Yale SOM Casebook: Free PDF & 20 Practice Cases

Author: Taylor Warfield, Former Bain Manager and interviewer

Last Updated: September 28, 2026

 

The Yale SOM casebook is a free consulting club casebook from Yale, and the edition almost everyone actually downloads is the 2013 Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club book, which holds 20 practice cases tagged by firm, case type, and difficulty. This guide covers which Yale casebook to use, where to get it free, what sits inside every case, and how to practice with it so you improve instead of collecting PDFs.

 

Before reading on:

 

Most candidates struggle to land interviews and even fewer turn them into offers. Watch my free training to learn how to triple your chances of landing interviews and increase your chances of receiving an offer by 8x.

 

👉 Watch for free

 

Key Takeaways

 

The Yale casebook is one of the sharpest free casebooks available because every case tells you which firm asked it, which round it came from, and how hard it is on both qualitative and quantitative axes.


You can download the casebook here: Yale SOM casebook.pdf

 

  • Two Yale casebooks exist, and the free public one is the 2013 graduate club edition, not the 2024 School of Management book

 

  • The 2013 edition holds 20 cases across 8 case types, with separate difficulty scores from 1 to 5

 

  • McKinsey wrote the largest share at 8 cases, and 15 of the 20 came from second round interviews

 

  • Seven cases sit in healthcare and life sciences, the deepest free coverage of that sector anywhere

 

  • The math is unusually heavy, with 5 cases rated the maximum difficulty on quantitative work

 

  • Use the difficulty tags to sequence your prep, and stop at 8 to 12 cases done well

 

What Is the Yale SOM Casebook?

 

The Yale SOM casebook is a free PDF of practice case interviews written by a Yale consulting club. Two versions exist: the Yale SOM Consulting Club casebook released in 2024, and the Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club casebook released in 2013. The 2013 edition is the one circulating publicly, and it contains 20 cases tagged by firm, round, and difficulty.

 

Consulting clubs build these books so members can rehearse realistic material before recruiting season. Yale has two clubs doing this because it has two distinct populations chasing consulting offers: MBA students at the School of Management, and PhD and professional students across the rest of the university.

 

That split matters more than it sounds. The Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club reports over 900 active members drawn from graduate and professional programs, which is why its casebook leans so hard into science and healthcare problems.

 

The demand behind these books is real. Consulting services took 36.7% of Yale SOM's Class of 2025 at a median base salary of $190,000, more than any other industry, according to the school's 2025-26 employment report.

 

Which Yale Casebook Should You Use?

 

Use the 2013 graduate club edition. It is free, complete, and firm tagged, while the 2024 School of Management book was produced for SOM students and never released as a free public download.

 

Feature

Graduate club casebook (2013)

SOM Consulting Club casebook (2024)

Written by

Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club

Yale SOM Consulting Club

Audience

PhD and professional students

MBA students

Free download

Yes, widely circulated

No public free release

Length

20 full cases with exhibits

125 pages, cases start on page 35

Front matter

Case mechanics and interview styles

Recruiting roadmap, case math, behavioral, industry primers

Case tagging

Firm, round, industry, two difficulty scores

Not published publicly

 

The 2024 book is the better designed document on paper. Its contents run from an introduction to consulting through a September to January recruiting roadmap, case math, a behavioral section, industry primers, and roughly 90 pages of cases.

 

That behavioral section is the part most candidates skip and later regret. If you want the same coverage without hunting for a document you cannot legally get, my fit interview course covers 98% of consulting behavioral questions in a few hours.

 

Where Can You Download the Yale Casebook for Free?

 

You can download the casebook here: Yale SOM casebook.pdf

 

Keep in mind that the book is student created and copyrighted by the graduate consulting club. It was written for Yale students first, so treat it as practice material rather than an official statement of how any firm interviews.

 

Ignore any site charging for it. Every legitimate copy of this document is free, and the paid listings you will find on document sharing sites are reselling a file the club gave away.

 

What Cases Are Inside the Yale Casebook?

 

The 2013 full edition lists 20 cases, and the introduction describes 15 of them as newly written from real interview examples. Each one names the firm, the interview round, the industry, and two difficulty ratings on a 1 to 5 scale, one for qualitative demand and one for quantitative demand.

 

What are all 20 cases in the Yale casebook?

 

Here is the complete case list, pulled directly from the casebook's table of contents. The difficulty column shows the qualitative rating first and the quantitative rating second.

 

#

Case title

Firm (round)

Case type

Difficulty

1

Gas Station

McKinsey (2)

Profitability

4 / 2

2

Baby Helmets

L.E.K. (2)

Market Entry

3 / 4

3

Animal Drug

McKinsey (2)

Relocation

3 / 5

4

Burrito Cart

McKinsey (2)

Expansion

3 / 5

5

Sports Cards & Signed T-shirts

Bain (1)

Expansion

2 / 2

6

Diabetes Device

Simon-Kucher (2)

Pricing

2 / 5

7

Yumy Co

Bain (1)

Profitability

3 / 2

8

Apoplexy Drug

BCG (2)

Market Entry

4 / 5

9

Superstore

McKinsey (2)

Expansion

4 / 3

10

Towels

McKinsey (1)

Profitability

3 / 4

11

Surgical Robot

L.E.K. (2)

Investment

3 / 2

12

Desert City

McKinsey (2)

Investment

3 / 4

13

Call Center

McKinsey (2)

Expansion

4 / 4

14

Candy Stand

Bain (1)

Investment

2 / 2

15

Bakery

Booz (2)

Profitability

3 / 2

16

Diagnostic Test

L.E.K. (2)

Market Entry

3 / 4

17

Taxi Service

BCG (2)

Private Equity

4 / 4

18

Paper Company

McKinsey (2)

Profitability

3 / 5

19

Hepatitis Drug

ClearView (1)

Market Entry

3 / 2

20

7-Eleven

Bain (2)

Market Sizing

5 / 4

 

Source: Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club Case Book 2013, full edition

 

Which case types and firms does the Yale casebook cover?

 

Eight case types appear across the 20 cases, weighted toward the archetypes that dominate real interviews. Profitability leads with 5 cases, followed by market entry and expansion at 4 each.

 

Case type

Cases

Which ones

Profitability

5

Gas Station, Yumy Co, Towels, Bakery, Paper Company

Market entry

4

Baby Helmets, Apoplexy Drug, Diagnostic Test, Hepatitis Drug

Expansion

4

Burrito Cart, Sports Cards, Superstore, Call Center

Investment

3

Surgical Robot, Desert City, Candy Stand

Pricing

1

Diabetes Device

Private equity

1

Taxi Service

Market sizing

1

7-Eleven

Relocation

1

Animal Drug

 

On the firm side, McKinsey supplied 8 cases, Bain 4, and BCG 2, so MBB accounts for 14 of the 20. That is a higher MBB density than most free casebooks manage, and it is the main reason this book keeps getting recommended more than a decade after publication.

 

The remaining 6 cases come from firms candidates rarely get free practice for. L.E.K. contributed 3, all of them medical device or diagnostics problems, which is a fair reflection of the work that firm actually does.

 

The Simon-Kucher case is the standout oddity and the best pricing rep in any free casebook. It asks you to optimize price against acceptance rates, then evaluate four bundling ratios against selling the components separately.

 

One caveat on the firm tags: Booz has since been absorbed into a Big 4 network, and ClearView is a specialist healthcare boutique rather than a generalist. Treat those two tags as historical context, not as a guide to today's recruiting market.

 

Is the Yale casebook good for healthcare and life sciences cases?

 

It is the best free option for healthcare and life sciences practice, full stop. Seven of the 20 cases sit in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, or diagnostics, which is 35% of the book against maybe 10% in a typical MBA club casebook.

 

Those seven are not surface level either. Apoplexy Drug makes you model ambulance transit times to work out which stroke patients can be treated inside a three hour window, then price against a cheaper competitor.

 

Diagnostic Test asks you to price a prenatal screen by interpolating from accuracy against two existing tests, then project a decade of profit under shifting market share. Hepatitis Drug uses the rule of 72 to work out how fast an awareness campaign doubles the treated population.

 

If you are recruiting for a specialist practice, this book plus a structured approach to healthcare consulting case interviews will get you further than any generalist casebook. The sector fluency you build here is the same fluency the firms screen for.

 

How Is Each Yale Case Structured?

 

Every case follows the same six part layout, which makes the book easy to run with a partner. You get a prompt, additional information released only on request, a sample structure, an analysis walkthrough, exhibits, and a model summary.

 

  1. Prompt: the opening the interviewer reads aloud, usually two or three sentences

  2. Additional information: a list of facts handed over only if you ask for them

  3. Sample structure: one acceptable issue tree, explicitly not the only right answer

  4. Analysis: numbered questions with worked math and the observations you should make

  5. Exhibits: tables and charts released at specific points in the analysis

  6. Summary: a model recommendation covering the answer, reasons, risks, and next steps

 

The front matter is short but unusually honest. It states plainly that many structures can be equally good or better than the sample, and that the quality bar is whether your structure is MECE.

 

It also gives concrete timing: 30 minutes per case, split into 5 minutes of opening, 20 minutes of body, and 5 minutes of closing. Hold yourself to that clock from your very first rep, because pacing is what breaks under real pressure.

 

Most cases are written interviewer-led in the McKinsey style, with the analysis section telling the interviewer exactly when to hand over each exhibit. Candy Stand and 7-Eleven are the exceptions, both written candidate-led, and Bakery runs as a role play where the interviewer plays a friend with a failing side business.

 

Nearly every case opens with an unstructured brainstorm before the math starts. That is deliberate practice for the moment interviewers use to separate candidates, so treat those brainstorming questions as scored rather than as warm up.

 

How Should You Use the Yale Casebook to Prepare?

 

Use the difficulty tags to build a sequence, run every case live and out loud, and reflect after each one. Reading a case silently and nodding along is the fastest way to feel productive while learning nothing.

 

  1. Start with the two easiest: Sports Cards and Candy Stand both rate 2 on each scale

  2. Build math confidence next: Yumy Co, Bakery, and Surgical Robot all rate 2 on quant

  3. Move to mid difficulty: Towels, Desert City, and Diagnostic Test each sit at 3 and 4

  4. Finish on the hardest: Apoplexy Drug at 4 and 5, then 7-Eleven at 5 and 4

  5. Time every case: use the casebook's own 5, 20, and 5 minute split

  6. Write a reflection: note the one thing you would do differently before opening the next case

 

Do these live with a partner wherever you can. The person giving the case has to read it twice beforehand, because the analysis sections release exhibits at specific moments and a fumbled handoff ruins the rep.

 

When no partner is available, the interviewer-led format still works reasonably well solo, and knowing how to practice case interviews by yourself keeps your prep moving between live sessions. Just do more live reps before your actual rounds.

 

Peer feedback stalls out fast. Once your scores stop moving, usually somewhere around case five to eight, my interview coaching pairs you with a former Bain interviewer who can name the specific habit costing you the offer.

 

What Are the Pros and Cons of the Yale Casebook?

 

The Yale casebook earns its reputation on tagging and math rigor. It loses points on age and on sample answer depth, which is true of every student written book.

 

Strengths

 

  • Every case names the firm and round, so you can practice the exact style you will face

 

  • Separate qualitative and quantitative difficulty scores let you target one weakness at a time

 

  • Genuinely hard math, including break even analysis, weighted averages, and bundling economics

 

  • Real exhibits with tables and charts rather than numbers handed to you in prose

 

  • Model summaries that cover risks and next steps, not just the headline answer

 

Weaknesses

 

  • Published in 2013, so the company scenarios and market data are well out of date

 

  • The sample structures encourage template thinking that modern interviews penalize

 

  • Written by students, so a few recommendations are thinner than a coach would accept

 

  • Only 20 cases, which you will exhaust in a few weeks of serious prep

 

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

 

The template risk is the one that actually costs offers. Interviewers at McKinsey and BCG now screen against memorized frameworks, and reaching for the same profit tree on every case reads as a red flag rather than as preparation.

 

If you want to build a fresh structure for any problem instead of reciting case interview frameworks, my case interview course walks you through the method in as little as 7 days.

 

How Does the Yale Casebook Compare to Other Casebooks?

 

Yale sits in the top tier of free casebooks, but it is a scalpel rather than a library. Bigger books give you more volume, and Yale gives you better labeling on a smaller set.

 

Its 20 cases are fewer than you get from the largest books, which run past 60. What Yale offers instead is a firm tag and two difficulty scores on every single case, which no other free book delivers with this consistency.

 

Several of the Yale cases reappear in later school casebooks, sometimes lightly reworded, which tells you how highly other clubs rated them. Worth comparing against the other MBA consulting casebooks before you commit your practice hours.

 

The natural pairing is Yale plus one book that sequences a full curriculum. The Kellogg casebook does exactly that, so running the two together gives you both a study plan and a firm tagged practice set.

 

Tips to Get the Most Out of the Yale Casebook

 

Tip #1: Practice the firm tag, not just the case

 

If you are interviewing at McKinsey, run the 8 McKinsey cases first and have your partner hold you to the interviewer-led rhythm. The firm labels are the book's best feature and almost nobody uses them.

 

Tip #2: Cover the sample structure before you read it

 

Build your own issue tree, write it down, then compare. If your structure differs from the book's and is still MECE, you did it right, because the casebook says so explicitly in its own introduction.

 

Tip #3: Do the math by hand and out loud

 

Five cases in this book are rated the maximum quantitative difficulty, which makes it a strong drilling source. Work every calculation the way you would in the room, and back it up with dedicated case interview math reps so speed comes from fluency rather than luck.

 

Tip #4: Refresh the dated numbers as you go

 

Several cases still use a US population of 320 million and pre-2013 market data. Update those inputs yourself before you start, since interviewers notice when a candidate quotes a decade old figure with confidence.

 

Tip #5: Rehearse the closing summary every time

 

The book models an answer, reasons, risks, and next steps in that order, and it gives you 20 chances to practice it. Delivering a crisp case interview recommendation in under a minute is a learnable skill that most candidates never rehearse.

 

Having coached hundreds of candidates one on one, the pattern I see with casebooks is always the same: people download six of them and finish none. The Yale SOM casebook is worth more than most because its tags let you aim, so pick 8 to 12 cases against your actual weaknesses, run them live and timed, and write down one fix after each one.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

Is the Yale SOM casebook free?

 

The 2013 Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club casebook is free and circulates publicly as a PDF with no signup required. The newer 2024 Yale SOM Consulting Club casebook was produced for School of Management students and is not distributed as a free public download. If someone offers you the 2024 edition behind a paywall, you are paying for a student document rather than an official firm publication.

 

How many cases are in the Yale casebook?

 

The 2013 full edition contains 20 cases in its table of contents, and the introduction describes 15 of them as newly written from real interview examples. Every case is tagged with the firm that asked it, the interview round, the industry, and separate qualitative and quantitative difficulty scores from 1 to 5.

 

Which firms are represented in the Yale casebook?

 

McKinsey accounts for 8 of the 20 cases, Bain for 4, L.E.K. for 3, and BCG for 2. Booz, Simon-Kucher and Partners, and ClearView contribute one case each. Fifteen of the 20 cases came from second round interviews, so the book skews harder than a typical first round.

 

Is the Yale casebook still worth using?

 

Yes, for structuring reps, exhibit reading, and math. The firm tags and difficulty ratings let you target specific weaknesses, and the math is genuinely demanding. Treat the sample structures as one acceptable answer rather than a template to memorize, since modern interviews reward a structure built for the specific problem.

 

Is the Yale casebook good for healthcare and life sciences prep?

 

It is the strongest free casebook for healthcare and life sciences practice. Seven of the 20 cases sit in medical devices, pharmaceuticals, or diagnostics, covering drug launch timing, device pricing and bundling, surgical robot payback, and prenatal test market entry. The graduate club also released a dedicated life sciences casebook in 2014.

 

How many Yale cases should you do?

 

Work through 8 to 12 cases carefully rather than grinding all 20 on autopilot. Sequence them using the difficulty tags, start with the two cases rated 2 on both scales, and write a short reflection after each one. Pair the Yale casebook with one or two other strong casebooks and with cases published by the firms themselves.

 

Do you need to be a Yale student to use the casebook?

 

No. The cases test structuring, math, and exhibit interpretation, which are identical skills regardless of where you study. Undergraduates, PhD candidates, experienced hires, and career changers can all use the book. Only the club specific notes in the front matter are written for Yale students.

 

Everything You Need to Land a Consulting Offer

 

Need help passing your interviews?

  • Case Interview Course: Become a top 10% case interview candidate in 7 days while saving yourself 100+ hours

  • Fit Interview Course: Master 98% of consulting fit interview questions in a few hours

  • Interview Coaching: Accelerate your prep with 1-on-1 coaching with Taylor Warfield, former Bain interviewer and best-selling author

 

Need help landing interviews?

 

Need help with everything?

 

Not sure where to start?