“It's a market-entry case” tells you what the company is considering. It does not tell you how the interview will run. You might discuss the decision with an interviewer, analyse a document pack alone, or present a recommendation and defend it.
Separate those two questions when you prepare: What will I have to do in the interview? What decision will I have to help the client make? Once you do that, the long lists of case types become much easier to use.
I would learn the main business problems and practise them in the format named in your invitation. Collecting a separate script for every combination creates more work and makes it harder to listen.
Start with the interview format
A live case is a conversation. The interviewer gives you a business situation and introduces questions, numbers or exhibits as you work through it. You need to explain your reasoning, respond to new information and keep moving towards an answer.
In an interviewer-led case, the interviewer sets much of the sequence. Take ownership of each question: clarify what you need, organise your answer and explain what the result means. You still need judgment; being led through the questions does not mean waiting to be told what to think.
In a candidate-led case, you have more responsibility for deciding where to investigate. State why an analysis matters before requesting its data. If you discover that your initial hypothesis is wrong, choose a better direction. Finishing your opening framework is less important than resolving the client's decision.
The balance can shift during one interview. Treat these labels as preparation aids. Follow the interviewer in front of you.
A written case gives you material to analyse within a specified time. Your main challenge is selection: find the evidence that changes the answer, do the necessary calculations, and leave enough time to communicate a recommendation. Reading every page with equal care can leave you with detailed notes and no conclusion.
A presentation case adds a delivery task. You may prepare slides or present without them. Build a clear argument and be ready to explain the assumptions beneath it. A polished slide will not help if you cannot defend the number on it.
Some processes also use group exercises, take-home assignments or digital assessments. Read their instructions separately; deliverables, time limits and permitted tools can differ.
Recognise the decision behind the business problem
You do not need ten memorised frameworks. You need to recognise what has to be true for a recommendation to work.
| Business problem | The question you are trying to resolve | A useful first investigation |
|---|---|---|
| Profitability | Why has profit changed, and what can restore it? | Locate the change by revenue, cost and segment |
| Market entry | Should we enter, and how? | Test customer demand and the economics of serving it |
| Growth | Where can we add valuable business? | Compare specific growth opportunities and what limits them |
| Pricing | What price or pricing model should we use? | Connect willingness to pay, volume response and contribution |
| Operations | How can we improve cost, speed or service? | Find the step constraining the outcome |
| Acquisition or investment | Is this asset worth committing capital to? | Test standalone value, achievable benefits and the price |
| Market sizing | How much demand or capacity is there? | Define the unit, customer group, geography and period |
| Competitive response | How should we react to a rival's move? | Identify which customers or economics are actually exposed |
| Product launch | Should we launch, and what would make it succeed? | Check the customer need, route to market and launch economics |
| Turnaround | How do we stabilise a struggling business? | Establish the immediate cash or operating constraint |
These are starting points. If a market-entry prompt says demand is already contracted, you should spend less time debating whether customers exist and more time checking whether the company can deliver profitably.
For a public-service or nonprofit case, replace the profit objective with the stated outcome. A food bank might need to reach remote communities within a budget. Maximising meals per dollar alone could miss that requirement.
Quick Structuring Drill
The owner of a car-wash chain in Yorkshire raises four concerns in your first meeting. Each needs a different starting analysis.
Which decision does each of the owner's concerns ask you to resolve?
Expect one case to contain several problems
Consider this illustrative prompt:
A meal-kit company wants to enter a neighbouring country by acquiring a local subscription business. Should it proceed?
You could call this market entry, M&A, growth or a subscription case. All four labels fit. None tells you which analysis to do first.
Suppose you then learn that the target has strong first-month sales but most customers leave before their acquisition cost is recovered. I would investigate retention and customer contribution before estimating a generous acquisition synergy. Buying a business with broken customer economics does not automatically fix those economics.
Now change the facts. Customers stay, margins are attractive, but local deliveries arrive late because the warehouse cannot meet peak demand. Capacity and service become central. The same headline case type now needs a different investigation.
Your opening structure should accommodate the possibilities. Your next step should respond to the evidence. Our guide to building a case framework shows how to make that transition.
Practise the work that the format exposes
For live cases, practise speaking through unfamiliar problems with someone who can introduce new facts and challenge your choices. Include moments when the right response is to pause, correct yourself or change direction.
For written cases, practise with a deadline and a defined output. Decide what you need to answer before opening every exhibit. Reserve time to check the main calculation and write the recommendation.
For presentations, rehearse questions about your weakest assumption. If your recommendation depends on 20% customer conversion, be ready to explain why that figure is credible and what happens at 10%.
Across all three, check whether you can explain a result in one useful sentence. “Profit is $2 million” is a number. “Profit is $2 million, below the $3 million target, so the current plan needs another source of value” advances the decision.
Quick Prioritisation Drill
A written case asks whether a city hotel should turn its loss-making restaurant into eight guest rooms.
- Time available
- 30 minutes
- Exhibit pack
- Menus, reviews, restaurant accounts, room bookings, building quote
What should decide which exhibits you read closely first?
Use variety deliberately
Your practice history should contain different industries and different decisions. That helps you discover which skills travel. It also prevents the false confidence that comes from recognising a case you have effectively seen before.
Choose the next case because it tests something you need. If you keep losing direction, take a live case that requires you to choose the next analysis. If you struggle to finish a written exercise, practise selection and time allocation. If unfamiliar business language slows you down, use the business terms guide alongside a fresh problem.
Pick a case from the case library, identify its decision and practise the format you expect. Afterwards, judge the reasoning you demonstrated, not whether you guessed the correct label.
Full case practice
Carry it into a fresh case.
Choose a case, work through the decisions with Casey, and review where your reasoning can improve.
Choose a caseFrequently asked questions
Understanding case interview formats
What are the different types of case interview format?
The format describes what you must do in the interview. In a live case, you discuss a decision with an interviewer. In a written case, you analyse a document pack on your own. In a presentation case, you present a recommendation and defend it. Each tests business reasoning under different conditions, so find out which one you will face.
If I'm told it's a market-entry case, do I know how the interview will run?
No. A market-entry label tells you what the company is considering, not how the interview works. The same problem could be discussed live, analysed from a written pack or presented. Prepare by asking two separate questions. What will I have to do in the interview? What decision will I help the client make?
What actually happens in a live case?
A live case is a conversation. The interviewer sets out a business situation, then introduces questions, numbers or exhibits as you work through it. Your task is more than reaching an answer. You need to explain your reasoning, respond sensibly to new information and keep moving towards a recommendation.
In an interviewer-led case, should I just answer what I am asked?
No. Take ownership of each question, even though the interviewer controls much of the sequence. Clarify what you need, organise your answer and explain your reasoning, rather than giving a bare result. Treating each prompt as a small problem to structure shows judgement that a single number or a one-line reply cannot.
Identifying the business problem
Do I need to memorise a framework for every case type?
No. Rather than memorising many frameworks, work out what has to be true for a recommendation to succeed. In a profitability case, the question is why profit has changed and what can restore it. A useful first step is to locate where the change sits, starting with revenue and cost.
What if a case seems to fit several categories at once?
Expect that to happen. A meal-kit company buying a local subscription business to enter a neighbouring country could be called market entry, M&A, growth or a subscription case. All of those labels fit, but none tells you what to analyse first. Let the client's decision and the evidence set your priorities instead.
How should new information change my approach mid-case?
Let it redirect your analysis. In the meal-kit example, the target has strong first-month sales but loses most customers early. That shifts your attention to whether those customers are worth acquiring, whatever label you started with. Follow the fact that most affects the decision rather than completing a fixed checklist.
Practising for each format
Is it a mistake to change direction during a live case?
Not when the evidence justifies it. Good live-case practice should include moments when the right response is to pause, correct yourself or change direction. Rehearsing those moments helps you handle them calmly in the interview. Otherwise, you may end up defending an approach that new facts have already undermined.
Can I practise live cases on my own?
Solo work helps with structure and calculations, but live cases are best practised with someone who can introduce new facts and challenge your choices. A live case tests how you talk through an unfamiliar problem and react to new information. That is hard to reproduce when you control the whole case yourself.
How should I practise for a written case?
Work to a deadline with a defined output. Decide what you need to answer before you open any exhibit, so the question guides your reading. Save time at the end to check the main calculation and write the recommendation. A strong analysis loses its value if the conclusion is rushed or the key figure is wrong.
Should I practise cases from lots of different industries?
Yes, and across different decisions too. Variety helps you discover which skills transfer from one context to another. It also prevents false confidence from recognising a case you have effectively seen before. That kind of familiarity can hide weaknesses that an unfamiliar case would expose.
How do I choose which case to practise next?
Choose it because it tests something you need, not at random. If you keep losing direction, take a live case that requires you to choose the next analysis yourself. Track where your practice cases go wrong, and let those patterns guide your next choice rather than the industry or label.