Your opening structure is a starting map, not a contract. As the interviewer gives you new information, you should keep the logic of the structure but be willing to reprioritize or revise branches.

A useful habit is to synthesize after each major piece of analysis: what did we learn, what does that do to the hypothesis, and where should we go next? That keeps the case connected instead of turning into isolated questions.

If new evidence makes part of your original structure irrelevant, say so explicitly and move on. That is usually a sign of adaptive thinking, not a failure of the first structure. If useful, this guide on updating your thinking when new data arrives gives more detail.

I stopped treating the opening structure like something sacred. If the facts change, structure can change too.

What helped me was doing a quick 20 sec recap after each exhibit. what did I learn and where next?

I used to leave the structure page untouched the whole case. interviewer feedback was basically 'use it or lose it'.

re-prioritizing is the part I had to practice. otherwise every branch feels equally important.