BCG Case Interview: Process, Format and a Worked Example

A BCG case interview is a live business problem you work through with a BCG consultant: you structure it, ask for the data you need, do the math out loud and finish with a recommendation. BCG's global careers site lists four steps for client-facing roles (application, a skills interview, a case interview and a team interview), and several BCG offices add an online case with a chatbot called Casey before the live rounds. Below: what BCG itself says about each stage, how its style differs from McKinsey's, a practice case with the math worked out, and a three-week plan.

Soreno isn't affiliated with Boston Consulting Group. Everything about BCG's process here comes from BCG's own careers pages, and we say so where a detail is office-specific or comes from prep sites instead.

BCG's recruiting process, step by step

BCG's interview process page opens with "Our consulting interview process is a two-way conversation," then lists the steps:

Step	What BCG says it is
1. Application	Submit through the careers portal
2. Skills interview	A "traditional interview" about your experience, skills and motivation for joining BCG
3. Case interview	"For client facing roles, we'll assess your problem-solving and analytical skills in a case interview."
4. Team interview	For client-facing roles, an assessment of problem-solving, analytical and communication skills

The same page names the five qualities its consulting interviewers look for: integrity, intellectual curiosity, creative thinking, collaborative mindset and drive.

The exact number and length of rounds depend on the office, and BCG's local pages don't all match. Three examples from pages we read:

• BCG Mexico says the first round "will consist of two/three case interviews that will last 45 minutes each," and the final round has the same shape. It says the whole Associate process, from application deadline to offer, usually takes two to three weeks.
• BCG Kazakhstan describes a first round of two 60-minute case interviews and a final round of two more.
• BCG France says each case interview runs 45 to 60 minutes and opens with 15 to 20 minutes getting to know you.

So check your own office's page and ask your recruiter.

The online case: Casey, the OCE and the CCA

Some BCG offices screen with an online case before any live interview. BCG Mexico's FAQ is the clearest official description we found: "The Online Case Experience (OCE) is an interactive exercise where you solve a business case guided by Casey, a chatbot." It says the OCE "takes approximately 30 minutes to complete," is conducted in English, and that you prepare for it the same way you prepare for a case interview.

For Associate candidates, BCG Mexico also uses the Consulting Career Assessment (CCA). BCG says it takes about 30 minutes, that no preparation is needed, and that it's meant to give insight into your skills beyond your resume. BCG Kazakhstan describes its online case as "a mix of qualitative questions, business logic, and analytical problem solving."

Prep sites add more detail about Casey, such as a fixed set of chat questions and a short recorded video recommendation at the end. BCG's pages we read don't confirm those specifics, so treat them as reports, not rules. Your invitation email is the source that counts: it should tell you which assessment you're taking and when.

What "candidate-led" means at BCG

Prep sites commonly call BCG's cases candidate-led. PrepLounge's BCG page, for example, says you drive the analysis yourself. BCG doesn't use that label on the pages we read, but its own description points the same way. The case interview preparation page says your task is to "structure your approach, ask thoughtful questions, analyze data, perform quick calculations, and identify the most important factors." Associate Daan Rustige, writing on BCG's careers blog, describes his case conversations as "open and collaborative" and a typical interview as "split into two parts": a conversation about your background, then the case, "where you work through the problem together."

In practice that means:

• You propose the structure and then say which branch you want to test first, and why.
• You ask for data. The interviewer often has an exhibit ready, but you're expected to know what you're looking for before it appears.
• You decide when a branch is done and move on, and you keep a running list of takeaways (Rustige's tip) so the final summary is easy.

McKinsey's problem-solving interview works differently. Its official sample cases are a fixed series of questions, each testing one skill, so the interviewer sets the path. Our McKinsey case interview guide covers that format. For Bain, see our Bain case interview examples. If you're interviewing at several firms, practice both styles.

Worked example: a profit decline split into price and volume

This is our own practice case, written to feel like a candidate-led BCG case. The company and every number are made up.

Prompt. Harbor Pet Foods sells premium dry dog food through grocery chains in two regions, North and South. Operating profit fell by about a third last year, and the CEO wants to know why and what to do.

Clarify first. Ask two or three questions before structuring: did anything change in the product line or channels (no), is the decline in both regions (you'll find out), and is the goal to restore profit or protect market share (restore profit).

Structure. Profit equals revenue minus costs. Revenue is price times volume, by region. Costs split into variable cost per bag and fixed costs. Say out loud which branch you'll test first: "Costs are usually sticky, so I'd like to check whether revenue moved, and in which region."

Exhibit (what the interviewer hands you when you ask for revenue and cost data):

Region	Year	Bags sold (millions)	Price per bag	Variable cost per bag
North	Last year	10.0	$20	$12
North	This year	10.2	$20	$12
South	Last year	6.0	$18	$12
South	This year	5.0	$15	$12

Fixed costs were $60 million in both years.

Math, spoken as you'd say it:

• Last year: revenue is 10.0 × 20 plus 6.0 × 18, so $200M plus $108M, or $308M. Variable cost is 16.0M bags × $12, or $192M. Contribution is $116M, and profit after $60M fixed cost is $56M.
• This year: revenue is 10.2 × 20 plus 5.0 × 15, so $204M plus $75M, or $279M. Variable cost is 15.2M × $12, or $182.4M. Contribution is $96.6M, and profit is $36.6M.
• Profit fell $19.4M, about 35%.

Now split it by driver. Measure the price effect at this year's volume and the volume effect at last year's margin:

Driver	Calculation	Effect on profit
South price	($15 − $18) × 5.0M bags	−$15.0M
South volume	(5.0M − 6.0M) × $6 margin	−$6.0M
North volume	(10.2M − 10.0M) × $8 margin	+$1.6M
Costs	No change	$0
Total		−$19.4M

The South price cut explains $15M of the $19.4M drop. The margin on a South bag halved, from $6 to $3.

Dig into the why. Ask what happened in the South. Say the interviewer tells you a new value brand entered the South's grocery chains, and Harbor cut price to match. Even after the cut, Harbor lost a million bags.

Test the obvious fix. What if Harbor went back to $18 in the South? At $3 a bag, South contribution today is 5.0M × $3, or $15M. At $18, each bag earns $6, so Harbor only needs 2.5M bags to earn the same $15M. It could lose half its remaining South volume and still break even on the change. If volume fell to 4.0M, South contribution would be $24M, $9M better than today.

Risks to name. Grocery chains might cut shelf space if volume drops. Losing volume might raise the variable cost per bag if the plant runs below capacity. And the value brand might keep taking share whatever Harbor charges.

The 30-second recommendation:

"Harbor's profit fell $19.4 million, and $15 million of that came from matching the new value brand's price in the South. The price cut didn't hold volume: South sales still fell a million bags. I'd recommend restoring the South price toward $18, because Harbor could lose almost half its South volume and still earn more than it does today. Before rolling it out, I'd test the higher price in a few chains and check with the two biggest grocery buyers about shelf space. Next, I'd look at whether a lower-priced second line makes sense for the shoppers the value brand is winning."

It leads with the number, names the cause, makes one call and builds the main risk into the next steps.

The fit and behavioral part

Don't treat it as a warm-up. BCG's step 2 is a separate skills interview, and Rustige says a typical interview starts with a conversation about your background and motivations before the case. A BCG alum quoted on BCG's interview process page warns that "it can be easy to forget that BCG interviews also include a behavioral portion" and says to relate your answers back to the job's requirements.

Prepare four or five stories you can adapt, and map each one to the qualities BCG lists (integrity, intellectual curiosity, creative thinking, collaborative mindset and drive). Know why you want consulting and why BCG in particular, in two or three sentences each. And bring real questions for the end: BCG's own pages quote a consultant saying those questions helped him judge whether BCG was the right fit. Our behavioral interview questions for consulting article has example answers.

A 3-week BCG prep plan

This is our plan, not BCG's. It assumes about an hour a day on weekdays and longer sessions on weekends.

Week	Focus	What to do
1	Foundations	Learn a few flexible structures from our frameworks for case interviews, then do 15 minutes of mental math daily. Practice two market sizing questions a day out loud. Draft your fit stories.
2	Full candidate-led cases	Do one full case a day, alternating profitability, market entry and growth. Each time, write your structure in under two minutes, say which branch you'll test first, and end with a 30-second recommendation. Redo the Harbor case above cold, without looking at the math.
3	Interview conditions	Do at least five cases with new partners or interviewers you haven't practiced with. Practice reading exhibits in under a minute. If your office uses the OCE, do a timed 30-minute case on your own. The day before, rehearse fit stories and skip cases, which is what David Ogbechie describes doing on BCG's blog.

When you run out of practice partners in weeks 2 and 3, Soreno's consulting track runs AI mock case interviews where you choose interviewer-led or candidate-led format, so you can rehearse driving a BCG-style case. It shows exhibits live, asks follow-up questions and gives you a rubric-graded report, and its targeted drills cover weak spots like mental math. You can start with 2 free cases and 3 drills, and paid plans come after that.