Competitions · Business and economics · EEO
EEO, the ASDAN economics olympiad.
A national round with five separate events - a written paper, a five-minute speech, a buzzer quiz, a model World Bank and a simulated trade war. Then, for the top five in the country, the global final at Olympia.
Before anything else
Two different competitions use this name.
This matters more than any other fact on the page. There are two economics olympiads operating in China under near-identical English names, and they are not the same event, not run by the same people, and not entered the same way.
This one is run by ASDAN
It began in Czechia in 2016 as the European Economics Olympiad, is organised with the International Olympic Academy and the Czech Institute of Economic Education, and its global round is held at Olympia in Greece. Its academic chair is Vernon L. Smith, the 2002 Nobel laureate.
The other is run by NexGen
Founded in 2017, headquartered in Switzerland, co-organised by the Higher School of Economics, chaired by Eric Maskin, the 2007 Nobel laureate, with rotating international hosts. We describe it on a separate page.
They are entered separately
Different registration, different qualifying tests, different calendars, different national teams. Qualifying in one has no bearing on the other.
So confirm which one you are entering
The names, the acronyms and even the Nobel-laureate framing are close enough to be genuinely confusing. Check the organiser and the registration site, not the name.
At a glance
What this competition is.
The competition started in 2016 in Czechia as the European Economics Olympiad. Since 2024 the International Olympic Academy - the International Olympic Committee’s academic body - has been the organiser, alongside the Czech Institute of Economic Education, a non-profit set up by the Czech education ministry with the Czech central bank. ASDAN has run the China region since 2020.
- Who can enter
- Any year group at junior or senior secondary level, in the corresponding division
- Academic chair
- Vernon L. Smith, the 2002 Nobel laureate in economics
- Scale
- More than 30 countries and regions. The organiser reports over 150,000 participants in 2024
- Round 1 - the qualifier
- November. Sat on paper at a test centre or online - you choose one when you register
- Senior division
- 50 multiple-choice questions in 80 minutes, in Chinese and English
- Junior division
- 25 multiple-choice questions in 50 minutes, in English only
- Round 2 - the national round
- February, in person. Individual and team events
- Round 3 - the Asia round
- July, in Shanghai, in English. Open to national-round award winners across Asia
- Round 4 - the global round
- August, at the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece
- Who reaches the global round
- The top five individuals from the national round, as the national team
- Registration closes
- Early November
The qualifier
The two divisions differ in language, not just length.
A junior student sits a shorter paper - but has to sit it entirely in English, while the senior paper is bilingual. That is the opposite of what most families expect.
Senior - 50 questions, 80 minutes
Multiple choice, presented in both Chinese and English. Roughly a minute and a half per question.
Junior - 25 questions, 50 minutes
Multiple choice, in English only. Two minutes per question, but no Chinese to fall back on.
Paper or online, chosen at registration
Test centres are listed on the organiser’s site. The choice is made when you register, not on the day.
And the gate is wide
Every award winner from round one advances to the national round, and awards run down to the national top 45% plus a regional band below that. Round one filters far less than most qualifiers do.
Round one awards
Five individual bands, and a school award.
Awards are set on national rank. The school award is calculated from the top five students at a school, so a school entering four students receives no team score at all.
| Award | Where you must place |
|---|---|
| National Honor Award | National top 10% |
| High Distinction | National top 20% |
| Distinction | National top 30% |
| Outstanding Award | National top 45% |
| Credit Award | Top 30% within a challenge region, excluding those holding a national award |
| School Gold / Silver / Bronze | Top 15% / 30% / 45% nationally, on the summed scores of a school’s best five students. Fewer than five entrants and no school score is calculated |
Every award winner advances to the national round.
The national round
Five events, and only one of them is a test.
This is what makes the competition worth entering. Three of the five events are team events, and two of those are simulations rather than assessments.
Economic Challenge
Individual, written, two rounds of 45 minutes. Each round has four parts: multiple-choice economics, short-answer chart analysis, an economics essay, and financial analysis with calculation.
Oral Exam
Individual. A speech of up to five minutes in English on an economics topic, followed by questions from the judges. The topic is released one hour beforehand.
Economic Quiz Bowl
Team, on buzzers. Multiple choice and short answer, and the score depends on how quickly a correct answer comes in - so speed is scored, not just accuracy.
Model World Bank
Team role-play. Each team represents a country and debates a series of live global issues. Teams have to research their assigned country in depth beforehand.
International Trade Challenge
Team. Each team represents a country or a company, and has to find allies, secure resources and trade its way to its own objectives through simulated negotiation.
How teams are formed - confirm this
The published rules say teams of three to five must be formed by entrants before the competition, and also that the committee will assign teams at random. Both cannot hold. A group chat is created in early January to organise it.
National round awards
Rewarded by event, not only by total.
The national round gives separate awards for each strength, which means a student who is excellent at one thing is not buried by a weaker total.
| Award | How it is won |
|---|---|
| Best Individual Ability | Top 30% on the economics assessment and the speech combined |
| Best Critical Thinking | Top 30% in the speech event |
| Strongest Economics Mind | Top 30% in the written economics assessment |
| Best Think Tank | Top 30% of teams in the quiz bowl |
| Best Delegation | Top 30% of teams in the Model World Bank |
| Gold / Silver / Bronze Team | Top 15% / 30% / 45% on team total |
The top five individuals on total national score form the national team for the global round.
After the national round
Two ways forward, and only one needs a national-team place.
The Asia round exists specifically for the students who did well and still did not make the team of five.
The global round, at Olympia
August, in English, at the International Olympic Academy in Olympia - where the ancient games were held and the Olympic flame is lit. Individual only: an economics assessment and an economics speech.
The Asia round, in Shanghai
July, in English. Open to national-round award winners from across Asia, including those who did not make their national team. Same event types as the national round, at a higher difficulty.
Which changes how you should plan
Missing the top five does not end the season. That is unusual - most olympiad routes stop dead at the national team.
And they run a month apart
Shanghai in July, Olympia in August, so a student who reaches both is committing to a substantial summer.
Preparation
How Hanlin prepares students for EEO.
The written paper gets a student to the national round. Everything after that is won on skills school economics does not teach.
The written economics, properly
Four parts across two 45-minute rounds - multiple choice, chart analysis, an essay and financial calculation. The essay and the calculation are where most entrants lose ground.
The one-hour speech preparation
Five minutes in English on a topic released an hour earlier, then judges’ questions. That specific format is rehearsable and almost never rehearsed.
Researching a country for the World Bank round
Teams represent an assigned country in multilateral debate. The teams that do well know their country’s actual position on the actual issues.
And negotiating in the trade round
Finding allies and trading toward an objective is a distinct skill from knowing economics. It rewards students who can read a room.
Why Hanlin
Preparation for EEO at Hanlin is taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
Programme formats
Five ways this is taught.
Group size is the whole difference between these. It decides how much of the tutor's attention a student gets and how far the course can bend to them, so it is worth choosing rather than accepting.
| Format | Group size | What it suits |
|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | One student | Content, pace and emphasis set by what this student actually needs rather than by a syllabus. The only format that can be rebuilt mid-course. |
| Small group | Three to eight | Opens at three. Frequent discussion, and the tutor can slow down or move on according to what the group has absorbed. Most students chasing a higher award are taught in this one. |
| Class | Eight to twelve | Taught by the subject lead or a medal coach. Less back-and-forth, so it suits a student who will say when something is unclear. |
| Large class | Ten to twenty | For students in the middle of the placement range, and a way to try a competition before committing. Students often move to a small group or to one-to-one afterwards. |
| Past-paper class | No cap | Past papers worked through in sequence in the weeks before the sitting. Free to students already enrolled. |
Course length for EEO is set after a placement paper. The gap between where a student is and what the paper asks for is what the course has to close, and that gap is not the same for two students in the same year group.
How it runs
Six steps, four people on your side.
The same process for every student, so that nothing depends on one tutor remembering to do it.
Step 1Pre-course assessment
A placement paper before anything is booked, so the course tier is chosen on evidence rather than on a year group.
Step 2Tutor matching
A subject tutor is matched to the result, and their full background is provided before you agree to it.
Step 3Plan and group
A study group opens with four people on one student: the tutor, a planner, a supervisor and an academic manager.
Step 4Scheduled teaching
The teaching office sets the timetable around the competition date and school term, and teaching begins.
Step 5After-class reports
What was covered, and how the student handled it, reported after every lesson.
Step 6Homework follow-up
The teaching assistant and the form teacher both check that homework is done, which is where most preparation quietly fails.
Free resource pack
Case and submission pack
The same material our own EEO students work from. Scan the code, say what you need, and an advisor sends it.
Tell an advisor which competition and year group, and the material comes back the same day. Free, and you do not have to enrol in anything. If we do not already hold what you need, we will go and find it.
- PDFPast cases and question sets
- PDFA worked example of a full submission
- PDFEvent categories and the judging criteria, broken down
- PDFEntry checklist and the dates for the current cycle
Teaching team
Who would teach it.
Three of the twenty-two tutors on the published Hanlin roster - the ones whose subject this is.
Bai
Master's in social entrepreneurship from Hult International Business School in San Francisco and a business administration degree from the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, with an exchange at Texas A&M's Mays Business School. Accredited by the College Board, Cambridge International and the IBO, a certified intermediate economist, and a judge at the 2020 Diamond Challenge global final and the 2021 NEC China final.
Zhang
Master's in engineering management from NYU and a double degree in finance and supply-chain management from Syracuse. Nearly nine years overseas and in finance, including at a well-known venture firm - experience that feeds scenario-based teaching. College Board-accredited.
Jiang
Master's in business analytics from the Schulich School of Business, a finance and business economics degree from York University and a software engineering degree from the Harbin Institute of Technology. Years in North America, university teaching before returning, and long experience across the whole economics curriculum.
Where it is taught
Hanlin learning centres.
Teaching runs from Hanlin's own centres in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hangzhou, and online for students elsewhere.
Talk to an advisor
Everything Hanlin does for EEO, in one conversation.
Entry, planning, coaching and the past papers. An advisor will tell you which of these a student actually needs, including when the answer is none of them.
Competition entry and planning
Which competitions suit this student, in what order, and by when - then we handle the registration, including the ones that can only be entered through a school or a centre.
Competition coaching
Taught by full-time subject tutors, on a course tier chosen by placement paper rather than by year group.
International curriculum tutoring
IB, AP, A-Level, IGCSE and the US high school curriculum, taught alongside school and timed around the exam calendar.
Competition past papers, free
A large library of past papers, mark schemes and syllabus breakdowns across every competition on this site. No charge and no enrolment.
Scan to add an advisor
Say which competition or course you are asking about. Replies in Chinese or English.
Or call +86 21 6352 6630FAQ
EEO, briefly answered.
What students and families ask before entering.
Is this the same as the IEO page on this site?
No. Two economics olympiads operate in China under near-identical English names. This one began in Czechia in 2016, is organised with the International Olympic Academy and the Czech Institute of Economic Education, is chaired by Vernon L. Smith, holds its global round at Olympia in Greece, and is run in China by ASDAN. The other was founded in 2017, is headquartered in Switzerland, chaired by Eric Maskin, and run in China by NexGen. Check the organiser rather than the name.
Who can enter?
Students in any year group at junior or senior secondary level, entering the corresponding division.
What is the qualifying round like?
Senior: 50 multiple-choice questions in 80 minutes, in Chinese and English. Junior: 25 multiple-choice questions in 50 minutes, in English only. You choose a paper test centre or an online sitting when you register.
How hard is it to reach the national round?
Every award winner advances, and awards run down to the national top 45% plus a regional band below that. The qualifier filters less than most.
What happens at the national round?
Five events. An individual written economics paper in two 45-minute rounds; an individual five-minute English speech with the topic given an hour before; a team buzzer quiz scored partly on speed; a Model World Bank where each team represents a country; and an international trade simulation where teams negotiate for resources.
How are teams formed?
Teams are three to five students. The published rules say entrants must form teams before the competition and also that the committee assigns them randomly, so confirm which applies. A group chat is set up in early January to organise it.
Who goes to the global round?
The top five individuals on total national score, as the national team.
What if I miss the top five?
National-round award winners who do not make the national team can be invited to the Asia round in Shanghai in July - the same event types at a higher difficulty.
Where is the global round?
At the International Olympic Academy in Olympia, Greece, in August. It is individual only: an economics assessment and an economics speech, in English.
What awards are there at the national round?
Best Individual Ability, Best Critical Thinking and Strongest Economics Mind for individuals; Best Think Tank and Best Delegation for teams; and gold, silver and bronze teams on total score at the top 15%, 30% and 45%.
Related
Other business and economics competitions.
What students enter alongside EEO.
EEO enquiries
First, make sure it is this one.
Two economics olympiads run in China under names a letter apart, with different organisers, different calendars and different national teams. Tell us which route the student is aiming at and an advisor will confirm the organiser before you register, then map the preparation for the five events at the national round.