International Economics Olympiad: IP-Friendly Parent & Student Guide
Download printable cheat-sheet (CC-BY 4.0)05 Aug 2025, 00:00 Z
TL;DR
The International Economics Olympiad (IEO) is the top global contest in economics, financial literacy and business for 15-19 year-olds.
Teams of up to five students face three rounds — Economics (40 %), Financial Literacy (30 %) and a Business Case (30 %) — with medals capped at 8 % gold, 16 % silver, 24 % bronze.
Singapore entered in 2022, bagged medals in 2023, and runs its national qualifier each Term 1 on an in-house platform.
1 What exactly is the IEO?
- Global scope. Founded in 2018 (Moscow), the Olympiad has since rotated through Russia, Kazakhstan (online host), Latvia (online), China (online), Greece and Hong Kong.
- Legal status. IEO is registered as a non-profit association in Latvia and governed by published statutes.
- Focus areas. Economics theory, personal finance grounded in the OECD PISA framework, and a live business-strategy case.
2 Who can take part?
| Role | Quota | Key rules |
| Students | ≤ 5 per country | Must be enrolled in secondary or pre-university, aged 15-19 on 1 July of competition year |
| Leaders | 2 per team | At least one must be able to grade in English; both supervise and mark |
All contestants sit the Economics and Financial Literacy papers individually and tackle the Business Case as a team.
3 Competition structure and scoring
3.1 Round breakdown
| Round | Weight | Format | Example skills tested |
| Economics | 40 % | 20-30 multi-part questions, 2 h | Utility maximisation \(\to\) first-order condition, game-theory pay-offs |
| Financial Literacy | 30 % | 30 MCQs, 1 h | Budgeting, compound interest, risk-return trade-offs |
| Business Case | 30 % | 6 h prep + 10 min pitch + Q&A | Market sizing, NPV, data visualisation |
Golds go to the top \(8 %\) of the overall ranking, silvers to the next \(8 %\), bronzes to the next \(8 %\).
3.2 What counts in the Case round?
Teams are scored on (i) problem diagnosis, (ii) quantitative analysis, (iii) creativity, (iv) feasibility, and (v) data & visuals — a sweet spot for IP students comfortable with Sheets =LINEST() and Canva charts.
4 Why IP Maths/Physics students have an edge
- Calculus déjà vu. Constrained optimisation and elasticity questions recycle the \(\frac{\mathrm{d}}{\mathrm{d}x}\) rules taught in IP Year 4 A-Math.
- Vector-style diagrams. Supply-and-demand shifts mirror the vector decomposition learnt in free-body diagrams.
- Spreadsheet fluency. IEO sample rubrics prize clean charts, the same skill set demanded by the A-Level Physics Practical (Paper 4).
5 Singapore's journey so far
| Year | Venue | SG milestones |
| 2022 | Online (China host) | First national team fielded |
| 2023 | Athens, Greece | 1 silver + 2 bronze medals |
| 2024 | Hong Kong | Singapore aiming for first gold |
5.1 National qualifier
- Opens late Feb / early Mar each year (Term 1).
- Conducted online via the organiser's proprietary Moodle-style platform.
- Top scorers enter a boot camp run by university mentors before the final team is named.
6 Timeline to Hong Kong 2024 (illustrative)
| Date | Milestone | Action for parents & students |
| Feb 24 | Registration window opens | Assemble school-level study group |
| Mar 24 | SG qualifier (online) | Sit past papers under 1 h timing |
| Apr-May 24 | Shortlist & interview | Prepare 3-slide macro snapshot of SG economy |
| Jun-Jul 24 | Training camp | Practise CORE Econ problem sets, pitch drills |
| Aug 24 | IEO finals (Hong Kong) | Deliver case presentation, network internationally |
7 Preparing at IP level
- Economics: Work through CORE Econ Units 1-6, then attempt IEO past Economics papers.
- Financial Literacy: Use OECD PISA FL sample items; duplicate them in Google Forms for spaced practice.
- Business Case: Re-analyse a past Tech-for-Good case in groups; limit yourself to six slides.
8 Further reading
9 Call-to-action
Parents: Encourage your child to treat the IEO qualifier as a low-risk, high-learning sprint that sharpens calculus and data-storytelling before the Term 2 WAs.
Students: Download one past Economics paper tonight, limit yourself to 120 minutes and score your own script.
Last updated 5 Aug 2025. Next refresh after the Hong Kong 2024 results are released.
