Roland Berger Case Interview Practice: Free Case and Prep Resources
Roland Berger's case study preparation page has a dos and don'ts video and two recorded cases, each a case plus a solution: Transit Oriented Development (a Munich transit operator's station revenue) and 3D Printed Hip Implants (does printing one pay?). Its video says a confident candidate leads the interviewer, unlike McKinsey's practice cases, which pose set questions in order.Roland Berger (opens in a new tab), read ; Roland Berger (opens in a new tab), read ; McKinsey (opens in a new tab), read
Free, no signup: 2 worked cases with model answers. Free, no card: your first full practice case with an AI interviewer. Paid: Pro $49/month for every case.
Updated ·By Esteban Ronsin·Founder · former Deloitte and Accenture Strategy consultant
Built and reviewed with former McKinsey, BCG and Bain consultants and interviewers.
Free Roland Berger interview prep resources
Roland Berger interview prep resources: what you get, whether it is free or paid, and the link
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What you get
Free or paid
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Roland Berger case study preparation
Roland Berger's own case advice, a dos and don'ts video and two recorded cases, each a case video and a solution video: Transit Oriented Development and 3D Printed Hip Implants
Free. Published by Roland Berger, checked Nov 9, 2026
Practice cases for Roland Berger interviews4 cases
4 library cases matched to Roland Berger's case types, run out loud with an AI interviewer or step by step and scored on 7 skills; start with StyleCraft European Profitability Reset
Free + paid. The case list and a worked excerpt are public; a free account includes 1 full AI-graded case in voice or guided mode; Pro ($49/month) adds every case
Bramblewood Garden Centers: turnaround case with answers Industry: Retail. Difficulty: medium.1 math question.
Why did a 30-store garden center chain swing from profit to a large loss, and what should it do in the next 12 months to satisfy its lender? 6 questions, 3 exhibits, a model answer for each
Free. The whole case and every model answer, no account; the practice button opens a live case like it
Dunmore Cargo Bikes: market sizing case with answers Industry: Mobility. Difficulty: easy.1 math question.
How big is the annual US market for electric cargo bikes sold to urban delivery couriers, and is it big enough for a $10 million revenue goal? 5 questions, 1 exhibit, a model answer for each
Free. The whole case and every model answer, no account; the practice button opens a live case like it
Roland Berger fit and behavioral questions answered out loud, with follow-up probes and structured feedback (choose Roland Berger on the page)
Free + paid. 1 behavioral or Learning Mode session with a free account; Behavioral Unlimited ($39/month, behavioral and PEI only) or any Pro plan adds more
How to present a case to a panel: open with the recommendation, give each slide a headline that states the finding, and defend your weakest assumptions in the Q&A
Firm-style cases are practice cases written for Road to Offer or adapted from university consulting club casebooks, not the firm's own cases. Road to Offer is independent and not affiliated with Roland Berger.
Try a free Roland Berger-style case now: no card, no signup
An original practice case written by Road to Offer in a Roland Berger-style format, not Roland Berger's own case. Everything stays in your browser.
Notebook Maker Profit: A European notebook maker's shrinking profit
Written to the order Roland Berger's dos and don'ts video gives: summarize the key question, ask, take about two minutes to structure, present your approach, then calculate. The full version is StyleCraft European Profitability Reset, a Road to Offer library case. Roland Berger (opens in a new tab), read
1Step 1: Read the case
A stationery group's European division makes mass-market notebooks in two factories, in Poland and Portugal, and sells about 120 million euros a year. Its profit fell from 22 to 15 million euros in two years. The CEO asks why, whether to enter premium notebooks, and whether to move production to Vietnam.
2Step 2: Ask clarifying questions
Open a question to hear the interviewer's answer.
Is the whole market shrinking, or only us?
Interviewer: Mass-market notebooks shrink about 2% a year as people move to digital, and low-cost Asian makers and private labels compete hard on price.
Do we sell anything outside the mass market?
Interviewer: A small mid-range line with about 5% of that segment, and nothing in premium. The brand is known only for affordable notebooks.
How attractive is premium, and who leads it?
Interviewer: It grows about 12% a year. Moleskine and Leuchtturm1917 hold about 60% of it, and buyers choose on brand and prestige.
Where does the money go today?
Interviewer: Materials are about 45% of revenue, direct wages about 22% and other production costs about 18%. Materials are sourced globally.
Would quality suffer if we moved production?
Interviewer: Tests show comparable quality for mass-market notebooks. A premium line would need different capabilities. We'll share the cost comparison after your structure.
3Step 3: Structure your answer
Take about two minutes, as Roland Berger's own webinar does. Lay out how you would explain the profit drop and judge both options, then present your approach before any math.
2:00
Show what a strong structure covers
Plays back the key question in one sentence: three asks (why profit fell, premium, Vietnam) and one integrated answer for the CEO.
Profit bridge first: price, volume and mix in a shrinking market, then each cost line, to find what moved the 7 million euros.
Premium entry: size and growth of the segment, what it takes to win against two brands that hold most of it, and whether a budget brand can stretch.
Offshore move: savings by cost line (wages, other production costs) against higher transport, one-off move costs and risks to quality and delivery times.
Names a middle path to test, such as growing the existing mid-range line, rather than a stock profitability framework.
Says which branch to quantify first and why: the offshore savings, because that is where the cost data is firmest.
4Step 4: The interviewer's next question
The interviewer shares the cost comparison: on 120 million euros of revenue, direct wages are 22% and other production costs 18%. In Vietnam, wages would be about 12% of today's and other production costs about 60%, while transport rises by about 5% of revenue. What is the yearly saving?
Show what a strong answer does
Wages fall from about 26.4 to 3.2 million euros (23.2 saved), other production costs from 21.6 to 13.0 (8.6 saved), and transport adds 6.0, so the net is about 26 million euros a year, more than the 7 million lost. A strong answer rounds, says the figure is before one-off move costs and quality or delivery risks, and asks for those before recommending.
Flour costs rose 18% on a $4M flour bill, and prices went up 3% on $20M of sales. How much margin did Harbor lose?
Your answer
Flour went up by about $720K and the price rise brings in $600K, so the net hit is roughly $100K.
What worked
Split the change into a cost side and a price side before adding them up.
Could improve
$720K minus $600K is $120K, not $100K: state the exact net before rounding.
Model answer
Flour: 18% of $4M is $720K more cost. Price: 3% of $20M is $600K more revenue. Net margin loss: $120K.
Next time, say this
Cost is up $720K and price brings back $600K, so Harbor loses $120K of margin.
3
1
Choose a case
Cases matched to Roland Berger's case types.
2
Solve it out loud
An AI interviewer asks, listens and follows up.
3
Get answer feedback
Feedback on every answer: what worked, what to fix.
What makes Roland Berger interviews different
The candidate leads.
Roland Berger's dos and don'ts video says a confident applicant leads the interviewer through the solution, and presents the approach before the content so the interviewer can step in early. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Its own two practice cases are a city transit operator's station revenue and the cost of 3D printing a titanium hip implant, not a retail profitability case. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
A company presentation, then personal fit and case interviews on the same day, with a two- to three-minute self-presentation for Junior Consultant candidates; interns hear back that day. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Each arrow opens the source: Roland Berger, read Nov 9, 2026.
Key facts from Roland Berger's own pages
Two recorded cases.
Transit Oriented Development and 3D Printed Hip Implants, each split into a case video and a solution video; the German page labels them Case and Solution. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
The transit case webinar names them: start into the case, develop your approach (about two minutes), present it, calculate, add outside-the-box ideas, then summarize in two to three minutes. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Each arrow opens the source: Roland Berger, read Nov 9, 2026.
Roland Berger's case study preparation, video by video
Everything on Roland Berger's case study preparation page, plus the careers pages that describe its process, in the order to use them. Video lengths are the players' own; each line is our summary of the slides or the page. Read on Roland Berger's site .
Roland Berger's case study preparation, video by video: level, area and what each one is, linked to Roland Berger's page
The hub: Roland Berger's written case advice (structure, listen for hints, ask when unsure, realistic market-sizing assumptions) and links to every video below. The German copy labels each part Case or Solution.
About 8 minutes, embedded on the case page: how a confident candidate leads the case, from summarizing the question to a two-minute structure and quick, checked math, then the common mistakes. The German page has its own recording.
About 5 minutes: a Munich public transport operator wants more revenue from its rail stations. Shows the key question, the kinds of question worth asking and the data you might get, then about two minutes to structure.
About 12 minutes: groups stations by revenue potential, separates new from existing revenue, estimates each with rounded numbers, adds outside-the-box ideas and closes with a summary for the CEO.
About 10 minutes: a customer wants to print a titanium hip implant sold at 300 euros. Gives the part and machine data and three questions: the key costs, whether it pays, and what would make it pay. Worked below.
About 11 minutes: the main cost drivers, a machine-time calculation, measures to raise the price or cut cost, and the success factors Roland Berger expects in a case.
Show all 11
Roland Berger's case study preparation, video by video, continued
The steps after you apply: a reply in about two to four weeks, the online analytics test for permanent roles, the recruiting day and the final interview, with a short interview tips video.
What the interviews explore: your motivation, why consulting and why Roland Berger, your aptitude for numbers, strengths and weaknesses, and a case study session with no single correct way.
The Amsterdam process: an introductory interview and case, then a Final Day with two partner interviews and a written case presented to four consultants.
Worked: 3D Printed Hip Implants, in Roland Berger's six case steps
A customer wants to make a titanium hip implant, about 30 cubic centimetres in a 100 by 70 by 50 millimetre box and sold at 300 euros, by laser powder bed printing. The case video gives the machine data (about 10 seconds of powder coating per 50-micrometre layer, exposure of about 10 cubic centimetres an hour, a 250 by 250 by 300 millimetre build chamber, 3 hours of set-up per build job) and asks for the key costs, whether printing it is lucrative, and what would make it more economic. We work it in the six steps Roland Berger's transit case webinar names. Read the official case (opens in a new tab)(read )
How you might work it is ours, not Roland Berger's answer key.
1
Start into the case
Play the key question back: does printing this implant make money at 300 euros, and what would change that. Then ask the kinds of question the webinar shows: how many implants a year (quantification), whether the customer owns the machines or buys machine time (digging deeper), and whether the price is fixed (challenging).
2
Develop your approach
Take about two minutes. Profit per implant is the price minus the cost per implant; that cost is machine time per build job divided by implants per build, plus titanium powder, finishing such as support removal and polishing, and overhead. Flag machine time as the likely driver, because printing metal is slow.
3
Present your approach
Walk the interviewer through the tree before any math and say where you will start and why, so they can redirect you early. Roland Berger's dos and don'ts video asks for exactly that.
4
Calculate
Each implant's 50 by 70 millimetre footprint fits five by three on a 250 by 250 plate, so about 15 a build. 100 millimetres in 50-micrometre layers is 2,000 layers, about 5.6 hours of coating; 15 implants of 30 cubic centimetres at 10 an hour is about 45 hours of exposure; add 3 hours of set-up. That is about 54 machine hours a build, or about 3.6 hours an implant, so printing breaks even only if a machine hour costs under about 84 euros, before powder and finishing. Ask the interviewer for the hourly machine rate.
5
Outside-the-box ideas
Go beyond the formula: stack a second level of implants in the 300 millimetre chamber height if supports allow, run several machines per operator, or charge more for patient-specific implants and porous surfaces that a cast or milled implant cannot offer.
6
Summary and presentation
In under three minutes, answer the key question first: at today's machine time it pays only below about 84 euros a machine hour. Then the driver (exposure is most of the time), the two measures you would test first and what you need to confirm.
Roland Berger's case page says it often leaves out details to see how you handle missing information, and “We'd rather hear a good question than a poor answer.” Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Approach, not perfect solutions
A senior consultant on its team Q&A: “We are not looking for perfect case solutions”, but at the approach, openness and drive you bring to the case. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Simple beats academic
The hip implant solution lists its success factors: academic vocabulary does not matter, while choosing a simple approach, such as asking for an hourly machine rate instead of a full amortization, convinces. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Not just one correct way
Its selection process page: “There is not just one correct way to work on a case study.” It wants to see your approach and what makes you unique. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Each arrow opens the source: Roland Berger, read Nov 9, 2026.
The Roland Berger interview process, and what trains each step
1
Application
Apply online with a detailed CV and a cover letter, without a photo; some countries also ask for diplomas, certificates and references. Roland Berger asks for excellent spoken and written English plus a good command of the local language of the office you apply to.
Roland Berger's hints and tips page, in English and in German, invites candidates for permanent roles to an online analytics test (the Analytiktest) and invites those who pass to a recruiting day. Internship candidates skip the test. Roland Berger publishes no format or length; candidates report a GMAT-style numerical, verbal and logic test.
The day opens with a company presentation, then personal fit and case interviews. Roland Berger asks you to be authentic and talk about your goals and experience; Junior Consultant candidates prepare a two- to three-minute presentation about themselves.
A live case you work through with the interviewer. Roland Berger says there is no single right way: it looks at your structure, how you use hints, whether you separate key facts from noise, and your questions. For market sizing it wants realistic assumptions, not memorised market sizes.
Final Day with a written, presented case (Netherlands)
Roland Berger's Netherlands careers page describes a Final Day with two partner interviews and a written case study covering all aspects of a project: several questions under a time limit with limited data, then you present your findings to a panel of four consultants. The other careers pages checked describe no written case, so follow your invitation.
After a successful recruiting day, permanent candidates meet a member of the management team in their future area before an offer. Internship candidates get their feedback at the end of the recruiting day.
Missing from Roland Berger's pages: how long a case interview runs, how many case interviews a recruiting day holds, how answers are scored, the online analytics test's format and length, and, outside the Netherlands, whether there is a written or group case.
11 Roland Berger-style interview questions
In our words, not Roland Berger's, grouped by the six steps its transit case webinar names, with what a strong answer does. Several share a theme with its own cases (a transit operator, a costly production process); work ours, then Roland Berger's videos in the table above.
Step 1: Start into the case
Roland Berger: summarize the key question in your own words, then ask what else you need.
1A regional rail operator wants more profit from the car parks at its stations. What do you play back, and what do you ask first?
What a strong answer does: Restates the key question in one sentence, then asks one question of each kind the webinar shows: how much more (quantification), what data exists (digging deeper) and why now (reasoning).
2A truck-parts supplier's margin fell four points in two years. Which details might the interviewer have left out on purpose?
What a strong answer does: Names the missing facts that would change the answer (which product lines, price versus cost, one customer or all) and asks for them instead of assuming.
About two minutes to structure, then walk the interviewer through it before any math.
3A car maker's new battery plant runs at 60% of capacity a year after opening. How would you structure the problem?
What a strong answer does: Builds a tree for this plant (demand for the cars it supplies, product mix, ramp-up problems, downtime) rather than a stock profitability framework, and says where to start and why.
4An airport operator wants new revenue beyond airline fees. Present your approach in under a minute.
What a strong answer does: Separates new revenue sources from growing existing ones and groups ideas by size of prize, then names the one branch to quantify first.
Roland Berger: calculate accurately and quickly, round where you can, and check results before you present them.
5A printer that costs 90 euros an hour makes 12 brackets in a 30-hour build. What does each bracket cost in machine time?
What a strong answer does: 2.5 hours each, so 225 euros. Says the result, checks it (12 times 225 is 2,700, as is 30 times 90), then asks what else belongs in the unit cost.
6How many hip replacement operations are done in Germany each year?
What a strong answer does: Starts from the population and the share of older adults, applies a rate per thousand people, rounds hard, says each assumption out loud and sanity-checks the answer against hospitals' capacity.
7An exhibit shows a component supplier's cost per unit rising while its volume falls. What do you say first?
What a strong answer does: Reads the axes and units, states the link (fixed costs spread over fewer units), then asks for the split between fixed and variable cost.
Roland Berger asks for outside-the-box ideas, then a summary of no more than two to three minutes, aimed at its audience.
8Beyond fares, how could a rail operator earn more from the land around its busiest stations?
What a strong answer does: Goes past shops and ads to ideas tied to a trend, such as offices or housing built next to stations or mobility hubs, and says which is worth testing first and why.
9You have two minutes with the CEO of a packaging company that could close one of its two plants. Summarize.
What a strong answer does: Answer first (which plant, and the yearly saving), then the reason, the main risk and the next step, well inside three minutes.
On the same recruiting day; Junior Consultant candidates prepare a two- to three-minute self-presentation.
10Please present yourself in two to three minutes.
What a strong answer does: Three parts in time order (what you did, what you learned, why consulting and Roland Berger now), one concrete result per part, and it lands inside three minutes out loud.
11Tell me about a time you acted like an entrepreneur.
What a strong answer does: Picks one of Roland Berger's three values, here Entrepreneurship, and tells a short story you started yourself, with what you did and a result in numbers.
Roland Berger's dos and don'ts video lists ready-made case approaches as a common mistake: most of its cases need a structure built for the problem. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Jumping straight into the math
The video asks you to present your approach first so the interviewer can step in early if you are on the wrong path. Talking without an introduction or structure is on its list of mistakes. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Its transit case says a good summary should not exceed two to three minutes and should answer the key question asked at the start, for the audience in the room. Source: Roland Berger, read (opens in a new tab)
Each arrow opens the source: Roland Berger, read Nov 9, 2026.
A Roland Berger prep plan, day by day
The order follows Roland Berger's own pages; the timing is our suggestion.
Days 1 and 2
Watch Roland Berger's own videos, actively
Watch the dos and don'ts video, then each case video. Pause before each solution, structure for two minutes and solve it yourself, then compare.
How should I prepare for the Roland Berger case interview, and which free resources should I use?
Start with Roland Berger's own case study preparation page: its dos and don'ts video, then its two recorded cases, Transit Oriented Development and 3D Printed Hip Implants, each a case video and a solution video. Then train each step Roland Berger lists: the online analytics test if you apply for a permanent role, the personal fit interview, the case interviews and, where your office has one, a written case you present to a panel (its Netherlands page describes one). On Road to Offer a free account includes 1 full AI-graded case, such as StyleCraft European Profitability Reset, a turnaround; Bramblewood Garden Centers and Dunmore Cargo Bikes are worked cases with a model answer for every question and need no account. Firm-style cases are practice cases written for Road to Offer or adapted from university consulting club casebooks, not the firm's own cases.
Where can I practice Roland Berger-style case interviews for free?
Roland Berger's two recorded cases on its case study preparation page are free and need no account: pause after each case video and solve it before you watch the solution. On Road to Offer, 4 library cases are matched to the case types Roland Berger candidates report (a turnaround, a rail revenue decline, a plant consolidation and an industrial market entry); you run them out loud with an AI interviewer or step by step, and your first full case is free with a free account. Bramblewood Garden Centers (a lender-driven turnaround) and Dunmore Cargo Bikes (a market sizing) are free to read with a model answer for every question, no account. Road to Offer has no Roland Berger test simulator.
What case study preparation does Roland Berger publish, and how should I use it?
One page, Case study preparation, on its careers site: written tips (work out a structure, listen for hints, ask when unsure, make realistic market-sizing assumptions), a dos and don'ts video of about 8 minutes, and two recorded cases split into a case video and a solution video: Transit Oriented Development (about 5 and 12 minutes) and 3D Printed Hip Implants (about 10 and 11 minutes). Watch the dos and don'ts first. For each case, stop after the case video, take the two minutes the webinar gives you to structure, work the questions out loud and on paper, then watch the solution and compare your route, not only your numbers. Then rehearse live, as Roland Berger suggests, with a friend who makes up a case.
Do Roland Berger's case videos show a real interview?
No. They are recorded webinar slides: each case video sets out the situation, the data and the questions, and the solution video walks through one way to solve it and the success factors Roland Berger names. They show what a strong answer covers, not a candidate being interviewed, so pair them with live practice out loud.
Is the Roland Berger case interview candidate-led or interviewer-led?
Closer to candidate-led. Roland Berger's dos and don'ts video says a confident applicant leads the interviewer through the solution: summarize the question, ask, take about two minutes to structure, present your approach before the content so the interviewer can step in early, then calculate. Its case page adds that interviewers give hints and often leave out details on purpose. McKinsey's practice cases, by contrast, pose numbered questions in a set order.
Does Roland Berger have an online test?
Yes, for permanent roles. Roland Berger's hints and tips page, in English and in German, invites permanent-entry candidates to an online analytics test and invites those who pass to a recruiting day; internship candidates go straight to the recruiting day. Roland Berger publishes no format or length; candidates report a GMAT-style numerical, verbal and logic test. Road to Offer has no Roland Berger test simulator: the case math drill trains the no-calculator arithmetic, and the German Bewerbung guide covers the Analytiktest.
Does Roland Berger have a written case or a group case?
It depends on the office. Roland Berger's Netherlands careers page says the Final Day includes two partner interviews and a written case study covering all aspects of a project, with several questions under a time limit and limited data, which you then present to a panel of four consultants. Its global hints and tips page names only personal fit and case interviews on the recruiting day, and no Roland Berger page checked describes a group case; candidates report one in some offices' final rounds. Follow your invitation, and if it names a presentation, rehearse leading with the recommendation and defending your assumptions.
What does the Roland Berger fit interview cover?
Roland Berger calls it the personal fit interview: your goals and experience and, for Junior Consultant candidates, a two- to three-minute presentation about yourself. Its selection process page adds your motivation, why consulting and why Roland Berger, and your strengths and weaknesses, and its team Q&A names three values, Empathy, Excellence and Entrepreneurship, and says it is not looking for perfect case solutions. Prepare one story per value and say it out loud; Road to Offer's fit practice asks Roland Berger questions with follow-up probes, 1 session free with a free account.
How long should my structure and my final summary take in a Roland Berger case?
Roland Berger's own videos give about two minutes to develop your structure, and its transit case says a good closing summary should not exceed two to three minutes, should answer the key question asked at the start and should fit its audience, there a CEO.
How long does the Roland Berger application process take?
Roland Berger's FAQ says about six to eight weeks from application to signed contract, and to expect a reply within three weeks; its hints and tips page says about two to four weeks, and the Netherlands page usually within two weeks. On lead time its pages differ: three or four months before your start date (selection process page), four to six months (FAQ), about six months (Netherlands). Internship processes are usually faster.
Do I need to speak German to join Roland Berger?
Only for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where Roland Berger's team Q&A says fluent German is needed, with exceptions for some roles such as experienced hires with global industry expertise. Elsewhere it asks for excellent English plus the local office language, for example Dutch in the Netherlands. Each country recruits for its own offices.
Can I reapply to Roland Berger after a rejection?
Yes. Roland Berger's FAQ says it welcomes reapplications and asks you to explain what has changed since, such as a semester abroad, an internship or new work experience.
