Introduction
One of the biggest misconceptions I hear about economics from people who haven’t taken it is that it teaches you how to earn money or start a business. Economics does have some overlap with these but it’s mostly looking at economics from a more large scale perspective. It is broken down into two categories: microeconomics and macroeconomics. Microeconomics looks at how individual markets, firms and consumers interact, whereas macroeconomics looks at the economy as a whole, aggregating multiple markets together.
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
To give you and idea about what you’re going to learn, the chapters in economics are as follows (along with an oversimplified introduction to each of them):
Microeconomics
Central Problem of Economics (how to handle to the problem of scarcity and maximise social welfare)
Demand and Supply (inner-workings of an individual market, how it allocates resources using price as a signal and a ration, what changes demand and supply, how it affects price, quantity exchanged, consumer and producer surplus, producer revenue and consumer expenditure)
Market Failure (why markets fail to maximise social welfare sometimes in the absence of govt intervention, and how govt intervention may or may not solve it)
Firms and Decisions (How firms make decisions and strategies to maximise profits)
Macroeconomics
Introduction to Macroeconomics I: Macroeconomic Aims (The various goals and indicators for an economy: Actual and Potential Growth, Low and stable inflation, Low Unemployment, Favourable Balance of Payments, and the consequences of their achievement or lack thereof)
Introduction to Macroeconomics II: Macroeconomic Policies (Policies to achieve these goals, including Expansionary Fiscal Policy like Budget 2021 etc)
Globalisation and the International Economy (Why it is beneficial for countries to specialise and trade, economic benefits and costs of globalisation, trade-related economic policies like tariffs)
Economics involves a lot more theories and frameworks (like DD-SS framework, AD-AS framework etc) compared to other subjects which are a little more common sense without having to explicitly apply a theory. It’s therefore harder to “wing it” compared to other humanities because if you misuse phrases and theories, or don’t give enough analysis, your tutor can see through your smoke! So please study hard for economics.
Each chapter also has some standard diagrams for you to draw and illustrate a certain concept or impact of a change. E.g. To illustrate why negative externalities caused by consumption or production of a product means overconsumption and deadweight loss. It’s important that you analyse and explain the diagram after you draw it, if not strict teachers won’t give you credit. You have to know them by heart, and remember how to use them properly!
One thing I liked about economics was that while it does require memory work, it does not as much as some other humanities. Economics goes beyond that, requiring you to accurately and insightfully apply these memorised concepts, explanations, diagrams and diagrammatic analysis to real life scenarios, as well as make very well reasoned evaluations (choosing between two stands). For essays, each question part literally allocates 5 marks just for evaluation! So you’re going to have to give more in-depth analysis compared to secondary school Combined Humanities, in which you could get away with making a stand and only give one reason.
Examination Structure
There are two papers in Economics, each is 2 hour 15 mins: Paper 1 is Case Study Question (CSQ), and Paper 2 is Essays. Generally, economics is not as rushed as GP (at least for me), but good time management is still critical.
Paper 1: CSQ
There are 2 questions, each focusing on a common case study / theme, each with multiple parts, around 4-6 sub-questions. A set of “extracts”, which are texts from various sources like newspapers or economists about the issue, will be given. You are tasked to pair your analysis of parts of the extract with applications of economic concepts you’ve learnt to then answer these questions. This use of context in the extracts is one of the major things that sets CSQs apart from essays. Often, the case study extracts have hidden pieces of information that students can grab onto to use for insightful evaluations! The first few questions are short answer questions, the last two are 8 mark and 10 mark mini-essay questions respectively. Do not spend too much time on the short answer questions, lest you end up with insufficient time to conjure up a coherent and cogent essay later. One interesting development in recent years at the A Levels is that both questions now often have both microeconomics and macroeconomics in the same question, whereas previously, most A Level CSQs devoted one question to microeconomics and one question to macroeconomics.
Paper 2: Essays
There are 6 essay questions, divided into 2 sections: one section for microeconomics, one section for macroeconomics (3 questions per section). You’re tasked to do 3 essay questions, with at least one for each section. Each question has two parts. Part (a) is 10m, and is always an explanatory question without evaluation, while Part (b) requires both explanation (10m), plus an evaluative component at the end (5m). If you do the math, you’ll have 45 minutes for each question, which sounds like a lot, but it’s still pretty rushed in reality.
Some students may prefer to just choose 3 topics to study for, and then give up on the rest since you can choose which question to do. While this might work for some, I don’t recommend it because sometimes the question set on your pet topic might be some weird curveball question, so do throw your net a bit wider.
How do I study for H2 Economics?
This starts in the classroom. If you have any doubts or questions, approach your tutor immediately or after class. A lot of students tend to procrastinate until the middle or end of J1.
I’m not sure about other students, but this is how I did it. I first study my school’s lecture notes, memorising all the explanations, analyses, diagrams etc. If it’s close to the exam, I do practices and submit the essays in Paper 1 and 2 to my teacher for marking, and personally mark my own SAQs (because they’re more easily and objectively marked). While waiting for my tutor to finish marking, I analyse the suggested answers for SAQs and essays and highlight anything mark or concept I missed out, or an interesting evaluative argument they made, before I go through my work with my tutor. I rarely bother trying papers with no answer keys (unless my tutor wants to mark them) because that makes it much more time-consuming to identify your mistakes and learn from them. Sometimes, when time is tight, instead of writing out essays in full, I analyse them, think them through and plan out the essay (don’t just come up with very undetailed essay plans though, it won’t really train your economics brain). And before the exam, re-read important past practices to remember the mistakes made and pick up good learning points from there.
Separately, I read a lot of model essays, which most schools provide. If I’m reading an essay for the first time I usually analyse the question first and try it out in my head before consulting the answer.
One interesting thing about A Level Economics is that schools don’t use a standard textbook, so you’ll notice that different schools actually teach slightly different styles of argumentation, analysis as well as diagram drawing! Don’t be alarmed when you see something slightly unfamiliar in other school paper answers. Ask your tutors about them if necessary, and pick and choose what is most convincing.
Contributed by Ho Song Yee (FMSS‘18 | HCI‘20)
A for Economics in 2020 A levels
High Distinction for Economics under the Hwa Chong Diploma