Three important things that are KEY to scoring an A for A Level Economics that students don’t quite realise
BY EUGENE TOH
There are three important things that are KEY to scoring an A for A Level Economics that students don’t quite realise.
Consistency
It is possible to balance your CCA commitments, school, social relationships & still score well for Economics. Try being consistent.
As a routine recommendation, I ask that students do approximately 1 essay + 1 case study weekly from the start of JC2.
(this might not be so useful at the start of JC1 because you have not quite grasped the relevant skills to write a coherent essay nor gained the content to write a substantive one)
If you guai guai do 1 essay + 1 case study from January through October, you would have done approximately 43 essays + 43 case studies - give or take.
One key reason for this recommendation is so that you gain exposure to a wide range of essay & case study questions that could potentially appear for the A Level Economics exam.
The ability to string coherent paragraphs together to answer directly to an essay question and yet incorporate real world application is something that is pretty damn hard to gain in a last minute mugging/cram session. (We have something that comes close here - our bootcamps!)
To improve, this consistency in practice & writing must be matched with good feedback from a tutor or mentor who is experienced in tutoring / grading Economics essays / case studies. Pay attention to the feedback and ensure that the next piece you write incorporates these improvements.
Studying the ‘right way’
I was from NHSS (now NHHS) in Secondary school and this was a term my Lower Sec science teacher Mrs Lim A.T. coined - “arm-chair learning”
Unfortunately I only understood this when I was in JC2 (so I didn’t actually do very well at the O Levels).
“Arm-chair learning” is one that you can study so that you are guaranteed NOT to get an A.
Now what’s arm-chair learning?
Imagine this - you set aside three hours for revision, so you open your textbook and take out your highlighter. You start reading & highlighting. After three hours of reading. You are done with your revision. Rinse and repeat.
You sit for a school test and exam and wonder why you still do poorly despite all that studying.
That’s arm-chair learning.
No, I’m not saying that you should not read your lecture notes. Read your lecture notes before the lecture. Or read the lecture notes ON the day of the lecture. If the lesson has already been conducted, the content learnt - there’s a better way to revise to internalise the content.
So how to revise?
Do essays / case study questions relating to the topics that you want to study. Yes - you may feel it is counter-intuitive and there is an inertia preventing you from starting, but what you simply need to do is to have ready answers (of good quality/source) that you can reference from should you feel too stuck.
What I’m saying is that you should not learn content from reading lecture notes. Learn content from attempting exam questions, then refer to your lecture notes to read.
This is logical because you will be able to sieve out exactly what is relevant from the lecture notes/textbooks that are useful for answering the exam questions (sometimes students complain that lecture notes have TMI anyway)!
Focus on understanding + application to real world situations NOT memorisation
Here’s killing 2 birds with 1 stone (an idiom) - what if I told you that you can revise for 2 subjects (GP & Economics) by doing this- reading the news!
Since GP is a subject you definitely have to take (sidenote: my friend offers GP tuition) - might as well right?
Don’t memorise. Economics is not quite a memorisation subject. I mean there are a few exceptions like
Theory of Comparative advantage numerical illustration
Multiplier effect numerical illustration
Key definitions
Pretty much everything else - no memorisation is required. Look at a real world issue and apply what you’ve learnt.
For example - the recent increase in oil prices from a low of US$22/barrel in Mar 2020 to US$84/barrel in Jan 2022. What implications could there be?
In this case, an examiner could make use of the news above to test you on the below-mentioned concept.
AD-AS analysis - how would the AD-AS diagram be affected by oil prices?
Firms & decisions - how would it affect profitability of firms
The ETG Programme
I founded ETG in 2007 and have taught more than 3000 students since. The programme has been carefully curated to ensure that content is comprehensively covered, that you are exposed to a wide range of exam questions, and impart important essay-writing techniques & case study application skills.
We also have our own in-house publications of more than 40+ titles. Each term, students get a textbook covering all the materials for the term. They are also issued a whole bunch of materials including 2 books with 100 model essays in total, a promo exams guide, two abridged textbooks covering key micro & macro concepts.
You can gain access to both our programme & our resources by registering for our classes.
Start off with a trial lesson here!
See your grades improve progressively over time by working with us towards that elusive A!
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