A question I receive quite often is How to Practice Case Interviews Alone?
I will be honest it is hard to practice case interviews on your own but not impossible. Most of my case interview prep was done by myself.
I would typically get a copy of the latest Business Week which would report all the major business decisions made by big companies – layoffs, launching new product, acquiring a competitor, etc… And I would try to use the case process to reverse engineer how they got to the decision.
If AT&T sold NCR (National Cash Register company) which was in the news many years ago, what must have been true for them to make the decision. I could do a business situation framework or a profit framework and try to structure the major key issues.
I would recommend practicing drawing out your logic as if you are presenting to a client. For the business situation framework, I would usually draw four boxes with each of the factors I intended to analyze. For a profit framework, I would draw out in big letters “Profit = Revenue – Cost” and analyze each one.
I also suggest setting up issues trees that are multiple layers deep. Without a partner you will have to look at the answer and go through the whole case using what you have learned. Even though you know the answer to the case already that is not what is important what is important is getting accustomed to the process.
Free resources I would recommend to help you in your practice are definitely my free videos and case interview handouts if you do not have those sign up for them here. Go through the videos and handouts and use what I am teaching and practice the process over and over, the more times the better until it becomes second nature to you.
BCG and Oliver Wyman have interactive and guided cases that again help you in learning the process without having a partner.
I also have as part of my free CaseInterview.com membership a free Case Interview Partner matching service that will allow you to find other candidates from around the world to practice case interviews with for free so that you do not have to practice alone.
A paid resource I would recommend to assist in your practice alone is my Look Over My Shoulder program. You can use this program to practice on your own and the value of Look over My Shoulder (LOMS) increases the more time you have to use it, get used to it, and get it to be second nature (again get used to the process).
Another paid resource if you want to practice with someone but just don’t have the right person to practice with is Case Interview Coaching not only will you be able to practice with a live person but it will be a professional former MBB coach that will also provide you with feedback and advice to continue practicing and ace your case interview.
However you decide to practice on your own, with a partner from caseinterviewpartner.com or with a coach remember it is about learning, practicing and practicing the process, the experience I have had and many of my students is that often enough getting used to the process alone will be enough to get you the offer.