Think of case study as some problem that you would arrive at your own company and solve it like you would solve that rather than looking at it as an interview question. This helps me a lot.
https://datainterview.com/ is one of the best sources for preparation.
Structure
- Structure in answering a case in very important. Ask why we want to do what we want to do. Ask clarification questions. Narrow the scope of the answer. Take time to think. State your assumptions. Work with the interviewer to get to the answer.
Rubric
- The interviewers evaluate your answer with a rubric. Whether the answer is right is just one point a rubric. Most people just focus on getting to the answer and forget that the evaluation is on a lot of other aspects.
- Some common rubrics.
- Did they ask clarification questions
- Did they scope the problem well
- Did they structure the problem well
- Did they arrive at a solution
- Is their solution technically sound
- Did they communicate what they want to do well
- Did they work with interviewer (take the hint) to arrive at a solution.
Business sense
- Always understand what the underlying business is. What is the mission of the company and what do they care about. What is their business model
- Always state this and discuss with your interviewer why we should care about doing what we are doing.
- It helps interviewers assess that you are not just solving the problem, but you understand the top level view.
Mock
- As always, the best way to improve upon this is get some professional mock interviews.
- They are very effective at evaluating you on a rubric and help you understand your weaknesses.
- https://datainterview.com/ is a great place for this.
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