Case in Point:Complete Case Interview Preparation - 5th edition (Paperback)

by Marc P. Cosentino (Author) "A European iron mining company bought a piece of land in Australia with high contents of iron..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

Review
Cosentino is the Dean of case interviewing prep. Case in Point is lucid, down-to-earth, demystifying and surprisingly entertaining. --Hillary Harrow Senior Recruiter, McKinsey & Company

With humor and insight, Marc gets students thinking about how to use the case interview as a showcase of their talents rather than an obstacle to their employment. --Nancy Saunders Assistant Director, Office of Career Services, Harvard University

Product Description
Cosentino demystifies the consulting case interview. He takes you inside a typical interview by exploring the various types of case questions and he shares with you a system that will help you answer today's most sophisticated case questions.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 186 pages
• Publisher: Burgee Press; 5th edition (July 20, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971015848
• ISBN-13: 978-0971015845
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.9 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,837 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Got me a job I don't deserve, January 9, 2007

By	Babylon - See all my reviews

This review is from: Case in Point: Complete Case Interview Preparation, Fourth Edition (Paperback)

I'm a pre-med student who had little intention of going into consulting. By mostly happenchance, I landed myself into the interview room with McKinsey. The majority of my preparation was simply reading (at times re-reading) this book. It worked.

This book is a fine introduction to case studies for students relatively unfamiliar with their structure. I would be more hesitant in recommending this book for the better informed, though there is still a trove of useful information for those types as well.

The major strength of this book is not the Ivy System (or whatever fanciful name it touts). The system(s) the book presents are of secondary importance to its actual strength: the numerous simulated case interviews. The interviews are actual conversations -- and this lets you see certain strong and weak moves an interviewee makes, the types of questions and responses the interviewer with which the interviewer prods, and so on. It is tremendously more effective that simply having a case prompt -- and then a series of bullets that you should hit on.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best book on the market, February 6, 2006

By	Kim Sang Jin - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Case in Point: Complete Case Interview Preparation, Fourth Edition (Paperback)

I think it's the best book on the market. But this book cannot cover all. So, I recommand to read the other books which have different styles. For example, Ace Your Case or Crack The Case.

-GOOD-
1. Ivy Case System can give you a guideline. It's worth reading.
2. It explains well how to proceed - defining the problem, setting the goal and so on.
3. This book has many cases than the other books. And they are categorized.

-BAD-
1. All books on the market regard the case as a quiz on the desk. But the real case is a simulation of REAL consulting practice. For example, you may have to suggest HOW you support your hypos in real case interviews.
2. All books on the market do not emphasize the consultant's thinking process. For example, MECE and hypo-driven approach. This book also do not clearly show which issue tree the interviewee uses and how he eliminate his hypos.
3. Ivy Case System is too hard to remember. In this point, Crack The Case is better.
4. The cases are too short to see the interaction. One case is just 2~3 pages. So, it has some distance from the REAL interview. Ace Your Case is better in this point.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Bible during your case interviews, February 16, 2006

By	LZ "Let the Good Times Roll" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Case in Point: Complete Case Interview Preparation, Fourth Edition (Paperback)

Are you apprehensive about your upcoming case interview? You should be. You will need to think logically, quickly, and deeply under pressure. Marc Consentino's Case in Point is a bible for anyone going for consulting, case-based interviews. This should be the first book you read and work through as your prepare for your interviews. It is the most comprehensive, clearly written case prep book available (and I've seen many others). If you want to be really comprehensive, do as many practices cases (consulting company websites have interactive ones) as you can find.

After reading Case In Point, I flipped through the frameworks and ivy case system before each of my interviews. Going through the frameworks and doing some back of the envelop math the night before my interviews really helped get me in the right frame of mind. Unlike any other case-prep book, Case in Point covers almost every type of case you will encounter, takes you through how to structure your answers, and gives you tons of practice with "back-of-the-envelop" math problems. The majority of cases in the book are from real past interviews with the top firms. This latest edition greatly expands on past editions with structure maps, more math-based cases, and newer, more complex cases from recent interviews.

I used Case in Point and I have many friends who used Case In Point to prepare and then get offers with the top firms. Well worth the $20.