Author: Taylor Warfield, Former Bain Manager and interviewer

Last Updated: June 24, 2026

 

The Kellogg casebook is a free collection of practice cases created by the Kellogg Consulting Club to help candidates prepare for consulting interviews, and the widely shared 2020 edition holds around 26 cases sequenced from easy to hard. This guide breaks down what is inside the casebook, where to find it, which edition to use, and exactly how to practice with it so you actually improve.

 

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Key Takeaways

 

The Kellogg casebook is one of the strongest free consulting casebooks because its cases are sequenced by difficulty and mirror real MBB interviews, but it only helps if you practice actively with a partner.

 

• The 2020 Kellogg Consulting Club casebook holds roughly 26 cases across 8 case types

 

• Cases are sequenced from easy to hard, with a recommended 25-case curriculum and timeline

 

• It is completely free and circulates online as a PDF, with no purchase required

 

• Easy cases focus on profitability and cost cutting to build your fundamentals

 

• Use it with a case partner and write a short reflection after every case

 

• Quality beats quantity, so 8 to 15 strong cases beat grinding all 26 on autopilot

You can download the casebook here: Kellogg 2020.pdf

 

What Is the Kellogg Casebook?

 

The Kellogg casebook is a free PDF of practice case interviews assembled by the Kellogg Consulting Club at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. The most widely used 2020 edition contains around 26 full cases spanning profitability, market entry, growth, mergers, and operations, each with prompts, exhibits, and sample answers.

 

Consulting clubs at top MBA programs build these casebooks so their members can rehearse realistic interview material before recruiting season. The Kellogg Consulting Club is one of the largest student organizations of its kind, and its casebook has become a staple far beyond campus.

 

What sets the Kellogg version apart is structure. The 2020 edition rebuilt every case to include fit questions at the start, numbered case-solving steps, print-friendly exhibits, and short reference codes so you can find cases by industry or concept.

 

Is the Kellogg Casebook Free, and Where Do You Find It?

 

Yes, the Kellogg casebook is free. You can download the casebook here: Kellogg 2020.pdf

 

Keep in mind that the casebook is student-created and copyrighted by the Kellogg Consulting Club. It was written for Kellogg students first, so treat it as a practice resource rather than an official firm publication.

 

The good news is that you do not need to track down a single official link. Reputable case-prep libraries host current and past editions side by side, which makes it easy to grab the 2020 book and compare it against other free casebooks.

 

What Is Inside the Kellogg Casebook?

 

The Kellogg casebook contains around 26 full practice cases plus front-matter sections on how to use the book, planning your preparation, finding cases, reading individual case pages, and evaluating your own performance. Every case includes a prompt, exhibits, suggested structure, math, and a sample recommendation.

 

How many cases are in the Kellogg casebook?

 

The 2020 edition holds roughly 26 cases, and the club recommends a curated curriculum of 25 of them for traditional internship candidates. Each case carries a short three-character reference code, so you can search by industry or business concept quickly.

 

Several cases were added new in 2020, including Busch's Barber Shop, Events.com, and Mustard Clinic, while older or out-of-date cases were archived. The book also flags interviewer-led cases clearly, with prompts telling the interviewer when to hand over each exhibit.

 

What case types and industries does it cover?

 

The casebook covers the full range of case types you will see in real interviews, mapped to specific industries. Here is a sample of cases by type, drawn from the 2020 edition.

 

Case type	Example case	Industry
Profitability	Garthwaite Healthcare	Technology
Market entry	Maine Apples	Government and public sector
Growth strategy	High Q Plastics	Retail and CPG
Mergers and acquisitions	Zoo Co	Financial services
Operations	Wildcat Wings	Transportation and logistics
Opportunity assessment	Winter Olympics Bidding	Entertainment and media

 

Beyond these, the book includes new-product and cost-reduction cases, and many cases fold in a market sizing step inside the larger problem. That spread means you can target the exact case type a firm tends to favor.

 

How is the casebook organized by difficulty?

 

The Kellogg casebook sorts its cases into three difficulty tiers so you build skills in the right order. This sequencing is the single biggest reason it stands out from other free casebooks.

 

The easy tier is built around profitability cases and cost cutting, which are the most common case types and the fastest way to get comfortable. Start here even if you are confident, because clean fundamentals carry you through harder cases later.

 

The moderate tier deliberately challenges your reliance on memorized case interview frameworks. The hard tier features complex pressure cases that test multiple skills at once and cannot be cracked with a single canned structure.

 

Which Kellogg Casebook Edition Should You Use?

 

Use the 2020 edition. It has the cleanest structure, the most useful difficulty-sequenced curriculum, and cases that still reflect how MBB interviews run today. Older editions and the tech-focused book serve narrower purposes.

 

Edition	Released	What it includes	Best for
Kellogg Consulting Club casebook (2020)	October 2019	About 26 cases, fit questions, exhibits, and a 25-case curriculum	Most candidates
Kellogg Consulting Club casebook (2016 and 2017)	2016 to 2017	Larger archive of older cases in a longer document	Extra volume after the 2020 book
Kellogg Tech Club case book	2023 to 2024	Company-specific tech questions and behavioral tips	Tech recruiting, not classic MBB cases

 

If you exhaust the 2020 cases, the 2016 and 2017 editions give you more reps, though some cases feel dated. Reach for the Tech Club book only if you are recruiting for product or strategy roles at technology companies.

 

How Should You Use the Kellogg Casebook to Prepare?

 

Work through the casebook live with a partner, follow the difficulty sequence, and reflect after every case. Reading solutions silently is the fastest way to feel productive while learning almost nothing.

 

1. Start with the easy tier: lock in clean profitability and cost structures before anything harder
   
   
2. Practice out loud with a case partner: have them play interviewer and push back on your logic
   
   
3. Do the math by hand: build your mental math instead of reaching for a calculator
   
   
4. Time every case: hold yourself to the 30 to 45 minutes a real interview runs
   
   
5. Write a short reflection: note what you missed and which step felt shaky
   
   
6. Climb into the harder tiers: only after the easy cases feel automatic

 

When you cannot find a partner, you can still drill exhibits, math, and structure on your own, and learning to practice case interviews by yourself keeps your prep moving between live sessions. Just budget more live reps before your real rounds.

 

If you want sharper feedback than a peer can give, my case interview coaching pairs you with a former interviewer who can pinpoint exactly where your cases break down. It is the quickest way to fix habits a casebook alone will not catch.

 

What Are the Pros and Cons of the Kellogg Casebook?

 

The Kellogg casebook is one of the best free resources available, but it is not a complete prep program. Knowing its limits helps you use it well and fill the gaps elsewhere.

 

Strengths

 

• Difficulty-sequenced cases that build your skills in a logical order

 

• Realistic cases that closely match the structure of McKinsey, BCG, and Bain interviews

 

• Fit questions built into every case, so you rehearse behavioral answers too

 

• Clear exhibits and math that give you real data to interpret

 

• Completely free, with both candidate-led and interviewer-led formats

 

Weaknesses

 

• Written by students, so a few sample answers are thinner than a coach would give

 

• Assumes you already know core frameworks, which makes it tough for true beginners

 

• The 2020 data and company scenarios are aging

 

• No teaching layer that explains why a structure works, only the cases themselves

 

How Does the Kellogg Casebook Compare to Other Casebooks?

 

The Kellogg casebook ranks among the top free casebooks, and its difficulty-sequenced curriculum is arguably the best of any MBA club. Where it shines is structure, not raw volume.

 

For sheer case count and heavy math, MIT Sloan and a few other school casebooks go deeper, and you can compare strengths across the major MBA consulting casebooks before deciding where to spend your time. The smart move is to pick the Kellogg book plus one or two others and work them hard.

 

Tips to Get the Most Out of the Kellogg Casebook

 

Tip #1: Do not memorize the casebook frameworks

 

The moderate and hard cases are designed to punish canned structures. Use each case to practice building a tailored structure from scratch, which is exactly what interviewers reward.

 

Tip #2: Always have a partner play interviewer

 

Cases are written to be delivered, not read. A partner who withholds exhibits and asks follow-ups forces the real-time thinking you need on interview day.

 

Tip #3: Drill the exhibits and math, not just the structure

 

Most candidates lose points on data interpretation and arithmetic, not opening structures. Treat each exhibit as a mini test and work fresh case interview examples until reading charts fast feels natural.

 

Tip #4: Match the format to your target firm

 

The casebook flags interviewer-led cases, which mirror the McKinsey style, alongside candidate-led ones. Practice the format your firm uses, and review how each MBB case interview tends to differ so nothing surprises you.

 

Tip #5: Track your performance across case types

 

Log how each case went and tag your weak spots by type. Revisit the case types where you struggle instead of replaying the ones you already handle well.

 

If you want to learn cases quickly rather than piecing it together case by case, my case interview course walks you through proven structures and math in as little as 7 days. Used together with the Kellogg casebook, the fastest path forward is to start with the easy tier, bring a case partner, and reflect after every single case.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Is the Kellogg casebook free?

 

Yes. The Kellogg Consulting Club releases its casebook publicly, and the 2020 edition circulates online as a free PDF, usually with no signup or payment required. It was originally written for Kellogg students but is now widely shared with consulting candidates everywhere.

 

How many cases are in the Kellogg casebook?

 

The 2020 Kellogg Consulting Club casebook contains around 26 full practice cases. The club also recommends a curated curriculum of 25 cases, sequenced from easy to hard, with a suggested timeline for internship candidates.

 

What is the latest Kellogg casebook?

 

The most recent widely shared general consulting casebook from the Kellogg Consulting Club is the 2020 edition, released in October 2019. A separate Kellogg Tech Club case book from 2023 to 2024 exists, but it targets tech recruiting rather than classic management consulting cases.

 

Is the Kellogg casebook good for beginners?

 

It works well once you understand the basics. The easy tier focuses on profitability and cost cutting, which builds familiarity, but the casebook assumes you already know core frameworks. Beginners should learn case fundamentals first, then use the Kellogg casebook to practice.

 

How many Kellogg cases should you do?

 

Aim for 8 to 15 cases worked through carefully with a partner, not all 26 on autopilot. Quality beats quantity. Pair the Kellogg casebook with one or two other strong casebooks and write a short reflection after every case.

 

Can you use the Kellogg casebook for MBB interviews?

 

Yes. The Kellogg casebook cases closely mirror the structure and difficulty of real McKinsey, BCG, and Bain interviews, which is why it is one of the most recommended free resources. It covers both candidate-led and interviewer-led formats so you can prepare for either style.

 

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