This reader simply wants my opinion of which case interview prep books are the best to use. My knowledge on that is pretty dated, but I shared my thoughts on his question anyway.
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MB wrote:
Hi Marquis,
I really enjoy your blog and the insights you offer!
Not sure if you have covered this and I simply haven’t yet read that post, but can you advise as to what the best case study books are?
I remember you giving an old colleague of yours the advice to work with those, but not what the book suggestions actually are.
Very much looking forward to hear from you!
Cheers,
MB
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My response:
Hi MB,
Thanks for reaching out with your question, as it is a great one for folks who are trying to prep for consulting interviews.
Over the years, I’ve mentioned several case prep books in blog entries, but I don’t recall ever having devoted a single entry to recommending/reviewing any books. There’s a first time for everything, right?
Based on my own case prep experience, I’m a fan of the following pair of books:
- “Case in point” by Marc Consentino (http://www.amazon.com/Case-In-Point-Interview-Preparation/dp/0971015880): This book was basically my go-to guide during my MBA summer to truly take my case interview game to the next level. Consentino does a great job of breaking down the different types of cases that one night see in an interview and then describes the questions that should be answered for each type of case. He has a great approach for teaching folks how to understand cases from end-to-end.
- “Crack the case” by David Ohrvall (http://www.amazon.com/Crack-Case-System-Complete-Interview/dp/0974442844): Ohrvall’s book describes his technique for understanding cases, collecting/organizing the information gathered in the interview, and figuring out how to use that info. When I was in business school, I attended one of Ohrvall’s in-person sessions and he helped to establish the foundation for how I approached the case interview from that day forward.
Please note that I was doing my case prep almost 10 years ago, so there may have been several other books released during that period that could be as good or better than these. Also, this is only one person’s perspective, so be sure to ask around for suggestions from others.
I hope the information above is helpful. Good luck with your case interview prep.
Marquis
I could not find how can I share the post though email, Marquis. We might need a social plugin to share the posts through email. Seems very relevant for my younger brother who is doing his MBA.
Hi Deepak, you’re 100% right. The social plugin that I use only allows sharing via social media sites but not email. I’ll see if I can find one that allows email sharing.