Case interview examples: practice prompts and how to use them

If you're looking for case interview examples to practice with, you usually land on pages that dump hundreds of loose cases at you, with no context and no idea what to do with them. Collecting cases doesn't prepare anyone. Knowing how to practice them does.

I was an interviewer at Bain for years and evaluated more than 300 candidates. In the first few minutes you could already tell who had practiced with a real method and who showed up with fifteen memorized frameworks, hoping to force one in. So instead of another endless list, I'll do something more useful: show you what a case really is, the kinds of problems you'll face, prompts to practice, and what separates a good answer from a bad one — from the other side of the table.

A heads-up so you don't waste time. If what you want is to understand the case types in depth, the formats by firm, or how to recognize each type, that's in the types of case interviews guide. Here we focus on practicing.

What is a case interview

A case interview is a business problem you solve with the interviewer, usually with a couple of sheets of paper and a pen. Something like: "This manufacturer's sales dropped 15% and they don't know why. What would you do?".

There's no hidden right answer you have to guess. What's assessed is how you think: how you structure the problem, how you prioritize, how you use the data you ask for, and how you close with a recommendation. It's not a solo exam — it's a conversation, and depending on the firm the interviewer steers you more or less (I break that down in the types of case interviews guide).

What case interview examples (or prompts) are and how to practice with them

An example is only worth anything if you work it actively. Reading the prompt and jumping straight to the solution trains nothing.

With these prompts you train the skill where most people fail: framing — building the structure of the case (your issue tree) before touching a single number. With each prompt, do the same thing: sketch your structure on paper in a couple of minutes, state your hypothesis, and decide where you'd start. You don't need data or a solution for this, because what you're training is the architecture of the case, not the answer.

Our frameworks and issue trees guide has example structures to review and practice with — you can download it (PDF). And if you want the full method for building your own frameworks and issue trees from scratch, with more exercises, it's laid out in Crack The Frameworks.

Case interview examples by type (practice prompts)

Here's the bulk of it: prompts to train your framing, grouped by the kind of problem. If you want the logic of each type, every block links to its guide.

Profitability — diagnosing why profit is falling. (How to approach it: profitability framework.)

• ●A textbook publisher's margin is dropping even though it sells the same volume. Find the cause.
• ●An urban gym bills the same as two years ago but earns half. What do you look at first?
• ●A parcel company is losing money on last-mile delivery. How do you tackle it?
• ●A restaurant chain earns less this year even though it opened new locations. Why?

Growth and pricing — finding revenue levers or setting price.

• ●A supermarket chain wants to grow in a new region. Buy, lease, or franchise?
• ●A premium winery wants to raise prices without losing volume. Can it?
• ●You're launching management software for dental clinics. How do you price it?
• ●A fitness app with a good product can't grow revenue. Where's the bottleneck?

Market entry and strategy — deciding whether to enter and how.

• ●An appliance brand wants to sell in India. Go alone or with a local partner?
• ●A football club is looking at opening an academy in the United States. Does it make sense?
• ●An electrical-transformer maker wants to expand capacity. Where and how much?
• ●A TV maker is considering entering professional displays. Should it?

Estimation (market sizing) — building a number from scratch. (How to approach it: market sizing guide.)

• ●How many coffees are served per day in Barcelona?
• ●How big is the replacement-tire market in Europe?
• ●How many elevators are installed per year in a city of one million people?
• ●How many diapers are bought per year in Spain?

Operations and others — bottlenecks and problems that aren't about money.

• ●A plant produces at half the speed of its competitors. Why?
• ●A hospital's ER is overwhelmed with no more patients than before. What's going on?
• ●A company is losing its best employees and doesn't know why. How do you stop it?

These prompts, fully structured, with exhibits and a step-by-step solution, are the ones I put together in my books.

How to structure a case interview step by step (worked example)

So you can see the method in action. The goal isn't to memorize this solution, but the path.

Prompt: "A coffee-shop chain with 40 stores has had flat profit for three years. The CEO wants to raise it. Where would you start?"

1. Build your structure (the framing). Profit = revenue − costs. Revenue = stores × transactions per store × average ticket. Costs = fixed (rent, base staff) + variable (product, packaging). That's an issue tree built for this case, not a template I throw out to see if it sticks. That's how you build it in the framing guide.

2. Prioritize with a hypothesis. "My bet is the problem is in revenue per store, not in opening more stores." That focuses the conversation. A strong candidate doesn't analyze everything: they pick where to dig and justify it.

3. Ask for the key data. In a case you're not handed the input numbers — you ask for them. Here I'd ask for the trend in average ticket and product cost. If the ticket has been flat for three years while cost rises, there's your bottleneck: the margin per coffee is eating the profit.

4. Close with a recommendation. "I'd raise the average ticket by redesigning the menu toward higher-margin products before opening new stores, because it attacks the real cause without adding fixed cost." Recommendation, reason, and next step.

That arc — structure, hypothesis, data, recommendation — is the same in any type of case. The content changes, not the method.

A good vs. bad case interview answer (from the other side of the table)

Two candidates can reach the same conclusion and get opposite scores. Because of how they get there.

The one who passes drives the case: a structure built for the problem, saying where they start and why, asking for the data they need, and closing with a clear recommendation. The one who doesn't recites a textbook framework and, the moment the case steps off the beaten path — which it always does — they're left without a net, and the interviewer has to walk them to the solution by the hand.

It's like formulas in math: someone who understands where a formula comes from can solve any new problem; someone who memorized it gets stuck the moment the wording changes. Cases are the same. It's always better to know how to formulate than to memorize. So don't recite templates — learn to build them. The specific mistakes that cost the most, I break down one by one in the case interview mistakes guide.

Consulting cases with solutions to practice

Start free with the case workbook: two complete cases with prompt, context, an interviewer guide, charts, and a detailed solution, to practice alone or with a partner — you can download it (PDF). It's not a cut-down of the book: they're two standalone cases that work as an example of Crack The Case Interview, which gathers 20 original cases with full solutions — the kind I used to evaluate candidates.

If you'd rather start with the basics, see how to practice cases alone and build your own routine.

Frequently asked questions

What are case interview examples for?

To train your framing: building the case's structure (your issue tree) from the prompt. With the prompt you build the structure; to solve the whole case you need one with data, like the ones in the workbook or the book.

Do I need the solution for a case to be useful?

To train framing, no — the prompt is enough. The solution helps afterward, to correct yourself. That's why this set of prompts already works to start today.

How many cases should I practice?

Between 30 and 50: around 5-10 on your own, 20-30 with peers, and a few with expert feedback. In total, 60-80 hours over six to eight weeks.

Where do I find real cases with solutions?

Start with NextEp's free workbook (two complete cases) and, for more cases with exhibits and guided solutions, in Crack The Case Interview or on the Prep Platform.