by Guo Jiajing, Sng Bing De and Chua Thiam Hao
Department of Economics

Background on the MOF Budget Quiz (Information obtained from http://www.nus-ens.com/events_MOFBudgetQuiz.htm and http://www.mof.gov.sg/budget_2010/budget_quiz.html)

The MOF Budget Quiz is an inaugural event held by MOF in collaboration with NUS Economics Society. It is an outreach programme to the public, specifically to promote greater awareness of the Budget and public financing issues among youths in Singapore. Questions for the Budget Quiz Challenge comprised of Economics questions (80%) and questions pertaining to Budget and Public Financing issues (20%). The economics questions covered topics across micro-economics and macro-economics, with a heavier emphasis on the latter.

13 teams from the different universities took part in the preliminary round which contained a 20-min MCQ session, a non-elimination flash round, and an elimination flash round.

4 teams eventually made it to the final. There were 2 teams from NUS and 1 team each from NTU and SMU. The final was even more intense with teams taking their places on stage to compete in three rounds of questions. The first round is the “Speed Round” which the team to press the buzzer first earns the right to answer the question. The second round is the “Step Round” and the objective is to be the first to reach the end of the 10 steps. Teams with the correct answer will progress up a step while teams with the wrong answer will fall back one step. The last round is the “Team Round” which teams will take turns to answers questions. Each team may also direct the questions to another team as part of their strategy. The scores from all three rounds will be computed to form the team’s overall score.

Eventually, the team comprising of Guo Jiajing, Sng Bing De and Chua Thiam Hao emerged champion. All three of them are NUS Economics Honours Years students and they were awarded with the MOF Budget Quiz Challenge Trophy 2010, individual plaques and $500 in cash prizes.

 

 

 

 

Our personal take: 

 

Our preparation for the final was mainly through revising past Economics textbooks as well as the 2010 and 2009 Singapore Budget speeches and details. The workload was divided among the three of us in accordance with our strengths. For instance, Bing De is knowledgeable on the public finance issues so he took on the responsibility to do more research in the area. Similarly, Jiajing focused on the financial and international arena as these were his strengths. We also had a discussion on our strategy for each round. We ran through all possible scenarios and derived the optimal strategy is each of these situations. Furthermore, as all three of us were intensively preparing our Honours Thesis during the same period of time, we had to juggle our time well between the two priorities.

The questions for the final were on a wide area of topics: From the general Macroeconomics models to International Economics and public finances. A huge portion of the questions also tested our knowledge on the different sections of the Singapore Budget 2009 and 2010. The pressure during the final was very intense as we had to solve the questions within the time constraint imposed. Moreover, we had equal scores with the SMU team up till the middle of the second round. We managed to carve out a 20 point lead over them by the end of the second round but SMU repeatedly fought back and maintained the pressure on us. We managed to hold on this lead till the end and emerged Champion with a score of 155 points. SMU was a close second with 145 points. 

At the end of the competition, we received the MOF Budget Quiz Challenge Trophy 2010 from the Guest of Honour, Mrs Lim Hwee Hua, Minister In Prime Minister’s Office And Second Minister For Finance And Transport. We were certainly glad to have represented the faculty and institution in an external competition and emerged victorious in it. 

 

Links

Reports on The Straits Times:
http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_501400.html 

Razor TV Interview:
http://www.razor.tv/site/servlet/segment/main/news/44918.html 

Official Website (With results of the Final):
http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_quiz_snapshot.html

 NUS Economics Society Writeup:
http://www.nus-ens.com/events_MOFBudgetQuiz.htm