ENGLISH ORAL EXAM PREPARATION

PART 1: INTERVIEW

1. Greeting:
 Pleased to meet you/ nice to meet you
 My name is/ I’m...
2. Skills:
 I believe I would be the perfect fit for this position because....
 What drew me to this position is...
 The … really piqued my interest
 This position looks like the perfect fit for me since I...
 I am very interested in this job, because...
 I have a wide knowledge of...
 My previous experiences include....
 I have experience in this field already which I believe would make me a great fit as I
would adapt seamlessly
 One of my strengths is.... (Teamwork, communication, problem solving…)
 I am always open to improvement and criticism, and I am eager to learn and gain
experience if I get this job
 I am fluent in...
3. Ending:
 When can I expect to hear back from you
 I look forward to hearing back from you
 Thanks for taking the time to see me

PART 2: DESCRIBING STATISTICS/ PRESENTATION

 Up/ down
 Downwards/ upwards trend
 Growth/decline
 Doubled/ halved
 Slight/ gradual/ dramatic increase
 Stable growth
 Sharp increase/decrease
 Minimally/ substantially
 risen/ expanded
 Downwards/ upwards trend
 Fluctuations
 The x- axis/ y-axis shows
 The relation between both variables is positive/negative
 Positive/negative correlation
PART 3: DOUGHNUT ECONOMICS CHAPTER SUMMARY£

Chapter 1:

Original goal economy: growing BBP

Desired goal economy: sustainable ecological space for all humanity

BBP: a measure of national income, a dollar value on a country’s output of goods

Okun's law: for every 2% in economic growth there is a 1% fall in unemployment

Kuznets's critique on BBP as measure of economic success: national income captures only the market
value of goods and services produced in an economy, therefore excluding the value of goods and
services produced by and for households and by society in de daily course of life. It also gives no
indication of how income and consumption were actually distributed between households.

Doughnut= living within the means of our planet, between a social foundation of human well-being and
an ecological ceiling of planetary pressure lies the just space for humanity

 Beneath the doughnut: shortfalls in human well-being

 Beyond the doughnut: overshoot of pressure on earth’s life-giving system
 In the doughnut: ecologically safe and socially just space for humanity

Five factors to move and stay in the safe space:

1. Population
2. Distribution ((in)equality)
3. Aspiration (goal of wealth; what is enough?)
4. Technology
5. governance
The great Acceleration: rapid growth of the global middle class (= increase in humanity’s use of earth’s
resources

Holocene: small scale, consistent climate shifts, creating a stable living environment

Anthropocene: first geological epoch to have been shapen by human activity

--> new goal: human prosperity in a flourishing web of life

Chapter 3:

From rational economic man to interdependence:

Rational human image: self-interest, maximizing utility, consumption satisfaction, …. (One dimensional)

New image of humans, community based, 5 broad shifts;

1. Narrow self-interested --> social and reciprocating

2. Fixed preferences --> fluid values
3. Isolated --> independent
4. Calculate --> approximate (guess/ estimate)
5. Dominion (control) over nature --> embedded in the web of life
--> our beliefs about human nature help shape human nature itself. (If people believe humans act in
their own interests, they will start acting in their own interests) --> social influences are vital;
interdependence influences behavior

Cognitive bias= causes humans to deviate from the ideal model of rationality

 Availability bias
 Loss aversion= preference to avoid loss rather than make an equal trade
 Selective cognition= believing facts and opinions that fit with our existing ideas
 Risk bias= underestimating the occurrence of extreme events and our ability to cope with them

Nudge= encourage behavior that the rational economic man would make. Effective because they tap
into underlying norms and values

Financial (money) vs intrinsic motivation (values): monetary payments often crowd out already existing
motivations by activating extrinsic rather than intrinsic values --> market norms displace social norms

Chapter 5: