Have an upcoming Bain case interview and don’t know which are the best resources to use to prepare for it?

 

I’m a former Bain Manager and interviewer, and I’ll share with you what the best Bain case interview preparation resources are. 

 

While there are a countless number of case interview articles, videos, books, courses, and coaching options available, some resources are significantly better than others.

 

Without the right Bain interview resources, passing Bain case interviews can be challenging. Poor Bain case interview resources might teach you the wrong strategies and waste hundreds of hours of your time.

 

In this article, we’ll cover the best resources to prepare for your Bain case interview given your needs and budget.

 

We categorize these Bain case interview prep resources into the following categories, from cheapest to most expensive:

 

• Free resources to prepare for Bain case interviews

 

• Bain case interview books

 

• Bain case interview courses

 

• Bain case interview coaching

 

• How to best use Bain case interview resources

 

• The best Bain case interview Resources

 

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course. These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

 

Free Resources to Prepare for Bain Case Interviews

 

Bain’s interview preparation website, is a great starting point to familiarize yourself with Bain case interviews. They have two different videos showing what a case interview actually looks like.

 

Bain Case Interview Example #1: Print Co.

 

Market entry case focused on helping a restaurant menu printing company decide whether to enter the electronic restaurant menu market. This case is in a video format and is helpful in understanding what an associate consultant-level interview looks like (post-undergraduate role).

 

Bain Case Interview Example #2: NextGen Tech

 

Partnership case focused on helping a wearable computer device company determine which cellular network company to partner with in order to make $1B over the next two years. This case is in a video format and is helpful in understanding what a consultant-level interview looks like (post-MBA role).

 

There are also two Bain practice cases that you can work through by yourself. We’ve included our videos below each walking through how we would solve them.

 

Bain Practice Case #1: Coffee Shop Co.

 

Help a friend determine whether to open a coffee shop.

 

Bain Practice Case #2: Fashion Co.

 

Determine why a fashion company has experienced declining revenues for the past five years.

 

These are all great resources to use because they are official Bain material, taken straight from their website.

 

However, the major downside is that Bain’s website does not provide many tactical strategies that walk through step-by-step, how to solve a case interview. 

 

If you are completely new to Bain case interviews, we’ve pulled together a free video on a complete guide to case interviews. This video is perfect for beginners who want a quick overview of the case interview process.

 

The video covers:

 

• What is a case interview

 

• The eight parts of a case interview

 

• The six common types of cases

 

• Written case interviews and group case interviews

 

• Case interview tips

 

After watching this video, you should have a good idea of what to expect in a case interview and what strategies you can use, but you will still need practice.

 

Bain’s website only has a few practice cases, but you can find more Bain-specific practice cases by looking through business school consulting club casebooks.

 

These casebooks are formed by students pulling together previous cases that consulting firms have given.

 

Check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases.

 

A major caveat of these consulting casebooks is that the quality of cases varies significantly. Some practice cases may not be representative of what an actual case interview is like. Other cases may provide poor explanations of the sample answers.

 

For the highest-quality cases and practice, try to leverage your network. Find classmates, colleagues, or acquaintances that work at or previously have worked at Bain.

 

Ask them to give you a mock case interview and feedback on your performance.

 

Most Bain or former Bain consultants are more than happy to help you out if you have an upcoming interview. Best of all, they are doing this for free!

 

Bain Case Interview Books

 

After free resources, the next cheapest option to preparing for Bain case interviews are case interview prep books.

 

Case interview prep books are great resources to use because they are fairly inexpensive, only costing $20 to $30. They contain a tremendous amount of information that you can read, digest, and re-read at your own pace.

Based on our comprehensive review of the 12 popular case interview prep books, we ranked nearly all of the case prep books in the market.

The three case interview prep books we recommend using are:

• Hacking the Case Interview (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.

 

• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.

 

• Case Interview Secrets (available on Amazon): This book provides great explanations of essential case interview concepts and fundamentals. The stories and anecdotes that the author provides are entertaining and help paint a clear picture of what to expect in a case interview, what interviewers are looking for, and how to solve a case interview.

 

Bain Case Interview Online Courses

 

Case interview courses are more expensive to use than case interview prep books, but offer more efficient and effective learning. 

 

You’ll learn much more quickly from watching someone teach you the material, provide examples, and then walk through practice problems than from reading a book by yourself.

 

Courses typically cost anywhere between $200 to $400.

 

If you are looking for a single resource to learn the best Bain case interview strategies in the most efficient way possible, enroll in our case interview course.

 

Through 70+ concise video lessons and 20 full-length practice cases based on real interviews from top-tier consulting firms, you’ll learn step-by-step how to crush your Bain case interview.

 

We’ve had students pass their Bain first round interview with just a week of preparation, but know that your success depends on the amount of effort you put in and your starting capabilities.

 

Bain Case Interview Coaching

 

With case interview coaching, you’ll pay anywhere between $100 to $300 for a one-hour mock case interview session with a case coach. Typically, case coaches are former consultants or interviewers that have worked at top-tier consulting firms.

 

Although very expensive, case interview coaching can provide you with high quality feedback that can significantly improve your case interview performance. 

 

By working with a case coach, you will be practicing high quality cases with an expert. You’ll get detailed feedback that ordinary case interview partners are not able to provide.

 

Know that you do not need to purchase case interview coaching to receive a consulting job offer. 

 

The vast majority of candidates that receive offers from top firms did not purchase case interview coaching. By purchasing case interview coaching, you are essentially purchasing convenience and learning efficiency.

 

Case interview coaching is best for those that have already learned as much as they can about case interviews on their own and feel that they have reached a plateau in their learning. 

 

For case interview beginners and intermediates, it may be a better use of their money to first purchase a case interview course or case interview prep book before purchasing expensive coaching sessions.

 

If you do decide to eventually use a case interview coach, consider using our personalized, one-on-one case interview coaching service.

 

There is a wide range of quality among coaches, so ensure that you are working with someone that is invested in your development and success. 

 

If possible, ask for reviews from previous candidates that your coach has worked with.

 

How to Best Use Bain Case Interview Resources

 

Whether you choose to exclusively use free resources or purchase case interview prep books, courses, or coaching, follow these five tips to make the most of your Bain case interview resources.

 

1. Learn the right strategies the first time

 

It is very important to learn the right case interview strategies the first time. 

 

If you learn poor case interview strategies and then practice solving cases using these strategies, you’ll develop bad case interview habits. These habits will be difficult to correct later on when you decide to switch to using more effective case interview strategies.

 

If you learn the effective and robust strategies in the beginning, you’ll save yourself many hours of preparation time.

 

2. Practice with high-quality practice cases

 

When practicing cases, try to use the highest quality practice cases you can find. Ideally, these cases will come directly from Bain and be representative of an actual case interview in terms of difficulty and length.

 

You’ll find yourself improving much more quickly if you use high-quality practice cases versus low-quality cases.

 

3. Practice with a case partner whenever possible

 

While it may be helpful to practice solving cases by yourself in the beginning, you should practice with a case partner when you feel comfortable solving cases. 

 

Practicing with a case partner is the best way to simulate a real case interview.

 

4. Keep a list of improvement areas

 

Don’t just work through practice cases and stop once you have answered all of the questions. Take the time to go through exactly what you did to solve the case and identify areas you could have done better. 

 

Keep a list of everything you could have improved on after each case.

 

After doing a few practice cases, you’ll likely notice patterns on things that you consistently don’t do well. This is a great way to identify your weaknesses so that you can work on improving them.

 

5. Work on improving one thing at a time

 

Focus on improving one thing at a time. 

 

Trying to work on all of your improvement areas at once is difficult to do and will likely be unproductive. Before each practice case interview, pick one thing that you want to work on. When you have mastered that one thing, move onto the next improvement area.  

 

The Best Bain Interview Resources

 

Here are the resources we recommend to land a Bain consulting offer:

 

For help landing consulting interviews

 

• Resume Review & Editing: Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple consulting interviews

 

For help passing case interviews

 

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.

 

• Case Interview Coaching: Personalized, one-on-one coaching with a former Bain interviewer.

 

• Hacking the Case Interview Book (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.

 

• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.

 

For help passing consulting behavioral & fit interviews

 

• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course: Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer.