Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseEvery candidate takes two papers, and every candidate is eligible for grades 9 to 1. There are no tiers, so everyone sits the same papers.
| Paper 1 | Paper 2 | |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Multiple choice | Structured questions |
| Time | 1 hour | 2 hours |
| Marks | 40 | 80 |
| Share of the qualification | 30% | 70% |
| Calculator | Allowed | Allowed |
Both papers are compulsory and both cover all of the subject content. Nothing from the course is safe to skip.
You answer all 40 questions. Each is worth one mark, and you pick one answer from the options given. The questions can ask you to make calculations and to analyse diagrams, so you need to be able to work out a percentage change or read a demand and supply diagram quickly.
Answer every question, because a blank can never score. Read the question before the options. Cross out options you know are wrong, then choose between the rest. Do any calculation on the paper before you look at the options, then check your answer is among them.
Words such as "not", "only" and "most likely". With diagrams, check which curve moved and which way before you read the answers. Rushing the reading can lose easy marks.
Paper 2 is a written paper with two sections. You write your answers in your own words, and the answer lengths range from a short phrase to a longer written response. The paper is worth 80 marks, and you use the marks for each question as a guide to how much detail and length to give.
Section A has one question, Question 1, worth 20 marks. You must answer it, and you must answer every part from (a) to (f). It gives you previously unseen information about a real economic situation. This is written text and data, and it may include diagrams and tables. You must use this information in your answers. An answer that ignores the data loses marks, however good your general knowledge is.
In Section B there are four questions, numbered 2, 3, 4 and 5. You answer three of them. Each is worth 20 marks and has four parts: (a), (b), (c) and (d). A short paragraph of information sets the context. You may refer to it, and you may also use other examples you have studied. Some of the optional questions may ask you to draw a diagram.
The marks can rise through the parts, for example (a) [2], (b) [4], (c) [6] and (d) [8]. This shows that the early parts are short and the last part needs the most thought. Part (d) is the important one: you must show clear and logical analysis, evaluate the issue and give a reasoned discussion that considers two sides of the argument. Part (d) is marked using levels of response. This means the examiner decides which level of quality your whole answer reaches, rather than just adding up separate points.
Key terms:
Every mark in both papers is given for one of three assessment objectives (AOs).
Show you know and understand economic definitions, formulas, concepts and theories, and use economic terminology.
Select, organise and interpret data. Apply economic analysis to written, numerical, diagram and graph data. Analyse economic issues by identifying and developing links and relationships.
Evaluate economic information, data and arguments, and recognise that economic decisions have uncertain outcomes.
The weightings are only approximate. Across the whole qualification, AO1 is 43%, AO2 is 47% and AO3 is 10%. Here is how that splits between the papers.
| Assessment objective | Paper 1 | Paper 2 |
|---|---|---|
| AO1 Knowledge and understanding | 50% | 40% |
| AO2 Analysis | 50% | 45% |
| AO3 Evaluation | 0% | 15% |
This tells you a lot. Paper 1 tests only AO1 and AO2. Paper 2 tests all three, and evaluation appears only there, mainly in part (d). More than four in every ten marks across the course go to analysis, so a list of facts is not enough. You need to explain how one thing leads to another.
Paper 1 gives you 60 minutes for 40 questions, which is about 90 seconds a question. A good plan is to go through once at about a minute a question, leaving a spare 20 minutes to return to the hard ones and check your calculations.
Paper 2 gives you 120 minutes for 80 marks, which is about 1.5 minutes per mark. A plan that works:
Use the marks as your guide. A 2-mark part needs about three minutes and a short answer. An 8-mark part needs about twelve minutes and a longer one. Do not spend ten minutes on part (a) and then rush part (d), because (d) holds the most marks.
Choose your three Section B questions carefully, spending a minute reading all four first. Pick the three where you can answer part (d) with confidence.
Students often skip Section A's data, or write only a list of facts in part (d) with no second side. Another common slip is to answer four Section B questions instead of three, which wastes time that could have gone on the other three. Some also write a long answer to a 2-mark part and run out of time for the 8-mark part.
This is a Section B style question. Solvenia is a made-up country. Few households there use solar panels because they are expensive. The government is thinking of giving a subsidy of $300 for every solar panel a household buys.
(a) Define "subsidy". [2 marks]
(b) Explain two reasons why the government may want more households to use solar panels. [4 marks]
(c) Analyse how the subsidy could affect the price and quantity of solar panels sold. [6 marks]
(d) Discuss whether a subsidy is the best way for the government of Solvenia to encourage the use of solar panels. [8 marks]
(a) A subsidy is money paid by the government (1) to producers, or to buyers, to lower the cost or price of a good (1).
(b) Solar panels produce clean energy, which cuts pollution, so there are external benefits to people who do not buy the panels (1+1). More households using solar power may reduce the need to import fuel, which could help the balance of payments (1+1).
(c) A subsidy lowers firms' costs, so supply increases and the supply curve shifts to the right (1). At the old price there is now a surplus (1), so the price falls (1). A lower price leads to an extension in demand along the demand curve (1), so the quantity sold rises (1). The equilibrium moves from P1 and Q1 to a lower P2 and a higher Q2 (1).
(d) Part (d) is marked by levels, so the examiner looks at the whole answer. A top-level answer analyses both sides and ends with a judgement. For example: a subsidy lowers the price and encourages more households to buy, and the extra use of solar power gives external benefits such as less pollution. However, a subsidy costs the government money, so there is an opportunity cost: the money cannot be used for schools or hospitals. It also may not work if the price is still too high for poor households. Alternatives include regulation, such as rules that new buildings must have solar panels, or direct provision. Overall, a subsidy is a sensible way to encourage use because it works through the price mechanism, but it is best used with other measures and only if the country can afford the cost.
Look at the marks before you write. Part (a) is 2 marks, so a one-sentence definition is enough. Part (d) is 8 marks, so it needs both sides and a final judgement, and that is where the evaluation marks are.