跟讀練習: Learn Operations Case Interviews in 13 Minutes - 通過影片學習英語口語
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To land a consulting offer, you'll need to nail every single one of your case interviews.
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Operations case interviews are a very common type of case interview.
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You should expect to see at least one operations case interview in your upcoming consulting interviews,
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especially if you are interviewing at firms that have a strong operations practice.
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If you're unfamiliar with operations case interviews and don't know exactly how to solve them, don't worry because we have you covered.
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I'm a former Bain manager and interviewer, and in this video, I'll walk you through step -by -step exactly how to solve the four major types of operations case interviews.
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These are production optimization case interviews, process improvement case interviews, cost -cutting case interviews,
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and forecasting and capacity planning case interviews.
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Let's start with the first type: product optimization case interviews.
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Production optimization cases will have you determine how to increase the output or production of a factory or power plant.
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For example, ExxonMobil is looking to expand its oil and natural gas production by 50 % over the next five years.
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What is the best way to achieve this production increase?
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To solve these cases, there are two formulas you should know.
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output equals rate times time, and utilization equals output divided by maximum output.
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There are five major steps to solve a product optimization case.
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The first step is to identify and quantify the client's goals.
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Are they trying to increase production?
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Are they trying to improve efficiency?
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Try to quantify an exact number or metric that the client is aiming for.
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This will help you determine if the recommendations that you develop later are sufficient to meet your client's needs.
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Step 2 consider ways to increase the rate of production.
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There are a few different ways to do this.
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You can upgrade or improve existing equipment or machinery.
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You can remove factors that slow down existing equipment or machinery.
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You can use new technologies or you can use new production processes.
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Systematically consider each of these ideas before moving on to the next step.
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And step 3, consider ways to increase utilization.
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The second way to increase production is to increase utilization.
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Check if the machines or equipment are being used to their maximum potential.
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Are they being managed and operated every working hour?
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Are there bottlenecks that are preventing equipment or machines from being run on time?
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Moving on to step 4, consider ways to add capacity.
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The third way to increase production is to add capacity.
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Consider scaling your operations by purchasing more equipment or machinery.
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In general, you should only add capacity if you have already optimized the rate of production and utilization.
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You might not need to add more capacity to meet your production goals
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if you can improve the processes and equipment you already have.
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And finally, step five, quantify the change in production.
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Once you have gone down the three different ways to increase production, you should have a list of actions you would suggest.
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Quantify the impact of these suggestions.
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By how much will production increase?
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By how much will efficiency improve?
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The final step is to check whether your recommendations meet the goals or needs of the client.
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If they do, you are ready to deliver your case recommendation.
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State your recommendation and provide two to three reasons that support it.
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Afterwards, propose a few areas you would want to look into next if you had more time to work on the case.
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Before we move on to the next type of operations case review, please take a second to give this video a like
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and subscribe to our channel so that you don't miss any of our consulting interview content.
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You'll not only get good karma for your upcoming interviews, but you'll also be helping support our small YouTube channel.
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The second type of operations case interview are process improvement cases.
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Process improvement cases ask you to identify opportunities to improve a particular process.
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they assess your ability to break down a complex process to identify and prioritize opportunities for improvement.
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For example, Amazon is looking to improve the process in which it receives, handles, and ships customer online orders.
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How can they improve this process?
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There are four main steps to solving these cases.
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The first step is to identify the most important performance metrics.
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For the first step, decide or clarify with the interviewer what the performance metric of success is.
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Improving a process can mean many things, such as increasing throughput, quality, or efficiency.
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Step 2: Decompose the process into separate distinct components
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The second step is to break down the overall process into separate distinct components.
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you will have to use your judgment and discretion to decide the best way to decompose the process.
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A helpful way to think about components is to think about inputs and outputs.
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Each component has something that it is given, which is the input.
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From this, an action is performed to convert this to something else, which is the output.
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Step 3: Assess the people, process, and technology for each component.
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The third step is to assess the people, process, and technology for each component.
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This is known as the PPT framework.
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Do you have enough people in place?
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Do people have the right backgrounds and experiences?
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Are people properly trained and prepared?
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Are people being managed and motivated properly?
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Are the right series of steps being performed?
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Should certain steps be added?
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Should others be removed? And technology.
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Is technology being used?
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Are the right technologies being used effectively?
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Moving on to step 4: Prioritize and recommend the most important improvements.
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For the fourth and final step, you will prioritize the most important improvements.
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Which improvements best improve the performance metric of success?
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You may need to score
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and rank each of the opportunities you have identified to prioritize your ideas in a quantitative and defensible way.
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You can assess each improvement opportunity on the impact, ease of implementation, and cost.
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Once you have selected your top ideas, deliver a clear and concise recommendation.
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State your recommendation and provide two to three reasons that support it.
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Propose a few next steps that you would look into if you had more time.
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Moving on to the third type of operations case interview, which are cost cutting cases.
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Cost -cutting cases ask you to help a client meet its budget goals by identifying opportunities to reduce costs or save money.
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For example, Airbnb is looking to cut costs in order to increase profitability.
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In which areas should they cut costs and by how much?
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There are five steps to solving any cost -cutting case.
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The first step is to quantify the client's goals.
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Are they looking to reduce costs by a million?
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10 million or 100 million?
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This will help you track your progress throughout the case and help you prioritize which ideas to pursue.
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Step 2: Break down costs into its components.
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The next step is to break down costs into its respective components.
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Exactly how these costs are broken down will vary by case.
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For example, costs could be broken down into fixed costs and variable costs, but they could also be broken down by geography, process, product, or function.
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Ask the interviewer for the breakdown of costs
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that makes the most sense given the nature of the client's business and operating model.
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Step 3: Identify the business critical expenses
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These are expenses that need to be paid or else the company cannot exist or operate.
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You should not cut costs from business critical expenses, so this step will help you narrow down where to focus your attention on.
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Step 4: Start looking at discretionary spending from largest to smallest.
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After removing the business critical expenses from consideration, the remaining costs are discretionary spending.
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This type of spending is not necessary to keep the company afloat but helps to improve or grow the company.
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These are the costs that you will focus on cutting because the company can still function and operate afterwards.
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Start with the largest amount of discretionary spending and move downwards to the smaller amounts.
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For each cost element, consider what benefits they provide to the company
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and how these benefits compare to other benefits that other discretionary spending provides.
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And finally, step five prioritize cost -cutting opportunities, and provide a recommendation.
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Once you have systematically assessed all of the different discretionary spending elements that you could potentially reduce spending on, it is time to prioritize what to keep and what to cut.
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Once you have narrowed down a few recommendations, check whether these changes will help the client meet their goals.
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If they do, provide your final recommendations for the case.
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Provide two to three reasons that support your recommendation and propose next steps you would look into if you had more time.
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We'll move on to the fourth and final type of operations case interview.
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These are forecasting and capacity planning cases.
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Forecasting or capacity planning cases will have you help a company determine how much product to produce
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or how much inventory they should hold.
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For example, Apple is planning to launch its new and latest version of its iPhone.
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How many iPhones should they produce this year?
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There are four steps to solving any forecasting or capacity planning case.
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The first step is to identify the client's goals.
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Are they trying to maximize profit, revenues, market share, customer satisfaction, or something else?
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The specific goal
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that the client has will heavily influence how you should think about determining the optimal level of production or inventory.
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Step 2: Estimate customer demand.
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The next step is to estimate customer demand for the product.
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There are many ways that you can do this.
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You can use company historical data to predict upcoming demand, You can look at demand curves of similar products.
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You can assess market and competitor trends.
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Or you could look at customer survey data on purchasing habits and spending.
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your interviewer will likely have information in one of these areas.
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Use this data to predict what the expected customer demand will be.
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Step 3: Understand Underage and Overage Costs.
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Next, you need to know the underage and overage costs that relate to carrying or producing too little or too much product.
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Companies make trade -offs between carrying too much inventory and carrying too little.
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The primary advantage of carrying too much inventory is that the company can meet customer demand if it is higher than expected.
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However, there are several disadvantages to this.
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If customer demand is lower than expected, the company will be holding onto inventory that it cannot sell.
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This is costly because unsold products take up space in warehouses.
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These costs are known as storage costs.
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Additionally, as time goes on, the company's inventory may begin becoming obsolete.
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New products and technologies may make the company's leftover products no longer desirable.
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As a result, companies may need to sell leftover products at a steep discount to clear their inventory.
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The primary advantage of carrying too little inventory is that the company will not have leftover products.
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the company can ensure that none of the products they sell will need to be discounted and sold at a loss.
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However, there are several disadvantages to this as well.
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If demand is higher than expected, not all customers will be able to purchase the company's product.
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These are loft sales for the company.
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Additionally, this can lead to a poor customer experience and unhappy customers.
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Some customers may even decide to purchase a similar product from a competitor.
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By having insufficient inventory, companies allow competitors to take customers and market share away from them.
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Knowing how much overage and underage costs are will inform you whether to produce
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or carry more or less product than the expected customer demand.
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And finally, step four: determine the optimal production or inventory level.
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Now that you understand customer demand, overage costs, and underage costs, you can make a well -informed decision on how much product to produce or carry an inventory.
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You may need to set up an equation to calculate the optimal production or inventory level that maximizes profit, revenue, or whatever goal the client has.
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Once you have determined the optimal number or range, deliver your final recommendation for the case.
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Provide two to three reasons that support your answer, and propose potential next steps you would look into if you had more time.
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You now have all the tools you need to solve any operations case interview.
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If you're looking for a step -by -step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, check out our comprehensive case interview course and books.
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Links are in the video description below.
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we teach the most robust, effective case interview strategies in the least time consuming way to save you hundreds of hours of prep time
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and help you land multiple consulting job offers.
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推薦影片
本課的詞彙與口語要點
這節 C1 級別的口語課以影片“Learn Operations Case Interviews in 13 Minutes”為素材。 影片中反覆出現的詞有:step, cost, interview, production, product。 這段影片共有 165 個句子、2142 個單詞可供跟讀。 講話部分時長為 12:58。 說話人語速自然,每分鐘約 165 個詞,接近日常對話。 86% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞,其餘的詞建議在練習前先學一下。
影片中的重點詞彙
影片中最難的 15 個單詞,附發音和釋義:
| 單詞 | 發音 | 釋義 |
|---|---|---|
| recommendation 名詞 | /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/ | 建議 /建議, 勸告 /勸告 |
| prioritize 動詞 | /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/ | 優先考慮 /優先考慮 |
| underage 形容詞 | /ˌʌndəɹˈeɪd͡ʒ/ | 未成年 |
| interviewer 名詞 | /ˈɪntɚvjuɚ/ | 訪問者 /訪問者 |
| optimization 名詞 | /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/ | 最佳化 /最佳化 |
| metric 形容詞 | /ˈmɛt.ɹɪk/ | 公制 |
| optimal 形容詞 | /ˈɑptɪməl/ | 最佳的 |
| propose 動詞 | /pɹəˈpəʊz/ | 提議 /提議 |
| forecast 名詞 | /ˈfɔːkɑːst/ | 預報 /預報, 預測 /預測 |
| competitor 名詞 | /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/ | 競爭者 /競爭者, 比賽者 /比賽者 |
| decompose 動詞 | /ˌdiːkəmˈpəʊz/ | 分解 |
| maximize 動詞 | /ˈmæksəmaɪz/ | 最大化 |
| disadvantage 名詞 | /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/ | 不利 |
| predict 動詞 | /pɹɪˈdɪkt/ | 預言 /預言 |
| afloat 形容詞 | /əˈfloʊt/ | 浮著地 |
影片中出現的短語動詞
| 單詞 | 釋義 |
|---|---|
| break down 動詞 | 壞了 /壞了, 出故障 |
| check out 動詞 | 退房 |
| go down 動詞 | 下降, 下去 |
| slow down 動詞 | 減速 /減速, 放慢 |
影片中的語法
說話人最常用的結構,並附上影片中的原話:
| 結構 | 影片中的用法 |
|---|---|
| 被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼,而不是誰做的 | being managed · being run · is given |
| 現在完成時 have/has + 過去分詞 — 過去發生但與現在仍有關聯的事 | have already optimized · have gone · have identified |
| 定語從句 who / which + 從句 — 補充說明人或事物 | given, which is · else, which is · interview, which are |
需要注意的發音
說話人用了 11 次縮略和弱讀形式,例如 don't, you'll, you're。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。
- “sh” 和 “zh” 音: recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, discretionary /dɪsˈkɹɛʃəˌnɛɹi/, optimization /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/, machinery /məˈʃiːnəɹi/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/
- 長單詞——注意重音位置: recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, prioritize /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/, discretionary /dɪsˈkɹɛʃəˌnɛɹi/, optimization /ˌɑptəmaɪˈzeɪʃən/, competitor /kəmˈpɛt.ɪ.tɚ/
中文母語者容易讀錯的音:
- /v/ — 不要讀成 /w/,上齒輕觸下唇: overage /ˈəʊvəɹɪd͡ʒ/, interviewer /ˈɪntɚvjuɚ/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, motivate /ˈmoʊ.tɪ.veɪt/, quantitative /ˈkwɑn.təˌteɪ.tɪv/
- 詞尾子音 — 要讀清楚,後面不要加母音: prioritize /pɹaɪˈɒɹ.ə.taɪz/, assess /əˈsɛs/, overage /ˈəʊvəɹɪd͡ʒ/, underage /ˌʌndəɹˈeɪd͡ʒ/, consult /ˈkɑnsʌlt/
- /r/ 和 /l/ 的區別: profitability /ˌpɹɑ.fɪ.təˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/, unfamiliar /ˌʌnfəˈmɪli.ə(ɹ)/, desirable /dɪˈzaɪəɹəbəl/, clarify /ˈklæɹ.ɪ.faɪ/
如何用這段影片練習
- 先完整聽一遍影片,不要開口,記下不認識的單詞。
- 先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀,熟練之後再回到正常速度。
- 錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比,特別注意 recommendation, prioritize, underage 這類單詞。
什麼是跟讀法?
跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧,最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓,並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大:您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同,跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性,語調,節奏,連讀,聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。







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