Why do hard-working students who understand all the economic concepts not do well in GCE A Level Economics examinations? The reason is surprisingly simple. There are two areas that students need to do well in — content mastery and Economics-specific examination skills. Students who have revised the content thoroughly could still perform poorly because they lack the latter. This book is meant to fill this gap by being the first book that makes the full range of these examination skills explicit. The skills covered in this book are organized by question type. The first section covers the skills needed to answer case study questions and the second section covers the skills needed to answer essay questions. Each skill is illustrated using worked examples of examination-type materials and questions. At the end of each section, a summary of the skills required is provided to enable students to do a quick revision before the relevant papers.
Author(s): Christabelle Soh
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 222
City: Singapore
Contents
About the Author
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 The Performance Formula
1.2 How Much You Will Benefit From This Book
1.3 How to Use This Book
Endnotes
Part 1 Case Study Skills
Chapter 2 The Structure of a Case Study Question
2.1 The H1 Economics Case Study Question (8823 Syllabus)
2.2 The H2 Economics Case Study Question (9757 Syllabus)
Endnote
Chapter 3 Understanding the Case Material — Reading Skills
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Use the Case Study Question’s Title to Determine the Question’s Focus (Micro/Macro)
3.3 Getting the Key Information from Each Extract
3.3.1 Read the extract’s title to anchor your brain
3.3.2 Ignore numbers and focus on economic variables
3.3.3 Annotate cause-and-effect relationships
3.3.3.1 Identifying English phrases that illustrate cause-and-effect
3.3.3.2 Identifying cause-and-effect using economic analysis
3.3.4 Summarise lists
References
Chapter 4 Understanding the Case Material — Interpreting Numerical/Graphical Data
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Interpreting Raw Data
4.2.1 How to recognise raw data
4.2.2 How to interpret raw data
4.3 Interpreting Indices
4.3.1 How to recognise indices
4.3.2 How to interpret indices
4.4 Interpreting Percentage Change Data
4.4.1 How to recognise percentage change data
4.4.2 Interpreting percentage change data
4.5 Interpreting Proportions/Ratios
4.5.1 How to recognise proportion/ratio data
4.5.1.1 For proportions
4.5.1.2 For ratios
4.5.2 Interpreting proportion/ratio data
4.6 Interpreting Balances
4.6.1 How to recognise a balance
4.6.2 Interpreting a balance
4.7 Interpreting Elasticities (A Special Case)
4.7.1 Price elasticity of demand
4.7.2 Price elasticity of supply
4.7.3 Income elasticity of demand [not in H1 Economics 8823 syllabus]
4.7.4 Cross elasticity of demand [not in H1 Economics 8823 syllabus]
4.7.5 Summary of skills to understand the case study material
Endnotes
Chapter 5 Answering the Case Study Questions
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 Analysing the question number
5.1.2 Analysing the question phrasing — The 3C+ framework
5.1.2.1 What is a command word?
5.1.2.2 What does content refer to?
5.1.2.3 What does context refer to?
5.1.2.4 What are additional conditions?
5.1.3 Summary of the 3C+ framework
5.1.4 Analysing the mark allocation
5.2 How to Answer a “Describe” (or a Synonym) Question
5.2.1 Mark allocation
5.2.1.1 For describing trends
5.2.1.2 For describing relationships
5.2.2 How to answer it — Description of a trend
5.2.2.1 (For balances only) Writing the statement of surplus/deficit
5.2.2.2 Writing the general trend
5.2.2.3 Writing the refinement
5.2.3 How to answer it — Description of a relationship
5.2.3.1 Writing the general relationship
5.2.3.2 Writing the refinement
5.2.4 Worked examples
5.2.5 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.3 How to Answer a “Compare” (or a Synonym) Question
5.3.1 Mark allocation
5.3.1.1 For comparing trends
5.3.1.2 For comparing relationships
5.3.2 How to answer it — Comparison of trends
5.3.2.1 (For balances only) Comparing the balance positions
5.3.2.2 Comparing the general trend
5.3.2.3 Further comparisons
5.3.3 How to answer it — Comparison of relationships
5.3.4 Worked examples
5.3.5 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.4 How to Answer a “Calculate” (or a Synonym) Question
5.4.1 Mark allocation
5.4.2 How to answer it
5.4.3 Worked examples
5.4.4 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.5 How to Answer a “Identify”/“Suggest” Question
5.5.1 Mark allocation
5.5.2 How to answer it
5.5.2.1 For “identify questions”
5.5.2.2 For “suggest” questions”
5.5.3 Worked examples
5.5.4 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.5.4.1 Confusing “identify” questions with “suggest” questions
5.6 How to Answer an “Infer”/“Interpret” Question
5.6.1 Mark allocation
5.6.2 How to answer it
5.6.2.1 Inferences/Interpretations based on manipulating numbers
5.6.2.2 Inferences/Interpretations based on understanding economic indicators
5.6.3 Worked examples
5.6.4 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.6.4.1 Problem with inferring per capita figures
5.6.4.2 Problem with elasticity values
5.7 How to Answer a “Define” Question
5.7.1 Mark allocation
5.7.2 How to answer it
5.7.3 Worked examples
5.7.4 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.8 How to Answer an “Explain” (or a Synonym) Question
5.8.1 Mark allocation
5.8.2 How to answer it
5.8.3 Worked examples
5.8.4 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.9 How to Answer a “Discuss” (or a Synonym) Question
5.9.1 Mark allocation
5.9.2 How to answer it
5.9.3 Worked examples
5.9.4 Common pitfalls to avoid
5.9.5 “Discuss” questions with no clear thesis and anti-thesis
5.10 How to Answer a Question with Multiple Command Words
5.10.1. (H1 Economics 8823 syllabus only) How to answer an “Explain…and comment…” question
5.10.2 Summary of how to answer case study questions
References
Endnotes
Part 2 Essay Skills
Chapter 6 Structure of the Essay Paper (For H2 Economics 9757 Syllabus)
Chapter 7 Answering the Essay Questions
7.1 Question Selection — Which Questions to Answer?
7.2 Analysing the Essay Questions
7.2.1 Summary of the 3C+ framework
7.3 Answering Questions with a 10–15m Split
7.3.1 Answering the 10m question
7.3.2 How a 10m question is marked
7.3.3 Answering the 15m question
7.3.4 How a 15m question is marked
7.4 Answering 25m Questions
7.5 Answering “Discuss” Questions with No Clear Thesis or Anti-thesis
7.5.1 Summary of skills to answer essay questions
Chapter 8 Tips for Answering Unusual Questions
Index
