In three weeks, your priority is to learn the essentials, practise them aloud and fix the errors that most affect your answers. Start live practice in the first week. Let it tell you where the next block of study should go.
I would use the schedule below with one main course, a small set of unfamiliar cases and two potential partners. It reserves roughly eight hours a week, including review and interviewer preparation. If you have less time, use the reduced version at the end.
Set up the week before collecting resources
Confirm the role, interview date, language and components in your invitation. Put separate assessments or expertise preparation into the calendar if required. This plan covers case and personal-experience work.
Choose one introductory course and an official firm example. Book the first partner appointment now. You can learn enough beforehand to attempt a short teaching case with pauses.
Combine live practice, focused drills and fit preparation. Set the volume around the time you actually have. Every mock needs a debrief and a chance to use the feedback.
Week one: learn the parts and attempt a case
| Day | Time | Task and output |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 minutes | Try an official example aloud, then review it. Record three specific gaps. |
| 2 | 60 minutes | Learn objectives and structures. Build approaches for three short prompts. |
| 3 | 60 minutes | Practise revenue, contribution and break-even. Explain each equation before calculating. |
| 4 | 90 minutes | Give and receive a short teaching case. Reserve feedback and replay time. |
| 5 | 45 minutes | Repair the most important error from day four using changed numbers or a new setting. |
| 6 | 90 minutes | Explain an exhibit, practise a conclusion and prepare the next case you will give. |
| 7 | 60 minutes | Discuss one personal example and choose your week-two priority. |
That is seven hours and 45 minutes. Add time before day four to read and solve the case you are giving; do not arrive with an unread answer sheet.
For day three, try this original exercise. A workshop charges £60 per participant, spends £20 on materials per participant and has £1,600 in fixed costs. Break-even is 40 participants. At 50, profit is £400. A £10 discount reduces contribution to £30, so break-even rises to 54 whole participants. At 50, the workshop loses £100.
Explain the implication: the discount needs additional attendance to cover its effect on every ticket. Then ask whether the room can hold that many people. You are practising a decision, not just a formula.
By the end of the week, you should be able to identify the objective, propose relevant questions and set up a simple calculation. If one part is missing, make it the first repair next week.
Quick Case Opening Drill
A meal-kit company's founder says the business is earning less than last year. You are about to set out your approach to the case.
- Annual revenue
- £20m, same as last year
- Orders delivered
- Same number as last year
- Operating profit
- Down from £3m to £1m
Which branch should your opening structure examine first?
Week two: connect the skills in conversation
| Day | Time | Task and output |
|---|---|---|
| 8 | 45 minutes | Retest your week-one weakness on unfamiliar short prompts. |
| 9 | 90 minutes | Run a reciprocal case session. Ask the partner to watch your repair target. |
| 10 | 60 minutes | Practise numerical or exhibit interpretation, finishing each result with its implication. |
| 11 | 60 minutes | Answer personal-story follow-ups and prepare the next case you will give. |
| 12 | 90 minutes | Practise with a different partner where possible. Compare concrete feedback. |
| 13 | 60 minutes | Repair the recurring issue and practise a concise recommendation. |
| 14 | 60 minutes | Review recent attempts and prepare material for the final week. |
This also totals seven hours and 45 minutes. For full cases that need longer than the meeting allows, split giving and receiving across appointments. Do not squeeze out feedback to preserve a reciprocal format.
For day ten, use a simple comparison. Store A falls from 1,000 transactions at £30 each to 900 at £32. Store B stays at 800 transactions but its basket falls from £25 to £22. A's revenue falls £1,200; B's falls £2,400. B explains two-thirds of the combined £3,600 decline, even though A has the more obvious traffic problem.
Say which store you would investigate first and why. Then identify the next question: for B, what changed in product mix, prices or items per basket? This trains you to prioritise rather than describe every row.
At the checkpoint, look for the correction appearing without a reminder. If you still need a hint, retain the target and change the exercise.
Week three: test independence and reduce novelty
| Day | Time | Task and output |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 60 minutes | Repair the largest remaining gap and prepare an unfamiliar case. |
| 16 | 90 minutes | Complete a reciprocal mock with coaching saved for the debrief. |
| 17 | 60 minutes | Practise personal follow-ups, motivation and questions for the firm. |
| 18 | 90 minutes | Run the final substantial mock or an experienced review. |
| 19 | 60 minutes | Retest the highest-impact remaining issue in a changed context. |
| 20 | 45 minutes | Review key notes and rehearse interview logistics. |
| 21 | 30 minutes | Use a familiar warm-up, then stop. |
That is seven hours and 15 minutes. Move the lighter final days to match your actual interview date.
Ask the partner to change one assumption during a mock. Lower demand, introduce a capacity limit or question a cost. Explain what changes in your reasoning. This is more useful than adding another unfamiliar framework at the last minute.
Quick Answer Repair Drill
In a reciprocal mock, your partner finishes a late-night bus route case and closes: “Don't launch. It loses £200k a year, and demand is uncertain.”
- Extra annual revenue
- £0.9m
- Extra annual cost
- £1.1m
- Council subsidy
- £0.3m a year if launched
What is the main flaw in your partner's closing recommendation?
Keep personal stories concrete
Choose real examples involving a difficult choice, collaboration, influence or a setback. Know what you personally did, why you chose it and what happened. Ask someone to interrupt and explore a detail you did not plan to emphasise.
Prepare factual notes that let you answer detailed follow-ups about your experience. A paragraph that must be recited in order will struggle when the interviewer changes the question.
Adapt when the week does not go to plan
With four hours a week, preserve one 90-minute reciprocal meeting, 30 minutes preparing the case you give, 45 minutes learning and drilling, 45 minutes repairing feedback and 30 minutes on personal experience. That totals 240 minutes.
If a partner cancels, use the appointment for a spoken attempt and review. A video can become an exercise if you pause before the answer and try it yourself. A solo or AI session can keep the routine moving while you arrange the next human conversation.
Before the interview, review what you can do independently on unfamiliar material and choose the largest remaining repair. The readiness guide helps make that judgement. The calendar gives you a sequence; your actual answers tell you where to spend the next hour.
Frequently asked questions
Setting up before day one
Can I start live case practice in week one if I'm a complete beginner?
Yes, and the plan expects you to. You can learn enough beforehand to attempt a short teaching case with pauses, and live practice then shows you where your next block of study should go. Book the first partner appointment during setup so that practice starts early rather than waiting until you feel ready.
How many prep resources should I gather for a three-week plan?
Keep it small. Choose one introductory course and an official firm example, then add a few unfamiliar cases and line up two potential partners. Gathering more material is not the priority. The plan's value comes from combining live practice, focused drills and fit preparation, so each resource should feed one of those activities.
What should I check in my interview invitation before planning?
Confirm the role, interview date, language and the components listed. If the process includes a separate assessment or expertise preparation, put it into the calendar now, because this plan only covers case and personal-experience work. Checking early stops you from discovering a missing element in the final week.
Working through the three weeks
What should I actually do on day one?
Spend about 60 minutes trying an official firm example aloud, then review it and record three specific gaps. The output matters more than how well the attempt went, because those gaps guide your study for the rest of the first week. Day two then moves on to objectives and structures, building approaches for three short prompts.
Which case maths should a beginner learn first?
Start with revenue, contribution and break-even, which the plan schedules for day three. The output is not just a correct figure. You should explain each calculation aloud as you go. That habit matters later, when numerical work appears inside a full case conversation rather than as an isolated drill.
How do I know whether I've fixed a week-one weakness?
Retest it on unfamiliar short prompts, as the plan does on day eight in a 45-minute session. Practising on material you have already seen can hide whether the repair transfers. The next day, ask your reciprocal partner to watch that specific repair target during a live case, so the fix is also checked in conversation.
What is a reciprocal case session and how should I use it?
It is a session in which you and a partner both give and receive a case. The plan schedules a 90-minute one on day nine. Before you start, tell your partner the repair target you want them to watch, so their feedback focuses on the change you are trying to make rather than on general impressions.
Should my partner coach me during the mock in week three?
No. On day 16, the plan asks partners to save coaching for the debrief. Week three is about testing independence, so you need to see whether you can recover without prompts. Interruptions during the case would hide exactly the gaps you are trying to find before the interview.
Why switch to unfamiliar cases in the final week?
Familiar cases can mask whether you can work independently. On day 15, you repair your largest remaining gap and prepare an unfamiliar case. Reducing novelty means getting comfortable with material you have not seen before, not memorising specific cases in the hope that one of them appears.
Personal stories and changes of plan
How do I prepare personal stories that hold up under follow-up questions?
Prepare factual notes rather than a scripted paragraph, because a recited answer struggles when the interviewer changes direction. Know what you personally did, why you chose it and what happened. Then ask someone to interrupt and explore a detail you did not plan to emphasise. Day 17 also covers follow-ups, motivation and questions for the firm.
What kinds of experiences make good fit stories?
Choose real examples involving a difficult choice, collaboration, influence or a setback. The most useful ones make your own contribution clear and let you explain your reasoning, not just the team's outcome. Avoid examples where you could not answer detailed questions about what you personally decided.
Does the plan still work with four hours a week instead of eight?
Yes, as long as you protect the live practice. The full plan assumes roughly eight hours a week. With four, keep one 90-minute reciprocal meeting, 30 minutes preparing the case you give, 45 minutes learning and drilling, 45 minutes repairing feedback and 30 minutes on personal experience. That totals 240 minutes.
What should I do if my practice partner cancels?
Keep the slot and use it for a spoken attempt followed by a review. You lose the outside perspective, but you still practise talking through a case aloud. A video can also work if you pause before the answer, try it yourself and then compare, which turns passive watching into an exercise.