Writing examples: from evidence to review
Explore 39 original teaching cases across 13 programmes. Choose a question and follow the evidence, paragraph plan, full teaching draft and detailed review. Free to explore, with no sign-in or credits required.
Original fictional teaching case · Free to explore
From a spreadsheet to an investment question
Follow a developed example from evidence to paragraph planning, a full teaching draft and five review comments. The draft deliberately retains issues to discuss. These are fictional teaching cases, not real admission results; viewing them does not change your work.
1 · Evidence notes
English sample notes: separate observed work, future intentions and missing evidence. The situation is invented for teaching.
- Final-year economics student; student fund exercise, no real assets managed.
- Owned the working-capital assumptions for two retailers; slower collection changed the cash-flow comparison.
- Interested in equity research, then responsibility for a sector; needs stronger accounting and valuation judgement.
- Preparation and fallback plan: I would target research teams where a junior analyst follows a small number of businesses closely. To prepare, I plan to compare a retailer's reported cash flow with my own forecast and keep a record of assumptions I later revise. I would seek feedback on a short written recommendation, not just the spreadsheet. If an equity research role is not immediately available, a financial analysis position involving company accounts would let me build related skills. I would assess that alternative by the work and supervision offered, rather than assume any job in finance leads to the same destination.
- Progress check: I would measure progress through clearer research notes and better questions about a company, rather than a fixed timetable for promotion.
- Scope: owned working-capital assumptions, not the whole investment decision. Compared collection assumptions on a common basis. A peer asked whether the changed valuation reflected the business or the forecast; the student could explain the mechanics more easily than the commercial judgement.