Is there any difference between "aimed" and "targeted"?
This is from TOEIC official guide:

The institution's ability to meet its____ growth levels will depend on the commitment of all staff.
A. objected, B, aimed, C, targeted, D, figured

The correct choice is C, and I was luckily right. But I'm thinking aren't 'aimed' and 'targeted' are the same thing?

Thanks!

Question

Is there any difference between "aimed" and "targeted"?
This is from TOEIC official guide:

The institution's ability to meet its____ growth levels will depend on the commitment of all staff.
A. objected, B, aimed, C, targeted, D, figured

The correct choice is C, and I was luckily right. But I'm thinking aren't 'aimed' and 'targeted' are the same thing?

Thanks!

Answer

Here targeted is used as an adjective.

Answer

They could be very similar in meaning ,but as a grammatical structure 'aimed' doesn't fit in this context.
You can say to target something ,but you can't say to aim something ,you have to use a preposition here ' to aim AT something'.

Such a structure allows you to use 'aimed' for example:

The institution's ability to meet the growth levels aimed at.
but in your example you would be rather using :

The institution's ability to meet its targeted growth levels..