target 2.0

I'm taking part tomorrow.

In other news: Eton College came runners-up last week in the "Farnham" regional heat. Haha.

Reply 3

President_Ben

15

I never did it and I reckon if I read the national winners presentation, I wouldn't be impressed.

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N9ne

I'm taking part tomorrow.

In other news: Eton College came runners-up last week in the "Farnham" regional heat. Haha.

Eton has traditionally not given Economics much respect. It is treated as being a bit mickey mouse over there. That said, they have excellent Economics staff and resources (which loads of places 'borrow').

Reply 4

Traum

We were gonna enter... but then pulled out (cos no one can be bothered...)

the bad thing is that i put it on my PS... just hope they won't ask during interviews...

Reply 5

jakatak

yeh that was the problem with our presentation

we had a short time.. and no1 could be a$ed... so i found myself doin all the work..

i hope they do ask about it at interview... im pro at inflation now

Reply 6

President_Ben

I never did it and I reckon if I read the national winners presentation, I wouldn't be impressed.

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Eton has traditionally not given Economics much respect. It is treated as being a bit mickey mouse over there. That said, they have excellent Economics staff and resources (which loads of places 'borrow').

Regardless of how they treat the subject, the education the students receive, combined with the resources available to them, should allow them to mount a serious challenge. This year, maybe surprisingly, they didn't win their heat.

Also, although they may treat Economics as a "mickey-mouse" subject (although I don't know if they really do or not), they still manage to coach their Economists into getting into Oxbridge/LSE.

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jakatak

yeh that was the problem with our presentation

we had a short time.. and no1 could be a$ed... so i found myself doin all the work..

i hope they do ask about it at interview... im pro at inflation now

Same problem here - half the group can't be bothered at all, but it's supposed to be a team effort. I'm not going to do all the work (I've been appointed leader of the group). If we don't win as a team, we don't win. I'll be happy as long as I know I've given it 110% myself.

Reply 7

jakatak

yeh exactly n9ne...
oh and the top 2 in our heat was a grammar school and a private school...

Reply 8

President_Ben

15

N9ne

Regardless of how they treat the subject, the education the students receive, combined with the resources available to them, should allow them to mount a serious challenge. This year, maybe surprisingly, they didn't win their heat.

Doesn't surprise me but I don't know the form book.

Also, although they may treat Economics as a "mickey-mouse" subject (although I don't know if they really do or not), they still manage to coach their Economists into getting into Oxbridge/LSE.

Perhaps strangely but quite often, it's people who haven't done Economics before who make the cut there.

Same problem here - half the group can't be bothered at all, but it's supposed to be a team effort. I'm not going to do all the work (I've been appointed leader of the group). If we don't win as a team, we don't win. I'll be happy as long as I know I've given it 110% myself.

Ah, law of the sale and pareto's law in operation :wink:

Reply 9

V1000

I hate the target 2.0 competition, students from private schools have an unfair advantage (they get far more help from teachers) and and top of this they have contacts in the city so are able to get hold of the latest data and they therefore always win. In the heat which my school (a state school) took part in, the best private school in the area won surprisingly :rolleyes:

. My teams presentation was rubbish compared to theirs largely because we recieved zero help from teachers and had no practice.

Reply 10

pedy1986

13

V1000

I hate the target 2.0 competition, students from private schools have an unfair advantage (they get far more help from teachers) and and top of this they have contacts in the city so are able to get hold of the latest data and they therefore always win. In the heat which my school (a state school) took part in, the best private school in the area won surprisingly :rolleyes:

. My teams presentation was rubbish compared to theirs largely because we recieved zero help from teachers and had no practice.

Don't you love generalisations?

Reply 11

jakatak

yes...
americans are fat

Reply 12

President_Ben

15

cor

Don't you love generalisations?

In fairness, there may well be some truth to it... and it wasn't a totally unreasoned platitude :wink:

Reply 13

It is definitely a generalisation to say all private schools have the best resources, preparation and help. That's very unlikely, and it also depends on each school's economics department, its teachers, resources, time and also the relative importance of the competition to each school, not to mention the importance to the candidates put forward, as well as their knowledge of the subject and aptitude for presentation in such an environment with time constraints.

Reply 14

V1000

N9ne

It is definitely a generalisation to say all private schools have the best resources, preparation and help. That's very unlikely, and it also depends on each school's economics department, its teachers, resources, time and also the relative importance of the competition to each school, not to mention the importance to the candidates put forward, as well as their knowledge of the subject and aptitude for presentation in such an environment with time constraints.

But then how would you explain the fact that the winners of the target 2.0 competition are nearly always private schools? Perhaps the ones that do enter the competition do so because they have a strong economics department and so attach more importance to the competition and therefore give the candidates more help to enable them to succeed.

Reply 15

V1000

But then how would you explain the fact that the winners of the target 2.0 competition are nearly always private schools? Perhaps the ones that do enter the competition do so because they have a strong economics department and so attach more importance to the competition and therefore give the candidates more help to enable them to succeed.

The majority of entrants into the competition are private schools, thus the probability of the winner being a private school being higher. State schools are often deterred from entering because:

a) they don't believe they have a chance of succeeding
b) not enough student interest
c) too many students "drop out" before the actual day, so the team must withdraw
d) students taking part do not work hard enough resulting in the only option being to drop out
e) there is a waiting list. Private schools may be better at applying earlier; thus, many schools who apply late are put on a waiting list, from which they may never proceed.

Point d) is relevant to both private schools and state schools, but it's entirely possible the industry at state schools may be relatively lower, possibly due to the relative importance of the competition to them being lower, or lower confidence in the team to actually win.

Obviously private schools may have an advantage in terms of the advice they are given. However, it is against the rules for teachers to become greatly involved in the theory, presentation and what not. You must also remember that a lot of private schools don't have a strong Economics department, not to mention the calibre of Economics students may not be as high as you'd expect. I believe there is a higher incidence of students in private schools to choose more exact sciences, mathematics, english and history (etc.) than Economics.

You can't simply attribute the fact that private schools are successful more often to them having the best resources. They may not have the best resources, and you should never devalue the effort students put into the competition. Just because a student attends a private school does not mean they don't try as hard as students at state schools. Neither can you assume they are more intelligent than those at state schools - one private school's economics departments' students may not be as good as another state school's.

Today I took part in Target 2.0, and I think most, if not all schools present were private schools. Private schools came first and second. Neither group's presentations were particularly spectacular, nor did they have "the best resources".

Reply 16

bobjecks88

It's definitely a huge generalisation to say that private schools will automatically win because they get more help from teachers - I go to a private school and trust me, teacher input was minimal to say the least!! And it wasnt helped by the fact that I only got told I was speaking this morning after our 4th speaker dropped out...we have our competition on wednesday...wish me luck all - i have a feeling we might need it...

Reply 17

bobjecks88

It's definitely a huge generalisation to say that private schools will automatically win because they get more help from teachers - I go to a private school and trust me, teacher input was minimal to say the least!! And it wasnt helped by the fact that I only got told I was speaking this morning after our 4th speaker dropped out...we have our competition on wednesday...wish me luck all - i have a feeling we might need it...

Good luck! But even if you don't win, the experience is definitely worthwhile.

Reply 18

edg.

V1000

I hate the target 2.0 competition, students from private schools have an unfair advantage (they get far more help from teachers) and and top of this they have contacts in the city so are able to get hold of the latest data and they therefore always win. In the heat which my school (a state school) took part in, the best private school in the area won surprisingly :rolleyes:

. My teams presentation was rubbish compared to theirs largely because we recieved zero help from teachers and had no practice.

Just to compare our entry with your comment...

Far more help : Unless your teachers literally kicked you in the head whilst you were trying to work, we didn't get far more help.

Contacts in the city : :confused:

I'm not sure how this would even help, but no.

Ability to get a hold of the latest data : Yeah, we really had unfair access to the latest data. I'll be nice and let out the secret : Super secret source #1 & Super secret source #2

That being said, we also wrote the whole thing in about an hour this afternoon, so we're ****ed anyway. Maybe we're not the model private entry...

Reply 19