Case Study Exercise Practice and Tips
A case study exercise gives you more information than you can use and asks for a decision. The marks follow the recommendation you reach and how well the evidence carries it, not how much of the pack you got through.
An assessment centre case study is a pack of information about a business or policy problem: a request from a fictional manager, financial tables, market or survey data, a few emails, perhaps a risk register or a press cutting. You analyse it and turn it into a recommendation. How that recommendation is delivered varies by employer. It might be a written report or memo, a short presentation to a panel, a group discussion in which each candidate holds part of the pack, or a mix, such as a written analysis you then present.
It is a different exercise from a consulting case interview. In a case interview an interviewer leads, releases data as you ask for it and listens to you reason out loud, often with mental arithmetic. A case study exercise hands over the whole pack at the start, leaves you alone with it against a clock, and expects a finished output. Some firms use both at different stages, and the skills overlap, but practising one does not fully prepare you for the other.
Scoring usually covers the quality of the analysis, commercial or public-interest judgement, use of evidence from the pack, structure and communication. Employers weight those differently, but every version rewards a clear recommendation that the figures support and that is honest about its risks. Candidates who summarise the pack accurately and then stop short of a decision tend to score poorly on nearly every criterion, however much work went into the summary.
Case study or case interview?
Assessment centre case study
Consulting case interview
Who leads
Case study
You do. The pack is handed over and you work alone, or with a group, against a fixed clock.
Case interview
The interviewer. They set the problem, release data when you ask for it and steer you between stages.
How information arrives
Case study
All at once, usually more than you need, including some that is irrelevant or contradicts another document.
Case interview
Piece by piece, in response to your questions, so asking for the right thing is part of the test.
What you produce
Case study
A finished product: a report, a memo, a presentation or the group’s agreed recommendation.
Case interview
A spoken line of reasoning ending in a recommendation, with nothing written to hand in.
Where the numbers come in
Case study
The figures are in the pack, and whether you can use a calculator depends on the employer’s rules.
Case interview
Often mental or pen-and-paper arithmetic in front of the interviewer, sometimes with a chart to read on the spot.
How a case study is scored
Analysis
Finding the two or three facts that decide the question, getting the arithmetic on them right, and spotting the figure that is out of date, inconsistent with another document or measured on a different basis.
Judgement
Commercial judgement in a business case, public-interest judgement in a policy one: weighing cost against value, the short term against the long term, and the people affected. A defensible call that admits its trade-offs beats a tidy one that ignores them.
Use of evidence
Every claim tied to something in the pack, whether a figure, a date, a survey result or a stated constraint. Reasonable-sounding opinions with no source in the material earn little.
Structure
Recommendation first, reasons in a logical order, risks and next steps at the end. Spoken, the same shape needs signposting, so the panel always knows which point you are on.
Communication
Language pitched for the named reader, whether that is a board, a minister, a credit committee or a client. Plain words, short sentences, and no jargon that reader would not use themselves.
Risks and next steps
The main risk of what you propose, how you would reduce it, and what should happen next and by when. Often a criterion in its own right, and an easy section to lose when the clock runs down.
A method for working the pack
- 1
Read the task before the pack
Find the question you are being asked, who the answer is for, what format and length they want, and how long you have. Two minutes here stops you reading forty pages without knowing what you are looking for.
- 2
Skim the whole pack once
Titles, opening lines and every table heading. The aim is a map of what is where, not understanding. Note which documents carry numbers and which carry opinions.
- 3
Sort the evidence against the options
List the options down the side of a page and put each useful fact beside the one it supports or undermines. Flag anything that contradicts another document, is out of date or rests on an assumption.
- 4
Run the numbers that decide it
Usually only a handful of calculations matter: a payback period, a cost per user, a margin, a gap against a target. Do those carefully, write each result next to its source, and leave the rest.
- 5
Decide, and write it as one sentence
Choose. If the evidence is close, choose anyway and state what would change your mind. A recommendation with a condition attached is still a recommendation; a balanced list of pros and cons is not.
- 6
Build the case around the decision
Two or three reasons, each carrying its strongest piece of evidence, then the main risks paired with how you would reduce them, then next steps with an owner and a date. The skeleton works for a report, a set of slides or your contribution to a group.
- 7
Protect the final minutes for checking
Figures against the pack, names spelled as they are in the documents, and the recommendation where the reader meets it first. Before a presentation, the equivalent is one timed run of your opening.
Splitting the clock
Employers set different lengths, so treat these as starting points to scale rather than rules. In each one the decision is made early and the end is protected, which means the recommendation is never the part that gets cut.
Written case, 60 minutes
- 10 minRead the task, then skim every document for what is where.
- 10 minSort the evidence, run the deciding numbers, commit to a recommendation.
- 30 minWrite: recommendation, reasons, risks, next steps, in that order.
- 10 minCheck figures, names and dates against the pack.
Presented case, 30 minutes to prepare
- 7 minRead the task and skim the pack.
- 5 minDecide, and write the recommendation as a single sentence.
- 12 minBuild three supporting points, the main risk and the ask, as notes or slides.
- 6 minSay the opening out loud and time one run of the whole thing.
Group case, shared clock
- OpeningAgree what the group must decide and a rough timetable.
- First halfShare the evidence each person holds, briefly, against the options.
- Second halfWeigh the options, test the front-runner against its risks.
- Last minutesAgree the wording of the recommendation and who presents it.
Common traps
Summarising instead of recommending
Retelling the pack in tidy paragraphs feels productive and earns little, because assessors already know what the material says. If your opening paragraph could have been written before you read the pack, rewrite it as a decision.
Ignoring the numbers
Packs contain figures because the right answer depends on them. A recommendation built on the narrative documents alone, when a table shows the favoured option losing money, is an analytical error assessors spot at once.
Leaving out the risks
Every option in a well-designed case has a downside, and the assessor knows what it is. Omitting it reads as either not having seen it or hoping nobody else has.
Running out of time before the conclusion
Reading every document in full and then writing in the last ten minutes produces a document with no ending. Decide early, put the recommendation down first, and add the support afterwards.
Recommending a bit of everything
Proposing “a combination of all three options” without saying which comes first or what it costs dodges the decision the case was built around. Where a hybrid genuinely is right, sequence it and cost it.
Importing outside facts
Knowledge from the news or your degree is tempting to add, but the case is marked on the pack. Use it to frame a point if it helps, never as the evidence for one, and never to overrule a figure you were given.
Work a real pack against the clock
Written and presentation case briefs across four sectors, with judgement calls scored against an expert key and AI feedback on the recommendation you write.
Case-based exercises to practise
Every CogniPrep written and presentation exercise is built on a case brief: a role, a named organisation, a pack of documents with figures in it, and a decision to argue for. Each is timed and set in a named sector, and all of them are part of the one-time assessment centre unlock.
Written up as a report, memo or brief
Written Exercise: Recommendation Report
Read a short business brief and data, then write a clear, structured recommendation. Your writing is reviewed against a marking rubric with AI feedback.
Corporate & Business · 35 minutes
Written Exercise: Policy Brief
Read a short policy brief and data, then write a balanced brief that sets out the options objectively and makes a clear recommendation. Your writing is reviewed against a marking rubric with AI feedback.
Public Sector · 35 minutes
Written Exercise: Market Entry
Read a short business brief and a data pack, then write a clear, structured recommendation on whether and how to enter a new market. Your writing is reviewed against a marking rubric with AI feedback.
Corporate & Business · 35 minutes
Written Exercise: Architecture Options Appraisal
Review an information pack comparing two routes off an ageing order platform - a full replatform or an incremental migration - answer judgement questions on the data, then write a recommendation report to the architecture board. Your writing is reviewed against a marking rubric with AI feedback.
Engineering · 35 minutes
Written Exercise: Credit Committee Memo
Review the financials, sector notes and lending criteria for two loan applicants competing for the same £8m facility, answer judgement questions on the credit, then write the recommendation memo the credit committee will read. Your writing is reviewed against a marking rubric with AI feedback.
Finance & Banking · 35 minutes
Recommendation Report, Market Entry and Policy Brief each set a three-option decision with a short data pack and ask for a recommendation of a few hundred words to a director or a councillor. Architecture Options Appraisal and Credit Committee Memo are longer packs in which neither option clearly wins: a whole-life cost comparison for two routes off an ageing platform, and the financials and lending criteria for two borrowers competing for one loan. Each one opens with judgement questions, on how to frame the document or on what the evidence shows, scored against an expert key; then the written recommendation is marked by AI against a rubric.
Delivered as a presentation
Presentation: Board Pitch
Plan a five-minute presentation recommending a strategy to the board. Make structure and delivery judgement calls, then draft your opening and key messages.
Corporate & Business · 30 minutes
Presentation: Product Pitch
Plan a five-minute pitch recommending a go-to-market approach for a new feature to leadership. Make structure and judgement calls, then draft your opening and key messages.
Corporate & Business · 30 minutes
Presentation: Turnaround Plan
Plan a five-minute presentation setting out a plan to turn around an underperforming hotel to the exec team. Make structure and judgement calls, then draft your opening and key messages.
Corporate & Business · 30 minutes
Presentation: Explaining a Machine-Learning System
Plan a seven-minute presentation explaining how a fraud-detection model decides - and the trade-off it forces on the business - to a mostly non-technical panel, then link it to business value. Make audience and structure judgement calls, then draft your outline and verbatim opening.
Engineering · 30 minutes
Presentation: Client Market Briefing
Prepare a seven-minute briefing for a client breakfast the morning after a surprise rate rise. Make audience, balance and compliance judgement calls, then draft your outline and verbatim opening.
Finance & Banking · 30 minutes
Presentation: Minister Briefing
Prepare a five-to-seven-minute oral briefing for a minister with ten minutes between meetings: should the department pilot a rural transport voucher scheme? Make the briefing-craft judgement calls, then draft the one-page briefing note.
Public Sector · 30 minutes
Board Pitch, Product Pitch and Turnaround Plan give three options and a short fact pack for a five-minute recommendation. Client Market Briefing, Minister Briefing and Explaining a Machine-Learning System are fuller cases: overnight market data with two in-house analyst notes that partly disagree, a pilot evaluation of mixed quality with cost ranges and stakeholder positions, and a technical briefing on a fraud model the board must decide whether to fund. You make the structure and content calls as judgement questions, then write the outline, opening or briefing note you would present from, which is marked by AI. Delivery to a live panel is not simulated.
Two other formats touch case work. The Supplier Selection, Innovation Budget Committee and Resilience Grant group exercises put a shared decision of this kind in front of a simulated group, and you choose how to contribute at each turn; the group exercise guide explains what is marked. The Associate Consultant e-tray is an inbox rather than a case pack, but it places you mid-way through a consulting project, where part of the work is recognising that a savings model built on the wrong wage rate, and a supplier file nobody has cleaned, are not ready to put in front of the client.
Frequently asked questions
What is a case study exercise at an assessment centre?
A timed exercise built on a pack of information about a business or policy problem. You analyse the material and produce a recommendation, delivered as a written report, a presentation, a group discussion or a combination, and you are scored on analysis, judgement, use of evidence, structure and communication.
Is a case study exercise the same as a case interview?
No. A case interview is led by an interviewer who gives out information as you ask for it and listens to your reasoning. A case study exercise gives you the full pack at the start, a fixed time alone with it, and asks for a finished output. Consulting firms may use either, or both at different stages.
Do I need business knowledge to do well?
Less than most candidates fear. Everything you need should be in the pack, and cases for schemes open to any degree are written so that no specialist knowledge is required. Comfort with percentages, margins and payback periods helps, and so does knowing how a recommendation document is laid out.
Can I use a calculator?
It depends on the employer. Many allow one, and online cases completed on your own computer often permit it, but check the instructions rather than assuming. Either way, practise the few calculations that come up again and again so you are not slowed down by them.
Is an unfinished analysis a fail?
Not if it ends in a recommendation. Recommend on the evidence you have covered, name what you did not get to and say how it could change your view. A clear, qualified recommendation scores far better than a thorough analysis that never reaches a conclusion.
How is a group case study different?
Each candidate may hold a different part of the pack, so sharing what you have concisely becomes part of the analysis. You are scored individually on how you help the group reach a sound decision, not on whether your preferred option wins.
What is the best way to practise a case study?
Work a real pack against the clock and produce the output, rather than reading model answers. CogniPrep’s written and presentation exercises are case briefs: you answer judgement questions on the pack, scored against an expert key, then write the recommendation, memo, outline or briefing note, which is marked by AI against a rubric.
Practise this next
Written exercise tips
How to lay out the report or memo that a written case asks for.
Presentation exercise tips
Turning a case recommendation into a few minutes a panel can follow, and the questions after.
BCG and Bain online assessments
For consulting applicants: what the online stages at two strategy firms are reported to contain.