Case Interview Question #00618: It’s noon, a professional thief in downtown Manhattan has to decide which one of the three stores is the most convenient (meaning profitable) for him to rob: a bakery, a flower shop, or a luxury chandelier store. Assume that the thief… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00609: Houston is the fourth largest city in the United States (after New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago), and the largest city in the state of Texas. Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00579: How many gallons of ice cream are sold in the United States each year?

Possible Solution:

To answer this kind of estimation or guesstimate cases, the candidate can either work from the supply side, or work from the demand side, or from… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00575: How many horses are there in the United States of America?

Possible Answer:

Answering this estimation or guesstimate type of case question requires asking a number of sub-questions (SQ) first. To estimate the number of horses in the U.S., the following sub-questions and… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00574: The NBA (National Basketball Association) is the preeminent men’s professional basketball league in North America. With thirty franchised member clubs (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada), the NBA is widely considered to be the premier men’s professional basketball league in the… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00559: I (the interviewer, a consultant at management consulting firm) travel a lot for client work and always have to rent a car after I fly to client site. Last week when I was picking up the… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00550: How many fish are there in all the world’s seas? (Not including lakes, rivers, etc)

Note to Interviewer:

This estimation/guesstimate case is an interesting combination of creativity and math. It’s far too difficult to make every leap in this case, and so provide… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00549: In the United States, how many people are in the air right now?

Note to Interviewer:

This estimation/guesstimate case involves careful organization up-front and an opportunity for creativity at the end. The majority of people in the air are in airplanes, so… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00516: Lenovo Group Limited is a multinational information technology company that develops, manufactures and markets desktop and notebook computers, workstations, servers, storage drives, IT management software, and other related products and services. The company’s principal operations are… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00507: How many ping-pong balls can fit into a Boeing 747 passenger airplane?

Possible Approach:

The best approach for an estimation or guesstimate case question is to think of a funnel. You begin by thinking broadly, then slowly drill… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00498: How many miles of road are there in the United States?

Possible Answer:

This is one of the classical estimation or guesstimate type of cases that requires some creative approximation as well as common sense. Note that the solution presented below is only one… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00490: You are a consultant who recently joined FTI Consulting fresh out of college. On a recent flight to client site, you happened to sit next to Tom Horton, CEO of American Airlines (NYSE: AMR). During your conversation, Tom mentioned that he was wondering how many… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00460: How many individual French fries does McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) sell in the United States each year?

Possible Solution:

This is a simple estimation/guesstimate case. While it goes without saying that the candidate should come up with a final… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00458: Your client Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK) owns a chain of movie theaters in North and South America and Taiwan. With its headquarter in Plano, Texas, United States, Cinemark operates theaters under several brands, including its flagship Cinemark, Tinseltown USA, Century and CinéArts.… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00441: The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) is a global banking and financial services company formed in July 2007 as the result of the merger of The Bank of New York Company, Inc. and Mellon… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00413: You are a new associate on an engagement involving Wrigley Field (a baseball stadium in Chicago, Illinois, United States that serves as the home ballpark of the Chicago Cubs baseball team). It is vitally important that you are able to estimate the… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00403: You’ve made it to the final round of Simon Kucher & Partners (SKP). After you walk into the office of a senior partner who is going to interview you, he tells you that… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00361: Estimate the number of passengers that pass through the Tokyo Station each day.

Tokyo Station is one of the primary transportation hubs in Japan. It is located in the Marunouchi business district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan, near the Imperial Palace grounds and the… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00344: How would you go about estimating the daily average number of motor vehicles in the Chicago Loop (central business district of downtown Chicago)?

Possible Answers:

This estimation or guesstimate case is sort of ambiguous at first glance as I was not… Read the rest

Case Interview Question #00303: How many gallons of gasoline does an average gas station in the United States sell on an average day?

Possible Solution:

Answering this estimation/guesstimate type of case questions requires answering a number of sub-questions (SQ) first. To estimate the… Read the rest