoidable.

Our method prevents this problem by placing huge emphasis on a full understanding of the case prompt. This lays the foundations for success as, once we have identified the fundamental, underlying problem our client is facing, we focus our whole analysis around finding solutions to this specific issue.

Now, some case interview prompts are easy to digest. For example, “Our client, a supermarket, has seen a decline in profits. How can we bring them up?”. However, many of the prompts given in interviews for top firms are much more difficult and might refer to unfamiliar business areas or industries. For example, “How much would you pay for a banking license in Ghana?” or “What would be your key areas of concern be when setting up an NGO?”

Don’t worry if you have no idea how you might go about tackling some of these prompts!

In our article on identifying the problem and in our full lesson on the subject in our MCC Academy course, we teach a systematic, four step approach to identifying the problem , as well as running through common errors to ensure you start off on the right foot every time!

This is summarised here:

Following this method lets you excel where your competitors mess up and get off to a great start in impressing your interviewer!

4.2. Build your problem driven structure

After you have properly understood the problem, the next step is to successfully crack a case is to draw up a bespoke structure that captures all the unique features of the case.

This is what will guide your analysis through the rest of the case study and is precisely the same method used by real consultants working on real engagements.

Of course, it might be easier here to simply roll out one an old-fashioned framework, and a lot of candidates will do so. This is likely to be faster at this stage and requires a lot less thought than our problem-driven structure approach.

However, whilst our problem driven structure approach requires more work from you, our method has the advantage of actually working in the kind of complex case studies where generic frameworks fail - that is exactly the kind of cases you can expect at an MBB interview .

Since we effectively start from first principles every time, we can tackle any case with the same overarching method. Simple or complex, every case is the same to you and you don’t have to gamble a job on whether a framework will actually work

4.2.1 Issue trees

Issue trees break down the overall problem into a set of smaller problems that you can then solve individually. Representing this on a diagram also makes it easy for both you and your interviewer to keep track of your analysis.

To see how this is done, let’s look at the issue tree below breaking down the revenues of an airline:

These revenues can be segmented as the number of customers multiplied by the average ticket price. The number of customers can be further broken down into a number of flights multiplied by the number of seats, times average occupancy rate. The node corresponding to the average ticket price can then be segmented further.

4.2.2 Hypothesis trees

Hypothesis trees are similar, the only difference being that rather than just trying to break up the issue into smaller issues you are assuming that the problem can be solved and you are formulating solutions.

In the example above, you would assume revenues can be increased by either increasing the average ticket price or the number of customers . You can then hypothesize that you can increase the average occupancy rate in three ways: align the schedule of short and long haul flights, run a promotion to boost occupancy in off-peak times, or offer early bird discounts.

4.2.3 Other structures:structured lists

Structured lists are simply subcategories of a problem into which you can fit similar elements. This McKinsey case answer starts off by identifying several buckets such as retailer response, competitor response, current capabilities and brand image and then proceeds to consider what could fit into these categories.

Buckets can be a good way to start the structure of a complex case but when using them it can be very difficult to be MECE and consistent, so you should always aim to then re-organize them into either an issue or a hypothesis tree.

It is worth noting that the same problem can be structured in multiple valid ways by choosing different means to segment the key issues. Ultimately all these lists are methods to set out a logical hierachy among elements.

4.2.4 Structures in practice

That said, not all valid structures are equally useful in solving the underlying problem. A good structure fulfils several requirements - including MECE-ness , level consistency, materiality, simplicity, and actionability. It’s important to put in the time to master segmentation, so you can choose a scheme isn’t only valid, but actually useful in addressing the problem.

After taking the effort to identify the problem properly, an advantage of our method is that it will help ensure you stay focused on that same fundamental problem throughout. This might not sound like much, but many candidates end up getting lost in their own analysis, veering off on huge tangents and returning with an answer to a question they weren’t asked.

Another frequent issue - particularly with certain frameworks - is that candidates finish their analysis and, even if they have successfully stuck to the initial question, they have not actually reached a definite solution. Instead, they might simply have generated a laundry list of pros and cons, with no clear single recommendation for action.

Clients employ consultants for actionable answers, and this is what is expected in the case interview. The problem driven structure excels in ensuring that everything you do is clearly related back to the key question in a way that will generate a definitive answer. Thus, the problem driven structure builds in the hypothesis driven approach so characteristic of real consulting practice.

You can learn how to set out your own problem driven structures in our article here and in our full lesson in the MCC Academy course.

4.2. Lead the analysis

A problem driven structure might ensure we reach a proper solution eventually, but how do we actually get there?

We call this step " leading the analysis ", and it is the process whereby you systematically navigate through your structure, identifying the key factors driving the issue you are addressing.

Generally, this will mean continuing to grow your tree diagram, further segmenting what you identify as the most salient end nodes and thus drilling down into the most crucial factors causing the client’s central problem.

Once you have gotten right down into the detail of what is actually causing the company’s issues, solutions can then be generated quite straightforwardly.

To see this process in action, we can return to our airline revenue example:

Let’s say we discover the average ticket price to be a key issue in the airline’s problems. Looking closer at the drivers of average ticket price, we find that the problem lies with economy class ticket prices. We can then further segment that price into the base fare and additional items such as food.

Having broken down the issue to such a fine-grained level and considering the 80/20 rule(see below), solutions occur quite naturally. In this case, we can suggest incentivising the crew to increase onboard sales, improving assortment in the plane, or offering discounts for online purchases.

Our article on leading the analysis is a great primer on the subject, with our video lesson in the MCC Academy providing the most comprehensive guide available.

4.4. Provide recommendations

So you have a solution - but you aren’t finished yet!

Now, you need to deliver your solution as a final recommendation.

This should be done as if you are briefing a busy CEO and thus should be a one minute, top-down, concise, structured, clear, and fact-based account of your findings.

The brevity of the final recommendation belies its importance. In real life consulting, the recommendation is what the client has potentially paid millions for - from their point of view, it is the only thing that matters.

In a case interview, your performance in this final summing up of your case is going to significantly colour your interviewer’s parting impression of you - and thus your chances of getting hired!

So, how do we do it right?

Barbara Minto's Pyramid Principle elegantly sums up almost everything required for a perfect recommendation. The answer comes first , as this is what is most important. This is then supported by a few key arguments , which are in turn buttressed by supporting facts .

Across the whole recommendation, the goal isn’t to just summarise what you have done. Instead, you are aiming to synthesize your findings to extract the key "so what?" insight that is useful to the client going forward.

All this might seem like common sense, but it is actually the opposite of how we relay results in academia and other fields. There, we typically move from data, through arguments and eventually to conclusions. As such, making good recommendations is a skill that takes practice to master.

We can see the Pyramid Principle illustrated in the diagram below:

To supplement the basic Pyramid Principle scheme, we suggest candidates add a few brief remarks on potential risks and suggested next steps . This helps demonstrate the ability for critical self-reflection and lets your interviewer see you going the extra mile.

The combination of logical rigour and communication skills that is so definitive of consulting is particularly on display in the final recommendation.

Despite it only lasting 60 seconds, you will need to leverage a full set of key consulting skills to deliver a really excellent recommendation and leave your interviewer with a good final impression of your case solving abilities.

Our specific article on final recommendations and the specific video lesson on the same topic within our MCC Academy are great, comprehensive resources. Beyond those, our lesson on consulting thinking and our articles on MECE and the Pyramid Principle are also very useful.

4.5. What if I get stuck?

Naturally with case interviews being difficult problems there may be times where you’re unsure what to do or which direction to take. The most common scenario is that you will get stuck midway through the case and there are essentially two things that you should do:

• 1. Go back to your structure
• 2. Ask the interviewer for clarification

Your structure should always be your best friend - after all, this is why you put so much thought and effort into it: if it’s MECE it will point you in the right direction. This may seem abstract but let’s take the very simple example of a profitability case interview: if you’ve started your analysis by segmenting profit into revenue minus costs and you’ve seen that the cost side of the analysis is leading you nowhere, you can be certain that the declining profit is due to a decline in revenue.

Similarly, when you’re stuck on the quantitative section of the case interview, make sure that your framework for calculations is set up correctly (you can confirm this with the interviewer) and see what it is you’re trying to solve for: for example if you’re trying to find what price the client should sell their new t-shirt in order to break even on their investment, you should realize that what you’re trying to find is the break even point, so you can start by calculating either the costs or the revenues. You have all the data for the costs side and you know they’re trying to sell 10.000 pairs so you can simply set up the equation with x being the price.

As we’ve emphasised on several occasions, your case interview will be a dialogue. As such, if you don’t know what to do next or don’t understand something, make sure to ask the interviewer (and as a general rule always follow their prompts as they are trying to help, not trick you). This is especially true for the quantitative questions, where you should really understand what data you’re looking at before you jump into any calculations. Ideally you should ask your questions before you take time to formulate your approach but don’t be afraid to ask for further clarification if you really can’t make sense of what’s going on. It’s always good to walk your interviewer through your approach before you start doing the calculations and it’s no mistake to make sure that you both have the same understanding of the data. For example when confronted with the chart below, you might ask what GW (in this case gigawatt) means from the get-go and ask to confirm the different metrics (i.e. whether 1 GW = 1000 megawatts). You will never be penalised for asking a question like that.

5. What to remember in case interviews

If you’re new to case cracking you might feel a bit hopeless when you see a difficult case question, not having any idea where to start.

In fact though, cracking case interviews is much like playing chess. The rules you need to know to get started are actually pretty simple. What will make you really proficient is time and practice.

In this section, we’ll run through a high level overview of everything you need to know, linking to more detailed resources at every step.

5.1. An overall clear structure

You will probably hear this more than you care for but it is the most important thing to keep in mind as you start solving cases, as not only it is a key evaluation criterion but the greatest tool you will have at your disposal. The ability to build a clear structure in all aspects of the case inteview will be the difference between breezing through a complicated case and struggling at its every step. Let’s look a bit closer at the key areas where you should be structured!

5.1.1 Structured notes

Every case interview starts with a prompt, usually verbal, and as such you will have to take some notes. And here is where your foray into structure begins, as the notes you take should be clear, concise and structured in a way that will allow you to repeat the case back to the interviewer without writing down any unnecessary information.

This may sound very basic but you should absolutely not be dismissive about it: taking clear and organized notes will allow what we found helps is to have separate sections for:

• The case brief
• Follow-up questions and answers
• Numerical data
• Case structure (the most crucial part when solving the case)
• Any scrap work during the case (usually calculations)

When solving the case - or, as we call it here, in the Lead the analysis step, it is highly recommended to keep on feeding and integrating your structure, so that you never get lost. Maintaining a clear high level view is one of the most critical aspects in case interviews as it is a key skill in consulting: by constantly keeping track of where you are following your structure, you’ll never lose your focus on the end goal.

In the case of an interviewer-led case, you can also have separate sheets for each question (e.g. Question 1. What factors can we look at that drive profitability?). If you develop a system like this you’ll know exactly where to look for each point of data rather than rummage around in untidy notes. There are a couple more sections that you may have, depending on preference - we’ll get to these in the next sections.

5.1.2 Structured communication

There will be three main types of communication in cases:

• 1. Asking and answering questions
• 2. Walking the interviewer through your structure (either the case or calculation framework - we’ll get to that in a bit!)
• 3. Delivering your recommendation

Asking and answering questions will be the most common of these and the key thing to do before you speak is ask for some time to collect your thoughts and get organised. What you want to avoid is a ‘laundry list’ of questions or anything that sounds too much like a stream of consciousness.

Different systems work for different candidates but a sure-fire way of being organised is numbering your questions and answers. So rather than saying something like ‘I would like to ask about the business model, operational capacity and customer personas’ it’s much better to break it down and say something along the lines of ‘I’ve got three key questions. Firstly I would like to inquire into the business model of our client. Secondly I would like to ask about their operational capacity. Thirdly I would like to know more about the different customer personas they are serving’.

A similar principle should be applied when walking the interviewer through your structure, and this is especially true of online case interviews (more and more frequent now) when the interviewer can’t see your notes. Even if you have your branches or buckets clearly defined, you should still use a numbering system to make it obvious to the interviewer. So, for example, when asked to identify whether a company should make an acquisition, you might say ‘I would like to examine the following key areas. Firstly the financial aspects of this issue, secondly the synergies and thirdly the client’s expertise’

The recommendation should be delivered top-down (see section 4.4 for specifics) and should employ the same numbering principle. To do so in a speedy manner, you should circle or mark the key facts that you encounter throughout the case so you can easily pull them out at the end.

5.1.3 Structured framework

It’s very important that you have a systematic approach - or framework - for every case. Let’s get one thing straight: there is a difference between having a problem-solving framework for your case and trying to force a case into a predetermined framework. Doing the former is an absolute must , whilst doing the latter will most likely have you unceremoniously dismissed.

We have seen there are several ways of building a framework, from identifying several categories of issues (or ‘buckets’) to building an issue or hypothesis tree (which is the most efficient type of framework). For the purpose of organization, we recommend having a separate sheet for the framework of the case, or, if it’s too much to manage, you can have it on the same sheet as the initial case prompt. That way you’ll have all the details as well as your proposed solution in one place.

5.1.4 Structured calculations

Whether it’s interviewer or candidate-led, at some point in the case you will get a bunch of numerical data and you will have to perform some calculations (for the specifics of the math you’ll need on consulting interviews, have a look at our Consulting Math Guide ). Here’s where we urge you to take your time and not dive straight into calculating! And here’s why: while your numerical agility is sure to impress interviewers, what they’re actually looking for is your logic and the calculations you need to perform in order to solve the problem . So it’s ok if you make a small mistake, as long as you’re solving for the right thing.

As such, make it easy for them - and yourself. Before you start, write down in steps the calculations you need to perform. Here’s an example: let’s say you need to find out by how much profits will change if variable costs are reduced by 10%. Your approach should look something like:

• 1. Calculate current profits: Profits = Revenues - (Variable costs + Fixed costs)
• 2. Calculate the reduction in variable costs: Variable costs x 0.9
• 3. Calculate new profits: New profits = Revenues - (New variable costs + Fixed costs)

Of course, there may be more efficient ways to do that calculation, but what’s important - much like in the framework section - is to show your interviewer that you have a plan, in the form of a structured approach. You can write your plan on the sheet containing the data, then perform the calculations on a scrap sheet and fill in the results afterward.

5.2. Common business knowledge and formulas

Although some consulting firms claim they don’t evaluate candidates based on their business knowledge, familiarity with basic business concepts and formulae is very useful in terms of understanding the case studies you are given in the first instance and drawing inspiration for structuring and brainstorming.

If you are coming from a business undergrad, an MBA or are an experienced hire, you might well have this covered already. For those coming from a different background, it may be useful to cover some.

Luckily, you don’t need a degree-level understanding of business to crack case interviews , and a lot of the information you will pick up by osmosis as you read through articles like this and go through cases.

However, some things you will just need to sit down and learn. We cover everything you need to know in some detail in our Case Academy Course course. However, some examples here of things you need to learn are:

• Basic accounting (particularly how to understand all the elements of a balance sheet)
• Basic economics
• Basic marketing
• Basic strategy

Below we include a few elementary concepts and formulae so you can hit the ground running in solving cases. We should note that you should not memorise these and indeed a good portion of them can be worked out logically, but you should have at least some idea of what to expect as this will make you faster and will free up much of your mental computing power. In what follows we’ll tackle concepts that you will encounter in the private business sector as well as some situations that come up in cases that feature clients from the NGO or governmental sector.

5.2.1 Business sector concepts

These concepts are the bread and butter of almost any business case so you need to make sure you have them down. Naturally, there will be specificities and differences between cases but for the most part here is a breakdown of each of them.

5.2.1.1. Revenue

The revenue is the money that the company brings in and is usually equal to the number of products they sell multiplied to the price per item and can be expressed with the following equation:

Revenue = Volume x Price

Companies may have various sources of revenue or indeed multiple types of products, all priced differently which is something you will need to account for in your case interview. Let’s consider some situations. A clothing company such as Nike will derive most of their revenue from the number of products they sell times the average price per item. Conversely, for a retail bank revenue is measured as the volume of loans multiplied by the interest rate at which the loans are given out. As we’ll see below, we might consider primary revenues and ancillary revenues: in the case of a football club, we might calculate primary revenues by multiplying the number of tickets sold by the average ticket price, and ancillary revenues those coming from sales of merchandise (similarly, let’s say average t-shirt price times the number of t-shirts sold), tv rights and sponsorships.

These are but a few examples and another reminder that you should always aim to ask questions and understand the precise revenue structure of the companies you encounter in cases.

5.2.1.2. Costs

The costs are the expenses that a company incurs during its operations. Generally, they can be broken down into fixed and variable costs :

Costs = Fixed Costs + Variable Costs

As their name implies, fixed costs do not change based on the number of units produced or sold. For example, if you produce shoes and are renting the space for your factory, you will have to pay the rent regardless of whether you produce one pair or 100. On the other hand, variable costs depend on the level of activity, so in our shoe factory example they would be equivalent to the materials used to produce each pair of shoes and would increase the more we produce.

These concepts are of course guidelines used in order to simplify the analysis in cases, and you should be aware that in reality often the situation can be more complicated. However, this should be enough for case interviews. Costs can also be quasi-fixed, in that they increase marginally with volume. Take the example of a restaurant which has a regular staff, incurring a fixed cost but during very busy hours or periods they also employ some part-time workers. This cost is not exactly variable (as it doesn’t increase with the quantity of food produced) but also not entirely fixed, as the number of extra hands will depend on how busy the restaurant is. Fixed costs can also be non-linear in nature. Let’s consider the rent in the same restaurant: we would normally pay a fixed amount every month, but if the restaurant becomes very popular we might need to rent out some extra space so the cost will increase. Again, this is not always relevant for case interviews.

5.2.1.3. Profit and profit margin

The profit is the amount of money a company is left with after it has paid all of its expenses and can be expressed as follows:

Profit = Revenue - Costs

It’s very likely that you will encounter a profitability issue in one of your case interviews, namely you will be asked to increase a company’s profit. There are two main ways of doing this: increasing revenues and reducing costs , so these will be the two main areas you will have to investigate. This may seem simple but what you will really need to understand in a case are the key drivers of a business (and this should be done through clarifying questions to the interviewer - just as a real consultant would question their client).

For example, if your client is an airline you can assume that the main source of revenue is sales of tickets, but you should inquire how many types of ticket the specific airline sells. You may naturally consider economy and business class tickets, but you may find out that there is a more premium option - such as first class - and several in-between options. Similarly to our football club example, there may be ancillary revenues from selling of food and beverage as well as advertising certain products or services on flights.

You may also come across the profit margin in case interviews. This is simply the percentage of profit compared to the revenue and can be expressed as follows:

Profit margin = Profit/Revenue x 100

5.2.1.4. Break-even point

An ancillary concept to profit, the break-even point is the moment where revenues equal costs making the profit zero and can be expressed as the following equation:

Revenues = Costs (Fixed costs + Variable costs)

This formula will be useful when you are asked questions such as ‘What is the minimum price I should sell product X?’ or ‘What quantity do I need to sell in order to recoup my investment?’. Let’s say in a case interview an owner of a sandwich store asks us to figure out how many salami and cheese salami sandwiches she needs to sell in order to break even. She’s spending $4 on salami and $2 for cheese and lettuce per sandwich, and believes she can sell the sandwiches at around $7. The cost of utilities and personnel is around $5000 per month. We could lay this all out in the break-even equation:

7 x Q ( quantity ) = (4+2) x Q + 5000 ( variable + fixed costs )

In a different scenario, we may be asked to calculate the break-even price . Let’s consider our sandwich example and say our owner knows she has enough ingredients for about 5000 sandwiches per month but is not sure how much to sell them for. In that case, if we know our break-even equation, we can simply make the following changes:

P ( price ) x 5000 = (4+2) x 5000 + 5000

By solving the equation we get to the price of $7 per sandwich.

5.2.1.5. Market share and market size

We can also consider the market closely with profit, as in fact the company’s performance in the market is what drives profits. The market size is the total number of potential customers for a certain business or product, whereas the market share is the percentage of that market that your business controls (or could control, depending on the case).

There is a good chance you will have to estimate the market size in one of your case interviews and we get into more details on how to do that below. You may be asked to estimate this in either number of potential customers or total value . The latter simply refers to the number of customers multiplied by the average value of the product or service.

To calculate the market share you will have to divide the company’s share by the total market size and multiply by 100:

Note, though, that learning the very basics of business is the beginning rather than the end of your journey. Once you are able to “speak business” at a rudimentary level, you should try to “become fluent” and immerse yourself in reading/viewing/listening to as wide a variety of business material as possible, getting a feel for all kinds of companies and industries - and especially the kinds of problems that can come up in each context and how they are solved. The material put out by the consulting firms themselves is a great place to start, but you should also follow the business news and find out about different companies and sectors as much as possible between now and interviews. Remember, if you’re going to be a consultant, this should be fun rather than a chore!

5.3 Public sector and NGO concepts

As we mentioned, there will be some cases (see section 6.6 for a more detailed example) where the key performance indicators (or KPIs in short) will not be connected to profit. The most common ones will involve the government of a country or an NGO, but they can be way more diverse and require more thought and application of first principles. We have laid out a couple of the key concepts or KPIs that come up below

5.3.1 Quantifiability

In many such scenarios you will be asked to make an important strategic decision of some kind or to optimise a process. Of course these are not restricted to non-private sector cases but this is where they really come into their own as there can be great variation in the type of decision and the types of field.

While there may be no familiar business concepts to anchor yourself onto, a concept that is essential is quantifiability . This means, however qualitative the decision might seem, consultants rely on data so you should always aim to have aspects of a decision that can be quantified, even if the data doesn’t present itself in a straightforward manner.

Let’s take a practical example. Your younger sibling asks you to help them decide which university they should choose if they want to study engineering. One way to structure your approach would be to segment the problem into factors affecting your sibling’s experience at university and experience post-university. Within the ‘at uni’ category you might think about the following:

• Financials : How much are tuition costs and accommodation costs?
• Quality of teaching and research : How are possible universities ranked in the QS guide based on teaching and research?
• Quality of resources : How well stocked is their library, are the labs well equipped etc.?
• Subject ranking : How is engineering at different unis ranked?
• Life on campus and the city : What are the living costs in the city where the university is based? What are the extracurricular opportunities and would your sibling like to live in that specific city based on them?

Within the ‘out of uni’ category you might think about:

• Exit options : What are the fields in which your sibling could be employed and how long does it take the average student of that university to find a job?
• Alumni network : What percentage of alumni are employed by major companies?
• Signal : What percentage of applicants from the university get an interview in major engineering companies and related technical fields?

You will perhaps notice that all the buckets discussed pose quantifiable questions meant to provide us with data necessary to make a decision. It’s no point to ask ‘Which university has the nicest teaching staff?’ as that can be a very subjective metric.

5.3.1 Impact

Another key concept to consider when dealing with sectors other than the private one is how impactful a decision or a line of inquiry is on the overarching issue , or whether all our branches in our issue tree have a similar impact. This can often come in the form of impact on lives, such as in McKinsey’s conservation case discussed below, namely how many species can we save with our choice of habitat.

5.4 Common consulting concepts

Consultants use basic business concepts on an every day basis, as they help them articulate their frameworks to problems. However, they also use some consulting specific tools to quality check their analysis and perform in the most efficient way possible. These principles can be applied to all aspects of a consultant’s work, but for brevity we can say they mostly impact a consultant’s systematic approach and communication - two very important things that are also tested in case interviews. Therefore, it’s imperative that you not only get to know them, but learn how and when to use them as they are at the very core of good casing. They are MECE-ness, the Pareto Principle and the Pyramid principle and are explained briefly below - you should, however, go on to study them in-depth in their respective articles.

Perhaps the central pillar of all consulting work and an invaluable tool to solve cases, MECE stands for Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive . It can refer to any and every aspect in a case but is most often used when talking about structure. We have a detailed article explaining the concept here , but the short version is that MECE-ness ensures that there is no overlap between elements of a structure (i.e. the Mutually Exclusive component) and that it covers all the drivers or areas of a problem (Collectively Exhaustive). It is a concept that can be applied to any segmentation when dividing a set into subsets that include it wholly but do not overlap.

Let’s take a simple example and then a case framework example. In simple terms, when we are asked to break down the set ‘cars’ into subsets, dividing cars into ‘red cars’ and ‘sports cars’ is neither mutually exclusive (as there are indeed red sports cars) nor exhaustive of the whole set (i.e. there are also yellow non-sports cars that are not covered by this segmentation). A MECE way to segment would be ‘cars produced before 2000’ and ‘cars produced after 2000’ as this segmentation allows for no overlap and covers all the cars in existence.

Dividing cars can be simple, but how can we ensure MECEness in a case-interview a.k.a. a business situation. While the same principles apply, a good tip to ensure that your structure is MECE is to think about all the stakeholders - i.e. those whom a specific venture involves.

Let’s consider that our client is a soda manufacturer who wants to move from a business-to-business strategy, i.e. selling to large chains of stores and supermarkets, to a business-to-consumer strategy where it sells directly to consumers. In doing so they would like to retrain part of their account managers as direct salespeople and need to know what factors to consider.

A stakeholder-driven approach would be to consider the workforce and customers and move further down the issue tree, thinking about individual issues that might affect them. In the case of the workforce, we might consider how the shift would affect their workload and whether it takes their skillset into account. As for the customers, we might wonder whether existing customers would be satisfied with this move: will the remaining B2B account managers be able to provide for the needs of all their clients and will the fact that the company is selling directly to consumers now not cannibalise their businesses? We see how by taking a stakeholder-centred approach we can ensure that every single perspective and potential issue arising from it is fully covered.

5.4.2 The Pareto Principle

Also known as the 80/20 rule, this principle is important when gauging the impact of a decision or a factor in your analysis. It simply states that in business (but not only) 80% of outcomes come from 20% of causes. What this means is you can make a few significant changes that will impact most of your business organisation, sales model, cost structure etc.

Let’s have a look at 3 quick examples to illustrate this:

• 80% of all accidents are caused by 20% of drivers
• 20% of a company’s products account for 80% of the sales
• 80% of all results in a company are driven by 20% of its employees

The 80/20 rule will be a very good guide line in real engagements as well as case interviews, as it will essentially point to the easiest and most straightforward way of doing things. Let’s say one of the questions in a case is asking you to come up with an approach to understand the appeal of a new beard trimmer. Obviously you can’t interview the whole male population so you might think about setting up a webpage and asking people to comment their thoughts. But what you would get would be a laundry list of difficult to sift through data.

Using an 80/20 approach you would segment the population based on critical factors (age groups, grooming habits etc.) and then approach a significant sample size of each (e.g. 20), analysing the data and reaching a conclusion.

5.4.3 The Pyramid Principle

This principle refers to organising your communication in a top-down , efficient manner. While this is generally applicable, the pyramid principle will most often be employed when delivering the final recommendation to your client. This means - as is implicit in the name - that you would organise your recommendation (and communication in general) as a pyramid, stating the conclusion or most important element at the top then go down the pyramid listing 3 supporting arguments and then further (ideally also 3) supporting arguments for those supporting arguments.

Let’s look at this in practice in a case interview context: your client is a German air-conditioning unit manufacturer who was looking to expand into the French market. However, after your analysis you’ve determined that the market share they were looking to capture would not be feasible. A final recommendation using the Pyramid Principle would sound something like this: ‘I recommend that we do not enter the German market for the following three reasons. Firstly, the market is too small for our ambitions of $50 million. Secondly the market is heavily concentrated, being controlled by three major players and our 5 year goal would amount to controlling 25% of the market, a share larger than that of any of the players. Thirdly, the alternative of going into the corporate market would not be feasible, as it has high barriers to entry.Then, if needed, we could delve deeper into each of our categories

6. Case examples or building blocks?

As we mentioned before, in your case interview preparation you will undoubtedly find preparation resources that claim that there are several standard types of cases and that there is a general framework that can be applied to each type of case. While there are indeed cases that are straightforward at least in appearance and seemingly invite the application of such frameworks, the reality is never that simple and cases often involve multiple or more complicated components that cannot be fitted into a simple framework.

At MCC we don’t want you to get into the habit of trying to identify which case type you’re dealing with and pull out a framework, but we do recognize that there are recurring elements in frameworks that are useful - such as the profitability of a venture (with its revenues and costs), the valuation of a business, estimating and segmenting a market and pricing a product.

We call these building blocks because they can be used to build case frameworks but are not a framework in and of themselves, and they can be shuffled around and rearranged in any way necessary to be tailored to our case. Hence, our approach is not to make you think in terms of case types but work from first principles and use these building blocks to build your own framework. Let’s take two case prompts to illustrate our point.

The first is from the Bain website, where the candidate is asked whether they think it’s a good idea for their friend to open a coffee shop in Cambridge UK (see the case here ). The answer framework provided here is a very straightforward profitability analysis framework, examining the potential revenues and potential costs of the venture:

While this is a good point to start for your case interview (especially taken together with the clarifying questions), we will notice that this approach will need more tailoring to the case - for example the quantity of coffee will be determined by the market for coffee drinkers in Cambridge, which we have to determine based on preference. We are in England so a lot of people will be drinking tea but we are in a university town so perhaps more people than average are drinking coffee as it provides a better boost when studying. All these are some much needed case-tailored hypotheses that we can make based on the initial approach.

Just by looking at this case we might be tempted to say that we can just take a profitability case and apply it without any issues. However, this generic framework is just a starting point and in reality we would need to tailor it much further in the way we had started to do in order to get to a satisfactory answer. For example, the framework for this specific case interview doesn’t cover aspects such as the customer’s expertise: does the friend have any knowledge of the coffee business, such as where to source coffee and how to prepare it? Also, we could argue there may be some legal factors to consider here, such as any approvals that they might need from the city council to run a coffee shop on site, or some specific trade licences that are not really covered in the basic profitability framework.

Let’s take a different case , however, from the McKinsey website. In this scenario, the candidate is being asked to identify some factors in order to choose where to focus the client’s conservation efforts. Immediately we can realise that this case doesn’t lend itself to any pre-packaged framework and we will need to come up with something from scratch - and take a look at McKinsey’s answer of the areas to focus on:

We notice immediately that this framework is 100% tailored to the case - of course there are elements which we encounter in other cases, such as costs and risks but again these are applied in an organic way. It’s pretty clear that while no standard framework would work in this case, the aforementioned concepts - costs and risks - and the way to approach them (a.k.a building blocks ) are fundamentally similar throughout cases (with the obvious specificities of each case).

In what follows, we’ll give a brief description of each building block starting from the Bain example discussed previously, in order to give you a general idea of what they are and their adaptability, but you should make sure to follow the link to the in-depth articles to learn all their ins and outs.

6.1 Estimates and segmentation

This building block will come into play mostly when you’re thinking about the market for a certain product (but make sure to read the full article for more details). Let’s take our Bain Cambridge coffee example. As we mentioned under the quantity bucket we need to understand what the market size for coffee in Cambridge would be - so we can make an estimation based on segmentation .

The key to a good estimation is the ability to logically break down the problem into more manageable pieces. This will generally mean segmenting a wider population to find a particular target group. We can start off with the population of Cambridge - which we estimate at 100.000. In reality the population is closer to 150.000 but that doesn’t matter - the estimation has to be reasonable and not accurate , so unless the interviewer gives you a reason to reconsider you can follow your instinct. We can divide that into people who do and don’t drink coffee. Given our arguments before, we can conclude that 80% of those, so 80.000 drink coffee. Then we can further segment into those who drink regularly - let’s say every day - and those who drink occasionally - let’s say once a week. Based on the assumptions before about the student population needing coffee to function, and with Cambridge having a high student population, we can assume that 80% of those drinking coffee are regular drinkers, so that would be 64.000 regular drinkers and 16.000 occasional drinkers. We can then decide whom we want to target what our strategy needs to be:

This type of estimation and segmentation can be applied to any case specifics - hence why it is a building block.

6.2 Profitability

We had several looks at this building block so far (see an in-depth look here ) as it will show up in most case interivew scenarios, since profit is a key element in any company’s strategy. As we have seen, the starting point to this analysis is to consider both the costs and revenues of a company, and try to determine whether revenues need to be improved or whether costs need to be lowered. In the coffee example, the revenues are dictated by the average price per coffe x the number of coffees sold , whereas costs can be split into fixed and variable .

Some examples of fixed costs would be the rent for the stores and the cost of the personnel and utilities, while the most obvious variable costs would be the coffee beans used and the takeaway containers (when needed). We may further split revenues in this case into Main revenues - i.e. the sales of coffee - and Ancillary revenues , which can be divided into Sales of food products (sales of pastries, sandwiches etc., each with the same price x quantity schema) and Revenues from events - i.e renting out the coffee shop to events and catering for the events themselves. Bear in mind that revenues will be heavily influenced by the penetration rate , i.e. the share of the market which we can capture.

6.3 Pricing

Helping a company determine how much they should charge for their goods or services is another theme that comes up frequently in cases. While it may seem less complicated than the other building blocks, we assure you it’s not - you will have to understand and consider several factors, such as the costs a company is incurring, their general strategic positioning, availability, market trends as well as the customers’ willingness to pay (or WTP in short) - so make sure to check out our in-depth guide here .

In our example, we may determine that the cost per cup (coffee beans, staff, rent) is £1. We want to be student friendly so we should consider how much students would want to pay for a coffee as well as how much are competitors are charging. Based on those factors, it would be reasonable to charge on average £2 per cup of coffee. It’s true that our competitors are charging £3 but they are targeting mostly the adult market, whose willingness to pay is higher, so their pricing model takes that into account as well as the lower volume of customers in that demographic.

6.4. Valuation

A variant of the pricing building block, a valuation problem generally asks the candidate to determine how much a client should pay for a specific company (the target of an acquisition) as well as what other factors to consider. The two most important factors (but not the only ones - for a comprehensive review see our Valuation article ) to consider are the net present value (in consulting interviews usually in perpetuity) and the synergies .

In short, the net present value of a company is how much profit it currently brings in, divided by how much that cash flow will depreciate in the future and can be represented with the equation below:

The synergies refer to what could be achieved should the companies operate as one, and can be divided into cost and revenue synergies .

Let’s expand our coffee example a bit to understand these. Imagine that our friend manages to open a chain of coffee shops in Cambridge and in the future considers acquiring a chain of take-out restaurants. The most straightforward example of revenue synergies would be cross-selling, in this case selling coffee in the restaurants as well as in the dedicated stores, and thus getting an immediate boost in market share by using the existing customers of the restaurant chain. A cost synergy would be merging the delivery services of the two businesses to deliver both food and coffee, thus avoiding redundancies and reducing costs associated with twice the number of drivers and vehicles.

6.5. Competitive interaction

This component of cases deals with situations where the market in which a company is operating changes and the company must decide what to do. These changes often have to do with a new player entering the market (again for more details make sure to dive into the Competitive Interaction article ).

Let’s assume that our Cambridge coffee shop has now become a chain and has flagged up to other competitors that Cambridge is a blooming market for coffee. As such, Starbucks has decided to open a few stores in Cambridge themselves, to test this market. The question which might be posed to a candidate is what should our coffee chain do. One way (and a MECE one) to approach the problem is to decide between doing something and doing nothing . We might consider merging with another coffee chain and pooling our resources or playing to our strengths and repositioning ourselves as ‘your student-friendly, shop around the corner’. Just as easily we may just wait the situation out and see whether indeed Starbucks is cutting into our market share - after all, the advantages of our product and services might speak for themselves and Starbucks might end up tanking. Both of these are viable options if argued right and depending on the further specifics of the case.

6.6. Special cases

Most cases deal with private sectors, where the overarching objective entails profit in some form. However, as hinted before, there are cases which deal with other sectors where there are other KPIs in place . The former will usually contain one or several of these building blocks whereas the latter will very likely have neither. This latter category is arguably the one that will stretch your analytical and organisational skills to the limit, since there will be very little familiarity that you can fall back on (McKinsey famously employs such cases in their interview process).

So how do we tackle the structure for such cases? The short answer would be starting from first principles and using the problem driven structure outlined above, but let’s look at a quick example in the form of a McKinsey case :

The first question addressed to the candidate is the following:

This is in fact asking us to build a structure for the case. So what should we have in mind here? Most importantly, we should start with a structure that is MECE and we should remember to do that by considering all the stakeholders . They are on the one hand the government and affiliated institutions and on the other the population. We might then consider which issues might arise for each shareholder and what the benefits for them would be, as well as the risks. This approach is illustrated in the answer McKinsey provides as well:

More than anything, this type of case shows us how important it is to practise and build different types of structures, and think about MECE ways of segmenting the problem.

7. How Do I prepare for case interviews

In consulting fashion, the overall preparation can be structured into theoretical preparation and practical preparation , with each category then being subdivided into individual prep and prep with a partner .

As a general rule, the level and intensity of the preparation will differ based on your background - naturally if you have a business background (and have been part of a consulting club or something similar) your preparation will be less intensive than if you’re starting from scratch. The way we suggest you go about it is to start with theoretical preparation , which means learning about case interviews, business and basic consulting concepts (you can do this using free resources - such as the ones we provide - or if you want a more through preparation you can consider joining our Case Academy as well).

You can then move on to the practical preparation which should start with doing solo cases and focusing on areas of improvement, and then move on to preparation with a partner , which should be another candidate or - ideally - an ex-consultant.

Let’s go into more details with respect to each type of preparation.

7.1. Solo practice

The two most important areas of focus in sole preparation are:

• Mental math

As we mentioned briefly, the best use of your time is to focus on solving cases. You can start with cases listed on MBB sites since they are clearly stated and have worked solutions as well (e.g. Bain is a good place to start) and then move to more complex cases (our Case Library also offers a range of cases of different complexities). To build your confidence, start out on easier case questions, work through with the solutions, and don't worry about time. As you get better, you can move on to more difficult cases and try to get through them more quickly. You should practice around eight case studies on your own to build your confidence.

Another important area of practice is your mental mathematics as this skill will considerably increase your confidence and is neglected by many applicants - much to their immediate regret in the case interview. Find our mental math tool here or in our course, and practice at least ten minutes per day, from day one until the day before the interview.

7.2. Preparation with a partner

There are aspects of a case interview - such as asking clarifying questions - which you cannot do alone and this is why, after you feel comfortable, you should move on to practice with another person. There are two options here:

• Practicing with a peer
• Practicing with an ex-consultant

In theory they can be complementary - especially if you’re peer is also preparing for consulting interviews - and each have advantages and disadvantages. A peer is likely to practice with you for free for longer, however you may end up reinforcing some bad habits or unable to get actionable feedback. A consultant will be able to provide you the latter but having their help for the same number of hours as a peer will come at a higher cost. Let’s look at each option in more detail.

7.2.1. Peer preparation

Once you have worked through eight cases solo, you should be ready to simulate the case interview more closely and start working with another person.

Here, many candidates turn to peer practice - that is, doing mock case interviews with friends, classmates or others also applying to consulting. If you’re in university, and especially in business school, there will very likely be a consulting club for you to join and do lots of case practice with. If you don’t have anyone to practice, though, or if you just want to get a bit more volume in with others, our free meeting board lets you find fellow applicants from around the world with whom to practice. We recommend practicing around 10 to 15 ‘live’ cases to really get to a point where you feel comfortable.

7.2.2. Preparation with a consultant

You can do a lot practising by yourself and with peers. However, nothing will bring up your skills so quickly and profoundly as working with a real consultant.

Perhaps think about it like boxing. You can practice drills and work on punch bags all you want, but at some point you need to get into the ring and do some actual sparring if you ever want to be ready to fight.

Practicing with an ex consultant is essentialy a simulation of a case interview. Of course, it isn’t possible to secure the time of experienced top-tier consultants for free. However, when considering whether you should invest to boost your chances of success, it is worth considering the difference in your salary over even just a few years between getting into a top-tier firm versus a second-tier one. In the light of thousands in increased annual earnings (easily accumulating into millions over multiple years), it becomes clear that getting expert interview help really is one of the best investments you can make in your own future.

Should you decide to make this step, MyConsultingCoach can help, offering bespoke mentoring programmes , where you are paired with a 5+ year experienced, ex-MBB mentor of your choosing, who will then oversee your whole case interview preparation from start to finish - giving you your best possible chance of landing a job!

7.3. Practice for online interviews

Standard preparation for interview case studies will carry directly over to online cases.

However, if you want to do some more specific prep, you can work through cases solo to a timer and using a calculator and/or Excel (online cases generally allow calculators and second computers to help you, whilst these are banned in live case interviews).

Older PST-style questions also make great prep, but a particularly good simulation is the self-assessment tests included in our Case Academy course . These multiple choice business questions conducted with a strict time limit are great preparation for the current crop of online cases.

7.4. Fit interviews

As we’ve noted, even something billed as a case interview is very likely to contain a fit interview as a subset.

We have an article on fit interviews and also include a full set of lessons on how to answer fit questions properly as a subset of our comprehensive Case Academy course .

Here though, the important thing to convey is that you take preparing for fit questions every bit as seriously as you do case prep.

Since they sound the same as you might encounter when interviewing for other industries, the temptation is to regard these as “just normal interview questions”.

However, consulting firms take your answers to these questions a good deal more seriously than elsewhere.

This isn’t just for fluffy “corporate culture” reasons. The long hours and close teamwork, as well as the client-facing nature of management consulting, mean that your personality and ability to get on with others is going to be a big part of making you a tolerable and effective co-worker.

If you know you’ll have to spend 14+ hour working days with someone you hire and that your annual bonus depends on them not alienating clients, you better believe you’ll pay attention to their character in interview.

There are also hard-nosed financial reasons for the likes of McKinsey, Bain and BCG to drill down so hard on your answers.

In particular, top consultancies have huge issues with staff retention. The average management consultant only stays with these firms for around two years before they have moved on to a new industry.

In some cases, consultants bail out because they can’t keep up with the arduous consulting lifestyle of long hours and endless travel. In many instances, though, departing consultants are lured away by exit opportunities - such as the well trodden paths towards internal strategy roles, private equity or becoming a start-up founder.

Indeed, many individuals will intentionally use a two year stint in consulting as something like an MBA they are getting paid for - giving them accelerated exposure to the business world and letting them pivot into something new.

Consulting firms want to get a decent return on investment for training new recruits. Thus, they want hires who not only intend to stick with consulting longer-term, but also have a temperament that makes this feasible and an overall career trajectory where it just makes sense for them to stay put.

This should hammer home the point that, if you want to get an offer, you need to be fully prepared to answer fit questions - and to do so excellently - any time you have a case interview.

8. Interview day - what to expect, with tips

Of course, all this theory is well and good, but a lot of readers might be concerned about what exactly to expect in real life . It’s perfectly reasonable to want to get as clear a picture as possible here - we all want to know what we are going up against when we face a new challenge!

Indeed, it is important to think about your interview in more holistic terms, rather than just focusing on small aspects of analysis. Getting everything exactly correct is less important than the overall approach you take to reasoning and how you communicate - and candidates often lose sight of this fact.

In this section, then, we’ll run through the case interview experience from start to finish, directing you to resources with more details where appropriate. As a supplement to this, the following video from Bain is excellent. It portrays an abridged version of a case interview, but is very useful as a guide to what to expect - not just from Bain, but from McKinsey, BCG and any other high-level consulting firm.

8.1. Getting started

Though you might be shown through to the office by a staff member, usually your interviewer will come and collect you from a waiting area. Either way, when you first encounter them, you should greet your interviewer with a warm smile and a handshake (unless they do not offer their hand). Be confident without verging into arrogance. You will be asked to take a seat in the interviewer’s office, where the case interview can then begin.

8.1.1. First impressions

In reality, your assessment begins before you even sit down at your interviewer’s desk. Whether at a conscious level or not, the impression you make within the first few seconds of meeting your interviewer is likely to significantly inform the final hiring decision (again, whether consciously or not).

Your presentation and how you hold yourself and behave are all important . If this seems strange, consider that, if hired, you will be personally responsible for many clients’ impressions of the firm. These things are part of the job! Much of material on the fit interview is useful here, whilst we also cover first impressions and presentation generally in our article on what to wear to interview .

As we have noted above, your interview might start with a fit segment - that is, with the interviewer asking questions about your experiences, your soft skills, and motivation to want to join consulting generally and that firm in particular. In short, the kinds of things a case study can’t tell them about you. We have a fit interview article and course to get you up to speed here.

8.1.2. Down to business

Following an initial conversation, your interviewer will introduce your case study , providing a prompt for the question you have to answer. You will have a pen and paper in front of you and should (neatly) note down the salient pieces of information (keep this up throughout the interview).

It is crucial here that you don’t delve into analysis or calculations straight away . Case prompts can be tricky and easy to misunderstand, especially when you are under pressure. Rather, ask any questions you need to fully understand the case question and then validate that understanding with the interviewer before you kick off any analysis. Better to eliminate mistakes now than experience that sinking feeling of realising you have gotten the whole thing wrong halfway through your case!

This process is covered in our article on identifying the problem and in greater detail in our Case Academy lesson on that subject.

8.1.3. Analysis

Once you understand the problem, you should take a few seconds to set your thoughts in order and draw up an initial structure for how you want to proceed. You might benefit from utilising one or more of our building blocks here to make a strong start. Present this to your interviewer and get their approval before you get into the nuts and bolts of analysis.

We cover the mechanics of how to structure your problem and lead the analysis in our articles here and here and more thoroughly in the MCC Case Academy . What it is important to convey here, though, is that your case interview is supposed to be a conversation rather than a written exam . Your interviewer takes a role closer to a co-worker than an invigilator and you should be conversing with them throughout.

Indeed, how you communicate with your interviewer and explain your rationale is a crucial element of how you will be assessed. Case questions in general, are not posed to see if you can produce the correct answer, but rather to see how you think . Your interviewer wants to see you approach the case in a structured, rational fashion. The only way they are going to know your thought processes, though, is if you tell them!

To demonstrate this point, here is another excellent video from Bain, where candidates are compared.

Note that multiple different answers to each question are considered acceptable and that Bain is primarily concerned with the thought processes of the candidate’s exhibit .

Another reason why communication is absolutely essential to case interview success is the simple reason that you will not have all the facts you need to complete your analysis at the outset. Rather, you will usually have to ask the interviewer for additional data throughout the case to allow you to proceed .

NB: Don't be let down by your math!

Your ability to quickly and accurately interpret these charts and other figures under pressure is one of the skills that is being assessed. You will also need to make any calculations with the same speed and accuracy (without a calculator!). As such, be sure that you are up to speed on your consulting math .

8.1.4. Recommendation

Finally, you will be asked to present a recommendation. This should be delivered in a brief, top-down "elevator pitch" format , as if you are speaking to a time-pressured CEO. Again here, how you communicate will be just as important as the details of what you say, and you should aim to speak clearly and with confidence.

For more detail on how to give the perfect recommendation, take a look at our articles on the Pyramid Principle and providing recommendations , as well the relevant lesson within MCC Academy .

8.1.5. Wrapping up

After your case is complete, there might be a few more fit questions - including a chance for you to ask some questions of the interviewer . This is your opportunity to make a good parting impression.

We deal with the details in our fit interview resources. However, it is always worth bearing in mind just how many candidates your interviewers are going to see giving similar answers to the same questions in the same office. A pretty obvious pre-requisite to being considered for a job is that your interviewer remembers you in the first place. Whilst you shouldn't do something stupid just to be noticed, asking interesting parting questions is a good way to be remembered.

Now, with the interview wrapped up, it’s time to shake hands, thank the interviewer for their time and leave the room .

You might have other case interviews or tests that day or you might be heading home. Either way, if know that you did all you could to prepare, you can leave content in the knowledge that you have the best possible chance of receiving an email with a job offer. This is our mission at MCC - to provide all the resources you need to realise your full potential and land your dream consulting job!

8.2. Remote and one-way interview tips

Zoom case interviews and “one-way” automated fit interviews are becoming more common as selection processes are increasingly remote, with these new formats being accompanied by their own unique challenges.

Obviously you won’t have to worry about lobbies and shaking hands for a video interview. However, a lot remains the same. You still need to do the same prep in terms of getting good at case cracking and expressing your fit answers. The specific considerations around remote case interviews are, in effect, around making sure you come across as effectively as you would in person.

8.2.1. Connection

It sounds trivial, but a successful video case interview of any kind presupposes a functioning computer with a stable and sufficient internet connection.

Absolutely don’t forget to have your laptop plugged in, as your battery will definitely let you down mid-interview. Similarly, make sure any housemates or family know not to use the microwave, vacuum cleaner or anything else that makes wifi cut out (or makes a lot of noise, obviously)

If you have to connect on a platform you don’t use much (for example, if it’s on Teams and you’re used to Zoom), make sure you have the up to date version of the app in advance, rather than having to wait for an obligatory download and end up late to join. Whilst you’re at it, make sure you’re familiar with the controls etc. At the risk of being made fun of, don’t be afraid to have a practice call with a friend.

8.2.2. Dress

You might get guidance on a slightly more relaxed dress code for a Zoom interview. However, if in doubt, dress as you would for the real thing (see our article here ).

Either way, always remember that presentation is part of what you are being assessed on - the firm needs to know you can be presentable for clients. Taking this stuff seriously also shows respect for your interviewer and their time in interviewing you.

8.2.3. Lighting

An aspect of presentation that you have to devote some thought to for a Zoom case interview is your lighting.

Hopefully, you long ago nailed a lighting set-up during the Covid lockdowns. However, make sure to check your lighting in advance with your webcam - bearing in mind what time if day your case interview actually is. If your case interview is late afternoon, don’t just check in the morning. Make sure you aren’t going to be blinded from light coming in a window behind your screen, or that you end up with the weird shadow stripes from blinds all over your face.

Natural light is always best, but if there won’t be much of that during your interview, you’ll likely want to experiment with moving some lamps around.

8.2.4. Clarity

The actual stories you tell in an automated “one-way” fit interview will be the same as for a live equivalent. If anything, things should be easier, as you can rattle off a practised monologue without an interviewer interrupting you to ask for clarifications.

You can probably also assume that the algorithm assessing your performance is sufficiently capable that it will be observing you at much the same level as a human interviewer. However, it is probably still worth speaking as clearly as possible with these kinds of interviews and paying extra attention to your lighting to ensure that your face is clearly visible.

No doubt the AIs scoring these interviews are improving all the time, but you still want to make their job as easy as possible. Just think about the same things as you would with a live Zoom case interview, but more so.

9. How we can help

There are lots of great free resources on this site to get you started with preparation, from all our articles on case solving and consulting skills to our free case library and peer practice meeting board .

To step your preparation up a notch, though, our Case Academy course will give you everything you need to know to solve the most complex of cases - whether those are in live case interviews, with chatbots, written tests or any other format.

Whatever kind of case you end up facing, nothing will bring up your skillset faster than the kind of acute, actionable feedback you can get from a mock case interview a real, MBB consultant. Whilst it's possible to get by without this kind of coaching, it does tend to be the biggest single difference maker for successful candidates.

You can find out more on our coaching page:

Explore Coaching

Of course, for those looking for a truly comprehensive programme, with a 5+ year experienced MBB consultant overseeing their entire prep personally, from networking and applications right through to your offer, we have our mentoring programmes.

You can read more here:

Comprehensive Mentoring

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Case Study vs. Survey

What's the difference.

Case studies and surveys are both research methods used in various fields to gather information and insights. However, they differ in their approach and purpose. A case study involves an in-depth analysis of a specific individual, group, or situation, aiming to understand the complexities and unique aspects of the subject. It often involves collecting qualitative data through interviews, observations, and document analysis. On the other hand, a survey is a structured data collection method that involves gathering information from a larger sample size through standardized questionnaires. Surveys are typically used to collect quantitative data and provide a broader perspective on a particular topic or population. While case studies provide rich and detailed information, surveys offer a more generalizable and statistical overview.

Further Detail

Introduction.

When conducting research, there are various methods available to gather data and analyze it. Two commonly used methods are case study and survey. Both approaches have their own unique attributes and can be valuable in different research contexts. In this article, we will explore the characteristics of case study and survey, highlighting their strengths and limitations.

A case study is an in-depth investigation of a particular individual, group, or phenomenon. It involves collecting detailed information about the subject of study through various sources such as interviews, observations, and document analysis. Case studies are often used in social sciences, psychology, and business research to gain a deep understanding of complex issues.

One of the key attributes of a case study is its ability to provide rich and detailed data. Researchers can gather extensive information about the subject, including their background, experiences, and perspectives. This depth of data allows for a comprehensive analysis and interpretation of the case, providing valuable insights into the phenomenon under investigation.

Furthermore, case studies are particularly useful when studying rare or unique cases. Since case studies focus on specific individuals or groups, they can shed light on situations that are not easily replicated or observed in larger populations. This makes case studies valuable in exploring complex and nuanced phenomena that may not be easily captured through other research methods.

However, it is important to note that case studies have certain limitations. Due to their in-depth nature, case studies are often time-consuming and resource-intensive. Researchers need to invest significant effort in data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Additionally, the findings of a case study may not be easily generalized to larger populations, as the focus is on a specific case rather than a representative sample.

Despite these limitations, case studies offer a unique opportunity to explore complex issues in real-life contexts. They provide a detailed understanding of individual experiences and can generate hypotheses for further research.

A survey is a research method that involves collecting data from a sample of individuals through a structured questionnaire or interview. Surveys are widely used in social sciences, market research, and public opinion studies to gather information about a larger population. They aim to provide a snapshot of people's opinions, attitudes, behaviors, or characteristics.

One of the main advantages of surveys is their ability to collect data from a large number of respondents. By reaching out to a representative sample, researchers can generalize the findings to a larger population. Surveys also allow for efficient data collection, as questionnaires can be distributed electronically or in person, making it easier to gather a wide range of responses in a relatively short period.

Moreover, surveys offer a structured approach to data collection, ensuring consistency in the questions asked and the response options provided. This allows for easy comparison and analysis of the data, making surveys suitable for quantitative research. Surveys can also be conducted anonymously, which can encourage respondents to provide honest and unbiased answers, particularly when sensitive topics are being explored.

However, surveys also have their limitations. One of the challenges is the potential for response bias. Respondents may provide inaccurate or socially desirable answers, leading to biased results. Additionally, surveys often rely on self-reported data, which may be subject to memory recall errors or misinterpretation of questions. Researchers need to carefully design the survey instrument and consider potential biases to ensure the validity and reliability of the data collected.

Furthermore, surveys may not capture the complexity and depth of individual experiences. They provide a snapshot of people's opinions or behaviors at a specific point in time, but may not uncover the underlying reasons or motivations behind those responses. Surveys also rely on predetermined response options, limiting the range of possible answers and potentially overlooking important nuances.

Case studies and surveys are both valuable research methods, each with its own strengths and limitations. Case studies offer in-depth insights into specific cases, providing rich and detailed data. They are particularly useful for exploring complex and unique phenomena. On the other hand, surveys allow for efficient data collection from a large number of respondents, enabling generalization to larger populations. They provide structured and quantifiable data, making them suitable for statistical analysis.

Ultimately, the choice between case study and survey depends on the research objectives, the nature of the research question, and the available resources. Researchers need to carefully consider the attributes of each method and select the most appropriate approach to gather and analyze data effectively.

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• What Is a Case Interview and...

What Is a Case Interview and How Do You Ace It? (+Examples)

6 min read · Updated on June 16, 2022

With case interviews being used more frequently for general consulting roles, it is essential to know how they work.

Unless you've interviewed for a management consultant or investment banking job, chances are you haven't experienced a case interview. However, this rather unique interview process is slowly becoming the norm for a wider variety of management consulting roles.

That's why you should know what to expect and how to handle it professionally.

What is a case interview?

A case interview is defined as “a hypothetical business situation that is presented during the job interview process to determine how a candidate thinks about a particular problem and how they would solve it.”

Usually, this specific business problem or situation is one that a candidate would face if hired for the job in that specific company. For example, a candidate's prompt might be determining whether there's a market for home-use ultraviolet sterilizers. They could begin by asking about the target market, the cost of each unit, and how they'll be sold. As they get into it, they may offer ideas on how to create more markets, like making the units in different sizes or for specific items like phones.

The overall goal is to assess how the candidate as a consultant thinks about and arrives at particular solutions or answers for a specific business problem scenario. 

How is a case interview structure different from other interview formats?

As with a regular or competency-based interview format, the traditional case interview seeks to assess a candidate's skills coupled with how they operate in a specific hypothetical business situation. However, that is where most of the similarities end.

Rather than talking about how you handled something in a past or present job, a case interview presents a particular situation and asks you to work with it right there in the job interview.

Answers for case interview questions can be verbal or written and often include the creation of charts, graphs, or illustrations to make your point. What's more, case interview questions may also feature brain teasers or other analytical tasks that are not related to the company or the job. Also, unlike a regular interview, it's acceptable and expected that the candidate interacts with and asks questions of the interviewer as part of the problem-solving process.

But, perhaps the biggest difference is that there's no one “right” or correct answer to the questions or scenarios because there is often more than one acceptable way to handle the hypothetical situation. In fact, interviewers are looking for ingenuity and that “out-of-the-box” thinking strategy.

To sum up, it's just as much about the process as the solution.

Which businesses benefit from case interviews?

In general, case interviews work best for consulting firms, but most companies can benefit from determining whether or not a candidate can effectively size up and handle real-life business situations. Not only does it demonstrate a person's problem-solving skills and analytical abilities, but it also shows their willingness to get more information by asking questions.

Essentially, interviewers are watching as candidates figure out what they're looking for, what analysis they want to use, and what insights and theories they develop as they move toward a data-driven, quantifiable solution. These interviewers are also looking for strong interpersonal abilities and communication skills — management consultants must deal with people as well as data after all.

Are there specific case interview formats?

There are a few basic formats used in case interviews.

Candidate-led scenarios

In candidate led case interviews, the candidate is required to lead the discussion and development of the case. You'll be evaluated on developing and evaluating your theory while simultaneously formulating and answering the relevant questions needed.

You don't have to work from beginning to end but are able to move among and focus on different aspects of the case as you solve it.

Interviewer-led scenarios

In interviewer-led case interviews, these interviews have a preset format where the interviewer directs the focus, tempo, and sequence of the problem-solving process, with candidates solving the case from beginning to end. Each problem has predetermined questions, and you may or may not be given data to work with.

The approach and evaluation parameters are the same as the candidate-led interview.

Group scenarios

In a group case interview, here you work with a team of other candidates to analyze the case, collaborating to come up with solutions.

Presentation-only scenario

You have two hours by yourself to review data, create a premise, build an issue tree, and analyze your results. You then present this to the interviewer, who will question and challenge your data just like a client would to see how you defend your results.

Case interview sample questions

There really are no “typical” case interview questions; rather, you're presented with a situation or business problem and asked to handle it.

Here's a case interview question example.

“Our client is a five-million-dollar manufacturer of eye-glass frames whose sales have dropped markedly in the past 3 years. What should they do?”

If your interviewer utters the words “Our client…”, you know you're in a case interview.

How to prepare for a case interview

Case interview prep is the key to success. Luckily, there are only a few case interview “types” that are regularly used, and your job is to know and study them. They are:

New product development

Pricing strategies

Entering a new market space

Growth strategies

Starting a new business

Improving profitability/increasing sales/reducing costs

Acquiring a company

Create your own situations around these case interview examples, practicing your answers alone or with a buddy. You can also look up actual examples of these cases, review the analysis, and come up with your own unique solutions.

Preparation and practice will make the actual case interview much less daunting and allow you to feel more confident. The more you can actually relax and have fun in a case interview, the more likely you are to enjoy the actual work — and get hired to do it.

Don't have a friend to practice with? Need more of a push? Our interview coaches can help. 

Recommended Reading:

The Art of the Job Interview

What Is a Job Interview?

The Benefits of Professional Interview Coaching

Related Articles:

How to Prepare for a Software Engineering Job Interview

27 Financial Analyst Interview Questions (with Great Answers)

27 Supervisor Interview Questions (and Great Answers)

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Methodology

• What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

What Is a Case Study? | Definition, Examples & Methods

Published on May 8, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on November 20, 2023.

A case study is a detailed study of a specific subject, such as a person, group, place, event, organization, or phenomenon. Case studies are commonly used in social, educational, clinical, and business research.

A case study research design usually involves qualitative methods , but quantitative methods are sometimes also used. Case studies are good for describing , comparing, evaluating and understanding different aspects of a research problem .

Table of contents

When to do a case study, step 1: select a case, step 2: build a theoretical framework, step 3: collect your data, step 4: describe and analyze the case, other interesting articles.

A case study is an appropriate research design when you want to gain concrete, contextual, in-depth knowledge about a specific real-world subject. It allows you to explore the key characteristics, meanings, and implications of the case.

Case studies are often a good choice in a thesis or dissertation . They keep your project focused and manageable when you don’t have the time or resources to do large-scale research.

You might use just one complex case study where you explore a single subject in depth, or conduct multiple case studies to compare and illuminate different aspects of your research problem.

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Once you have developed your problem statement and research questions , you should be ready to choose the specific case that you want to focus on. A good case study should have the potential to:

• Provide new or unexpected insights into the subject
• Challenge or complicate existing assumptions and theories
• Propose practical courses of action to resolve a problem
• Open up new directions for future research

TipIf your research is more practical in nature and aims to simultaneously investigate an issue as you solve it, consider conducting action research instead.

Unlike quantitative or experimental research , a strong case study does not require a random or representative sample. In fact, case studies often deliberately focus on unusual, neglected, or outlying cases which may shed new light on the research problem.

Example of an outlying case studyIn the 1960s the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania was discovered to have extremely low rates of heart disease compared to the US average. It became an important case study for understanding previously neglected causes of heart disease.

However, you can also choose a more common or representative case to exemplify a particular category, experience or phenomenon.

Example of a representative case studyIn the 1920s, two sociologists used Muncie, Indiana as a case study of a typical American city that supposedly exemplified the changing culture of the US at the time.

While case studies focus more on concrete details than general theories, they should usually have some connection with theory in the field. This way the case study is not just an isolated description, but is integrated into existing knowledge about the topic. It might aim to:

• Exemplify a theory by showing how it explains the case under investigation
• Expand on a theory by uncovering new concepts and ideas that need to be incorporated
• Challenge a theory by exploring an outlier case that doesn’t fit with established assumptions

To ensure that your analysis of the case has a solid academic grounding, you should conduct a literature review of sources related to the topic and develop a theoretical framework . This means identifying key concepts and theories to guide your analysis and interpretation.

There are many different research methods you can use to collect data on your subject. Case studies tend to focus on qualitative data using methods such as interviews , observations , and analysis of primary and secondary sources (e.g., newspaper articles, photographs, official records). Sometimes a case study will also collect quantitative data.

Example of a mixed methods case studyFor a case study of a wind farm development in a rural area, you could collect quantitative data on employment rates and business revenue, collect qualitative data on local people’s perceptions and experiences, and analyze local and national media coverage of the development.

The aim is to gain as thorough an understanding as possible of the case and its context.

In writing up the case study, you need to bring together all the relevant aspects to give as complete a picture as possible of the subject.

How you report your findings depends on the type of research you are doing. Some case studies are structured like a standard scientific paper or thesis , with separate sections or chapters for the methods , results and discussion .

Others are written in a more narrative style, aiming to explore the case from various angles and analyze its meanings and implications (for example, by using textual analysis or discourse analysis ).

In all cases, though, make sure to give contextual details about the case, connect it back to the literature and theory, and discuss how it fits into wider patterns or debates.

If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

• Normal distribution
• Degrees of freedom
• Null hypothesis
• Discourse analysis
• Control groups
• Mixed methods research
• Non-probability sampling
• Quantitative research
• Ecological validity

Research bias

• Rosenthal effect
• Implicit bias
• Cognitive bias
• Selection bias
• Negativity bias
• Status quo bias

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Case Interview 2024 – Guide for Your Consulting Case Interview

A case interview is a type of job interview in which the candidate must analyze and solve a problematic business scenario (“ case study ”). It is used to simulate the situation on-the-job and to find out if the respective candidate meets the necessary analytical and communications skills required for the profession. Case interviews are commonly and globally used during the selection processes at  management consulting firms such as McKinsey , Boston Consulting Group (BCG), or Bain & Company . It is the most relevant part of the process for consulting jobs, and they are usually based on projects that the hiring firm has delivered for a client. It is an exercise that requires a logical approach to finding the problem and an appropriate solution.

• 1. Case Interview Questions and Answers
• 1.1 What Is a Case Interview?
• 1.2 Who Uses Case Interviews and Why?
• 1.3 What Are the Skills Required in a Case Interview?
• 1.4 What Are the Differences Between …?
• 2. Case Interview Examples from Top Consulting Firms
• 3. Case Interview Frameworks
• 3.1 The Best Frameworks for Solving Cases
• 3.2 How to Develop Your Own Framework in 4 Steps
• 4. Case Interview Preparation: 9 Tips for Successful Case Preparation
• 5. How to Solve a Case Study in 10 Steps
• 6. Case Interview Secrets: 13 Final Tips for Your Actual Case Interview 
• 7. PrepLounge: The Key to Your Success 
• 8. Get Started Right Away and Practice Your First Cases

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A  case interview  is part of the job interview process in which you as the candidate have to analyze and solve a problematic business scenario while interacting with the interviewer. The case study is often based on a problem the interviewer has worked on in real life. This part of the interview is intended to be more of a dialogue. You will need to be proactive and ask questions when attempting to close in on the correct conclusion. Oftentimes, the consultant will attempt to guide you in the correct direction by asking questions himself.

An example question might be :​ The CEO of Deutsche Bank has become increasingly concerned about their declining profitability over the last 36 months and has asked you to determine the factors causing the decline as well as recommend a strategy to reverse this trend.

During the entire application process, you will partake in  up to six case interviews  in two rounds or more. This is dependent on the position you are applying for. Most case interviews have the same underlying structure. An individual case interview may take up to an hour and usually consists of four parts:

Case interviews have always been a part of management consulting interviews. Nowadays, also marketing, strategy, operations, or retail positions tend to use similar formats because they are a great tool to probe the quantitative and qualitative skills of an applicant . It allows interviewers to get a deeper insight into how you present yourself as a candidate and apply the limited amount of information given to you.

The reason for the prevalence of the case interview format in management consulting is that the topics and themes handled in most cases reflect conditions close to the reality of the day-to-day activities of a consultancy. It requires the applicant to  ask the right questions , apply  structured frameworks,  and think outside the box . As a consultant, you will spend a lot of time client-facing, and so soft skills are just as important as hard skills to the interviewer. The case interview allows hiring companies to ask the question "Would I be happy to put this candidate in front of a client?".​

Due to the scenario set up in a case interview, it is also a test of general business acumen. Many consultant projects will be in industries where the consultants aren't experts, especially junior consultants. This is normal, but to be effective as a consultant business acumen is an important foundation for consultants to maintain effective strategy recommendations. Companies pay consultants for their minds rather than their industry expertise.

A case interview has no “correct” or “standard” answer. There are often many solutions to a single case and in the end, what counts is your train of thought and how you got to your solution. The interviewer will evaluate you across five main areas:

1)  Problem-Solving Skills 

The interviewer will analyze your ability to identify problems , isolate causes, and prioritize issues. During a case interview, you will be presented with a wide range of relevant and irrelevant data pieces. You must know how to use this data to make your recommendations and you have to prove that you are able to construct a logical argumentation without rushing to conclusions based on insufficient evidence.

2)  Creativity and Business Sense Skills 

As a consulting candidate, you should know the basic business concepts as well as show a certain amount of business sense and creativity. If the interviewer asks you to find innovative ideas to increase the profitability of a hotel chain, you will have to come up with a range of ideas that make business sense. You are not expected to have deep knowledge of the hospitality industry, but to be able to ask relevant and insightful questions on the aspects important for you to solve the client’s issue at hand.

3)  Structure 

Maintaining a structure means that you solve the question with a clear step-by-step approach that you communicate actively with your interviewer. A good structure is the most important part of a case interview, as it is the underlying base of your whole approach and argumentation. It is also the main reason why candidates fail their case interviews. A common mistake that candidates make is that they try to apply standardized frameworks to any case they are given. Instead, you should solve each case by creating a framework specifically tailored to its needs – as you would do as a consultant on the job. Practice your structure with our Structuring Drills .

4)  Math Skills 

As a consultant, part of your job is number-crunching and interpreting data. Therefore, it is important that you have a good feeling for numbers and have great mental math skills. You should be able to perform simple calculations in your sleep. You can practice your math skills with our Mental Math Tool .

5)  Communication Skills 

In times of digitalization, soft skills become more and more important for management consultants. On the job, you will be in contact with high-level CEOs, clients, partners, and colleagues. Strong communication is crucial for you to get your work done efficiently. Thus, your interviewer will pay close attention to the way you communicate and present yourself during your conversation. Always be professional, answer concisely, and communicate the key message first (see Pyramid Principle ).

First and Second-Round Interviews 

While the format of the first and second-round interviews stays the same, the seniority level of the interviewer differs . The person interviewing you in the first round is usually more junior, having up to four years of consulting experience (Associates or Engagement Managers). The second round is led by Partners who have more than ten years of experience and tend to drill you to understand how you cope with challenges. Therefore, second rounds are perceived as more difficult by candidates. Since partners have a stronger voice when discussing an applicant, your performance during the second round of case interviews carries also more weight. For more information on the different positions, please read McKinsey Hierarchy: The Different Position Levels .

Candidate- and Interviewer-Led Case Interviews

In candidate-led cases, the interviewer expects the candidate to lead him/her through the case. As a candidate, you can do so by asking relevant questions, and by developing and testing your hypotheses. Candidate-led cases are the most common  types of cases . You will encounter them at the majority of the big consulting firms such as BCG, Bain, and occasionally at McKinsey.

Interviewer-led cases are most frequently used at McKinsey. As the title suggests, the interviewer’s guidance through the case interview is firmer.

You can find more information on the two different interview styles in our BootCamp article: Interviewer-Led vs. Candidate-Led .

In the following, you can find some examples of initial case interview questions :

Bain Case: Old Winery You inherit an old winery, the Old Winery, from your grandfather. Since you have little knowledge about wine cultivation, you don't want to run the winery operationally, but you find the idea of owning a winery exciting. However, your plan is to breathe new life into the winery. Read the entire case .

Deloitte Case: Footloose Duraflex is a German shoe manufacturer with an annual turnover of approximately €1 billion. Your largest sales market has always been the boot market. In this market, you compete with three other main competitors. Management is asking you for advice. Read the entire case .

Roland Berger Case: Onlinestar Onlinestar, an online retailer specializing in furniture and garden products (core business), has experienced significant growth in recent years due to an expansion of its product portfolio. The board of Onlinestar is asking you for an analysis of the reasons for the negative results, as well as recommendations derived from it. Read the entire case .

Practice More Cases Now!

You can find 200​ case studies, including cases from real companies and our consulting coaches, in our Case Library !

Case interview frameworks are the perfect tool to structure your thoughts during the interview. They help you break down a problem into its components so that you can systematically and methodically navigate through the case and the business problem. This approach will convince your interviewer that you can apply your skills from the case interview to the job as well.

A framework can help you solve a business problem in a case interview in a structured and organized manner. To determine which framework is most suitable for the given case, you should be familiar with the most common case types. Our coaches Guennael and Vlad explain their approaches:

What does a framework really need to accomplish? Essentially, three things:

First , it must be MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive); second , it must help you systematically and methodically approach the case so that you not only find the best answer; third , it must convince your interlocutor that your success is repeatable and that you will solve this case and the next and the one after that.

When preparing for my BCG interview, I ultimately relied on just two framework concepts, which I then adapted to the respective case: First, a version of the profitability case (Profit = Revenue - Costs and Revenue = Price x Quantity) ; second, a basic version of: Product, Price, Customer, Competition, Company).

Are these two framework models optimal in every case? No, they are not. Did they serve their purpose? I used them in more than 10 practice cases with former BCG employees as well as in my 5 BCG cases... and I succeeded, that's for sure :) I would even argue that every case can be solved using one or both of these methods . Learn them, keep them in your pocket, and be ready to use them. If you find something better, great! But I'd prefer you start with an "okay" framework and focus on solving the problem , rather than spending the first 30 seconds of the case trying to find the "perfect" framework, failing, and feeling forced to think on the fly at the beginning of the solution process.

There is no universally applicable structure . You should have some patterns in mind for specific types of cases, but you should adjust them depending on the case:

Additional details of the case

Below you'll find a list of the most common case types and some general recommendations for structuring :

Market Sizing - Structuring from the supply or demand side. Structuring based on a formula or a issue tree .

Profitability - Basic profitability framework. Consider different revenue streams and the product mix.

Market Context (market entry, new product, acquisition, etc.). Always start with the big picture "market". Conclude with a specific strategy to achieve the case objective (e.g., "market entry strategy" - for market entry. "Exit strategy" for the PE case. "Go-to-market strategy" for a new product). Structure it as if you were defining the workflows for the real project.

Operational Mathematical Problem (e.g., Should we increase the speed of an elevator or simply buy a second one? How should we reduce queues? Etc.) - Structuring as a process/value chain, with inputs, processes, and outputs.

Cost Reduction - here are some recommendations for structuring:

Structuring:

How do the costs break down and what are the largest costs?

Benchmarking the largest costs to identify improvement potential

Process improvements to achieve the benchmarks

Costs and benefits of the proposed initiatives

The key concepts you must learn:

Internal/external benchmarking

Core processes (usually optimized) and supporting processes (usually trimmed)

Mathematical structures (frequency of operations * time per operation)

Other useful structures (e.g., People - Process - Technology)

Evaluation - Pure financial structure with cash flows, growth rate, WACC / Hurdle Rate, etc.

Synergies - Revenue synergies (price, quantity, mix) and cost synergies (value chain).

Social/economic cases (e.g., How can the quality of life in the city be improved? How can museum revenue be increased?) - significant variability.

Practice 3-5 social cases before the interview. Additionally, there are s everal useful framework concepts that you can apply in the middle of the case to find the cause of a problem. For example:

People - Processes - Technologies

Capacity - Utilization - Production rate

Product - Distribution - Marketing - Price

Value-based pricing - competition-based pricing - cost-based pricing

You will learn these frameworks while solving cases. It is useful to have a set of them in mind to quickly identify the root cause .

To be able to address specific questions in case interviews, it is important to develop your own frameworks . Our expert Benjamin has valuable tips on this.

(Almost) Never use a standard framework from the books . In strategy consulting, the goal is to assist clients facing unique problems with a customized solution. It's unlikely that you can force your approach into a standard framework.

Put yourself in your client's shoes and show empathy for the issues. This way, it becomes much easier for you to understand what the key issues are that you need to consider when formulating a recommendation, and you can ensure that you don't forget anything. I always ask myself, "What would I do if this were my company and my own problem? What do I need to know/understand to make a decision?"

Ensure that every topic you want to address is relevant to the final recommendation. A simple check is to ask yourself, "If I spend time on this specific topic and get some answers to my questions (e.g., market size, competition, etc.), will this provide useful elements for the final recommendation given my client's issues ?" If the answer is no, then you should skip this subtopic.

Practice a lot! The above tips come from my own experience with building MECE structures , but keep in mind that it takes a lot of practice to achieve satisfactory performance here.

1. Learn the Theory By reading this article, you've already taken the first step to understanding what case interviews are all about. Well done! You can now take it a step further by learning the theory you need to solve the cases. In general, you should learn how to :

Identify your case type (e.g., market sizing , market entry , profitability , growth )

Structure your thoughts (e.g., issue tree , MECE , pyramid principle )

Use business analysis tools (e.g., ABC analysis , break-even analysis , benchmarking )

Define common business terms (e.g., NPV , CAGR , fixed and variable costs )

In our Case Interview Basics, you'll find all the necessary fundamentals.

2. Develop Your Business Intuition Step by Step

Since you need to have a good business sense to successfully complete your case interview, you should invest some time beforehand to gradually build up your business intuition. The earlier you start, the easier it will become. Make it a habit to regularly read business publications and magazines. You can read new releases from McKinsey, Bain, and BCG, or find other sources that appeal to you. Try to acquire a basic understanding of economics, strategy, and industries, such as retail, airlines, telecommunications, banking, natural resources, and technology.

3. Update Your Math Skills

For all case interviews, you must calculate without a calculator. Therefore, refreshing your mental math skills should be a regular part of your daily preparation plan. Practice until you feel one hundred percent comfortable with the basic skills of addition, subtraction, division, multiplication, and growth rate calculations in your head. Read our article on Fast Math and use our mental math tool to train your performance. When confronted with a math problem in your case interview, this will significantly reduce the pressure.

Knowing shortcuts for a variety of calculations can simplify mathematical problems. For example, break down complex mathematical problems into several small operations:

97 x 53 = (100 - 3) x (50 + 3) = 5000 + 300 - 150 - 9 = 5141

4. Practice Makes Perfect

Take a look at our extensive case library , which prepares you for all possible case types. Our case library includes cases that have been used in past case interviews. Solving cases on your own can give you a first sense of what to expect in the case interview. However, the only way to improve your skills to successfully pass the interview is to put yourself in a case interview situation. Find candidates to practice with and practice regularly. The more feedback you can get, the better. This will help you improve.

PrepLounge offers the world's largest case interview community. Simply schedule or accept a practice interview with other candidates on our meeting board .

Here's how it works:

Schedule: Once you and your case partner confirm the practice interview on the meeting board, the meeting is set and will be visible on your dashboard.

Communication: We recommend contacting your case partner directly to discuss communication methods and case preferences during the interview.

Interview: During the back-to-back meeting, you and your case partner take turns playing the roles of both interviewer and interviewee. Don't neglect the part of the session where you play the role of the interviewer. This allows you to identify important points and adjust your approach accordingly.

Case: By default, two PrepLounge cases are randomly selected. However, you can exchange them and choose one of our over 180 cases or use your own case.

Feedback: This is the most important part of your practice interview as it helps improve your case performance. Please provide your interview partner with constructive feedback, just as you would expect from them.

5. Seek Support from Coaches

To make your case interview preparation as effective as possible, we also recommend investing in coaching sessions with experienced top consultants. Our experience shows that this investment pays off, as it significantly increases your chances of receiving an offer for your dream job (by four times, to be exact). Our coachesknow exactly what interviewers want and can work with you on every aspect of your case performance, whether it's structuring, personal suitability, confidence, or communication. Furthermore, they can provide you with valuable networking tips and help you get a referral.

We provide you with a transparent list of all case interview coaches , including their professional and educational background, top skills, individual approaches, ratings, and recommendation rates. This way, you can individually select the perfect expert for your coaching sessions . Additionally, you can benefit from CoachingPlus , which includes a premium membership and a generous discount (compared to individual coaching sessions).

6. Learn and Track Your Progress

You can do as many cases as you want. If you don't learn from them, you won't improve your case performance. That's why you should do the following: At the end of each case you complete, whether on your own, with a case partner, or with an expert, write down in your own words what mistakes you made and what you learned. Repeat the case after a few days and apply what you've learned to ensure you're making progress. Tracking your progress motivates you and ensures you don't repeat the same mistakes.

7. Don't Forget the Personal Fit

No matter how well you master the case, if you don't personally fit into the company, you won't get the job offer. Ultimately, consulting is a "people's business" that involves teamwork and a lot of time with your colleagues. To master the part of the interview that focuses on personal suitability, it's important to understand what an interviewer is looking for in a candidate to decide if they fit into the company personally. Typically, the interviewer has three primary questions in mind.

Next, you should learn how to convey to your interviewer that you fit what they're looking for. Practice your answers to the personal fit with other candidates or experts:

Why consulting?

Why company X?

Why should we hire you?

Tell me about yourself!

Give me an example of when you led a group to achieve a difficult goal!

Find more frequently asked questions in stress question mode.

8. Train Confidence

The more you practice, the more confident you will feel. However, feeling confident isn't the same as appearing confident. Sometimes you can come across as insecure without realizing it. This can be due to small habits in your communication style. Therefore, ask your PrepLounge case partner or expert to consider your verbal and non-verbal communication and provide feedback on your confidence or insecurity . Focus on the following aspects during practice:

• The tone of your voice. A monotone voice or speaking too quickly gives an impression of insecurity and poor communication style. To avoid this, it's helpful to listen to podcasts of great speakers for 30-60 minutes a day. After a few days, you'll start speaking in a similar manner as you adopt their communication style.
• Smile. A smile can be a powerful way to show that you're enjoying the conversation and not afraid. You can also force a smile (naturally, not too much) if you get feedback that you appear too serious.
• Eye contact. You don't need to continuously stare into the interviewer's eyes during the conversation, but you shouldn't look away when they ask you something.
• Ability to break the ice. Confident people aren't afraid to engage in small talk with interviewers. Silence creates less connection and can be seen as a sign of lack of confidence.
• Posture. You should try to sit upright most of the time on your chair. Leaning too much towards your interviewer can be interpreted as lack of confidence.

9. Take Breaks

Overall, based on our experience with other case partners, you should prepare for an average of 50 hours over a period of up to 6 weeks and practice daily. This can be exhausting, and we know that many candidates struggle with motivation and concentration, especially after an intense case preparation period. This is usually because they forget to incorporate regular breaks into their preparation plan. Professional athletes, for example, always take time to rest and allow their muscles to regenerate. You should treat your brain muscles the same way. A good strategy is to develop an evening and morning routine that allows you to relax and increase your energy level for the preparation period during the day. Here are some examples of what you can do:

15-20 minutes of exercise in the evening or morning

A cold shower in the morning

Meditation or journal writing

Define three important things for the next day and allocate time for all activities, prioritizing the most important ones first

No social media for an hour after waking up and before going to bed

Get enough sleep (at least 7 hours)

Take breaks between each case or intensive case practice and do something completely different (e.g., workout, play video games)

Step 1: Listen actively and take notes. Write down every piece of information, especially numerical data .

Step 2: Restate the question. Pause, paraphrase, and make sure you understand the problem statement by confirming with the interviewer.

Step 3: Clarify the objectives and identify the problem. Ask specific questions and double-check on objectives. Make sure you completely understand the problem.

Step 4: Write out your structure. Ask your interviewer for a minute to prepare your structure and organize your notes. Identify your case type and use an issue tree to customize your structure. The branches of your issue tree should be MECE.

Step 5: State your hypothesis. Now that you have set up the issue tree, your task is to test each branch to see if it is the root cause of the problem. Where to begin? A hypothesis based on an educated guess helps here.  (e.g. "Since you have mentioned that revenues are more or less flat, my hypothesis is that the problem is mostly driven by the cost side of the business. If it is okay with you, I will start by […]")

Step 6: Think out loud. Sharing your thoughts allows the interviewer to interact. Refine or rebuild your hypothesis as you find out more.

Step 7: Gather more data in order to test your hypothesis. Proactively ask for relevant data and always segment it (e.g. using the ABC analysis ). Try to evaluate whether trends have been company-specific or industry-wide.

Step 8: Dig deeper while staying structured (MECE!) throughout the case. Always refer to the structure you have set up at the beginning of the case, but be flexible as the case evolves. If you conclude that your hypothesis is false, eliminate that branch and go to the next one. Summarize findings when switching major branches. If your test confirms your hypothesis, go deeper into that branch, and drill down to the lower levels until you identify all proven root-causes.

Step 9: Choose a recommendation and use the Pyramid Principle to structure your conclusion. Ask for a minute to gather your thoughts and then state your recommendation. You need to deliver a one minute, top-down, concise, structured, clear, and fact-based summary of your findings.

Step 10: Stand by your conclusion. Your interviewer will likely challenge your recommendation (either to see if you can handle pressure or to assess if you really believe in what you are saying).

1. Focus on the task at hand 

Don’t think too much about the approach your interviewer is taking. It should not matter much if the conversation is interviewer- or candidate-led. If you go into your interview with a profound understanding of how to handle even a difficult case, the format of the interview should not be an issue. Keep a cool head and structure your thoughts.

2. Ask the right questions 

At the beginning of the case, your interviewer will present you with the situation of the client. Don’t rush into the analysis without developing a deep understanding of the problem first. Ask your interviewer questions to clarify the case. This is expected behavior that also takes place later with the client. Make sure you understand what the  business model  and your  objective  in the respective case are (regarding both money and the timeline). If there are any other possible limitations you are unsure about, ask your interviewer in a concise way. Asking unnecessary questions will raise doubts about your ability to work efficiently under pressure.

3. Buy time with repetitions 

A common trick consultants use is the  repeating of facts or overall goals . By doing this, you are showing a fundamental comprehension of the case and are emitting an aura of control, gradually heading towards a solution. This technique can give you more time to think. Articulating the facts of the case can also be a source of clarity and allow you to form solutions more quickly.

4. Only form a hypothesis with sufficient information 

Do not state a hypothesis at the beginning, a stage in which you may still have incomplete information. Get a good sense of the case’s environment and ask sensible follow-up questions . Only then frame a structure and formulate a hypothesis.

5. Utilize data for your analysis 

Taking wild guesses is a death sentence for your case interview. Make sure your claims are backed up by the facts, and remain calm when presented with new information. Consultancies will closely observe how you  make use of new data and incorporate it into your hypothesis .

6. Take clear notes 

Taking  structured notes  is a highly underrated skill when dealing with a case. Making sure your notes are coherent and clear will make your thoughts easy to navigate and ensure you do not lose your footing during the interview.

• Place your sheet horizontally to maximize your space, and jot down the case’s  key question on the left side of the page. This way you will never lose sight of the main objective . The remaining portion will be dedicated to the issue tree, with your hypothesis included above the issue tree.
• Make sure that you highlight key pieces of information that add substance to your hypothesis.
• When it comes to calculations , use a separate page, but practice having it organized in case you need to go back through your assumptions or calculations.
• Try to limit the number of pages you use to a  maximum of three sheets . Otherwise, you will stress yourself out while trying to find what you are looking for.

7. Structure is key 

The most important aspect of a case interview is having a good structure. You can structure your case by following these four steps:

• Craft an issue tree as the overall foundation for your structure. This is a customizable framework used to analyze the root causes of problems in a case. It helps you to break a complex problem down into its components.
• Make sure that your issue tree is MECE to avoid inefficient dependencies between branches that will slow down your analysis. MECE is a way of segmenting information into sub-elements that are mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. 
• Prioritize and concentrate on high impact issues of your issue tree that will create value for your client. Always make sure you explain the reasons behind your choices to the interviewer.
• Use the Pyramid Principle to structure your conclusion , a three-step structure to present your synthesis in an effective and convincing manner. First, state the recommendation (What?). Second, provide three reasons supported by data (Why?). Third, provide information on how to implement the recommendation (How?). 

To practice your structure, you can use our Structuring Drills.

8. Don't force-fit frameworks

Standard frameworks can be a source of inspiration, but should never be force-fitted to a case. They are very stiff and do not allow room for customization . If you use pre-defined frameworks, you run the risk of missing important elements of the specific problem you are trying to solve. A consultant would not just force-fit frameworks to their specific client’s problem, so you should not do this in your case interview, either. Each case is unique and requires an individually customized framework that is MECE as well as adapted to the problem you are trying to solve, the company, and the industry.

9. Don’t panic if you get stuck 

If you ever get stuck, don’t freak out – it happens. What counts is how you deal with the situation. Here is what you can do:

• Take a deep breath  or a sip of water if you have a glass of water nearby.
• Take a moment to grasp the big picture , to recap what you have learned so far and what you still need to find out to address the main question at hand.
• Outline how these sub-questions can be answered , and what kind of data or information you will need to do that.
• Double-check whether data or information provided by the interviewer at an earlier stage is now getting new relevance.
• Think out loud and take the interviewer along with your thinking process. If you are puzzled by some obvious contradiction, actively discuss this with your interviewer. Oftentimes, an interviewer will wait for you to explicitly verbalize your confusion before gently guiding you.

10. Sometimes there is no clear answer 

Oftentimes, a case interview has no “correct” or “standard” answer. The case may encompass you  exploring the issues and walking down several paths . There are often many solutions to a single case that may differ from the interviewer’s expectations. In the end, what counts is your  train of thought and how you got to your solution . You are not expected to know everything about business, but demonstrate a logical judgment and a good approach to solve problems.

Nevertheless, you should always give a clear recommendation at the end of the interview, when the interviewer will ask for your conclusion. The trick is to use supporting arguments based on what you have learned during the analysis, to point out limitations, and to also highlight additional areas to explore to confirm that your current understanding is the right one.

11. Engage the interviewer 

The interview should be a dialogue, so make sure to engage the interviewer and demonstrate not only your business judgment, but also your communication and people skills . This gives the first insight into how you might interact with future clients and colleagues. How can you do that?

• Explain. Share your thought process with the interviewer, and always let them know what your next steps are.
• Listen. During your case interview, the interviewer will usually give you hints and steer you in a direction. Notice that! If they ask a specific question, e.g. “Name three points about…”, answering in two or five points will mean that you didn’t pay attention.
• Ask questions. Create a discussion, initiate small talk, and use your chance to make a positive connection with the interviewer, especially at the end of every interview when you get to ask final questions. Find a point in common and try to stand out. Here is a list of the best questions to ask at the end of an interview .  

12. Be confident 

You don’t necessarily need to be extroverted to be a top management consultant, but you need to be confident. Consulting is a people job as much as it is an analytical job. It is important for the client to feel that you know what you are doing. Thus, this is something the interviewer will take into consideration. Here are five things you can do during the interview to come across as more confident:

• Try to enjoy the interview by focusing on the challenge, the satisfaction it brings you when you solve the case, and the joy of sharing your life experiences with someone else. If you have fun, chances are high that the interviewer has fun, as well.
• Find your own style and don’t try to pretend to be someone that you are not. It is fine if you are not the most outgoing person. Just be genuine!
• Sit up straight , but don’t be too stiff. Push your back against the back of the seat and don’t just sit on the edge of the chair.
• Make eye contact , but don’t stare, either.
• Speak in a clear , calm, and unrushed manner. Don't mumble or whisper, but equally don't shout. Think before you speak!

13. When in doubt, reschedule 

If you’re not feeling confident about your chances, don’t hesitate to reschedule. If you take this course of action, take a few things into consideration. Make sure to suggest an alternative day and avoid rescheduling multiple times at all costs. The consultancy will be grateful for you to suggest an immediate alternative. Try to be transparent as to why you are rescheduling without going too deeply into details. However, rescheduling should only be used as a last resort.

To become the best, you must learn from the best. That is exactly what PrepLounge can offer you. The vast  PrepLounge community  makes it easy to  find case partners with the same ambitions and goals as you. Whether you are looking for a  professional case coach  or other aspiring consultants, you will have no problem finding case partners in the build-up to your interview. Our PrepLounge coaches – from Bain to McKinsey – are uniquely qualified to provide you with insights into the mastery of a case interview.

Apart from case partners from every imaginable background, PrepLounge provides a colossal collection of online resources to give you the best preparation leading up to your case interview. We will provide you with questions and answers to the most important consulting case types and share in-depth knowledge for the best possible case interview preparation. You will be able to find case partners to practice online and always be on top of the latest insights and news regarding consulting jobs and top consulting firms.

As a PrepLounge member, you will receive access to all these perks. PrepLounge will accompany you all the way from your application through to your contract negotiation. You strongly diminish your chance of success without sufficient preparation. Invest in your future and give yourself the best chance at acing your case interview! Exchange your experience with peers from all around the world in our  Consulting Q&A . Join our case interview community today and embark on your journey into consulting!

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Home » Case Study – Methods, Examples and Guide

Case Study – Methods, Examples and Guide

Table of Contents

A case study is a research method that involves an in-depth examination and analysis of a particular phenomenon or case, such as an individual, organization, community, event, or situation.

It is a qualitative research approach that aims to provide a detailed and comprehensive understanding of the case being studied. Case studies typically involve multiple sources of data, including interviews, observations, documents, and artifacts, which are analyzed using various techniques, such as content analysis, thematic analysis, and grounded theory. The findings of a case study are often used to develop theories, inform policy or practice, or generate new research questions.

Types of Case Study

Types and Methods of Case Study are as follows:

Single-Case Study

A single-case study is an in-depth analysis of a single case. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to understand a specific phenomenon in detail.

For Example , A researcher might conduct a single-case study on a particular individual to understand their experiences with a particular health condition or a specific organization to explore their management practices. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of a single-case study are often used to generate new research questions, develop theories, or inform policy or practice.

Multiple-Case Study

A multiple-case study involves the analysis of several cases that are similar in nature. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to identify similarities and differences between the cases.

For Example, a researcher might conduct a multiple-case study on several companies to explore the factors that contribute to their success or failure. The researcher collects data from each case, compares and contrasts the findings, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as comparative analysis or pattern-matching. The findings of a multiple-case study can be used to develop theories, inform policy or practice, or generate new research questions.

Exploratory Case Study

An exploratory case study is used to explore a new or understudied phenomenon. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to generate hypotheses or theories about the phenomenon.

For Example, a researcher might conduct an exploratory case study on a new technology to understand its potential impact on society. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as grounded theory or content analysis. The findings of an exploratory case study can be used to generate new research questions, develop theories, or inform policy or practice.

Descriptive Case Study

A descriptive case study is used to describe a particular phenomenon in detail. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to provide a comprehensive account of the phenomenon.

For Example, a researcher might conduct a descriptive case study on a particular community to understand its social and economic characteristics. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of a descriptive case study can be used to inform policy or practice or generate new research questions.

Instrumental Case Study

An instrumental case study is used to understand a particular phenomenon that is instrumental in achieving a particular goal. This type of case study is useful when the researcher wants to understand the role of the phenomenon in achieving the goal.

For Example, a researcher might conduct an instrumental case study on a particular policy to understand its impact on achieving a particular goal, such as reducing poverty. The researcher collects data from multiple sources, such as interviews, observations, and documents, and uses various techniques to analyze the data, such as content analysis or thematic analysis. The findings of an instrumental case study can be used to inform policy or practice or generate new research questions.

Case Study Data Collection Methods

Here are some common data collection methods for case studies:

Interviews involve asking questions to individuals who have knowledge or experience relevant to the case study. Interviews can be structured (where the same questions are asked to all participants) or unstructured (where the interviewer follows up on the responses with further questions). Interviews can be conducted in person, over the phone, or through video conferencing.

Observations

Observations involve watching and recording the behavior and activities of individuals or groups relevant to the case study. Observations can be participant (where the researcher actively participates in the activities) or non-participant (where the researcher observes from a distance). Observations can be recorded using notes, audio or video recordings, or photographs.

Documents can be used as a source of information for case studies. Documents can include reports, memos, emails, letters, and other written materials related to the case study. Documents can be collected from the case study participants or from public sources.

Surveys involve asking a set of questions to a sample of individuals relevant to the case study. Surveys can be administered in person, over the phone, through mail or email, or online. Surveys can be used to gather information on attitudes, opinions, or behaviors related to the case study.

Artifacts are physical objects relevant to the case study. Artifacts can include tools, equipment, products, or other objects that provide insights into the case study phenomenon.

How to conduct Case Study Research

Conducting a case study research involves several steps that need to be followed to ensure the quality and rigor of the study. Here are the steps to conduct case study research:

• Define the research questions: The first step in conducting a case study research is to define the research questions. The research questions should be specific, measurable, and relevant to the case study phenomenon under investigation.
• Select the case: The next step is to select the case or cases to be studied. The case should be relevant to the research questions and should provide rich and diverse data that can be used to answer the research questions.
• Collect data: Data can be collected using various methods, such as interviews, observations, documents, surveys, and artifacts. The data collection method should be selected based on the research questions and the nature of the case study phenomenon.
• Analyze the data: The data collected from the case study should be analyzed using various techniques, such as content analysis, thematic analysis, or grounded theory. The analysis should be guided by the research questions and should aim to provide insights and conclusions relevant to the research questions.
• Draw conclusions: The conclusions drawn from the case study should be based on the data analysis and should be relevant to the research questions. The conclusions should be supported by evidence and should be clearly stated.
• Validate the findings: The findings of the case study should be validated by reviewing the data and the analysis with participants or other experts in the field. This helps to ensure the validity and reliability of the findings.
• Write the report: The final step is to write the report of the case study research. The report should provide a clear description of the case study phenomenon, the research questions, the data collection methods, the data analysis, the findings, and the conclusions. The report should be written in a clear and concise manner and should follow the guidelines for academic writing.

Examples of Case Study

Here are some examples of case study research:

• The Hawthorne Studies : Conducted between 1924 and 1932, the Hawthorne Studies were a series of case studies conducted by Elton Mayo and his colleagues to examine the impact of work environment on employee productivity. The studies were conducted at the Hawthorne Works plant of the Western Electric Company in Chicago and included interviews, observations, and experiments.
• The Stanford Prison Experiment: Conducted in 1971, the Stanford Prison Experiment was a case study conducted by Philip Zimbardo to examine the psychological effects of power and authority. The study involved simulating a prison environment and assigning participants to the role of guards or prisoners. The study was controversial due to the ethical issues it raised.
• The Challenger Disaster: The Challenger Disaster was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986. The study included interviews, observations, and analysis of data to identify the technical, organizational, and cultural factors that contributed to the disaster.
• The Enron Scandal: The Enron Scandal was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the Enron Corporation’s bankruptcy in 2001. The study included interviews, analysis of financial data, and review of documents to identify the accounting practices, corporate culture, and ethical issues that led to the company’s downfall.
• The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster : The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster was a case study conducted to examine the causes of the nuclear accident that occurred at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan in 2011. The study included interviews, analysis of data, and review of documents to identify the technical, organizational, and cultural factors that contributed to the disaster.

Application of Case Study

Case studies have a wide range of applications across various fields and industries. Here are some examples:

Business and Management

Case studies are widely used in business and management to examine real-life situations and develop problem-solving skills. Case studies can help students and professionals to develop a deep understanding of business concepts, theories, and best practices.

Case studies are used in healthcare to examine patient care, treatment options, and outcomes. Case studies can help healthcare professionals to develop critical thinking skills, diagnose complex medical conditions, and develop effective treatment plans.

Case studies are used in education to examine teaching and learning practices. Case studies can help educators to develop effective teaching strategies, evaluate student progress, and identify areas for improvement.

Social Sciences

Case studies are widely used in social sciences to examine human behavior, social phenomena, and cultural practices. Case studies can help researchers to develop theories, test hypotheses, and gain insights into complex social issues.

Law and Ethics

Case studies are used in law and ethics to examine legal and ethical dilemmas. Case studies can help lawyers, policymakers, and ethical professionals to develop critical thinking skills, analyze complex cases, and make informed decisions.

Purpose of Case Study

The purpose of a case study is to provide a detailed analysis of a specific phenomenon, issue, or problem in its real-life context. A case study is a qualitative research method that involves the in-depth exploration and analysis of a particular case, which can be an individual, group, organization, event, or community.

The primary purpose of a case study is to generate a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of the case, including its history, context, and dynamics. Case studies can help researchers to identify and examine the underlying factors, processes, and mechanisms that contribute to the case and its outcomes. This can help to develop a more accurate and detailed understanding of the case, which can inform future research, practice, or policy.

Case studies can also serve other purposes, including:

• Illustrating a theory or concept: Case studies can be used to illustrate and explain theoretical concepts and frameworks, providing concrete examples of how they can be applied in real-life situations.
• Developing hypotheses: Case studies can help to generate hypotheses about the causal relationships between different factors and outcomes, which can be tested through further research.
• Providing insight into complex issues: Case studies can provide insights into complex and multifaceted issues, which may be difficult to understand through other research methods.
• Informing practice or policy: Case studies can be used to inform practice or policy by identifying best practices, lessons learned, or areas for improvement.

Advantages of Case Study Research

There are several advantages of case study research, including:

• In-depth exploration: Case study research allows for a detailed exploration and analysis of a specific phenomenon, issue, or problem in its real-life context. This can provide a comprehensive understanding of the case and its dynamics, which may not be possible through other research methods.
• Rich data: Case study research can generate rich and detailed data, including qualitative data such as interviews, observations, and documents. This can provide a nuanced understanding of the case and its complexity.
• Holistic perspective: Case study research allows for a holistic perspective of the case, taking into account the various factors, processes, and mechanisms that contribute to the case and its outcomes. This can help to develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the case.
• Theory development: Case study research can help to develop and refine theories and concepts by providing empirical evidence and concrete examples of how they can be applied in real-life situations.
• Practical application: Case study research can inform practice or policy by identifying best practices, lessons learned, or areas for improvement.
• Contextualization: Case study research takes into account the specific context in which the case is situated, which can help to understand how the case is influenced by the social, cultural, and historical factors of its environment.

Limitations of Case Study Research

There are several limitations of case study research, including:

• Limited generalizability : Case studies are typically focused on a single case or a small number of cases, which limits the generalizability of the findings. The unique characteristics of the case may not be applicable to other contexts or populations, which may limit the external validity of the research.
• Biased sampling: Case studies may rely on purposive or convenience sampling, which can introduce bias into the sample selection process. This may limit the representativeness of the sample and the generalizability of the findings.
• Subjectivity: Case studies rely on the interpretation of the researcher, which can introduce subjectivity into the analysis. The researcher’s own biases, assumptions, and perspectives may influence the findings, which may limit the objectivity of the research.
• Limited control: Case studies are typically conducted in naturalistic settings, which limits the control that the researcher has over the environment and the variables being studied. This may limit the ability to establish causal relationships between variables.
• Time-consuming: Case studies can be time-consuming to conduct, as they typically involve a detailed exploration and analysis of a specific case. This may limit the feasibility of conducting multiple case studies or conducting case studies in a timely manner.
• Resource-intensive: Case studies may require significant resources, including time, funding, and expertise. This may limit the ability of researchers to conduct case studies in resource-constrained settings.

About the author

Muhammad Hassan

Researcher, Academic Writer, Web developer

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Blog Business How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

How to Present a Case Study like a Pro (With Examples)

Written by: Danesh Ramuthi Sep 07, 2023

Okay, let’s get real: case studies can be kinda snooze-worthy. But guess what? They don’t have to be!

In this article, I will cover every element that transforms a mere report into a compelling case study, from selecting the right metrics to using persuasive narrative techniques.

And if you’re feeling a little lost, don’t worry! There are cool tools like Venngage’s Case Study Creator to help you whip up something awesome, even if you’re short on time. Plus, the pre-designed case study templates are like instant polish because let’s be honest, everyone loves a shortcut.

Click to jump ahead: 

What is a case study presentation?

What is the purpose of presenting a case study, how to structure a case study presentation, how long should a case study presentation be, 5 case study presentation examples with templates, 6 tips for delivering an effective case study presentation, 5 common mistakes to avoid in a case study presentation, how to present a case study faqs.

A case study presentation involves a comprehensive examination of a specific subject, which could range from an individual, group, location, event, organization or phenomenon.

They’re like puzzles you get to solve with the audience, all while making you think outside the box.

Unlike a basic report or whitepaper, the purpose of a case study presentation is to stimulate critical thinking among the viewers. 

The primary objective of a case study is to provide an extensive and profound comprehension of the chosen topic. You don’t just throw numbers at your audience. You use examples and real-life cases to make you think and see things from different angles.

The primary purpose of presenting a case study is to offer a comprehensive, evidence-based argument that informs, persuades and engages your audience.

Here’s the juicy part: presenting that case study can be your secret weapon. Whether you’re pitching a groundbreaking idea to a room full of suits or trying to impress your professor with your A-game, a well-crafted case study can be the magic dust that sprinkles brilliance over your words.

Think of it like digging into a puzzle you can’t quite crack . A case study lets you explore every piece, turn it over and see how it fits together. This close-up look helps you understand the whole picture, not just a blurry snapshot.

It’s also your chance to showcase how you analyze things, step by step, until you reach a conclusion. It’s all about being open and honest about how you got there.

Besides, presenting a case study gives you an opportunity to connect data and real-world scenarios in a compelling narrative. It helps to make your argument more relatable and accessible, increasing its impact on your audience.

One of the contexts where case studies can be very helpful is during the job interview. In some job interviews, you as candidates may be asked to present a case study as part of the selection process.

Having a case study presentation prepared allows the candidate to demonstrate their ability to understand complex issues, formulate strategies and communicate their ideas effectively.

The way you present a case study can make all the difference in how it’s received. A well-structured presentation not only holds the attention of your audience but also ensures that your key points are communicated clearly and effectively.

In this section, let’s go through the key steps that’ll help you structure your case study presentation for maximum impact.

Let’s get into it. 

Open with an introductory overview 

Start by introducing the subject of your case study and its relevance. Explain why this case study is important and who would benefit from the insights gained. This is your opportunity to grab your audience’s attention.

Explain the problem in question

Dive into the problem or challenge that the case study focuses on. Provide enough background information for the audience to understand the issue. If possible, quantify the problem using data or metrics to show the magnitude or severity.

Detail the solutions to solve the problem

After outlining the problem, describe the steps taken to find a solution. This could include the methodology, any experiments or tests performed and the options that were considered. Make sure to elaborate on why the final solution was chosen over the others.

Key stakeholders Involved

Talk about the individuals, groups or organizations that were directly impacted by or involved in the problem and its solution. 

Stakeholders may experience a range of outcomes—some may benefit, while others could face setbacks.

For example, in a business transformation case study, employees could face job relocations or changes in work culture, while shareholders might be looking at potential gains or losses.

Discuss the key results & outcomes

Discuss the results of implementing the solution. Use data and metrics to back up your statements. Did the solution meet its objectives? What impact did it have on the stakeholders? Be honest about any setbacks or areas for improvement as well.

Include visuals to support your analysis

Visual aids can be incredibly effective in helping your audience grasp complex issues. Utilize charts, graphs, images or video clips to supplement your points. Make sure to explain each visual and how it contributes to your overall argument.

Pie charts illustrate the proportion of different components within a whole, useful for visualizing market share, budget allocation or user demographics.

This is particularly useful especially if you’re displaying survey results in your case study presentation.

Stacked charts on the other hand are perfect for visualizing composition and trends. This is great for analyzing things like customer demographics, product breakdowns or budget allocation in your case study.

Consider this example of a stacked bar chart template. It provides a straightforward summary of the top-selling cake flavors across various locations, offering a quick and comprehensive view of the data.

Not the chart you’re looking for? Browse Venngage’s gallery of chart templates to find the perfect one that’ll captivate your audience and level up your data storytelling.

Recommendations and next steps

Wrap up by providing recommendations based on the case study findings. Outline the next steps that stakeholders should take to either expand on the success of the project or address any remaining challenges.

Acknowledgments and references

Thank the people who contributed to the case study and helped in the problem-solving process. Cite any external resources, reports or data sets that contributed to your analysis.

Feedback & Q&A session

Open the floor for questions and feedback from your audience. This allows for further discussion and can provide additional insights that may not have been considered previously.

Closing remarks

Conclude the presentation by summarizing the key points and emphasizing the takeaways. Thank your audience for their time and participation and express your willingness to engage in further discussions or collaborations on the subject.

Well, the length of a case study presentation can vary depending on the complexity of the topic and the needs of your audience. However, a typical business or academic presentation often lasts between 15 to 30 minutes. 

This time frame usually allows for a thorough explanation of the case while maintaining audience engagement. However, always consider leaving a few minutes at the end for a Q&A session to address any questions or clarify points made during the presentation.

When it comes to presenting a compelling case study, having a well-structured template can be a game-changer. 

It helps you organize your thoughts, data and findings in a coherent and visually pleasing manner. 

Not all case studies are created equal and different scenarios require distinct approaches for maximum impact. 

To save you time and effort, I have curated a list of 5 versatile case study presentation templates, each designed for specific needs and audiences. 

Here are some best case study presentation examples that showcase effective strategies for engaging your audience and conveying complex information clearly.

1 . Lab report case study template

Ever feel like your research gets lost in a world of endless numbers and jargon? Lab case studies are your way out!

Think of it as building a bridge between your cool experiment and everyone else. It’s more than just reporting results – it’s explaining the “why” and “how” in a way that grabs attention and makes sense.

This lap report template acts as a blueprint for your report, guiding you through each essential section (introduction, methods, results, etc.) in a logical order.

Want to present your research like a pro? Browse our research presentation template gallery for creative inspiration!

2. Product case study template

It’s time you ditch those boring slideshows and bullet points because I’ve got a better way to win over clients: product case study templates.

Instead of just listing features and benefits, you get to create a clear and concise story that shows potential clients exactly what your product can do for them. It’s like painting a picture they can easily visualize, helping them understand the value your product brings to the table.

Grab the template below, fill in the details, and watch as your product’s impact comes to life!

3. Content marketing case study template

In digital marketing, showcasing your accomplishments is as vital as achieving them. 

A well-crafted case study not only acts as a testament to your successes but can also serve as an instructional tool for others. 

With this coral content marketing case study template—a perfect blend of vibrant design and structured documentation, you can narrate your marketing triumphs effectively.

4. Case study psychology template

Understanding how people tick is one of psychology’s biggest quests and case studies are like magnifying glasses for the mind. They offer in-depth looks at real-life behaviors, emotions and thought processes, revealing fascinating insights into what makes us human.

Writing a top-notch case study, though, can be a challenge. It requires careful organization, clear presentation and meticulous attention to detail. That’s where a good case study psychology template comes in handy.

Think of it as a helpful guide, taking care of formatting and structure while you focus on the juicy content. No more wrestling with layouts or margins – just pour your research magic into crafting a compelling narrative.

5. Lead generation case study template

Lead generation can be a real head-scratcher. But here’s a little help: a lead generation case study.

Think of it like a friendly handshake and a confident resume all rolled into one. It’s your chance to showcase your expertise, share real-world successes and offer valuable insights. Potential clients get to see your track record, understand your approach and decide if you’re the right fit.

No need to start from scratch, though. This lead generation case study template guides you step-by-step through crafting a clear, compelling narrative that highlights your wins and offers actionable tips for others. Fill in the gaps with your specific data and strategies, and voilà! You’ve got a powerful tool to attract new customers.

Related: 15+ Professional Case Study Examples [Design Tips + Templates]

So, you’ve spent hours crafting the perfect case study and are now tasked with presenting it. Crafting the case study is only half the battle; delivering it effectively is equally important. 

Whether you’re facing a room of executives, academics or potential clients, how you present your findings can make a significant difference in how your work is received. 

Forget boring reports and snooze-inducing presentations! Let’s make your case study sing. Here are some key pointers to turn information into an engaging and persuasive performance:

• Know your audience : Tailor your presentation to the knowledge level and interests of your audience. Remember to use language and examples that resonate with them.
• Rehearse : Rehearsing your case study presentation is the key to a smooth delivery and for ensuring that you stay within the allotted time. Practice helps you fine-tune your pacing, hone your speaking skills with good word pronunciations and become comfortable with the material, leading to a more confident, conversational and effective presentation.
• Start strong : Open with a compelling introduction that grabs your audience’s attention. You might want to use an interesting statistic, a provocative question or a brief story that sets the stage for your case study.
• Be clear and concise : Avoid jargon and overly complex sentences. Get to the point quickly and stay focused on your objectives.
• Use visual aids : Incorporate slides with graphics, charts or videos to supplement your verbal presentation. Make sure they are easy to read and understand.
• Tell a story : Use storytelling techniques to make the case study more engaging. A well-told narrative can help you make complex data more relatable and easier to digest.

Ditching the dry reports and slide decks? Venngage’s case study templates let you wow customers with your solutions and gain insights to improve your business plan. Pre-built templates, visual magic and customer captivation – all just a click away. Go tell your story and watch them say “wow!”

Nailed your case study, but want to make your presentation even stronger? Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your audience gets the most out of it:

Overloading with information

A case study is not an encyclopedia. Overloading your presentation with excessive data, text or jargon can make it cumbersome and difficult for the audience to digest the key points. Stick to what’s essential and impactful. Need help making your data clear and impactful? Our data presentation templates can help! Find clear and engaging visuals to showcase your findings.

Lack of structure

Jumping haphazardly between points or topics can confuse your audience. A well-structured presentation, with a logical flow from introduction to conclusion, is crucial for effective communication.

Ignoring the audience

Different audiences have different needs and levels of understanding. Failing to adapt your presentation to your audience can result in a disconnect and a less impactful presentation.

Poor visual elements

While content is king, poor design or lack of visual elements can make your case study dull or hard to follow. Make sure you use high-quality images, graphs and other visual aids to support your narrative.

Not focusing on results

A case study aims to showcase a problem and its solution, but what most people care about are the results. Failing to highlight or adequately explain the outcomes can make your presentation fall flat.

How to start a case study presentation?

Starting a case study presentation effectively involves a few key steps:

• Grab attention : Open with a hook—an intriguing statistic, a provocative question or a compelling visual—to engage your audience from the get-go.
• Set the stage : Briefly introduce the subject, context and relevance of the case study to give your audience an idea of what to expect.
• Outline objectives : Clearly state what the case study aims to achieve. Are you solving a problem, proving a point or showcasing a success?
• Agenda : Give a quick outline of the key sections or topics you’ll cover to help the audience follow along.
• Set expectations : Let your audience know what you want them to take away from the presentation, whether it’s knowledge, inspiration or a call to action.

How to present a case study on PowerPoint and on Google Slides?

Presenting a case study on PowerPoint and Google Slides involves a structured approach for clarity and impact using presentation slides :

• Title slide : Start with a title slide that includes the name of the case study, your name and any relevant institutional affiliations.
• Introduction : Follow with a slide that outlines the problem or situation your case study addresses. Include a hook to engage the audience.
• Objectives : Clearly state the goals of the case study in a dedicated slide.
• Findings : Use charts, graphs and bullet points to present your findings succinctly.
• Analysis : Discuss what the findings mean, drawing on supporting data or secondary research as necessary.
• Conclusion : Summarize key takeaways and results.
• Q&A : End with a slide inviting questions from the audience.

What’s the role of analysis in a case study presentation?

The role of analysis in a case study presentation is to interpret the data and findings, providing context and meaning to them. 

It helps your audience understand the implications of the case study, connects the dots between the problem and the solution and may offer recommendations for future action.

Is it important to include real data and results in the presentation?

Yes, including real data and results in a case study presentation is crucial to show experience,  credibility and impact. Authentic data lends weight to your findings and conclusions, enabling the audience to trust your analysis and take your recommendations more seriously

How do I conclude a case study presentation effectively?

To conclude a case study presentation effectively, summarize the key findings, insights and recommendations in a clear and concise manner. 

End with a strong call-to-action or a thought-provoking question to leave a lasting impression on your audience.

What’s the best way to showcase data in a case study presentation ?

The best way to showcase data in a case study presentation is through visual aids like charts, graphs and infographics which make complex information easily digestible, engaging and creative. 

Don’t just report results, visualize them! This template for example lets you transform your social media case study into a captivating infographic that sparks conversation.

Choose the type of visual that best represents the data you’re showing; for example, use bar charts for comparisons or pie charts for parts of a whole. 

Ensure that the visuals are high-quality and clearly labeled, so the audience can quickly grasp the key points. 

Keep the design consistent and simple, avoiding clutter or overly complex visuals that could distract from the message.

Choose a template that perfectly suits your case study where you can utilize different visual aids for maximum impact. 

Need more inspiration on how to turn numbers into impact with the help of infographics? Our ready-to-use infographic templates take the guesswork out of creating visual impact for your case studies with just a few clicks.

Related: 10+ Case Study Infographic Templates That Convert

Congrats on mastering the art of compelling case study presentations! This guide has equipped you with all the essentials, from structure and nuances to avoiding common pitfalls. You’re ready to impress any audience, whether in the boardroom, the classroom or beyond.

And remember, you’re not alone in this journey. Venngage’s Case Study Creator is your trusty companion, ready to elevate your presentations from ordinary to extraordinary. So, let your confidence shine, leverage your newly acquired skills and prepare to deliver presentations that truly resonate.

Go forth and make a lasting impact!

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• Research Methods
• Post last modified: 26 August 2021
• Reading time: 36 mins read
• Post category: Research Methodology

4 Research Methods

4 Major Research Methods are:

Observations

Schedule and questionnaire, case study method.

Table of Content

• 1.1.1 Types of Interview
• 1.1.2 Features of Interviews
• 1.1.3 Essentials for an Effective Interview
• 1.1.4 Advantages of Interviews
• 1.1.5 Disadvantages of Interviews
• 1.1.6 Interview Process
• 1.1.7 Problems Faced in an Interview
• 1.2.1 Characteristics of Observation Method
• 1.2.2 Types of Observation
• 1.2.3 Prerequisites of Observation
• 1.2.4 Advantages of observations
• 1.2.5 Disadvantages of observations
• 1.2.6 Use of observation in business research
• 1.3.1 Importance of questionnaires
• 1.3.2 Types of Questionnaire
• 1.3.3 Advantages of Questionnaires
• 1.3.4 Disadvantages of Questionnaires
• 1.3.5 Preparation of an Effective Questionnaire
• 1.3.6 Difference between schedule and questionnaire
• 1.4.1 Assumptions of case study method
• 1.4.2 Advantages of Case Study Method
• 1.4.3 Disadvantages of Case Study Method
• 1.4.4 Case study as a method of business research

Interviewing is a very effective method of data collection. It is a systematic and objective conversation between an investigator and respondent for collecting relevant data for a specific research study. Along with conversation, learning about the gestures, facial expressions and environmental conditions of a respondent are also very important.

Generally, interview collects a wide range of data from factual demographic data to highly personal and intimate information relating to a person’s opinions, attitudes, values and beliefs, past experience and future intentions.

The interview method is very important in the collection of data from the respondent who is less educated or illiterate. Personal interview is more feasible when the area covered for survey is compact. Probing is a very important part of an interview.

Types of Interview

The following are the various types of interviews:

Structured or directive interview

In this type of interview, the investigator goes to the respondent with a detailed schedule. Some questions in same sequence are asked from all respondents.

Unstructured or non-directive interview

In this type of interview, the respondent is encouraged to give his honest opinion on a given topic without or with minimum help from others.

Focused interview

This is a semi-structured interview where the respondent shares the effect of the experience to the given conditions with the researcher or investigator. It is conducted with those respondents only who have prior experience of conditions given by the investigator.

Analysis of the attitude, emotional feelings for the situations under study is main purpose behind conducting these interviews. A set of fix questions may not be required in this interview but a relevant topic is required which is known to the respondent.

Clinical interview

While a focussed interview is concerned with effects of specific experience, clinical interviews are concerned with broad underlying feelings or motivations or the course of the individual’s life experiences with reference to the research study. It encourages the interviewee to share his experience freely.

Depth interview

To analyse or study the respondent’s emotions, opinions, etc., depth interviews are conducted. This kind of interview aims to collect intensive data about individuals, especially their opinions.

It is a lengthy process to get unbiased data from the respondent. Interviewers should avoid advising or showing this agreement. Instead, the investigator has to motivate the respondent to answer the questions.

Features of Interviews

The following are some of the features of interviews

• The interviewer and the respondent are the participants in any interview. They both are unknown to each other and so it is important for an interviewer to introduce himself first to the respondent.
• An interview has a beginning and a termination point in the relationship between the participants.
• Interview is not a mere casual conversational exchange. It has a specific purpose of collecting data which is relevant to the study.
• Interview is a mode of obtaining a verbal response to questions to put verbally. It is not always face to face.
• Success of interview depends on the interviewer and respondent and how they perceive each other.
• It is not a standardized process.

Essentials for an Effective Interview

The following are the requirements for a successful interview:

• Data availability : The respondent should have complete knowledge of the information required for specific study.
• Role perception : The interviewer and the respondent should be aware of their roles in the interview process. The respondent should be clear about the topic or questions which have to be answered by him. Similarly, it is the responsibility of the interviewer to make the respondent comfortable by introducing himself first. The investigator should not affect the interview situation through subjective attitude and argumentation.
• Respondent’s motivation : The respondent can hesitate to answer the questions. In this case, the approach and skills of the interviewer are very important as he has to motivate the respondent to answer or express himself.

Advantages of Interviews

The following are the advantages of the interview method:

• In-depth and detailed information is collected.
• The interviewer tries to improve the responses and quality of data received.
• He can control the conditions in favour of the research study.
• Interviews help in gathering supplementary information which can be helpful to the study.
• Interviews use special scoring devices, visuals and materials to improve the quality of data or information collected.
• Interviews use observation and probing by the interviewer to see the accuracy and dependability of given data by the respondent.
• Interviews are flexible in nature.

Disadvantages of Interviews

The following are the disadvantages of interviews:

• Interviews consume more time and cost.
• The respondent’s responses can be affected by the way the interviewer asks the questions.
• The respondent may refuse to answer some personal questions which are relevant to the study.
• Recording and coding of data during the interview process may sometimes be difficult for the interviewer.
• The interviewer may not have good communication or interactive skills.

Interview Process

The following are the stages in an interview process:

Preparation

The interviewer needs to make certain preparations to make an interview successful. The interviewer should keep all the copies of the schedule or guide ready. They need to prepare the lists of respondents with their addresses, contact number and meeting time.

They should prepare themselves with all the approaches and skills required to conduct an interview. They should prepare themselves to face all adverse situations during the interview. If the interviewer is not doing such planning, they can fail to collect the right information from respondent.

Introduction

The interviewer is not known to the respondent. Therefore, the interviewer must introduce himself first to every respondent. In the introduction, the interviewer should tell about himself, his organization details and the purpose of his visit.

If the interviewer knows someone who the respondent is familiar with, then he can use that person’s reference to make the respondent more comfortable. The following are some steps which help in motivating the respondent:

• The interviewer should introduce himself with a smiling face and always greet the respondent.
• He should identify and call the respondent by name.
• He must describe how the respondent is selected.
• He should explain the purpose and usefulness of the study.
• He should focus on the value of the respondent’s cooperation.

Developing report

It is important for an interviewer to develop a rapport with the respondent before starting the interview. By doing this, a cordial relationship is established between them. It helps the interviewer understand the inherent nature of the respondent which helps in building a rapport and the discussion can be started with some general topic or with the help of a person who is commonly known to both of them.

Carrying the interview forward

After establishing a rapport, the skills of the interviewer are required to carry the interview forward. The following are some guidelines that should be followed:

• Start the interview in an informal and natural manner.
• Ask all the questions in the same sequence as in the schedule.
• Do not take an answer for granted. It is not necessary that an interviewee will know all answers or will give all answers. The interviewer has to create interest for answering questions.
• The objective of the question should be known to the interviewer to ensure that the correct information is collected for research study.
• Explain the question if it has not been understood properly by the respondent.
• Listen to the respondent carefully with patience.
• Never argue with the respondent.
• Show your concern and interest in the information given by the respondent.
• Do not express your own opinion for answers of any question in the schedule.
• Continue to motivate the respondent.
• If the respondent is unable to frame the right answer, the interviewer should help him by providing alternate questions.
• Ensure that the conversation does not go off track.
• If the respondent is unable to answer a particular question due to some reasons, drop the question at that moment. This question can be asked indirectly later on.

Recording the interview

Responses should be recorded in the same sequence as they are given by the respondent. The response should be recorded at the same time as it is generated. It may be very difficult to remember all the responses later for recording them.

Recording can be done in writing but there may be some problems if the writing skills of an interviewer are not good. Hence, the use of electronic devices like tape recorders can help in this purpose. The interviewer should also record all his probes and other comments on the schedule, but they should be in brackets to ensure that they are set off from response.

Closing the interview

After the interview is over, the interviewer must thank the respondent for his cooperation. He must collect all the papers before leaving the respondent. If the respondent wants to know the result of the survey, the interviewer must ensure that the results are mailed to him when they are ready.

At the end, the interviewer must edit the schedule to check that all the questions have been asked and recorded. Also, abbreviations in recording should be replaced by full words.

Problems Faced in an Interview

The following are some of the main problems faced in an interview:

Inadequate response

Kahn and Cannel laid down five principal symptoms of inadequate response. They are given as follows:

• Partial response in which the respondent gives a relevant but incomplete answer.
• Non-response in which the respondent remains silent or refuses to answer the questions.
• Irrelevant response in which the respondent’s answer is not relevant to the question asked.
• Inaccurate response in which the reply is biased.
• Verbalized response problem which arises because of the respondent’s failure to understand the question.

Interviewer’s biasness, refusal, incapability to understand questions

An interviewer can affect the performance of an interview with his own responses and suggestions. Such biasing factors can never be overcome fully, but their effect can be reduced by training and development techniques.

Non response

Some respondents out of the total respondents fail to respond to the schedule. The reasons for this non response can be non availability, refusal, incapability to understand questions, etc.

Non availability

Some respondents are not available at their places at the time of call. This could be because of odd timings or working hours.

Some respondents refuse to answer the questions. There can be many reasons for this, such as language, odd hours, sickness, no interest in such studies, etc.

Inaccessibility

Some respondents can be inaccessible because of various reasons such as migration, touring job, etc.

Observation can be defined as viewing or seeing. Observation means specific viewing with the purpose of gathering the data for a specific research study. Observation is a classical method of scientific study. It is very important in any research study as it is an effective method for data collection.

Characteristics of Observation Method

The following are the characteristics of the observation method of data collection:

• Physical and mental activity : Eyes observe so many things in our surroundings but our focus or attention is only on data which is relevant to research study.
• Observation is selective : It is very difficult for a researcher to observe everything in his surroundings. He only observes the data which is purposive for his research study and meets with the scope of his study. The researcher ignores all the data which is not relevant to the study.
• Observation is purposive and not casual : Observation is purposive as it is relevant to a particular study. The purpose of observation is to collect data for the research study. It focusses on human behaviour which occurs in a social phenomenon. It analyses the relationship of different variables in a specific context.
• Accuracy and standardization : Observation of pertinent data should be accurate and standardized for its applications.

Types of Observation

Different concepts define the classification of observations.

With respect to an investigator’s role, observation may be:

Participant observation

Non-participant observation

With respect to the method of observation, it can be classified into the following:

Direct observation

Indirect observation

With reference to the control on the system to be observed, observation can be classified into the following:

Controlled observation

Uncontrolled observation

In participant type of observation, the observer is an active participant of the group or process. He participates as well as observes as a part of a phenomenon;

For example, to study the behaviour of management students towards studying and understanding marketing management, the observer or researcher has to participate in the discussion with students without telling them about the observation or purpose. When respondents are unaware of observations, then only their natural interest can be studied.

In non-participant observation, the observer does not participate in the group process. He acknowledges the behaviour of the group without telling the respondents. It requires a lot of skills to record observations in an unnoticeable manner.

In direct observation, the observer and researcher personally observe all the happenings of a process or an event when the event is happening. In this method, the observer records all the relevant aspects of an event which are necessary for study.

He is free to change the locations and focus of the observation. One major limitation of the method is that the observer may not be able to cover all relevant events when they are happening.

Physical presence of an observer is not required and recording is done with the help of mechanical, photographic or electronic devices;

For example, close circuit TV (CCTV) cameras are used in many showrooms to observe the behaviour of customers. It provides a permanent record for an analysis of different aspects of the event.

All observations are done under pre-specified conditions over extrinsic and intrinsic variables by adopting experimental design and systematically recording observations. Controlled observations are carried out either in the laboratory or the field.

There is no control over extrinsic and intrinsic variables. It is mainly used for descriptive research. Participant observation is a typical uncontrolled one.

Prerequisites of Observation

The following are the prerequisites of observation:

• The conditions of observation must provide accurate results. An observer should be in a position to observe the object clearly.
• The right number of respondents should be selected as the sample size for the observation to produce the desired results.
• Accurate and complete recording of an event.
• If it is possible, two separate observers and sets of instruments can be used in all or some observations. Then the result can be compared to measure accuracy and completeness.

Advantages of observations

The following are the advantages of observations:

• It ensures the study of behaviour in accordance with the occurrence of events. The observer does not ask anything from the representatives, he just watches the doing and saying of the sample.
• The data collected by observation defines the observed phenomenon as they occur in their natural settings.
• When an object is not able to define the meaning of its behaviour, observation is best method for analysis; for example, animals, birds and children.
• Observation covers the entire happenings of an event.
• Observation is less biased as compared to questioning.
• It is easier to conduct disguised observation studies as opposed to disguised questioning.
• The use of mechanical devices can generate accurate results.

Disadvantages of observations

The following are the limitations of observation:

• Past studies and events are of no use to observation. For these events and study, one has to go through narrations, people and documents.
• It is difficult to understand attitudes with the help of observation.
• Observations cannot be performed by the choice of the observer. He has to wait for an event to occur.
• It is difficult to predict when and where the event will occur. Thus, it may not be possible for an observer to reach in every event.
• Observation requires more time and money.

Use of observation in business research

Observation is very useful in the following business research purposes:

• Buying behaviour of customer, lifestyles, customs, interpersonal relations, group dynamics, leadership styles, managerial style and actions.
• Physical characteristics of inanimate things like houses, factories, stores, etc.
• Movements in a production plant.
• Flow of traffic, crowd and parking on road.

Primary data can be collected with the help of emails and surveys. The respondents receive the questionnaires from the researcher and are asked to fill them completely and return them to the researcher. It can be performed only when the respondents are educated.

The mail questionnaire should be simple and easy to understand so that the respondents can answer all questions easily. In mail questionnaires, all the answers have to be given and recorded by the respondents and not by the researcher or investigator, as in the case of the personal interview method. There is no face-to-face interaction between the investigator and respondent and so the respondent is free to give answers of his own choice.

Importance of questionnaires

A questionnaire is a very effective method as well as research tool in any research study. It ensures the collection of a diversified and wide range of scientific data to complete the research objectives. The questionnaire provides all the inputs in the form of relevant data to all statistical methods used in a research study.

Types of Questionnaire

The following are the various categories of questionnaires:

• Structured or standard questionnaire Structured or standard questionnaires contain predefined questions in order to collect the required data for research study. These questions are the same for all the respondents. Questions are in the same language and in the same order for all the respondents.
• Unstructured questionnaire In unstructured questionnaires, the respondent has the freedom

Process of Data Collection

The researcher prepares the mailing list by collecting the addresses of all the respondents with the help of primary and secondary sources of data. A covering letter must accompany every questionnaire, indicating the purpose and importance of the research and importance of cooperation of the respondent for the success of the research study.

Advantages of Questionnaires

The following are the advantages of questionnaires:

• Wide reach and extensive coverage
• Easy to contact the person who is busy
• Respondent’s convenience in completion of questionnaire
• More impersonal, provides more anonymity
• No interviewer’s biasness

Disadvantages of Questionnaires

The following are the disadvantages of questionnaires:

• Low response by respondent
• Low scope in many societies where literary level is low
• More time requirement

Preparation of an Effective Questionnaire

While preparing a questionnaire, the researcher must focus on some key parameters to prepare it. These key parameters are as follows:

• Proper use of open and close probe
• Proper sequence of questions
• Use of simple language
• Asking no personal question in which the respondent is hesitating to answer
• Should not be time consuming
• Use of control questions indicating reliability of the respondent

Collecting Data through Schedule

This method is very similar to the collection of data through questionnaires. The only difference is that in schedule, enumerators are appointed. These enumerators go to the respondents, ask the stated questions in the same sequence as the schedule and record the reply of respondents.

Schedules may be given to the respondents and the enumerators should help them solve the problems faced while answering the question in the given schedule. Thus, enumerator selection is very important in data collection through schedules.

Difference between schedule and questionnaire

Both questionnaire and schedule are popular methods of data collection. The following are the main differences between questionnaire and schedule:

• A questionnaire is generally sent to the respondents through mail, but in case of schedule, it is sent through enumerators.
• Questionnaires are relatively cheaper mediums of data collection as compared to schedules. In the case of questionnaires, the cost is incurred in preparing it and mailing it to respondent, while in schedule, more money is required for hiring enumerators, training them and incurring their field expenses.
• The response rate in questionnaires is low as many people return it without filling. On the other hand, the response rate in schedules is high because they are filled by enumerators.
• In collecting data through questionnaires, the identity of the respondent may not be known, but this is not the case when it comes to schedules.
• Data collection through questionnaires requires a lot of time, which is comparatively very less in case of schedules.
• Generally, there is no personal contact in case of questionnaires, but in schedules, personal contact is always there.
• The literacy level of the respondent is very important while filling questionnaires, but in schedules, the literacy level of the respondent is not a major concern as the responses have to be recorded by enumerators.
• Wider distribution of questionnaires is possible but this is difficult with schedules.
• There is less accuracy and completeness of responses in questionnaires as compared to schedules.
• The success of questionnaires depends on the quality of questions but success of a schedule depends on the enumerators.
• The physical appearance of questionnaire matters a lot, which is less important in case of schedules.
• Observation method cannot be used along with questionnaires but it can be used along with schedule.

We explore and analyse the life of a social chapter or entity, whether it be a family, a person, an institution or a community, with the help of a case study. The purpose of case study method is to identify the factors and reasons that account for particular behaviour patterns of a sample chapter and its association with other social or environmental factors.

Generally social researchers use case study method to understand the complex social phenomenon and to identify the factors related to this phenomenon.

Case study provides the clues and ideas to a researcher for further research study. By adopting case study method, a researcher gets to know about happenings in the past, which could be related to the research studies and analyse the problem with better perspectives.

Assumptions of case study method

The assumptions made in a case study method are as follows:

• Case study depends on the imagination of the investigator who is analysing the case study. The investigator makes up his procedure as he goes along.
• History related to the case is complete and as coherent as it could be.
• It is advisable to supplement the case data by observational, statistical and historical data, since these provide standards for assessing the reliability and consistency of the case material.
• Efforts should be made to ascertain the reliability of life history data by examining the internal consistency of the material.
• A judicious combination of techniques of data collection is a prerequisite for securing data that is culturally meaningful and scientifically significant.

Advantages of Case Study Method

Key advantages of the case study method are as follows:

• Provides the basis for understanding complex social phenomenon and all related factors affecting the social phenomenon.
• Provides clues and ideas for exploratory research. When the researcher is not able to get a fair idea about the research, past happenings mentioned in a case study help the researcher get clues and ideas.
• Case study helps in generating objectives for exploratory research.
• It suggests the new courses of inquiry.
• Case study helps in formulating research hypothesis.

Disadvantages of Case Study Method

Some important disadvantages of case study method are as follows:

• Reliability : Data collected through case study may not be reliable or it can be difficult to verify the reliability of data in the current scenario.
• Adequacy : Data collected through case studies may not be adequate for research work as data is not pertinent to the research conditions.
• Representative : Data presented by case studies represents the happenings with unknown circumstances to a researcher. Hence, it cannot be the true representation of events to a researcher.

Case study as a method of business research

A detailed case study helps the researcher identify the reasons behind business related problems. As it can be possible that that particular incident has happened in past, so the current issues can be sorted out, by referring to the same case.

In depth analysis of selected cases is of particular value to business research when a complex set of variables may be at work in generating observed results and intensive study is needed to unravel the complexities.

The exploratory investigator should have an active curiosity and willingness to deviate from the initial plan, when the finding suggests a new course of enquiry, which might prove more productive. With the help of case study method, the risk can be minimized in any decision-making process.

Business Ethics

( Click on Topic to Read )

• What is Ethics?
• What is Business Ethics?
• Values, Norms, Beliefs and Standards in Business Ethics
• Indian Ethos in Management
• Ethical Issues in Marketing
• Ethical Issues in HRM
• Ethical Issues in IT
• Ethical Issues in Production and Operations Management
• Ethical Issues in Finance and Accounting
• What is Corporate Governance?
• What is Ownership Concentration?
• What is Ownership Composition?
• Types of Companies in India
• Internal Corporate Governance
• External Corporate Governance
• Corporate Governance in India
• What is Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)?
• What is Assessment of Risk?
• What is Risk Register?
• Risk Management Committee

Corporate social responsibility (CSR)

• Theories of CSR
• Arguments Against CSR
• Business Case for CSR
• Importance of CSR in India
• Drivers of Corporate Social Responsibility
• Developing a CSR Strategy
• Implement CSR Commitments
• CSR Marketplace
• CSR at Workplace
• Environmental CSR
• CSR with Communities and in Supply Chain
• Community Interventions
• CSR Monitoring
• CSR Reporting
• Voluntary Codes in CSR
• What is Corporate Ethics?

Lean Six Sigma

• What is Six Sigma?
• What is Lean Six Sigma?
• Value and Waste in Lean Six Sigma
• Six Sigma Team
• MAIC Six Sigma
• Six Sigma in Supply Chains
• What is Binomial, Poisson, Normal Distribution?
• What is Sigma Level?
• What is DMAIC in Six Sigma?
• What is DMADV in Six Sigma?
• Six Sigma Project Charter
• Project Decomposition in Six Sigma
• Critical to Quality (CTQ) Six Sigma
• Process Mapping Six Sigma
• Flowchart and SIPOC
• Gage Repeatability and Reproducibility
• Statistical Diagram
• Lean Techniques for Optimisation Flow
• Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA)
• What is Process Audits?
• Six Sigma Implementation at Ford
• IBM Uses Six Sigma to Drive Behaviour Change
• Research Methodology
• What is Research?

What is Hypothesis?

• Sampling Method
• Data Collection in Research
• Methods of Collecting Data
• Application of Business Research
• Levels of Measurement
• What is Sampling?

Hypothesis Testing

• Research Report
• What is Management?
• Planning in Management
• Decision Making in Management
• What is Controlling?
• What is Coordination?
• What is Staffing?
• Organization Structure
• What is Departmentation?
• Span of Control
• What is Authority?
• Centralization vs Decentralization
• Organizing in Management
• Schools of Management Thought
• Classical Management Approach
• Is Management an Art or Science?
• Who is a Manager?

Operations Research

• What is Operations Research?
• Operation Research Models
• Linear Programming
• Linear Programming Graphic Solution
• Linear Programming Simplex Method
• Linear Programming Artificial Variable Technique
• Duality in Linear Programming
• Transportation Problem Initial Basic Feasible Solution
• Transportation Problem Finding Optimal Solution
• Project Network Analysis with Critical Path Method
• Project Network Analysis Methods
• Project Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT)
• Simulation in Operation Research
• Replacement Models in Operation Research

Operation Management

• What is Strategy?
• What is Operations Strategy?
• Operations Competitive Dimensions
• Operations Strategy Formulation Process
• What is Strategic Fit?
• Strategic Design Process
• Focused Operations Strategy
• Corporate Level Strategy
• Expansion Strategies
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• Retrenchment Strategies
• Competitive Advantage
• Strategic Choice and Strategic Alternatives
• What is Production Process?
• What is Process Technology?
• What is Process Improvement?
• Strategic Capacity Management
• Production and Logistics Strategy
• Taxonomy of Supply Chain Strategies
• Factors Considered in Supply Chain Planning
• Operational and Strategic Issues in Global Logistics
• Logistics Outsourcing Strategy
• What is Supply Chain Mapping?
• Supply Chain Process Restructuring
• Points of Differentiation
• Re-engineering Improvement in SCM
• What is Supply Chain Drivers?
• Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model
• Customer Service and Cost Trade Off
• Internal and External Performance Measures
• Linking Supply Chain and Business Performance
• Netflix’s Niche Focused Strategy
• Disney and Pixar Merger
• Process Planning at Mcdonald’s

Service Operations Management

• What is Service?
• What is Service Operations Management?
• What is Service Design?
• Service Design Process
• Service Delivery
• What is Service Quality?
• Gap Model of Service Quality
• Juran Trilogy
• Service Performance Measurement
• Service Decoupling
• IT Service Operation
• Service Operations Management in Different Sector

Procurement Management

• What is Procurement Management?
• Procurement Negotiation
• Types of Requisition
• RFX in Procurement
• What is Purchasing Cycle?
• Vendor Managed Inventory
• Internal Conflict During Purchasing Operation
• Spend Analysis in Procurement
• Sourcing in Procurement
• Supplier Evaluation and Selection in Procurement
• Blacklisting of Suppliers in Procurement
• Total Cost of Ownership in Procurement
• Incoterms in Procurement
• Documents Used in International Procurement
• Transportation and Logistics Strategy
• What is Capital Equipment?
• Procurement Process of Capital Equipment
• Acquisition of Technology in Procurement
• What is E-Procurement?
• E-marketplace and Online Catalogues
• Fixed Price and Cost Reimbursement Contracts
• Contract Cancellation in Procurement
• Ethics in Procurement
• Legal Aspects of Procurement
• Global Sourcing in Procurement
• Intermediaries and Countertrade in Procurement

Strategic Management

• What is Strategic Management?
• What is Value Chain Analysis?
• Mission Statement
• Business Level Strategy
• What is SWOT Analysis?
• What is Competitive Advantage?
• What is Vision?
• What is Ansoff Matrix?
• Prahalad and Gary Hammel
• Strategic Management In Global Environment
• Competitor Analysis Framework
• Competitive Rivalry Analysis
• Competitive Dynamics
• What is Competitive Rivalry?
• Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy
• What is PESTLE Analysis?
• Fragmentation and Consolidation Of Industries
• What is Technology Life Cycle?
• What is Diversification Strategy?
• What is Corporate Restructuring Strategy?
• Resources and Capabilities of Organization
• Role of Leaders In Functional-Level Strategic Management
• Functional Structure In Functional Level Strategy Formulation
• Information And Control System
• What is Strategy Gap Analysis?
• Issues In Strategy Implementation
• Matrix Organizational Structure
• What is Strategic Management Process?

Supply Chain

• What is Supply Chain Management?
• Supply Chain Planning and Measuring Strategy Performance
• What is Warehousing?
• What is Packaging?
• What is Inventory Management?
• What is Material Handling?
• What is Order Picking?
• Receiving and Dispatch, Processes
• What is Warehouse Design?
• What is Warehousing Costs?

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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

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

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 with notes (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview with ex-BCG associate director - Public sector case (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview: Revenue problem case (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)
• Digital transformation case with ex-Bain consultant
• Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

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)

12. EY Parthenon case interview examples

• Candidate-led case example with feedback (by IGotAnOffer)

14. 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!

Related articles:

Case Study vs. Survey: What's the Difference?

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An interview study about how nurses and physicians talk about the same concepts differently

Ragnhild holgaard.

1 Center for Human Resources, Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES), Capital Region of Denmark, Herlev Hospital, 25th floor, Herlev Ringvej 75, Herlev, 2370 Denmark

Birgitte Bruun

Frederik zingenberg, peter dieckmann.

2 Department of Public Health, Copenhagen University, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Copenhagen, 1353 Denmark

3 Department of Quality and Health Technology, University in Stavanger, Kjell Arholms Gate 43, Stavanger, 4021 Norway

Associated Data

The data used in this study are not publicly available due to the sensitivity of the data. It will not be possible to obtain the raw data upon request, as neither the participants nor the institution have agreed to have the raw data shared. Questions regarding the data or requests to see the data can be addressed to the corresponding author.

How healthcare professionals understand and use concepts of social and cognitive capabilities will influence their behaviour and their understanding of others’ behaviour. Differing understandings of concepts might lead to healthcare professionals not acting in accordance with other healthcare professionals’ expectations. Therefore, part of the problem concerning errors and adverse incidents concerning social and cognitive capabilities might be due to varying understandings of concepts among different healthcare professionals. This study aimed to examine the variations in how educators at the Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation talk about social and cognitive capabilities.

The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews and directed content analysis. The codes for the analysis process were derived from existing non-technical skills models and used to show variations in how the participants talk about the same concepts.

Educators with a background as nurses and physicians, talked differently about leadership and decision-making , with the nurses paying greater attention to group dynamics and external factors when describing both leadership and decision-making , whereas physicians focus on their individual efforts.

We found patterned differences in how the participants described leadership and decision-making that may be related to participants’ professional training/background. As it can create misunderstandings and unsafe situations if nurses and physicians disagree on the meaning of leadership and decision-making (without necessarily recognising this difference), it could be beneficial to educate healthcare professionals to be aware of the specificity of their own concepts, and to communicate what exactly they mean by using a particular concept, e.g. “I want you to coordinate tasks” instead of “I want better leadership”.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-024-05682-x.

Social and cognitive capabilities are essential for safe and proficient patient care and treatment [ 1 – 3 ]. Traditionally, these capabilities have been called ‘non-technical skills’, but concern has been raised that the term is inadequate as it downgrades the value of the capabilities and defines them by what they are not instead of what they are [ 4 ]. Therefore, we have adopted the terminology social and cognitive capabilities . Social and cognitive capabilities include the ability to lead, communicate, make decisions, form an understanding of the situation, or work together in a team [ 5 – 11 ]. The social and cognitive capabilities have earlier been described in an array of models specific to certain medical fields (under the label of non-technical skills models or NTS model) [ 6 , 8 – 11 ]. Each model contains four categories, several elements under each category, and behavioural markers for each element, which together explain vital social and cognitive capabilities within that field. The models have been used for teaching and assessment purposes [ 12 , 13 ].

To the extent that social and cognitive capabilities can be analytically separated from so-called technical skills, studies have shown that issues related to social and cognitive capabilities contribute to up to 2/3 of errors and adverse incidents in hospitals [ 14 ]. Early work on this was done at the end of the 1970s and was intensified with the landmark report “To Err is Human” by the Institute of Medicine in the USA [ 15 , 16 ]. Despite efforts to improve safety, unsafe events in hospitals are still a significant problem [ 17 , 18 ].

Many factors could contribute to an ongoing issue regarding the role of social and cognitive capabilities in patient safety. Some studies seem to indicate that different groups of healthcare professionals might understand and apply certain social and cognitive capabilities – like teamwork, decision-making, and leadership – differently [ 19 , 20 ]. If different groups of healthcare professionals act differently in relation to social and cognitive capabilities, such as leadership and decision-making, it could mean that their concepts behind the capabilities differ. Souba [ 21 ] argued that how we understand and think about a certain word, for example leadership , will influence how we act, how we speak, and what attitudes we have. Following that reasoning, we argue that healthcare professionals’ internal understanding of the terms behind social and cognitive capabilities could be coupled with the way they enact particular social and cognitive capabilities. Such internal understandings of words or terms might be referred to as concepts [ 22 , 23 ], mental models [ 24 ], prototypes [ 25 ], and schemata [ 26 ]. Here, we call such internal understandings concepts . Every experience will potentially work to adjust an individual’s concepts. Some experiences can be designed specifically to form or adjust concepts. This is the case for experiences gained during education. In healthcare education, the concepts of leadership and decision-making will come up in many courses. The overt curriculum in these courses will obviously work to form and adjust concepts, but the hidden curriculum of the courses will also be influential [ 27 , 28 ].

The hidden curriculum is a term used to describe cultural and social norms taught implicitly to students through experiences [ 27 , 29 ]. This can either be their experiences in clinical practice or their experiences in teaching situations, such as how the educator uses and describes concepts. Some research suggests that the hidden curriculum is a more powerful determinant of later behaviour than the formal curriculum [ 28 , 30 ]. Any education situation that health care professionals meet during their lifelong education will have an overt curriculum. This could be a plan of activities to teach them something about leadership. The experience will however also have a hidden curriculum, such as the valence ascribed to different leadership styles based on the educator’s personal preferences [ 27 , 31 ]. Since education, including both formal and hidden curricula, work to shape concepts, educators play a key role for concept formation among healthcare professionals.

Based on Souba’s [ 21 ] observation that our understanding of a concept will influence how we act, we wish to examine variations in how educators at Copenhagen Academy for Medical Education and Simulation (CAMES) talk about social and cognitive capabilities. These potential differences are of interest as they will form part of a hidden curriculum within the courses taught by the educators [ 27 , 31 ]. As such, variations will potentially result in different learning outcomes for the learners, which in this case means different understandings of the concepts behind social and cognitive capabilities. Different understandings of the concepts will mean different actions [ 21 , 32 ], which could be part of the explanation for the differences we see in clinical practice as well as the cause of misunderstandings and unsafe situations. It is within this line of thought that we investigate differences in the ways that nurses and physicians speak of leadership and decision-making.

This qualitative interview study was carried out from February to August 2019. The aim of the study was to examine variations in how educators at CAMES talk about social and cognitive capabilities. The study was conducted using semi-structured interviews [ 33 ] and directed content analysis [ 34 ]. Codes for the analysis process were derived from existing NTS models and applied to show variations in how the participants talk about the same concepts. The Regional Ethics Committee of the Capital Region of Denmark waived the ethical review of the study (H-19,023,177). Participants received written and oral information about the purpose of the study, and all participants signed a written consent form before the interview took place. Data is reported using the COREQ checklist [ 35 ].

Research team and reflexivity

FZ, an organizational psychologist, conducted the interviews. At the time of the interviews, FZ was a relatively new colleague of the interviewees and new to the healthcare system, which allowed him to be unbiased by previous healthcare experiences when interviewing and asking clarifying questions. FZ worked alongside the participants but was not directly involved in their work. FZ has conducted interviews in both clinical and work and organisational settings. RH and BB coded the interviews, and RH conducted the preliminary analysis. RH is a cognitive psychologist who has only recently started working within the healthcare system. This was utilised as a strength, as it made it easier for her to notice and be curious about tacit information and patterns in the interviews during the coding and the analysis. RH has worked with tacit information on earlier projects within other fields. BB is an anthropologist (PhD) with qualitative research experience within the healthcare system. Her experience and attention to the situatedness of discourse sharpened the analysis and placed it within current debate in health professions education research. PD is a work and organisational psychologist (PhD) who has worked within the healthcare system for about 22 years. His extensive knowledge was used to place our findings in a theoretical and practical frame within the field. The mix of researchers new to the field and the experience contributed by others, allowed us not only to see new perspectives, but also to situate them within current debates about social and cognitive capabilities [ 4 ].

Study participants

The study is based on interviews with healthcare educators from CAMES, an influential health professional education institution in Denmark and internationally. CAMES has approximately 10,000 course participants per year, about 110 facilitators, and about 20 course directors. In addition, almost 150 simulation facilitators are trained per year in train-the-trainer courses at CAMES. Taken together, educators at CAMES have the potential to affect conceptualizations in many healthcare professionals in Denmark and thereby potentially influence their work in the Danish healthcare system.

The study participants are 11 course directors at CAMES. Course directors at CAMES organise courses and are responsible for content, programme, materials, and externally recruited educators related to the courses. The course directors involved in this study were approached based on their engagement in courses teaching social and cognitive capabilities. We decided to interview course directors, since their articulation of social and cognitive capabilities will likely influence how those capabilities are taught in their courses (e.g., through selection of educators, content, and materials). In this way, course directors are placed in a position where their knowledge and articulation potentially influence course participants’ learning and subsequent clinical practice. The participating course directors had at least one year of experience with teaching cognitive and social capabilities in simulation-based settings. All of them had a clinical background as nurses (six) or physicians (five). Ten course directors were women. All invited participants agreed to take part in the study and did so voluntarily. No one dropped out of the study.

Data collection

Data was produced through semi-structured interviews [ 33 ]. We chose this interview method since we were interested in studying how course directors describe social and cognitive capabilities without their descriptions being influenced by a specific teaching situation, where many social factors might influence how a certain concept is spoken about. We asked course directors to talk about their teaching practice and the concepts they teach in their courses. With this prompting their descriptions of the concepts would likely reflect that context. The study was presented as part of ongoing efforts to develop teaching quality at CAMES.

Each interview focused on investigating the course director’s articulation of the central categories in a model of social and cognitive capabilities (NTS model) of their own choice (see interview guide in Appendix 1 ). We interviewed the course directors based on the following models: ANTSdk, N-ANTS, and NOTSSdk [ 8 , 10 , 36 ]. The categories and elements (marked by bullets) in each model are shown in Table  1 . Each interviewee was asked open-ended questions to describe each category in the chosen model, and the categories were later used as initial codes for the directed content analysis inspired by the analysis process as described by Hsieh and Shannon [ 34 ].

The three NTS models used in the interviews [ 8 , 10 , 36 ]

The categories of each NTS model are shown in bold, and the elements under each category is marked by bullets

The interviews were carried out at the participants’ workplace, CAMES Herlev Hospital, in an interview room separate from the participants’ workstations and colleagues. In all interviews, only the participant and the interviewer were present in the room. The interview guide was formulated and validated by the authors as well as pilot tested with the first interview. Each interview, lasting between 20 and 30 min., was recorded and afterwards transcribed verbatim. The interviewer took notes during each interview. Interviews, notes, and transcriptions were produced in Danish. Only extracts presented in this article were translated into English. Once the transcriptions were completed, they were returned to the participants for the participants’ review to suggest corrections or comments. As no comments or corrections were provided on the transcriptions, and since authors agreed that data saturation had been reached, it was decided not to carry out any repeat interviews.

Data analysis

Data was analysed using directed content analysis [ 34 ]. We chose this method because we wished to extend our current understanding of well-used concepts [ 34 ]. We used the NTS models as a framework (Table  1 ). Analysis was carried out using the NVivo software ( www.lumivero.com ) based on the following steps: analysis prior to and during data production, workshop with interviewees, coding of transcripts, looking at patterns, recoding of N-ANTS interviews, and consensus.

Step 1: analysis prior to and during data production

This being a qualitative study, data analysis started already with our choice of theoretical framework (content analysis), which directed our method (semi-structured interview) and the categories used in the interviews. The data production process has been further described in the section above.

Step 2: workshop with interviewees

After data production, the initial impressions from the interviews were discussed with the interviewees in a workshop led by FZ. The purpose of the discussion was to bring to light new or missed perspectives from the participants. The workshop was valuable for the participants, but it did not uncover new perspectives for the analysis.

Step 3: coding of transcripts

Inspired by the analysis process described by Hsieh and Shannon [ 34 ], RH and BB coded the transcriptions using the elements from the NTS model on which the specific interview was based as initial codes. A coding unit could be one or more sentences or pieces of sentences. A coding unit was coded if it used the specific words of an element from the NTS model used, or if the meaning was judged to be fitting with the meaning of the element. Coding units could be coded to fit into more than one element. In some cases, an interviewee talked about a category from the chosen model without it belonging to a clear element within that model. In these cases, the unit was coded as the category from the model instead of a concrete element. Furthermore, we coded each coding unit based on whether the interviewee was talking about the individual, the team, the organisation, or society. RH and BB discussed differences in their coding, and a shared understanding was reached in each case. Immediately after the first round of coding, we coded all interviews again to check the consistency of the coding. An example of a coding tree for decision-making is shown in Fig.  1 . Similar coding trees were used for the four other categories and their elements.

Coding tree for decision-making

Step 4: looking at patterns and step 5: recoding of N-ANTS interviews

During the analysis, we looked at different constellations in the dataset to find patterns in the variations of how the participants talked about the concepts. In this process, we became interested in leadership and decision-making as we found a clear pattern in relation to these categories. This pattern made us to look at the dataset again, as leadership is not a category within the N-ANTS model. For this reason, we looked through the N-ANTS interviews again and found all the paragraphs concerning leadership. We included these paragraphs in our “ leadership data”. We decided not to continue working with situation awareness , teamwork , and task management as these categories did not show the same pattern as found in leadership and decision-making . Even though we found the pattern only in two of the categories, we argue that the finding is sufficient to establish the possibility that differences in understanding of words exist in the healthcare system.

Step 6: consensus

Throughout the analysis, we examined the transcripts repeatedly to find examples to substantiate or reject the observed patterns. This process involved all authors. We discussed findings and agreed that our data could substantiate the observed patterns sufficiently. We presented our preliminary findings and analysis to the group of participants in the study. Participants’ feedback was acknowledgement and recognition of the observations presented.

In this study, we carried out 11 semi-structured interviews with course directors involved in teaching and planning education related to social and cognitive capabilities. Using a directed content analysis [ 34 ], we examined patterns in variations in how participants talked about concepts in three NTS models; ANTSdk, N-ANTS, and NOTTSdk [ 8 , 10 , 36 ]. During this process, we noted how course directors with professional backgrounds as nurses and course directors with professional backgrounds as physicians described the two categories decision-making and leadership both similarly and differently. Similarities included a pronounced interweaving of course directors’ concepts and definitions of the concepts as per the NTS models. Differences between nurses and physicians included variations in understanding of role distribution (e.g., who could be the leader), focus on external versus internal factors, and the ascribed importance of group dynamics versus individual capabilities. Course directors with a background as nurses generally thought that nurses could be good leaders, and they generally paid greater attention to group dynamics, hierarchies, and external factors. Course directors with a background as physicians tended to think that leaders needed to be physicians, and they focused on their individual efforts when they talked about decision-making and leadership . In the following sections, we elaborate on these findings by first showing how the course directors – nurses and physicians alike – describe decision-making and leadership . Afterwards, we elaborate on patterns in how nurses and physicians describe the two categories differently.

Leadership & decision-making among healthcare professionals

Both nurses and physicians linked leadership and decision-making , and they made connections between these two categories. When asked to describe leadership , there were interviewees, who started talking about a leader (typically the team leader) as a person, whereas other interviewees talked about leadership as an activity. Only one interviewee talked about followership when describing leadership . A team leader was described as someone who collects information about what is going on and maintains an overview of the situation:

“ I perceive the team leader position as having to keep an overview, maintaining the overview, you have to keep track of your team members. You have to keep your hands in your pockets, so that you can maintain an overview and not get caught in a heads-down procedure ” (physician 1).

Furthermore, a team leader was described as responsible for creating a calm, comfortable, and safe atmosphere within the team: “ It is important that you create a pleasant and calm atmosphere around the patient, and that you give your team members a good feeling, so that they won´t become stressed, but can function optimally ” (physician 1). Both nurses and physicians stressed that the team leader should be the person most competent to do the job, and that it can be a problem if someone is appointed leader without the necessary qualifications:

“ Yes, I think it takes professional skills to be the leader in an emergency. It can probably be discussed whether leadership only requires an overview - what gives you that overview? That is a matter of having competencies within the situation, and for that reason it is traditionally the most competent person who gets the leader role. It can become a problem, if you get the leader role based on your profession and not on your competencie s” (nurse 4).

Interviewees from both professions talked about leadership entailing authority. All participants mentioned every element of leadership from their respective NTS models, but it is interesting to note that three nurses were interviewed based on N-ANTS, which does not contain leadership as a category. Still, these nurses referred to leadership : “ So it is both about prioritising what we need to do first and what we need to do afterwards, but also about thinking of delegating: what can I do myself, and what do I want you to do ” (nurse 3).

Decision-making was described as requiring extensive experience and a strong theoretical background – either by the decisionmaker him- or herself, or that the decisionmaker must include knowledge from experts/the team in the decision-making: “ If you have seen 5000 patients being anesthetised in the same way, then you have seen some things and some patterns, and that makes it possible for you to make the right decision ” (nurse 5).

“ As the team leader, I have other tasks. [For example: ] I don’t know which antibiotic to give, and now I have to spend time to look it up – I don’t want to do that. I have a competent person who can do it by virtue of his/her knowledge, so I delegate that task, and then they also have to make the decision about it ” (physician 1).

For this reason, inexperience was mentioned as a potential problem for decision-making. Both nurses and physicians mentioned that inexperienced decisionmakers could have problems recognising the relevant patterns to adequately understand the situation and make the right decisions:

“ When you are a novice and new in a profession, sometimes it is difficult to know what situation you are in, and what decision you should take, because you don’t have the necessary knowledge, or you haven’t seen enough examples of what other possibilities you have ” (nurse 5).

“ It might happen that you don’t dare to make a decision, or that you are not capable of it, because you get so perplexed by all the incoming information when you are standing there with your situational awareness, and you get all this information from your team and how… you cannot recognise patterns, for example ” (physician 3).

Another challenge that might hinder decision-making, according to the interviewees, was the social hierarchy. An example given by the interviewees was how knowledge in the team can be lost if some members of the team (e.g., nurses or junior physicians) are not heard because of social hierarchy, or if they do not feel comfortable sharing their opinions or observations. Lost knowledge potentially leads to poorer decision-making.

“ There can be some hierarchy in it, just because physicians are worth more than nurses, for example. There can also be some hierarchy in whether you are new or experienced. And then there can be a learning culture in a ward, which can result in it not being very welcome to ask all those questions ” (nurse 6).

Interviewees warned against fixation errors in relation to decision-making. They talked about the risk of being wrong when making a decision, and about how it is important to constantly keep an eye on different possibilities: “ We see some systems which fit into the puzzle, and then we think it is like that, and then we go that way and don’t see that the puzzle could be laid in another way ” (physician 4).

Decision-making was, according to the interviewees, related to both teamwork , leadership and situation awareness , and all interviewees mentioned every element under the category decision-making in their respective non-technical skills models (see Table  1 ).

Differences between nurses and physicians

While working with data, we became aware of patterns in the way that nurses and physicians talked differently about the categories in the context of their work life. These differences were not based solely on the content of specific categories, but on differences in what nurses and physicians focused on and showed interest in.

Nurses talked about leadership and decision-making as something every team member takes part in, and as something every team member is responsible for. Nurses described decision-making as something the entire team contributes to: “(…) but I find decision-making isn’t necessarily placed only with the leader, it is placed with every team member in which direction you go ” (nurse 2). Similarly, nurses talked about leadership as something both nurses and physicians enact. Sometimes it was described as different kinds of leadership: “ Because the scrub nurse can really have a lot of leadership in the operating room. That is, the inventory and the accessories and what goes in and out. And who should be called to assist and when. And there is a great deal of leadership in that ” (nurse 2).

Another nurse talked about how nurses can sometimes be the best team leader, for example in a staff constellation of a senior nurse and a junior physician. By contrast, physicians described leadership and decision-making as something the physician does (alone). Their focus was on the role of the physician and the physician’s responsibilities:

“ It is also how the team leader attains a position of authority, as he/she should have, which is especially difficult in a paediatric ward, unlike perhaps… what do I know, surgical wards, it doesn’t feel natural for paediatricians to have authority and assertiveness, because our daily tone is very non-hierarchical and with very little authority and assertiveness from physicians, from where the team leader must be recruited ” (physician 5).

Interestingly, a physician referred to the same staff constellation as described by a nurse, i.e., a situation where a senior nurse and a junior physician would be working together, but the physician described how it is important to teach the junior physician to lead and the senior nurse to respect the leadership.

The tendency for nurses to be oriented towards the team and for physicians to be focussed on individual factors associated with the physician role was apparent throughout the dataset and across the different concepts. Both nurses and physicians talked about both individual factors and team factors, but the tendency was for nurses to talk more about team factors than individual factors, whereas the opposite tendency was found for physicians. An example of a statement related to the team would be: “ You need to include people from your team. Because they can have other information, they can have examined something else, they can have seen something else, heard something else ” (nurse 1).

Furthermore, only nurses talked about organisational factors and societal factors: “ There can be something organisational in task management. We don’t have the resources that we need, we don’t have the equipment that we need ” (nurse 1).

“ When we fixate on something, what we call fixation errors, (…) we actually produce it ourselves in our system in the way patients enter our hospitals. (…) So, we need to work on these concepts [social and cognitive capabilities], because our system is taking part in producing them [fixation errors], like we ourselves can take part in producing them [fixation errors] ” (nurse 6).

Contrary to the nurses’ broad focus on external factors, physicians talked more about the individual physician and internal factors, such as personal growth, how to advance from inexperienced to experienced, individual responsibility, and how to step up and be the team leader, etc.:

“ I think, as a specialist, if they master these [NTS] concepts early, then they get the space to develop the role and to set themselves in the process. This is where the problem sits, I think. It is when the individual and the role get mixed. That is also when it becomes unsafe for patients ” (physician 2).

When talking about leadership and decision - making , we observed a tendency in the data towards nurses talking more about social hierarchies in hospitals than physicians did. When social hierarchies were mentioned, it was mostly with a negative valuation. Social hierarchies were described in relation to seniority, where the senior (experienced) individual would be higher up the hierarchy than the junior (inexperienced) individual, and in relation to nurses and physicians, where physicians would be higher up the hierarchy. Both physicians and nurses talked about the problem of working with someone high in the hierarchy if that individual did not have the required competencies to fill that position:

“ Sometimes there is a formal leader who does not have the necessary qualifications. It is often the problem that there is someone who formally in the hierarchy of the hospital should be team leader, but in reality they are not ready for it at all, and other team members would be able to manage that task better – that is a problem ” (physician 1).

There were nurses who talked about a flatter hierarchical structure, where nurses or young physicians could be team leader, and even structures without any leader at all. One nurse described how the hierarchical structure in the hospital was becoming flatter as a result of a general development in society:

“ I think this hierarchy is evolving. In the past, the chief physician was someone who just stood with folded arms and the nurses ran around. That’s not the case anymore. It has increasingly become a collaboration where you get an understanding that you need each other. I think the whole development in society means that you flatten some of the hierarchy that has existed in the past ” (nurse 6).

This study used semi-structured interviews [ 33 ] and directed content analysis [ 34 ] with the aim to investigate patterns in variations in how healthcare educators talk about leadership and decision-making . The main findings from the study show how educators with backgrounds as nurses and physicians respectively talked differently about leadership and decision-making . The nurses in the current study described both leadership and decision-making as something the whole team engages in, whereas the physicians talked about them as something the physician does (alone). The nurses thought that nurses could be the team leaders, whereas physicians mentioned that the team leader must be a physician. The nurses talked more about group factors than individual factors, and they mentioned both organisational and societal factors. The physicians talked more about individual factors than group factors, and they did not mention organisational or societal factors. The nurses talked more about social hierarchies than the physicians did, and the hierarchies were almost always talked about as negative. The study contributes to the existing literature by showing that there are patterned differences in the way educators with a background as nurses and physicians respectively talk about decision-making and leadership . We argue that these differences might be passed on to the students through teachings. The main findings resonate well with previous studies on behavioural differences between nurses and physicians. This strengthens our argument that differences in understanding of concepts might underlie differences in behaviour which might again lead to safety issues. Thus, safety issues might be compounded by educators’ different understandings of concepts. We will discuss this further below.

Previous studies have found differences between nurses and physicians that are in line with our findings. Barrow and colleagues [ 19 ] found that nurses in their study thought they enacted leadership and decision-making, whereas many of the physicians in the study directly disagreed with that. Likewise, the majority of physicians in the study thought that the effectiveness of interprofessional teams relied on strong leadership from physicians [ 19 ]. Our findings suggest that such disagreement in clinical practice might be rooted in differences in how each profession understands the concepts they disagree about. On the other hand, research has also shown that while physicians exercise “direct” decision-making, nurses apply covert strategies like selecting information given to the physicians to try and steer the physician in the direction of the “right decision” [ 37 , 38 ]. By using a covert strategy for decision-making, it is probable that physicians do not even realise that the nurses are making decisions (or have a part in the decisions taken), which could also be (part of) the reason why nurses and physicians think differently about who makes decisions. Similarly, Barrow and colleagues [ 19 ] described different decision-making and leadership strategies for nurses and physicians, with nurses using external factors as their powerbase for authority and leadership. For example, nurses could say that something should not be done due to current guidelines, or they could approach another physician after shift change if they disagree with a decision (this observation is backed up by Svensson [ 39 ]). These differences in enactment of leadership and decision-making could grow from variations in understanding of the concepts. For example, nurses could be oriented toward external factors in their understanding of the concepts and physicians toward internal factors, as our study finds.

Extending the differences between external and internal factors, one of our main findings show variations in how much nurses and physicians talk about group factors and individual factors. While we have not found any other research analysing the tendency to talk about individual versus group factors among nurses and physicians, some studies have shown that physicians focus on each individual in the team instead of the group as a whole when describing ‘team’ and ‘teamwork’ [ 40 ]. Another study has shown that physicians talked about leadership as a group process when they were asked to define leadership, but as a personality trait when they simply talked unsolicited about leadership [ 41 ]. These findings could be a result of a physician tendency to focus on individual factors when defining concepts related to leadership.

Our findings further indicate variations in understanding of and interest in hierarchy. Several earlier studies showed an effect of hierarchy on how healthcare professionals understand and exercise social and cognitive capabilities [ 20 , 42 ]. Makary and colleagues [ 20 ] found that physicians and nurses in the operating room evaluated their teamwork differently with physicians rating it higher than nurses. Some of the explanations suggested by the authors involved how social status and hierarchies might influence how healthcare professionals perceive teamwork, but also that physicians and nurses might have different ideas about what constitutes good teamwork [ 20 ]. The latter would be in line with our argument in this study. However, hierarchy might also be another explanation as to why differences in behaviour appear in clinical practice. Research has shown instances where hierarchy can influence decision-making by showing how nurses are constrained by physicians in their decision-making, but not the other way around [ 43 ].

Our study indicates that nurses and physicians understand leadership and decision-making differently, which resonates well with earlier studies. Our participants worked as healthcare educators involved with teaching and planning courses concerning leadership and decision-making among other topics. Previous research has found that teachers’ preconceptions, preferences, and biases can form a hidden curriculum within a course [ 27 , 29 , 31 ], and that a hidden curriculum can be a powerful determinant of later behaviour [ 28 , 30 ]. Seeing our findings in this light, we argue that it is likely that the differences in understanding of leadership and decision-making among the educators in our study will form a hidden curriculum in their courses. They might choose certain cases for a simulation session or focus on a specific event in the debriefing, which will advance their particular understanding of a concept. Or they might use different words or emphasis when explaining a concept. Such a hidden curriculum can influence learning and later behaviour among course participants. An example of this was shown in a study by Ju and van Schaik [ 25 ] on leadership prototype formation (the understanding of what it means to be a leader). Ju and van Schaik [ 25 ] argued that prototype formation is influenced by the teaching materials and role models that health professionals are exposed to during their education and clinical practice. Even something as simple as the sex of nurses and physicians in educational videos could have an impact on prototype formation and later behaviour [ 25 ]. We argue that the observed differences in understanding of leadership and decision-making would similarly influence course participants’ concept formation (or ‘prototype formation’ to use the terminology of Ju & van Schaik [ 25 ]), which would cause course participants taught by a nurse educator to form a slightly different understanding of, for example, leadership than a course participant taught by a physician educator. These differences would later cause the course participants to act differently in clinical practice [ 21 , 32 , 44 ], which could potentially lead to miscommunication and misunderstandings between nurses and physicians. Nurses and physicians work together every day in clinical practice, and even minor disagreements about who decides what, and who leads whom can lead to frustration and unsafe situations [ 19 ]. If nurses and physicians do not agree on their respective roles, leadership could for example become unclear in an emergency situation where too many or too few step up to the task [ 45 ]. Alternatively, physicians might make a decision, since they think it is their responsibility, and nurses, who are left out of the original decision-making process, might undermine it or work against it based on frustrations resulting from differences in concepts (as seen in [ 19 ]). Since much nurse and physician learning happens in clinical practice through experience and observation of others [ 46 ], differences in behaviour would reproduce differences in understanding of the concepts. This is particularly pertinent for “newcomers” learning the language and legitimate actions of a workplace [ 47 ]. Novice nurses see how other nurses talk and act in clinical practice and then adapt their language and behaviour based on these interactions to fit into the observed community [ 47 ]. In this way, certain understandings of leadership and decision-making would be reproduced.

Examples of potential miscommunications are already evident in the present study. A withdrawn leader is both described positively (a good leader position with overview) and negatively (as someone just bossing the team members around, without engaging in helping the team). Becoming aware of these different understandings is a first step towards a deeper understanding and better communication among different groups of healthcare professionals, which could potentially alleviate conflicts and improve patient safety.

Limitations

It is important to mention that the differences we have observed between nurses and physicians in our study might have originated from other characteristics of the participants than their professional background. Examples could be their level of experience as clinicians or as educators, the nature of the courses they teach, the participants in their courses, gender (though unlikely, as the study participants included only one male), or personality traits.

Note that we asked participants to talk about the concepts in the context of their teachings, which might be different from how they would talk about the concepts in another setting, or how they would use the concepts in clinical practice. It would have been beneficial to supplement our interview data with observations of teaching practices or clinical work.

Furthermore, we base our considerations on a small data set, but considering the match between our findings and aspects described in the literature, we see support for our findings and interpretations.

In this study, we found that nurse and physician healthcare educators to a large extent described social and cognitive capabilities as they are described in existing tools addressing non-technical skills. We also found patterned differences in their descriptions that may be related to educators’ professional training/background. Focusing on the concepts leadership and decision-making , nurses paid greater attention to group dynamics and external factors, whereas physicians focused on their individual efforts. If nurses and physicians disagree on the meaning of leadership and decision-making, for example regarding who should decide in a given situation, it can create misunderstandings and unsafe situations. For this reason, it could be beneficial to make healthcare professionals aware of the specificity of their own concepts, so that they can communicate better about meanings and differences of concepts in teamwork situations. This could be done by educating them to describe more precisely what they mean when using a certain concept, for example “I want you to coordinate tasks” instead of “I want better leadership”. In this way, we might avoid healthcare professionals using the same word, but in fact referring to different concepts.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Acknowledgements

Author contributions.

RH analysed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. BB and PD qualified the analysis and commented on the manuscript. FZ conducted the interviews and commented on the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Our salary was funded by our institution and no external funding was received for conducting this study.

Open access funding provided by Copenhagen University

Data availability

Declarations.

The Regional Ethics Committee of the Capital Region of Denmark waived the ethical approval of the study (H-19023177). Written informed consent was obtained from all study participants. All methods in this study were carried out in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations in the Declaration of Helsinki.

RH, BB, and FZ have no conflicts of interest to declare. PD holds a professorship with the University of Stavanger that was established by an unconditional grant from the Laerdal Foundation to the University and that is now financed by the University. PD leads the EuSim group, a network of simulation centres and experts providing simulation faculty development courses.

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Calculation of the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) using different methodologies: case study and practical guide

• Original Article
• Open access
• Published: 28 June 2024

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• Anita M. Klukowska 1 , 2 ,
• W. Peter Vandertop 1 ,
• Marc L. Schröder 3 &
• Victor E. Staartjes   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1039-2098 4  

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Introduction

Establishing thresholds of change that are actually meaningful for the patient in an outcome measurement instrument is paramount. This concept is called the minimum clinically important difference (MCID). We summarize available MCID calculation methods relevant to spine surgery, and outline key considerations, followed by a step-by-step working example of how MCID can be calculated, using publicly available data, to enable the readers to follow the calculations themselves.

Thirteen MCID calculations methods were summarized, including anchor-based methods, distribution-based methods, Reliable Change Index, 30% Reduction from Baseline, Social Comparison Approach and the Delphi method. All methods, except the latter two, were used to calculate MCID for improvement of Zurich Claudication Questionnaire (ZCQ) Symptom Severity of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis. Numeric Rating Scale for Leg Pain and Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire Walking Ability domain were used as anchors.

The MCID for improvement of ZCQ Symptom Severity ranged from 0.8 to 5.1. On average, distribution-based methods yielded lower MCID values, than anchor-based methods. The percentage of patients who achieved the calculated MCID threshold ranged from 9.5% to 61.9%.

Conclusions

MCID calculations are encouraged in spinal research to evaluate treatment success. Anchor-based methods, relying on scales assessing patient preferences, continue to be the “gold-standard” with receiver operating characteristic curve approach being optimal. In their absence, the minimum detectable change approach is acceptable. The provided explanation and step-by-step example of MCID calculations with statistical code and publicly available data can act as guidance in planning future MCID calculation studies.

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Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

The notion of minimum clinically important difference (MCID) was introduced to establish thresholds of change in an outcome measurement instrument that are actually meaningful for the patient. Jaeschke et al . originally defined it “as the smallest difference in score in the domain of interest which the patient perceives as beneficial and which would mandate, in the absence of troublesome side-effects and excessive cost, a change in the patient’s management” [ 1 ].

In many clinical trials statistical analyses only focuses on intergroup comparisons of raw outcome scores using parametric/non-parametric tests and deriving conclusions based on the p -value. Using the classical threshold of p- value < 0.05 only suggests that the observed effect is unlikely to have occurred by chance, but it does not equate to a change that is clinically meaningful for the patient [ 2 ]. Calculating MCID scores, and using them as thresholds for “treatment success”, ensures that patients’ needs and preferences are considered and allows for comparison of proportion of patients experiencing a clinically relevant improvement among different groups [ 3 ]. Through MCID, clinicians can better understand the impact of an intervention on their patients’ lives, sample size calculations can become more robust and health policy makers may decide which treatments deserve reimbursement [ 4 , 5 , 6 ].

The MCID can be determined from the patient’s perspective, where it is the patient who decides whether a change in their health was meaningful [ 4 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. This is the most common “gold-standard” approach and one that we will focus on. Occasionally, the clinician’s perspective can also be used to determine MCID. However, MCID for a clinician may not necessarily mean an increase in a patient’s functionality, but rather a change in disease survival or treatment planning [ 10 ]. MCID can also be defined at a societal level, as e.g. improvement in a patient’s functionality significant enough to aid their return to work [ 11 ].

MCID thresholds are intended to assess an individual’s clinical improvement and ought not to be applied to mean scores of entire groups post-intervention, as doing so may falsely over-estimate treatment effectiveness. It is also noteworthy to mention that obtained MCID values are not treatment-specific but broadly disease category-specific. They rely on a patient’s perception of clinical benefit, which is influenced by their diagnosis and subsequent symptoms, not just treatment modality.

In this study, we summarize available MCID calculation methods and outline key considerations when designing a MCID study, followed by a step-by-step working example of how MCID can be calculated.

Navigating the case study

To illustrate the MCID methods and to enable the reader to follow the practical calculation guide of different MCID values, based on the described methods along the way, a previously published data set of 84 patients, as described in Minetama et al ., was used based on CC0.10 license [ 12 ]. Data can be downloaded at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/vm8rg6rvsw/1 . The statistical R code can be found in Supplementry content  1 including instructions on formatting the data set for MCID calculations The title of different MCID methods in the paper (listed below) and their number correspond to the same title and respective number in the R code. All analyses in this case study were carried out using R version 2023.12 + 402 (The R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna Austria) [ 13 ].

The aim of Minetama et al . was to assess the effectiveness of supervised physical therapy (PT) with unsupervised at-home-exercises (HE) in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS). The main inclusion criteria were presence of neurogenic intermittent claudication and pain/or numbness in the lower extremities with or without back pain and > 50 years of age; diagnosis of LSS confirmed on MRI and a history of ineffective response to therapy for ≥ 3 months. Patients were then randomized into a 6-week PT or HE programme [ 12 ]. All data was pooled, as a clinically significant benefit for patients is independent of group allocation and because MCID is disease-specific. Therefore, the derived MCID will be applicable to most patients with lumbar spinal stenosis, irrespective of treatment modality. Change scores were calculated by subtracting baseline scores from follow-up scores.

MCID calculation methods

There are multiple approaches to calculate MCID, mainly divided into anchor-based and distribution-based methods (Fig.  1 ) [ 4 , 10 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ]. Before deciding on the method, it needs to be defined whether the calculated MCID will be for improvement or deterioration [ 18 ]. Most commonly, MCID is used to measure improvement (as per Jaeschke et al . definition) [ 1 , 4 , 7 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 19 , 20 ]. The value of MCID for improvement should not be directly applied in reverse to determine whether a decrease in patients' scores signifies a clinically meaningful deterioration – those are two separate concepts [ 18 ]. In addition, the actual MCID value ought to be applied to post-intervention score of an individual patient (not the overall score for the whole group), to determine whether, at follow-up, he or she experienced a change equating to MCID or more, compared to their baseline score. Such patient is then classified as “responders”.

Flow diagram presenting range of Minimum clinically important difference calculation methods stratified into anchor, distribution-based and “other” described in the study. MCID, Minimum Clinically Important Difference; MIC, Minimal Important Change

According to the Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health measurement instruments (COSMIN) guidelines, the “anchor-based” approach is regarded as the “gold-standard” [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. In this approach, we determine the MCID of a chosen outcome measurement, based on whether a pre-defined MCID (usually derived from another published study) was achieved by an external criterion, known as the anchor, usually another patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) or an objective test of functionality [ 4 , 7 , 8 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 20 ]. It is best to use scales which allow the patient to rate the specific aspect of their health related to the disease of interest post-intervention compared to baseline on a Likert-type scale. This scale may range, for example, from “much worse”, “somewhat worse”, “about the same”, “somewhat better”, to “much better”, such as the established Global Assessment Rating tool [ 7 , 8 , 24 , 25 ]. Depending on the scale, some studies determine MCID by calculating change scores for patients who only ranked themselves as “somewhat better”, and some only consider patients who ranked themselves as “much better” [ 7 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 ]. This discrepancy is likely an explanation for a range of MCID for a single outcome measure dependent on the methodology. There appears to be no singular “correct” approach. One of the alternatives to the Global assessment rating is the use of the health transition item (HTI) from the SF-36 questionnaire, where patients are asked about their overall health compared to one year ago [ 7 , 30 , 31 ]. Although quick and easy to conduct, the patient’s response may be influenced by comorbid health issues other than those targeted by intervention. Nevertheless, any anchor where the patient is the one to decide what change is clinically meaningful, captures the true essence of the MCID. One should however, be mindful of the not easily addressed recall bias with such anchors – patients at times do not reliably remember their baseline health status [ 32 ]. Moreover, what the above anchors do not consider is, whether the patient would still choose the intervention for the same condition despite experiencing side-effects or cost. That can be addressed through implementing anchors such as the Satisfaction with Results scale described in Copay et al ., who found that MCID values based on the Satisfaction with Results scale were slightly higher than those derived from HTI-SF-36 [ 7 , 33 ].

Other commonly used outcome scales, such as Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Roland–Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), or EQ5D-3L Health-Related Quality of Life, can also act as anchors [ 7 , 14 , 16 , 34 , 35 ]. In such instances, patients complete the “anchor” questionnaire at baseline and post-intervention and the MCID of that anchor is derived from a previous publication [ 12 , 16 , 35 ]. Before deciding on the MCID, full understanding of how it was derived in that previous publication is crucial. Ideally, this should be done for a population similar to our study cohort, with comparable follow-up periods [ 18 , 20 ]. Correlations between the anchor instrument and the investigated outcome measurement instrument must be recorded, and ought to be at least moderate (> 0.05), as that is the best indicator of construct validity (whether both the anchor instrument and outcome instrument represent a similar construct of patient health) [ 18 , 36 ]. If such correlation is not available, the anchor-based MCID credibility instrument is available to aid in assessing construct proximity between the two [ 36 , 37 ].

Once the process for selecting an anchor and classifying “responders” and “non-responders” is established, the MCID can be calculated. The outcome instrument of interest will be defined as an outcome for which we want to calculate the MCID. The first anchor-based method (within-patient change) focuses on the average improvement seen among clear responders in the anchor. The between-patient change anchor-based method additionally subtracts the average improvement seen among non-responders (unchanged and/or worsened) and consequently ends up with a smaller MCID value. Finally, an anchor-based method based on Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis–that can be considered the current “gold standard”- also exists, which effectively looks at the MCID calculation as a sort of diagnostic instrument and aims to improve the discriminatory performance of our MCID threshold. In the following paragraphs, the three anchor-based methods are described in more detail. The R code (Supplementry Content  1 ) enables the reader to follow the text and to calculate MCID for the Zurich Claudication Questionnaire (ZCQ) Symptom Severity domain, based on a publicly available dataset [ 12 ].

Choice of outcome measurement instruments for MCID calculation case study

The chosen outcome measurement instrument in this case study for which MCID for improvement will be calculated is ZCQ Symptom Severity domain [ 12 ]. The ZCQ is composed of three subscales: symptom severity (7 questions, score per question ranging from 1 to 5 points); physical function (5 questions, score per question ranging from 1 to 4 points) and patient satisfaction with treatment scale (6 questions, score per question ranging from to 4 points). Higher scores indicate greater disability/worse satisfaction [ 38 ]. To visualize different MCID values, Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) for Leg Pain (score from 0 “no pain” to 10 “worse possible pain) and Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire (JOABPEQ) Walking Ability domain are chosen, as they showed high responsiveness in patients with LSS post-operatively [ 39 ].Through 25 questions, the JOABPEQ assesses five distinctive domains: pain-related symptoms, lumbar spine dysfunction, walking ability, impairment in social functioning and psychological disturbances. The score for each domain ranges from 0 to 100 points (higher score indicating better health status) [ 40 ]. The correlation of ZCQ symptom severity with NRS Leg Pain and JOABPEQ Walking Ability domain, is 0.56 and − 0.51, respectively [ 39 ]. For a patient to be classified as a “responder”, using the NRS for Leg pain or JOABPEQ walking ability, the score at 6-week follow-up must have improved by 1.6 points or 20 points, respectively [ 7 , 40 , 41 ].

This publicly available dataset does not report patient satisfaction or any kind of global assessment rating.

To enable calculation of global assessment rating-based MCID methods for educational purposes, despite very limited availability of studies providing MCID for deterioration of JOABPEQ, we decided to stratify patients in this dataset into the three following groups, based on the JOABPEQ Walking Ability as an anchor: likely improved (change score above 20 points according to Kasai et al . ), no significant change (− 20– + 20 points change score), and likely deteriorated (lower than − 20 points change score) [ 41 ]. As obtained MCID values were expected to be negative, all values, for clarity of presentation, were multiplied by − 1, except in Method (IX), where graphical data distribution was shown.

The different methods in detail

Method (i) calculating mcid using “within-patient” score change.

The first method focuses on calculating the change between baseline and post-intervention score of our outcome instrument, for each patient classified as a “responder”. A “responder” is a patient who, at follow-up, has achieved the pre-defined MCID of the anchor (or ranks themselves high enough on Global assessment rating type scale based on our methodology). The MCID is then defined as the mean change in the outcome instrument of interest of those classified as “responders” [ 4 , 7 , 16 , 31 ].

The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 5a of Supplementry Content  1 . Calculated within-patient MCID of ZCQ Symptom Severity based on NRS Leg Pain and JOABPEQ Walking Ability domain was 4.4 and 4.2, respectively.

Method (II) calculating MCID using “between-patient” score change

In this approach, the mean change in our outcome instrument is calculated for not only “responders” but also for “non-responders”. “Non-responders” are patients who did not achieve the pre-defined MCID of our anchor or who did not rank themselves high enough (unchanged, or sometimes: unchanged + worsened) on Global Assessment Rating type scale according to our methodology. The minimum clinically important difference of our outcome instrument is then defined as the difference between the mean change scores of “responders” and “non-responders” [ 4 , 7 , 16 , 19 ].

The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 5b of Supplementry content  1 . Calculated between-patient MCID of ZCQ Symptom Severity based on NRS Leg Pain and JOABPEQ Walking Ability domain was 3.5 and 2.8, respectively.

Method (III) calculating MCID using the ROC analysis

Here the MCID is derived through ROC analysis to identify the “threshold” score of our outcome instrument that best discriminates between “responders” and “non-responders” of the anchor [ 4 , 7 , 16 , 19 , 27 ]. To understand ROC, one must familiarize oneself with the concept of sensitivity and specificity. In ROC analysis, sensitivity is defined as the ability of the test to correctly detect “true positives”, which in this context refers to patients who have achieved a clinically meaningful change.

“False negative” would be a patient, who was classified as “non-responder” but is really a “responder”. Specificity is defined as the ability of a test to correctly detect a “true negative” result- a patient who did not achieve a clinically meaningful change – a “non-responder” [ 25 ].

A “false positive” would be a patient, who was classified as a “responder” but who was a “non-responder”. Values for sensitivity and specificity range from 0 to 1. Sensitivity of 1 means that the test can detect 100% of “true positives”’ (“responders”), while specificity of 1 reflects the ability to detect 100% of “true negatives” (“non-responders”). It is unclear what the minimum sensitivity and specificity should be for a “gold-standard” MCID, which is why the most established approach is to opt for a MCID threshold that maximizes both sensitivity and specificity at the same time, which can be done using ROC analysis [ 4 , 7 , 25 , 31 , 42 ]. During ROC analysis, the “closest-to-(0,1)-criterion” (the top left most point of the curve) or the Youden index are the two methods to automatically determine the optimal threshold point [ 43 ].

When conducting the ROC analysis, the Area under the curve (AUC) is also determined–a measure of how well the MCID threshold discriminates responders and non-responders in general. Values in AUC can range 0–1. An AUC of 0.5 signifies that the score discriminates no better than random chance, whereas a value of 1 means that the score perfectly discriminates between responders and non-responders. In the literature, an AUC of 0.7 and 0.8 is deemed fair (acceptable), while ≥ 0.8 to < 0.9 is considered good and values ≥ 0.9 are considered excellent [ 44 ]. Calculating the AUC provides a rough estimate of how well the chosen MCID threshold performs. The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 5c of Supplementry content  1 . Statistical package pROC was used. The calculated MCID of ZCQ symptom severity based on NRS Leg Pain and JOABPEQ Walking Ability domain was for both 1.5.

Calculation of MCID through distribution-based methods

Calculation of MCID using the distribution-based approach focuses on statistical properties of the dataset [ 7 , 14 , 16 , 27 , 45 ]. Those methods are objective, easy to calculate, and in some cases, yield values close to anchor-based MCID. The advantage of this approach is that it does not rely on any external criterion or require additional studies on previously established MCIDs or other validated “gold standard” questionnaires for the specific disease in each clinical setting. However, it fails to include the patient’s perspective of a clinically meaningful change, which will be discussed later in this study. In this sense, distribution-based methods focus on finding MCID thresholds that enable mathematical distinction of what is considered a changed vs. unchanged score, whereas anchor-based methods focus on finding MCID thresholds which represent a patient-centered, meaningful improvement.

Method (IV) calculating MCID through Standard Error of Measurement (SEM)

The standard error of measurement conceptualizes the reliability of the outcome measure, by determining how repeated measurements of an outcome may differ from the “true score”. Greater SEM equates to lower reliability, which is suggestive of meaningful inconsistencies in the values produced by the outcome instrument despite similar measuring conditions. Hence, it has been theorized that 1 SEM is equal to MCID, because a change score ≥ 1 SEM, is unlikely to be due to measurement error and therefore is also more likely to be clinically meaningful [ 46 , 47 ]. The following formula is used: [ 1 , 7 , 35 , 46 , 48 ].

The ICC, also called reliability coefficient, signifies level of agreement or consistency between measurements taken on different occasions or by different raters [ 49 ]. There are various ways of calculating the ICC depending on the used model with values < 0.5, 0.5– 0.75, 0.75–0.9 and > 0.90 indicating poor, moderate, good and excellent reliability, respectively [ 49 ]. While a value of 1 × SEM is probably the most established way to calculate MCID, in the literature, a range of multiplication factors for SEM-based MCID have been used, including 1.96 SEM or even 2.77 SEM to identify a more specific threshold for improvement [ 48 , 50 ]. The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 6a of Supplementry Content  1 . The chosen ZCQ Symptom Severity ICC was 0.81 [ 51 ]. The SEM-based MCID was 1.9.

Method (V) calculating MCID through Effect Size (ES)

Effect size (ES) is a standardized measure of the strength of the relationship or difference between two variables [ 52 ]. It is described by Cohen et al . as “degree to which the null hypothesis (there is no difference between the two groups) is false”. It allows for direct comparison of different instruments with different units between studies. There are multiple forms to calculate ES, but for the purpose of MCID calculations, the ES represents the number of SDs by which the post-intervention score has changed from baseline score. It is calculated based on the following formula incorporating the average change score divided by the SD of the baseline score: [ 52 ].

According to Cohen et al . 0.2 is considered small ES, 0.5 is moderate ES and 0.8 or more is large ES [ 53 ]. Most commonly, a change score with an ES of 0.2 is considered equivalent to MCID [ 7 , 16 , 31 , 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Using this method, we are basically identifying the mean change score (in this case reflecting the MCID) that equates to an ES of 0.2: [ 7 , 55 ].

Practically, if a patient experienced small improvement in an outcome measure post intervention, the ES will be smaller than for a patient who experienced a large improvement in outcomes measure. The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 6b of Supplementry Content  1 . The ES-based MCID was 0.9.

Method (VI) calculating MCID through Standardized Response Mean (SRM)

The Standardized Response Mean (SRM) aims to gauge the responsiveness of an outcome similarly to ES. Initially described by Cohen et al . as a derivative of ES assessing differences of paired observations in a single sample, later renamed as SRM, it is also considered an “index of responsiveness” [ 38 , 53 ]. However, the denominator is SD of the change scores–not the SD of the baseline scores–while the numerator remains the average change score from baseline to follow-up: [ 10 , 45 , 57 , 58 , 59 ].

Similarly, to Cohen’s rule of interpreting ES, it has been theorized that responsiveness can be considered low if SRM is 0.2–0.5, moderate if > 0.5–0.8 and large if > 0.8 [ 58 , 59 , 60 ]. Again, a change score equating to SRM of 0.2 (although SRM of 1/3 or 0.5 were also proposed) can be considered MCID, although studies have used the overall SRM as MCID as well [ 45 , 54 , 56 , 61 ]. However, since SRM is a standardized index, similarly to ES, the aim of the SRM-based method ought to be to identify a change score that indicates responsiveness of 0.2: [ 61 ].

Similar to the ES-based method, the SRM-based approach for calculating the MCID is not commonly used in in spine surgery studies [ 14 ]. It is a measure of responsiveness, which is the ability to detect change over time in a construct to be measured by the instrument, and ought to be therefore calculated for the study-specific change score rather than extrapolated as a “universal” MCID threshold to other studies. The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 6c of Supplementry Content  1 . The SRM-based MCID was 0.8.

The limitation of using Method (V) and (VI) in MCID calculations will be later described in Discussion.

Method (VII) calculating MCID through SD

Standard Deviation represents the average spread of individual data points around the mean value of the outcome measure. Norman et al . found in their review of studies using MCID in health-related quality of life instruments that most studies had an average ES of 0.5, which equated to clinically meaningful change score of 0.5 × SD of baseline score [ 7 , 16 ,  30 ].

The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 6d of Supplementry content  1 . The SD-based MCID was 2.1.

Method (VIII) calculating MCID through 95% Minimum Detectable Change (MDC)

The MDC is defined as the minimal change below which there is a 95% chance that it is due to measurement error of the outcome measurement instrument: [ 7 , 61 ].

Usually, value corresponding to z is the desired level of confidence, which for 95% confidence level is 1.96. Although MDC–like all distribution-based methods–does not consider whether a change is clinically meaningful, the calculated MCID should be at least the same or greater than MDC to enable distinguishing true mathematical change from measurement noise. The 95% MDC calculation, is the most common distribution-based approach in spinal surgery, and it appears to most closely resemble anchor-derived MCID values, as demonstrated by Copay et al . [ 7 , 14 , 62 ]. The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 6e of Supplementry Content  1 . The 95% MDC was 5.1.

Method (IX) calculating MCID through Reliable Change Index

Another less frequently applied method through which “responders and “non-responders” can be classified but which does not rely on an external criterion is the Reliable Change Index (RCI), also called the Jacobson–Truax index [ 63 , 64 ]. It indicates whether an individual change score is statistically significantly greater than a change in score that could have occurred due to random measurement error alone [ 63 ].

In theory, a patient can be considered to experience a statistically reliably identifiable improvement ( p  < 0.05), if the individual RCI is > 1.96. Again, it does not reflect whether the change is clinically meaningful for the patient but rather that the change should not be attributed to measurement error alone and likely has a component of true score change. Therefore, this method is discouraged in MCID calculations as it relies on statistical properties of the sample and not patient preferences–as all distribution-based methods do [ 65 ]. In the example of Bolton et al . who focused on the Bournemouth Questionnaire in patients with neck pain, RCI was subsequently used to discriminate between “responders” and “non-responders”. The ROC analysis approach was then used to determine the MCID [ 64 ]. The corresponding R-Code formula is described in Step 6f of Supplementry Content  1 . Again, pROC package was used. The ROC-derived MCID was 2.5.

Other methods

Method (x) calculating mcid through anchor-based minimal important change (mic) distribution model.

In theory, combining anchor- and distribution-based methods could yield superior results. Some suggestions include averaging the values of various methods, simply combining two different methods (i.e. both an anchor-based criterion such as ROC-based MCID from patient satisfaction and 95% MDC-based MCID have to both be met to consider a patient as having achieved MCID) [ 25 ]. In 2007, de Vet et al . introduced a new visual method of MCID calculations that does not only combine but also integrates both anchor- and distribution-based calculations [ 25 ]. In addition, their method allows the calculation of both MCID for improvement and for deterioration, as these can differ.

In short form, using an anchor, patients were divided into three “importantly improved”, “not importantly changed” and “importantly deteriorated” groups (Fig.  2 ) . Then distribution expressed in percentiles of patients who “importantly improved”, “importantly deteriorated” and “not importantly changed” were plotted on a graph. This is the anchor-based part of the approach, ensuring that MCID thresholds chosen have clinical value.

Distribution of the Zurich Claudication Questionnaire Symptom Severity change scores for patients categorized as experiencing “important improvement”, “no important change” or “important deterioration” in JOABPEQ walking ability as an anchor (Method (X)). For ZCQ Symptom Severity score to improve, the actual value must decrease explaining the negative values in the model. ROC , Receiver Operating Characteristic; ZCQ , Zurich Claudication Questionnaire; JOABPEQ , Japanese Orthopaedic Association Back Pain Evaluation Questionnaire

The second part of the approach is then entirely focused on the group of patients determined by the anchor to be “unchanged”, and can be either distribution- or anchor-based:

In the first and more anchor-based method, the ROC-based method described in Method (III) is applied to find the threshold for improvement (by finding the ROC-based threshold point that optimizes sensitivity and specificity of identifying improved vs unchanged patients) or for deterioration (by finding the ROC-based threshold point that optimizes sensitivity and specificity of identifying deteriorated vs unchanged patients). For example, the threshold for improvement is found by combining the improved and unchanged groups, and then testing out different thresholds for discriminating those two groups from each other. The optimal point on the resulting ROC curve based on the closest-to-(0,1)-criterion is then found.

In the second method, which is distribution-based, the upper 95% (for improvement) and lower 95% (for deterioration) limits are found based solely on the group of patients determined to be unchanged. The following formula is used (instead, subtracting instead of adding the 1.645 × SD for deterioration or improvement, respectively): [ 25 ]

The corresponding R-Code formula can be found under Step 7a in Supplementry Content  1 . The model is presented in Fig.  2 . The 95% upper limit and 95% lower limit was 4.1 and − 7.2 respectively. The ROC-derived MCID using RCI was − 2.5 (important improvement vs unchanged) and − 0.5 (important deterioration vs unchanged). For the purpose of the model, MCID values were not multiplied by − 1 but remained in original form.

Method (XI) calculating MCID as 30% Reduction from Baseline

In recent years, a simple 30% reduction from baseline values has been introduced as an alternative to MCID calculations [ 66 ]. It has been speculated that absolute-point changes are difficult to interpret and have limited value in context of “ceiling” and “floor” effects (i.e. values that are on the extreme spectra of the measurement scale) [ 4 ]. To overcome this, Khan et al . found that 30% reduction in PROMs has similar effectiveness as traditional anchored or distribution-based methods in detecting patients with clinically meaningful differences post lumbar spine surgery [ 15 ]. The corresponding R-Code formula can be found under Step 7b in Supplementry Content  1 .

Method (XII) Calculating MCID through Delphi method

The Delphi Method is a systemic approach using the collective opinion of experts to establish a consensus regarding a medical issue [ 67 ]. It has mostly been used to develop best practice guidelines [ 68 ]. However, it can also be used to aid MCID determination [ 69 ]. The method focuses on distributing questionnaires or surveys to panel of members. The anonymized answers are grouped together and shared again with the expert panel in subsequent rounds. This allows the experts to reflect on their opinions and consider strengths and weaknesses of the others response. The process is repeated until consensus is reached. Ensuring anonymity, this prevents any potential bias linked to a specific participant’s concern about their own opinion being viewed or influenced by other personal factors [ 67 ].

Method (XIII) calculating MCID through Social Comparison Approach

The final approach is asking patients to compare themselves to other patients, which requires time and resources [ 70 ]. In a study by Redelmeier et al . patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in a rehabilitation program were organized into small groups and observed each other at multiple occasions [ 70 ]. Additionally, each patient was paired with another participant and had a one-to-one interview with them discussing different aspects of their health. Finally, each patient anonymously rated themselves against their partner on a scale “much better”, “somewhat better”, “a little bit better”, “about the same”, “a little bit worse” “somewhat worse” and “much worse”. MCID was then calculated based on the mean change score of patients who graded themselves as “a little bit better” (MCID for improvement) or a “little bit worse” (MCID for deterioration), like in the within-patient change and between-patient change method described in Method (I) and (II) [ 70 ].

Substantial Clinical Benefit

Over the years, it has been noted that MCID calculations based either purely on distribution-based method or only group of patients rating themselves as “somewhat better” or “slightly better” does not necessarily constitute a change that patients would consider beneficial enough “to mandate, in the absence of troublesome side effects and excessive cost, to undergo the treatment again” [ 3 , 24 ]. Therefore, the concept of substantial clinical benefit (SCB) has been introduced as a way of identifying a threshold of clinical success of intervention rather than a “floor” value for improvement- that is MCID [ 24 ]. For example, in Carreon et al ., ROC derived SCB “thresholds” were defined as a change score with equal sensitivity and specificity to distinguish “much better” from “somewhat better” patients post cervical spinal fusion [ 71 ]. Glassman et al . on the other hand used ROC derived SCB thresholds to discriminate between “much better” and “about the same” patients following lumbar spinal fusion. The authors stress that SCB and MCID are indeed separate entities, and one should not be used to derive the other [ 24 ]. Thus, while the methods to derive SCB and MCID thresholds can be carried out similarly based on anchors, the ultimate goal of applying SCB versus MCID is different.

Using the various methods explained above, overall, MCID for improvement for ZCQ Symptoms Severity domain ranged from 0.8 to 5.1 (Table  1 ). Here, the readers obtained results can be checked for correctness. On average distribution-based MCID values were lower than anchor-based MCID values. Within distribution-based approach, method (VIII) “Minimum detectable change” resulted in MCID of 5.1, which exceeded the MCID’s derived using the “gold-standard” anchor-based approaches. The average MCID based on anchor of NRS Leg pain and JOABPEQ walking ability was 3.1 and 2.8, respectively. Dependent on methods used, percentage of responders to HE and PT intervention fell within range of 9.5% for “30% Reduction from Baseline” method to 61.9% using ES- and SRM-based method (Table  2 ). Method (X) is graphically presented in Fig.  2 .

As demonstrated above, the MCID is dependent upon the methodology and the chosen anchor, highlighting the necessity for careful preparation in MCID calculations. The lowest MCID of 0.8 was calculated for Method (VI) being SRM. Logically, if a patient on average had a baseline ZCQ Symptom Severity score of 23.2, an improvement of 0.8 is unlikely to be clinically meaningful, even if rounded up. It rather informs on the measurement error property of our instrument as explained by COSMIN. Additionally, the distribution-based methods rely on statistical properties of the sample, which varies from cohort to cohort making it only generalizable to patient groups with similar SD but not applicable to others with a different spread of data [ 52 ]. Not surprisingly, anchor-based methods considering patient preferences yielded on average higher MCID values than distribution-based methods, which again varied from anchor to anchor. The mean MCID for improvement calculated for NPRS Leg Pain was 3.1, while for JOABPEQ Walking Ability it was 2.8—such similar values prove the importance of selecting responsive anchors with at least moderate correlations. Despite assessing different aspects of LSS disease, the MCID remained comparable in this specific case.

Interestingly, Method (VIII) MDC yielded the highest value of 5.1, exceeding the “gold-standard” ROC-derived MCID. This suggests that, in this example, using this ROC-derived MCID in clinical practice would be illogical, as the value falls within the measurement error determined by MDC. Here it would be appropriate to choose MDC approach as the MCID. Interestingly, ROC-derived MCID values based on Global Assessment Rating like stratification of patients based on their JOABPEQ Walking Ability (Method X) yielded higher MCID, than in Method (III). This may be attributed to a more a balanced distribution of “responders” and “non-responders” (only unchanged patients) in Method (X), unlike in the latter (Method III) where patients were strictly categorized into “responders” and “non-responders” (including both deteriorated and unchanged). This further highlights the importance of using global assessment rating type scales in determining the extent of clinical benefit.

Although ES-based (Method (V)) and SRM-based (Method (VI)) MCID calculations have been described in the literature, ES and SRM were originally created to quantify the strength of relationship between scores of two samples (in case of ES) and change score of paired observations in one sample (in case of SRM) [ 53 , 58 , 59 ]. They do offer an alternative to MCID calculations. However, verification with other MCID calculation methods, ideally anchor-based, is strongly recommended. As seen in this case study and other MCID’s derived similarly, they often result small estimates [ 7 , 55 ]. There is also no consensus regarding the choice of SD of Change Score vs. SD of Baseline Score as denominator. Additionally, whether the calculated MCID (mean change score) should represent value, such as the ES is 0.2 indicating small effect, or value should be 0.5 suggesting moderate effect is currently arbitrary and often relies on the researcher’s preference [ 53 , 55 , 59 ]. Both ES and SRM can be used to assess whether the overall change score observed in single study is suggestive of a clinically meaningful benefit in that specific cohort or in case of SRM, whether the outcome measure is responsive. However, it is our perspective that extending such value as “MCID” from one study to another is not recommended.

One can argue whether there is even a place for distribution-based methods in MCID calculations. They ultimately fail to provide an MCID value that meets the original definition of Jaeschke et al . “of smallest change in the outcome that the patient would identify as important”. At no point are patients asked about what constitutes a meaningful change for them, and the value is derived from statistical properties of the sample solely [ 1 ]. Nevertheless, conduction of studies on MCID implementing scales such as Global Assessment Rating is time-consuming and performing studies for each patient outcome and each disease is likely not feasible. Distribution-based methods still have some merit in that they–like the 95% MDC method—can help distinguish measurement noise and inaccuracy from true change. Even if anchor-based methods should probably be used to define MCID thresholds, they ought to be supported by a calculation of MDC so that it can be decided whether the chosen threshold makes sense mathematically (i.e., can reliably be distinguished from measurement inaccuracies) as seen in our case study.

Calculating MCID for different diagnoses

Previously, MCID thresholds for outcome measurement instruments were calculated for generic populations, such as patients suffering from low back pain. More recently, MCID values for commonly used PROMs in spine surgery, such as ODI, RMDQ or NRS have been calculated for more narrowly defined diagnoses, such as lumbar disc herniation (LDH) or LSS. The question arises as to whether a separate MCID is needed for all the different spinal conditions. In general, establishing an MCID specific to these patient groups is only recommended if these patient’s perception of meaningful change is different from that of low back pain in general. Importantly, again, the MCID should not be treatment-specific, but rather broadly disease specific. Therefore, it is advisable to use MCID based on patients who had the most similar disease characteristics to our cohort. For example, an MCID for NRS Back Pain based on study group composed of different types of lumbar degenerative disease, may in some cases, be applied to study cohort composed solely of patients with LDH. However, no such extrapolation should be performed for populations with back pain secondary to malignancy, due to a totally different pathogenesis and associated symptoms that may influence the ability to detect a clinically meaningful change in the above NRS Back Pain such as fatigue or anorexia.

Study cohort characteristics that influence MCID

Regardless of robust methodology, it can be expected that it is impossible to obtain the same MCID on different occasions even in the same population due to the inherent subjectivity of what is perceived as “clinically beneficial” and day-to-day symptom fluctuation. However, it was found that patients who have worse baseline scores, reflecting e.g., more advanced disease, require greater overall change at follow-up to report it as clinically meaningful [ 72 ]. One should also be mindful of “regression to the mean” where extremely high or low-scoring patients then subsequently score closer to baseline at second measurement [ 73 ]. Therefore, adequate cohort characteristics need to be presented, for the readers to judge how generalizable the MCID may be to their study cohort. If a patient pre-operatively experiences NRS Leg Pain of 1, and the MCID is 1.6, they cannot achieve MCID at all, as the maximum possible change score is smaller than the MCID threshold (“floor effect”). A similar situation can occur with patients closer to the higher end of the scale (“ceiling effect”). The general rule is, that if at least 15% of the study cohort has the highest or lowest possible score for a given outcome instrument, one can expect significant “ceiling/floor effects” [ 50 ]. One way to overcome this, is through transferring absolute MCID scores to percentage change scores [ 4 , 45 ]. However, percentage change scores only account for high baseline scores, if high baseline scores indicate larger disability (as seen with ODI) and have a possibility of larger change. If a high score in an instruments reflects better health status (as seen in in SF-36), than percentage change scores will increase the association with baseline score [ 4 ]. In general, it is important to consider which patient to exclude from certain analyses when applying MCID: For example, patients without relevant disease preoperatively (for example, those exhibiting so-called “patient-accepted symptom states”, PASS) should probably be excluded altogether when reporting the percentage of patients achieving MCID [ 74 ].

Establishing reliable thresholds for MCID is key in clinical research and forms the basis of patient-centered treatment evaluations when using patient-reported outcome measures or objective functional tests. Calculation of MCID thresholds can be achieved using a variety of different methods, each yielding completely different results, as is demonstrated in this practical guide. Generally, anchor-based methods relying on scales assessing patient preferences/satisfaction or global assessment ratings continue to be the “gold-standard” approach- the most common being ROC analysis. In the absence of appropriate anchors, the distribution-based MCID based on the 95% MDC approach is acceptable, as it appears to yield the most similar results compared to anchor-based approaches. Moreover, we recommend using it as a supplement to any anchor-based MCID thresholds to check if they can reliably distinguish true change from measurement inaccuracies. The explanation provided in this practical guide with step-by-step examples along with public data and statistical code can add as guidance for future studies calculating MCID thresholds.

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Klukowska, A.M., Vandertop, W.P., Schröder, M.L. et al. Calculation of the minimum clinically important difference (MCID) using different methodologies: case study and practical guide. Eur Spine J (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-024-08369-5

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