Online EU Training

5 August 2012, 06:45:19

Hello,

The case study webinar is indeed domain-neutral in the sense that it covers methodology, tips and communication advice for all EPSO case study exams, including for external relations.

As on 30 August you will only have the case study but the rest of the exams will be between mid-September onwards, we are organising live webinars and in-person trainings in various EU countries (see announcement in the coming days).

Hope this helps, and make sure to check our free e-learning courses in the Assessment Centre menu, too!

Kind regards,

The Online EU Training team

Hello, The case study webinar is indeed domain-neutral in the sense that it covers methodology, tips and communication advice for all EPSO case study exams, including for external relations. As on 30 August you will only have the case study but the rest of the exams will be between mid-September onwards, we are organising live webinars and in-person trainings in various EU countries (see announcement in the coming days). Hope this helps, and make sure to check our free e-learning courses in the Assessment Centre menu, too! Kind regards, The Online EU Training team

Franco

5 August 2012, 14:44:04

I also know the fact sheet link that you posted. What I am still struggling to understand is how to bring EU knowledge into the case study / into the essay that we will need to write. Arboreus is advising for example to memorize 25 definitions of EU terminology and practice writing sentences with it. But if I look at the one case study example published on the EPSO site, well, I wouldn't really know how to use EU terms with definitions. In that case study example you are asked to write a report for your boss about the current situation and your recommendations what to do. Would you really start defining EU terms when you give recommendations to your boss who might be the Head of a Unit and should be very familiar with all those terms? Would you start explaining Copenhagen critera or Article 49 of the Treaty of the Union just because the case study is about accession countries? I mean - your boss should know all about it. I'm not sure about the balance of being artificial and showing off your knowledge and being realistic / practical. If "Online EU Training" reads this, maybe they could also comment, that would be really nice.

I also know the fact sheet link that you posted. What I am still struggling to understand is how to bring EU knowledge into the case study / into the essay that we will need to write. Arboreus is advising for example to memorize 25 definitions of EU terminology and practice writing sentences with it. But if I look at the one case study example published on the EPSO site, well, I wouldn't really know how to use EU terms with definitions. In that case study example you are asked to write a report for your boss about the current situation and your recommendations what to do. Would you really start defining EU terms when you give recommendations to your boss who might be the Head of a Unit and should be very familiar with all those terms? Would you start explaining Copenhagen critera or Article 49 of the Treaty of the Union just because the case study is about accession countries? I mean - your boss should know all about it. I'm not sure about the balance of being artificial and showing off your knowledge and being realistic / practical. If "Online EU Training" reads this, maybe they could also comment, that would be really nice.

Peter

7 August 2012, 00:31:05

Hey Franco,

Could you please post the link to these definitions? I'd be happy to check them out!

Thank you!

Hey Franco, Could you please post the link to these definitions? I'd be happy to check them out! Thank you!

Online EU Training

7 August 2012, 04:21:24

Dear Franco,

Thanks for sharing your questions with the community and with us - here is our advice on the issue.

We don't suggest including full-fledged definitions in the case study, the essence of our advice is to add *references* that demonstrate your existing EU knowledge. An example: you mention the Copenhagen criteria which you would obviously not define for your Head of Unit, however, you can write "When assessing the preparedness of Albania for EU membership, it may face challenges in at least one of the 1993 Copenhagen criteria (namely that of "rule of law") while other factors have improved significantly (especially the "functioning market economy" aspect of the above mentioned criteria)."

This way you provide an indirect yet clear reference that you are aware what the Copenhagen criteria are without making these references overly self-serving or stand-alone.

Hope this answers you dilemma - the key is to apply your knowledge and not simply recite it.

Kind regards,

The Online EU Training team

Dear Franco, Thanks for sharing your questions with the community and with us - here is our advice on the issue. We don't suggest including full-fledged definitions in the case study, the essence of our advice is to add *references* that demonstrate your existing EU knowledge. An example: you mention the Copenhagen criteria which you would obviously not define for your Head of Unit, however, you can write "When assessing the preparedness of Albania for EU membership, it may face challenges in at least one of the 1993 Copenhagen criteria (namely that of "rule of law") while other factors have improved significantly (especially the "functioning market economy" aspect of the above mentioned criteria)." This way you provide an indirect yet clear reference that you are aware what the Copenhagen criteria are without making these references overly self-serving or stand-alone. Hope this answers you dilemma - the key is to apply your knowledge and not simply recite it. Kind regards, The Online EU Training team

Franco

8 August 2012, 08:53:03

Thanks, Online EU Training. As always, a piece of good advice!

Peter, I will post the links in a few days from now, I guess. I don't find it at the moment.

Thanks, Online EU Training. As always, a piece of good advice! Peter, I will post the links in a few days from now, I guess. I don't find it at the moment.

Franco

14 August 2012, 15:55:26

For Peter:
http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/
Cheers!

For Peter: http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/glossary/ Cheers!

pfje@msn.com

17 August 2012, 11:22:48

Thanks for all the good advice!

I am currently practicing with mock study cases, and I find that most of them ask you to make an executive summary. According to the Arboreus Webinar, this should take no more than four lines, but in the mock cases I have, including the one provided by EPSO, this seems to be the key part of the exercise, asking you to summarize the whole situation and outline key points. The rest of the report is left to make recommendations. I find four lines extremely short to provide a satisfactory answer. Besides, this would leave the total length of the text in two pages or less.

For what I've been reading in Internet, a good executive summary should use one page, more or less.

What do you think? How do you think an adequate executive summary should be?

Thanks for all the good advice! I am currently practicing with mock study cases, and I find that most of them ask you to make an executive summary. According to the Arboreus Webinar, this should take no more than four lines, but in the mock cases I have, including the one provided by EPSO, this seems to be the key part of the exercise, asking you to summarize the whole situation and outline key points. The rest of the report is left to make recommendations. I find four lines extremely short to provide a satisfactory answer. Besides, this would leave the total length of the text in two pages or less. For what I've been reading in Internet, a good executive summary should use one page, more or less. What do you think? How do you think an adequate executive summary should be?

Online EU Training

21 August 2012, 12:33:23

Hi,

The executive summary should indeed be very short IF the rest of the document spells out the details. If your MAIN taks is to write an executive summary AND this is specifically requested from you by EPSO in the case study's instructions, then we fully agree with you that it should be much longer, even a full page long.

Hope this helps, and good luck for the exam!

Andras

Hi, The executive summary should indeed be very short IF the rest of the document spells out the details. If your MAIN taks is to write an executive summary AND this is specifically requested from you by EPSO in the case study's instructions, then we fully agree with you that it should be much longer, even a full page long. Hope this helps, and good luck for the exam! Andras