Case Presentation Guide: How to Present a Written Case

To present a written case, lead with your recommendation, then prove it slide by slide, then defend it. Open with the answer in one sentence. Give every slide a headline that states a finding rather than a topic, and talk each slide as headline, two proofs, bridge. Before you walk in, prepare a 30-second defense for the two assumptions your answer leans on hardest, because that's where interviewers push. This page covers the presenting half of the round. For the format itself and how to read the data pack, use the written case interview guide.

How do you present a written case?

Use the Answer, Arc, Armor method. Answer: state the recommendation first, in one sentence you could say without slides. Arc: order the slides so each headline proves one part of that sentence, and put the storyline down before drawing a single chart. Armor: find the two weakest links in your logic and rehearse short defenses for them before the presentation starts.

The Answer step is a synthesis skill: turning findings into one decision someone can act on. You can practice that exact move below before you build any slides.

What does the written case round look like at Bain, BCG, Kearney, L.E.K. and Oliver Wyman?

It depends on the office, and firms rarely publish it. In September 2026 we checked the careers pages of Bain, BCG, L.E.K. and Oliver Wyman. One office page is explicit: BCG Netherlands lists a 2.5-hour written case in its second round (official, BCG careers, checked September 2026). Bain's interviewing page says some roles get a take-home challenge with about three days to finish, sometimes followed by a presentation (official, Bain careers, checked September 2026). Everything else in the table below is reported by prep sites, not confirmed by the firm. The reports agree on one pattern: a timed pack, a short presentation built from it, then questions.

Reported sources, all seen September 2026. Bain: My Consulting Offer (updated January 2025); CaseBasix (August 2026) calls it office-dependent. BCG: CaseBasix (August 2026) reports 60 to 90 minutes; MConsultingPrep (undated) reports 120 minutes with blank slides. Kearney: CaseBasix (August 2026). L.E.K.: My Consulting Offer (updated August 2024) reports about 30 slides, 7 outline slides and a 20 plus 10 minute split; CaseBasix (August 2026) reports 40 to 50 pages and 8 to 10 slides. Oliver Wyman: My Consulting Offer (updated January 2025) and CaseBasix (August 2026).

What this means for your prep. Get the actual prep time, output type and presentation length from your recruiter before you practice, because the reports differ by up to an hour for the same firm. Then set your practice timer to the shortest window your firm might give you. Oliver Wyman's reported 30 minutes leaves room for only three or four slides you'd want to defend. BCG's reported upper range of 120 minutes means interviewers will expect a cleaner storyline and fewer loose numbers.

If your invitation lists several exercises on one day, use the consulting assessment center guide to plan the schedule. For a shared-exhibit or inbox task, use the group case and inbox playbook.

How do you turn your analysis into a slide story?

Write the storyline as sentences before you touch a slide. Each sentence becomes one headline, and the order of the sentences is the order of the deck. If a sentence doesn't support the recommendation, it goes in the appendix or gets cut. This is the Pyramid Principle applied to a deck: the answer sits on top and every slide beneath it holds up one reason.

A running example

The rest of this page uses one original practice case, Northline Transit, so every technique works on the same numbers. Northline is weighing a six-month pilot of an express commuter route. Your analysis of the pack found:

• 18,000 active commuters in the corridor. A marketing figure of 25,000 also counts occasional visitors, so you set it aside.
• 30% of surveyed commuters say they'd ride weekly. You assume half of that intent converts to real riders (base case) and a quarter in the low case.
• Each rider takes 2 one-way trips a week over 26 weeks, at 4 euros contribution per trip.
• The pilot's incremental cost is 210,000 euros.

Base-case contribution is 18,000 × 30% × 50% × 2 × 26 × €4 = €561,600. Low-case contribution is €280,800, still 70,800 euros above cost. Break-even needs about 18.7% of stated intent to convert.

Write the four-sentence storyline

1. Recommendation: Launch the six-month pilot, with a go or stop gate at month one.
2. Reason one: Even the low case covers the pilot's 210,000 euro cost.
3. Reason two: The pilot only loses money if fewer than about 1 in 5 interested commuters actually ride.
4. Risk and next step: Stated intent may overstate repeat use, so track weekly riders against a break-even path.

That's a four-slide deck: one recommendation slide, two proof slides and one risk slide. If your instructions ask for six slides, split a proof slide (demand and economics) rather than adding a slide that proves nothing.

Match slide count to the time you have

These splits are a planning rule of thumb, not firm instructions. The fixed part is the order: storyline, then headlines, then charts, then rehearsal.

How do you write slide headlines that score?

A headline is the finding, not the topic. Read your headlines in order, skipping everything else on the slides. They should tell the whole recommendation. Before you keep a headline, check three things: it's a full sentence, it says so what, and it carries a number where the pack gives you one.

One slide, before and after

Before. Headline: "Financial analysis". Body: a table with seven rows of inputs, two scenarios and no conclusion. The interviewer has to do your synthesis.

After. Headline: "Low-case contribution still covers pilot cost by €70,800". Body: two bars, base at 561,600 euros and low at 280,800 euros, with a line at the 210,000 euro cost. One footnote: "Active commuters only; conversion is an assumption, not survey data." Source line: survey, ridership report, operating estimate.

The after slide separates supplied facts from your assumptions right on the page. That's the first thing a good interviewer tests, and a footnote answers it before they ask. For more examples of turning findings into one-line takeaways, see case interview synthesis.

What should you say while presenting?

Say the answer first, then run each slide as headline, two proofs, bridge. Read the headline in your own words, give the two numbers that prove it, then use one sentence to connect to the next slide. Don't read bullets aloud. The interviewers can read, and reading aloud hides whether you understand the slide.

A talk track for the opening 45 seconds

"I recommend Northline launches the six-month express pilot, with a stop gate after month one. Two reasons. First, even if only a quarter of interested commuters ride, contribution is 280,800 euros against a 210,000 euro cost. Second, the pilot only loses money if fewer than about one in five interested commuters ride. The main risk is that survey intent overstates repeat use, so I'd track weekly riders from week one. Let me show you the demand base first."

That opening gives the interviewers the whole answer, the evidence, the risk and a map of what comes next. If they cut you off after 45 seconds, you've still delivered the recommendation.

A talk track for one proof slide

"This slide shows the pilot pays back even in the low case. I used 18,000 active commuters, not the 25,000 marketing figure, because that one includes occasional visitors. At half conversion we get 561,600 euros; at a quarter, 280,800. Both clear the 210,000 cost. So demand isn't the question. Repeat use is, which is the next slide."

Timing and delivery habits

• Aim to finish early. If the presentation slot is 20 minutes (the L.E.K. report above), plan roughly 10 to 12 minutes of talking. Interviewers interrupt, and questions eat the rest.
• Pause after the recommendation. A two-second pause tells the interviewers the most important sentence just happened, and invites an early question.
• Point at the number you're citing. On paper or screen, show exactly which figure proves your claim.
• Signpost transitions. "That's demand. Now economics." It keeps a panel with you when one person looks down at the pack.
• Welcome interruptions. Answer the question, then return with "Coming back to the economics slide." Don't treat the question as derailing a script.

Delivery is the same skill as thinking out loud in a live case. Case interview communication tips cover the verbal habits in more depth.

How do you defend your recommendation in Q&A?

Answer the question in one sentence, give the evidence, then say whether the challenge changes your recommendation. Interviewers usually push where your logic is thinnest, so the Armor you prepared should cover most questions. The exchanges below use the Northline deck. Each shows a type of challenge you should expect.

Source challenge. "Why did you ignore the 25,000 market figure?"

"I didn't ignore it, I scoped it out. Its footnote includes occasional visitors, and a weekly commuter route needs regular riders. If we could isolate regular travelers inside that 25,000, I'd show it as an upside case."

Assumption challenge. "Your 50% conversion is made up. Why should I trust it?"

"It is an assumption, which is why the slide labels it and I showed a 25% low case. The decision holds down to about 18.7% conversion. So the question isn't whether 50% is right, it's whether conversion could drop below one in five. The month-one gate tests exactly that."

Math challenge. "Walk me through how you got 280,800."

"18,000 active commuters, times 30% intent, times 25% conversion, gives 1,350 riders. Times 2 trips a week, 26 weeks and 4 euros a trip, that's 280,800 euros."

You need to be able to do that aloud, from memory, without the calculator. If the math under pressure is shaky, practice it on its own first.

Alternative challenge. "Why not just run a three-month pilot and save money?"

"It would cut cost, but it would also give fewer weeks to see whether riders repeat, and repeat use is the main risk. I'd rather keep six months with a month-one stop gate. That caps the downside without shortening the learning window."

Change-your-mind challenge. "What would make you cancel the pilot?"

"Weekly riders below the break-even path after the agreed learning period, or service problems that push contribution per trip below 4 euros. Either one would take the low case under cost."

The question you can't answer. "What happens to ridership when fares rise next year?"

"The pack doesn't include price sensitivity, so I can't size that. It matters, because lower contribution per trip raises the break-even conversion. I'd add a fare scenario before any decision past the pilot, but it doesn't change the six-month call."

Three rules sit under all six answers. Concede facts quickly: if you made an error, say so, fix the number and state whether the recommendation survives. Don't stack defenses: one clear reason beats four nervous ones. Always return to the decision: finish every answer by saying what it means for the recommendation.

How do you handle a take-home case presentation?

A take-home case gives you days rather than an hour, so interviewers expect a cleaner deck and a sharper defense. Reported examples include documents sent 48 hours ahead with a custom PowerPoint deck at PwC (MConsultingPrep, undated, seen September 2026) and a case sent one week ahead at KPMG Advisory in the Netherlands (candidate post on PrepLounge, February 2025). One prep site reports 2 to 3 days at smaller consultancies versus 1 to 2 hours at larger firms (Hacking the Case Interview, updated January 2026).

What changes when you have more time:

• Confirm the brief in writing. Ask the recruiter for presentation length, slide limit, file format, submission deadline, and whether outside research is allowed. Coaches answering the KPMG post gave the same advice.
• Start the storyline on day one. Put a draft answer and headlines down early, then spend the remaining time testing them. More time invites more analysis, and more analysis invites a deck with no clear message.
• Label every outside source. Keep supplied case facts, outside research and your own assumptions visibly separate, and cite anything you didn't get from the pack.
• Build a short appendix. Put backup calculations there instead of on the main slides, so you can flip to them when a question comes.
• Rehearse with a timer and a skeptic. Do at least one full run with someone who interrupts, because the live Q&A is where take-home candidates are separated.
• Follow authorship rules exactly. If the instructions ban outside help or AI tools, the deck has to be your own work. You will be questioned on every number in it.

What are the most common case presentation mistakes?

• Building up to the answer. Walking through analysis for ten minutes before the recommendation leaves the interviewers guessing, and many never hear the end.
• Topic headlines. "Market analysis" on every slide hands your synthesis job to the interviewer.
• Hiding assumptions. An assumption stated as fact becomes the first question, and the answer sounds like a retreat.
• Too many slides for the time. An extra slide you can't defend costs more than a missing slide.
• Defending everything. Arguing every challenge equally signals you don't know which parts of your logic matter.

How can you practice presenting a written case?

Road to Offer doesn't have a written case or slide-building simulator, so practice the component skills and run a timed packet yourself. For reading an exhibit and stating what it means fast, use the free chart drill. For the one-minute recommendation that opens every presentation, use the synthesis drill. To hold a recommendation together across a whole problem while an AI interviewer pushes back, run a full AI-graded case. A free account includes one full case with feedback. If a written case is in your final round, there will almost certainly be a fit interview too, so rehearse it with behavioral interview practice.

Then put it together once a week: take any exhibit pack, set the timer to your firm's shortest reported window, write the four-sentence storyline, build the headlines, and present out loud to someone who interrupts. For partner-level final-round expectations, see final round case interview prep. For format and data-pack reading, go back to the written case interview guide.

Sources

• Bain & Company, Case interview preparation and What to expect, official, checked September 2026: describe case interviews, no written case format published. Interviewing, official, checked September 2026: some roles get a take-home challenge, "likely three days", sometimes presented.
• BCG, Interview process and Case interview preparation, official, checked September 2026: skills, case and team interview steps, no written case format published. The Netherlands, official, checked September 2026: round two includes a 2.5-hour written case.
• L.E.K. Consulting, Interview preparation, official, checked September 2026: case-based interviews to "reach and defend a conclusion".
• Oliver Wyman, Interview preparation, official, checked September 2026: conversational and case interviews, no written case format published.
• My Consulting Offer, Bain case interview (updated January 2025), L.E.K. written case (updated August 2024) and Oliver Wyman case interview (updated January 2025), reported.
• CaseBasix, BCG, Bain, Kearney, L.E.K. and Oliver Wyman guides, updated August 2026, reported.
• MConsultingPrep, Written case interview guide, undated, seen September 2026, reported.
• Hacking the Case Interview, Case interview presentation, updated January 2026, reported.
• PrepLounge forum, Tips for preparing for a take-home case interview, February 2025, candidate report.
• Northline Transit and all worked numbers on this page are original practice material.