In an interviewer-led case, the interviewer more explicitly controls the sequence of questions and may move you from one problem to the next.

In a candidate-led case, you usually have more responsibility for deciding what to analyze next and for driving the problem-solving path.

The core skills are still the same: clarify the objective, structure the problem, analyze data, do math and synthesize. The difference is how much control you have over navigation.

Practice both formats. In interviewer-led cases, answer the question in front of you while maintaining the overall logic. In candidate-led cases, make your priorities explicit and explain why you want to investigate each branch. For more detail, see the case interview overview and the case interview types guide.

My biggest adjustment was learning not to fight the interviewer-led flow while still keeping the big picture in mind.

Candidate-led cases exposed weak prioritization much more quickly for me.