Bain & Company Has anyone recently had to do the Bain written case? I just got told I will have to do it a few days ago for the Bain final and hadn’t even really heard of it before that. I’ll be doing 2 practices before the interview next week, but that doesn’t seem like much given that I did more than 50 case practices for the traditional case which I will also have to face next week. Did anyone else manage to pass the Bain written case with such little notice/preparation? Bain & Company Boston Consulting Group
The written case is stressful, primarily because of time pressure and lot of info thrown at you. Figure out a timeline that works for you and practice it in your mocks (I think your interviewing office can give you one sample too). E.g first 5-10 min, really understand qns being asked and case context. Next 15-20 min, go through full pack with the objective of extracting or figuring out which data points or slides are helpful vs not (have two piles). Next 20-25 min, actually spend time to crack the qns with selected slides. Pls do leave at least five min to peace together all answers and what you are going to say.
All this is of course idealistic. In my written case 6 years back, I realized I had only 7 min and hadn't even solved the first analytical qn. I quickly rushed and barely finished. For rest of qns which were a bit qualitative, I just said on the fly.
Pls don't also underestimate the discussion element. Be open to receiving feedback, defending your pov where reasonable politely but also acknowledging and shifting the recommendation based on any pov that your interviewers might share too.
In the worst case, if you cant solve all qns within the time, be positive and confident, just say you didn't have the time to complete it but here is how you would approach it and what your hypothesis is (and react live during discussion)
I don't think delaying interview might be very helpful. Just practice your timeline through a sample so you also get used to how quickly the one hour will feel, and you should be set.
Just relax and breathe...
@SM1 - This is excellent advice.
They written case is hard. You are prepared for it if you have prepped for regular cases. However they absolute key here is time management—utilize the practice ones to figure out a timeline and ensure you stick to it! You need to quickly hone in on the key questions and slides the support your A1 quickly. Best of luck!
Ps. I also did BCGs and finished with time to spare—it was easy and seemed more focused on presentation skills vs answer cracking
Also, Bain didn’t give me a practice case
Thanks for the encouragement
Yeah. When I did it they put all 6 candidates in one room to do it. Everyone was shuffling papers, writing notes vigorously. I got so freaked out I made a math error. Note - I’ve gotten almost perfect scores on standardized tests, but this was different and way more competitive. Didn’t get the offer. It was a bad experience overall. Not sure if they still do it that way. When I did it with BCG, I nailed it. I was given my own room. And McK’s was less stressful because they had us more spread out. Good luck! I’m sure you’ll nail it!
I didn’t practice because back then there was no way to. Perhaps it’s different now. I can’t say much about ratio of correct exhibits as I’m not at Bain.
You said you had 2 practices. They only gave me one! You’ll be fine :)
I found two online , but none from Bain :)
Trying to decide if should delay the final round interview or not, since I had no idea I would face the written case.