BCG - Case Interview

What is the BCG Potential Test?

It seems that BCG is still running trials with written cases and we’ve had reports of different versions being in tested in the field. What can you expect?

50 or 23 questions spread over multiple cases

Limited time to answer all questions (50 minutes)

It differs from the McKinsey PST in how answers are scored: correct answers net you 2 points, unanswered questions 0 and wrong answers will decrease your score by -1. So no last minute guessing, as with the PST.

BCG Potential Test: how to practice?

If you’ve been invited to do the test by BCG, you’d probably want to prepare. Luckily there’s a lot of material available and we’ll zoom in on the specific skills required by the BCG Potential Test as well as sample tests you could take.

Math skills

The BCG Potential Test requires you to do a lot of calculations in a short amount of time. To make sure you calculate quickly and correctly you should practice your quantitative skills. There are plenty of sites and apps to test your mathematical prowess, and we’ve listed some in our article on case interview math. Don’t be put off by your initial performance: your skill will improve rapidly with daily practice.

Reading Skills

You’ll have to parse a lot of text and (financial) data during the test, and it helps when you can quickly decide which piece of information is important and which not. It also helps to know the “business jargon” and read up if your background is not in Business or Finance. Good ways to get up to speed quickly is reading The Economist or Business Insider articles.

Other preparation

Since the BCG Potential test features a lot of reading questions combined with math, it helps to use GMAT/GRE training material as well.

BCG Potential Test: sample

If you want to practice the BCG Potential test, you should take a look at the BCG website: the BCG Netherlands office offers a sample test online. These are only a few questions though. Luckily the BCG Potential Test and the McKinsey PST are much alike and we offer a lot of practice material to start right away:

The Key to the PST: a fully-fledged practice PST with 26 questions and an extensive answer guide. In addition, it also features tips on how to ace the McKinsey PST both when preparing and during the actual Problem Solving Test.

The Second Key to the PST: an additional practice PST with a fresh set of cases and the same extensive answer guide.

Rating: 5.0/10 (3 votes cast)

This time, we’ll look at the biggest competitor for McKinsey: The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Next week, we’ll take an in-depth look at the recruiting and BCG case interviewing process, which differs from region to region. For example, some use an analytical test as the McKinsey PST, other offices focus only on case interviews and some add a one-hour ‘experience interview’ in the first rounds to make sure you fit with office culture.

But today as a general introduction and guidance for the one or two resume questions you get at the beginning of each case: the history of the Boston Consulting Group.

A New Perspective

Founded in 1963 by Bruce Henderson (ex-Arthur D. Little) as part of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company, with Henderson as sole consultant, the management consulting firm that would later be known as the Boston Consulting Group directly started challenging business literature status quo. These regular essays called ‘Perspectives’ would form the platform from which BCG would launch its famous business concepts.

The Experience Curve

The first of these concepts developed by Henderson was inspired by work in the semiconductor industry in an attempt to understand the quick price drops. Experience producing a product allows a firm to lower production costs as cumulative volume (‘experience’) increases. It affirmed the importance of increasing market share and production scale, as it allows you to reap cost benefits.

Dogs, Question Marks, Stars and Cash Cows

Only two years later another famous concept would find its way into the ‘Perspectives’: the Growth-Share Matrix, or just the BCG-matrix. Allowing firms to categorize their product portfolio into categories and rationalize their cash flows: invest money from cash cows into stars and question marks, divest dogs. It resurfaced during the 80’s when it was used to categorize firms in investment portfolios to identify opportunities and divest divisions or companies with negative cash flows.

From Bill Bain Until Now

In 1973, Bill Bain leaves BCG to start up his own Boston consulting firm: Bain & Company. Meanwhile, BCG continues to grow and expand internationally. The Boston Consulting Group maintains its reputation as a research-driven and status-quo challenging company, being the first to identify the network-structure and the resource based view of the firm. Now 4,400 consultants strong, it’s the second largest firm (McKinsey still has about twice as much consultants at 9,000) in the strategic consulting industry and still growing.

During the interview

When interviewing with BCG, know that they have always been innovators and still love to challenge the status quo in economic theory and business practice. If you can show that you’ve been innovative in your PhD-research or other area’s of your life, do so! Also, know their five pillars and try to match your ambitions with one or more of these: show that you’re prepared and passionate about working for BCG. Acing the cases and knowing your math is only part of the interview, the soft part is equally important!

Want to know how to communicate passion and enthusiasm without looking like a clown? Buy my book! Also applying at other firms? Check out the Company Profiles. And as always, good luck with your interviews!

Rating: 8.8/10 (8 votes cast)