The Fuqua Casebook 2023-24: all 18 cases, and how to practice them out loud
Fuqua's casebook has a long-standing reputation among MBA consulting clubs, and the 2023-24 edition rebuilt its format to simulate a real interview more closely. It has 18 cases in 176 pages: 12 new cases written by the class, and six Fuqua Classics carried over from books as far back as 2015.
Its index is one of the most useful of any casebook. Each new case names the firm style it imitates and rates quantitative and qualitative difficulty separately, so you can aim at a firm and at the skill you are weakest in. This page lists all 18 with those labels. The prompts, exhibits and answers stay in the book.
- Edition
- 2023-24
- Pages
- 176
- Practice cases
- 18
What is in the Fuqua 2023-24 casebook
- 12 new cases
- Growth, operations, decision analysis, market sizing, M&A, profitability, market entry and private equity, each tagged with the firm style it imitates.
- 6 Fuqua Classics
- Favorites from the 2015 to 2022 books, including Goodbye Horses, which Kellogg's own curriculum recommends.
- Case Types 101
- Short definitions of nine common case types, from profitability to private equity, and starting framework structures.
- Two difficulty scales
- Quantitative and qualitative difficulty rated separately as easy, medium or difficult.
The firm-style labels make the book easy to aim. The Bain-style cases are Born for Beauty, Swift Business and Dollar Pizza Parlor (with L.E.K.). The BCG-style cases are Oat About It, Orwells that Ends Well and Green Chips, Clean Chips. The two McKinsey-style cases, Colombian Hippos and Water Provision Scheme, are both public sector decision analysis. Kearney, L.E.K. and Deloitte each have their own.
Fuqua cases travel. Kellogg's 2024 curriculum includes Goodbye Horses and Orange Yoga Studio from older Fuqua books, and both the Kellogg and Wharton books recommend Coyotes from the 2014 Fuqua book.
Five cases to start with
Roughly easy to hard, using the book's own two difficulty scales. None of these is live on Tough Tongue AI yet, so run them with a partner or build one yourself.
- 1 In the book
Born for Beauty
Easy on both scales and Bain-style: a growth case for a retailer, a clean first rep.
- 2 In the book
Oat About It
Easy on both scales and BCG-style. Growth again, in consumer goods.
- 3 In the book
iPhone X-Change
An L.E.K.-style market sizing case, medium on math. Good practice for building a number out loud.
- 4 In the book
Colombian Hippos
McKinsey-style decision analysis in the public sector, medium on math and easy qualitatively.
- 5 In the book
Water Provision Scheme
The other McKinsey-style case, difficult on both scales. Save it for the last weeks.
Every case in the Fuqua 2023-24 casebook
As the club's own index lists them. The two difficulty columns are the book's own: quantitative for the math load, qualitative for structuring and judgment. Classics come from earlier editions and carry no firm style.
| Case | Firm style | Type | Industry | Quant difficulty | Qual difficulty | Practice |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born for Beauty | Bain | Growth | Retail | Easy | Easy | Build it |
| Oat About It | BCG | Growth | Consumer goods | Easy | Easy | Build it |
| Bumpers R Us | Kearney | Operations | Transportation | Easy | Medium | Build it |
| Colombian Hippos | McKinsey | Decision analysis | Public sector | Medium | Easy | Build it |
| iPhone X-Change | L.E.K. | Market sizing | Technology | Medium | Easy | Build it |
| Orwells that Ends Well | BCG | M&A | Healthcare | Medium | Medium | Build it |
| Cake or Break | Deloitte | Profitability | Consumer goods | Medium | Medium | Build it |
| What's the MATter? | L.E.K. | Market entry | Industrials | Medium | Medium | Build it |
| Dollar Pizza Parlor | Bain / L.E.K. | Private equity | Services | Medium | Difficult | Build it |
| Water Provision Scheme | McKinsey | Decision analysis | Public sector | Difficult | Difficult | Build it |
| Green Chips, Clean Chips | BCG | Operations | Technology | Difficult | Difficult | Build it |
| Swift Business | Bain | Market entry | Entertainment | Difficult | Difficult | Build it |
| Lactose King (classic, 2017-18) | Growth | Services | Easy | Easy | Build it | |
| Lonely Lodge (classic, 2018-19) | Profitability | Entertainment | Easy | Medium | Build it | |
| Sardine Airlines (classic, 2016-17) | Profitability | Transportation | Medium | Medium | Build it | |
| Goodbye Horses (classic, 2016-17) | Decision analysis | Healthcare | Medium | Difficult | Build it | |
| Fuquan Land (classic, 2021-22) | Market entry | Agriculture | Difficult | Difficult | Build it | |
| Activist Action (classic, 2015-16) | Decision analysis | Consumer goods | Difficult | Difficult | Build it |
Case names, types and ratings are from the Duke MBA Consulting Club, Fuqua 2023-24 casebook. Descriptions on this site are our own.
Practicing Fuqua 2023-24 cases out loud
A casebook shows you the exhibit next to the answer. A live case does not, and that is the whole difference. The 38 cases in the Tough Tongue AI collection, from the Kellogg, Wharton and Booth books, run as voice interviews: the interviewer gives the prompt, answers your clarifying questions from the casebook's own information, puts each exhibit on your screen when the case reaches it, waits while you do the math, and pushes back on your recommendation with something you said.
The report compares your numbers with the casebook's answer key and scores structure, math, judgment and communication. Every live case runs interviewer-led, even where a book writes it interviewee-led, so for candidate-led drills a partner who makes you ask for each piece of data is still the better rep.
The rest of the book
For the 18 cases marked "Build it", the open-source case-interview-builder skill turns the casebook pages into the same kind of live case: an exhibit deck, an interviewer-led script with the answer key hidden from you, a weighted rubric and a study guide. It runs in Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and other agents with the Tough Tongue MCP server.
Or run them the classic way with a partner, swapping interviewer and candidate. Giving a case teaches you almost as much as taking one, because you see how much of the score is decided by the first two minutes.
Other casebooks and guides
Kellogg 2024 casebook
36 cases, 13 live
Wharton 2024-25 casebook
18 cases, 9 live
Booth 2024-25 casebook
45 cases, 3 live
Tuck 2024 casebook
12 cases
McKinsey practice cases
McKinsey's own samples and where to drill each question type
All 38 live cases
Case interview prep hub
Guides: MBB case interview prep with AI · the best AI case interview tools · practicing cases by yourself
Frequently asked questions
How many cases are in the Fuqua 2023-24 casebook?
18: twelve new cases written for the 2023-24 edition and six Fuqua Classics carried over from the 2015 to 2022 books. The 176-page book also has a Case Types 101 section that defines nine case types and suggests starting frameworks.
Where can I find the Fuqua casebook PDF?
The Duke MBA Consulting Club writes it for its members, and its editors note that students at other programs use it too. Copies circulate among MBA consulting clubs; we do not host it. Your own school's consulting club is the best place to ask.
Which Fuqua cases are McKinsey-style?
Two of the twelve new cases are labelled McKinsey-style: Colombian Hippos (medium quantitative, easy qualitative) and Water Provision Scheme (difficult on both). Both are public sector decision analysis cases. McKinsey cases are interviewer-led, so run them with a partner who holds the order of questions.
What do the Fuqua casebook difficulty ratings mean?
Each new case has two ratings, quantitative and qualitative, each easy, medium or difficult. Quantitative is the math load; qualitative is how hard the structuring, brainstorming and judgment are. Born for Beauty and Oat About It are easy on both; Water Provision Scheme, Green Chips, Clean Chips and Swift Business are difficult on both.
Can I practice Fuqua casebook cases with an AI interviewer?
Not out of the box yet: none of its cases is in the Tough Tongue AI collection. You can build any of them yourself. The open-source case-interview-builder skill turns casebook pages into an interviewer-led case with an exhibit deck, a hidden answer key and a rubric, run from Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor with the Tough Tongue MCP server. Meanwhile, 38 cases from the Kellogg, Wharton and Booth books run live today.
Run a live case tonight
Pick an easy case from the collection, run it out loud and on the clock, and read where the points went.
Browse the 38 live cases