04/06/2016

IGCSE Exams are not only interested in testing your knowledge of

the material, they also aim to assess whether you have picked up certain
key skills and techniques. These are the skills and techniques included in
this document and they serve as a way of sharpening your exam strategy.
AS such, this is not excuse you from studying the material but it does
ensure that you maximize the marks available to you given the content
you have in your heads.
Read this very carefully and dont try to digest it all at once. Keep
coming back to it and try to ensure you are applying different aspects
over time. When your exam day comes, you will be familiar with most, if
not all of them.
Economic Tools (Also applies to Business Studies)
These are generic methods that can be applied across all areas and
questions in economics. They should be taken as frameworks to help you
in structuring your answer.
1) Cost-benefit analysis
Looking at the pros and cons or the advantages and disadvantages
of the policy/decision/scenario. Here, both the quantity and the quality of
the pros and cons matter. In your answer, you should begin to highlight
the importance of particular costs or benefits.
When using cost-benefit analysis, one approach is to outline a
benefit (or cost) and then identify if there is a counter to that benefit. For
example, one benefit of longer school holidays is that students get more
time to rest but the counter to this is that the students may become
bored or lazy during that period. This approach enriches your answer and
makes it more powerful.
Cost-benefit analysis is the most common tool that will be used in
the exam. Many questions explicitly ask for the advantages and
disadvantages of a particular possibility. Furthermore, any question that
asks you to consider or discuss a possibility is implicitly asking you to
perform a cost benefit analysis. One-sided answers to such questions will
get you very low marks.
In business studies Section B, the questions require some sort of
cost-benefit analysis.
The final element of a cost-benefit analysis is the justified
conclusion at the end (See notes below on justified conclusions).
Example: Discuss whether an increase in size will benefit a business
in the private sector.
A cost-benefit analysis to this question will look at reasons why such
a business will benefit and reasons why it may not before attempting to
draw a final conclusion on the matter.

2) Short run vs long run

This involves making the distinction between effects that matter
now and those that matter in the future. Can be used everywhere and is
particularly good when used with cost-benefit analysis.
For example, after outlining two benefits and two costs, the next
step could be to identify whether the costs/benefits are short run or long
run. This is useful because the effects that truly matter are long run
effects. So short run vs long run analysis serves as evaluation in your
answer.
Note: Some questions will explicitly ask for only short-run/long-run
effects or will expect you to carry out this type of analysis.
3) Substitution/alternatives (Not yet covered in class)
Economics, like life, is filled with options. Showing awareness of
these options further adds to your analysis. I go through some examples
below:
- A discussion about the effect of expansionary fiscal policy can be
supplemented with some discussion about alternatives to this e.g.
expansionary monetary policy.
- A question about the potency of government intervention in
correcting market failure can be enriched by an awareness that there are
different types of government intervention.
- A question about whether business X should sell shares or not will
be illuminated by a discussion of alternative sources of finance that are
feasible in that scenario e.g. taking a bank loan or selling some fixed
asset.
Note: Some questions require this sort of analysis e.g. discuss
whether wages are the most important factor for an individual choosing
an occupation. You have to consider alternatives to monetary rewards
e.g. job satisfaction, work flexibility and fringe benefits.
How to Answer Case Study Questions
Case Study questions are more about knowledge than application.
Every single answer, every major comment you make should be
applicable to the particular scenario in the case. Once you form this habit,
your marks for this section will increase dramatically. Here is an example
below:
Mr Michael is a teacher at The Childville School. He sits in the Year 8
Classroom and sometimes handles class registration in the mornings
when there is no assembly. Mr Michael enjoys sports periods, drama and
art lessons.
Question 1. How can The Childville School motivate Mr Michael?

How not to answer the question Discuss motivational theories

general. Regardless of how well you outline and explain the different
theories of motivation or the other fringe benefits that can be used, you
will not get great marks.
How to answer the question Focus your energy on Mr Michaels
particular case. Apply your knowledge about theories of motivation,
remuneration, fringe benefits etc and see how they fit in this particular
situation. Use the information given to you about Mr Michael and The
Childville School to craft your answer. The best answers will be those
based on the context Mr Michael is in and his likes and dislikes.
Question 2. Explain the role of teachers at the Childville School.
How not to answer the question Just explaining the roles of any
teacher in Childville without any real reference to Mr Michael and his
particular roles.
How to answer the question Provide a general explanation of the
role of teachers, using Mr Michael and The Childville School as reference
points and examples in your answer.
For longer case studies, your answers have to be based strongly on
the information given to you in the text. When offering solutions or
conclusions, they must be consistent with the context presented in the
text. The exam is trying to assess how well you can reach particular
conclusions given the context they have provided to you. They do not
want generic answers, they want you to demonstrate application to the
particular context.
REFER TO THE TEXT. REFER TO THE TEXT. REFER TO THE
TEXT.
Grade levels
Level 1 (Knowledge)
This is just showing that you have read the material. Questions
asking you to state, list, describe etc are testing for this. Furthermore,
you are expected to show this when answering longer questions. You can
do so by ensuring that you define the concepts and themes used in the
question e.g. define unemployment when answering a long question
about the drawbacks of unemployment.
Level 2 (Understanding)
This is showing that you have grasped the material and can explain
it. Questions asking you to explain are testing for this. These are usually
between 2 to 5 marks. You are expected to elaborate on your point using
relevant examples to aid in your explanation. Moreover, for longer
questions, when you introduce a point or argument you are expected to
explain it using relevant examples.

Level 3 (Analysis)
This is showing that you can investigate and analyze the material.
Questions that are 5 marks and above expect you to demonstrate this
skill. It involves looking at the effects of a decision, the advantages and
disadvantages, using quantitative analysis (Numbers) etc. In longer
questions, this is where you get most of the marks and is a very
important skill to have.
Level 4 (Evaluation)
This is showing that you are able to go through complex material
and draw conclusions from it. Evaluation involves making a reasoned
judgment based on the particular context in the question. Including a
justified conclusion is the easiest way of getting evaluation marks. Only
the longest questions (7 marks and above) expect you to evaluate but
you can do it in shorter questions as well. Other evaluation techniques
include: putting your points in a hierarchy so you can explain to the
examiner which is the most important, drawing different conclusions and
explaining the contexts in which they will be relevant etc.
General Skills
1) PEE Point. Explain. Example.
Possibly the most important thing to remember. Give your point (or
definition), elaborate on it, and give an example. Can be used for
basically every question. Do not forget to use this method for longer
questions.
2) Justified conclusions
A justified conclusion is basically a concluding statement that is
based on the points you raised in the body of your answer. The
justification is already in your answer, you just have to restate it in your
conclusion. How not to conclude: In summary, the benefits of vertical
integration outweigh the costs so the business should go ahead with it.
How to conclude: In summary, the increase in market share brought
about by vertical integration provides a compelling case for this business
to go ahead with it.
3) Matching syllabus to exam questions focusing on strengths
The IGCSE exams are predictable in how they draw questions out of
the core topics of the syllabus. As a result, you can plan ahead by
developing strengths in particular topics so that you are even more
confident with handling questions from those topics in the exam. Also
focus on topics that you find more interesting or overlap with other
subjects you are doing as you are likely to be able to grasp those more
quickly and do better on them in the exam.

4) Structuring your answer

This point is most closely related to the style of answering
questions. Do not use bullet points. Use full paragraphs. Try and keep
separate points in distinct paragraphs to ensure the examiner does not
overlook anything. Planning your answer to long questions before
attempting it is also a very useful strategy.
5) Hierarchy of points For questions that you present multiple
points, one useful habit to get into is identifying which points are more
important than the others. An example is done below (I am discussing the
benefits of a free market economy):
In a free market economy, freedom and choice are preserved so
individuals are allowed to trade voluntarily with one another and pick
which occupations they want to take on. For example, nobody is forced to
be a farmer in a free market economy. In addition, a free market
economy minimizes government economic power over its citizens as it is
not in control of majority of the resources in the country. This is very
important as government can sometimes use its economic power in
politically motivated ways. Perhaps the most important advantage of the
free market economy is that it does not rely on an single individual or
institution to determine how to distribute goods and services but rather
relies on the market forces of demand and supply. This is relevant as no
individual or institution is able to possess perfect knowledge of how best
to use or distribute factors of production e.g. the government cannot
know what job every single individual will be most suited to. In a free
market, nobody needs to know this as voluntary exchanges in a market
eventually take resources to those who most want them (those who pay
the highest prices).
In my answer above, notice how my points become more important
as I go on and how I spend more time on the points I consider to be
more powerful. Those are the points I am most likely to use as my
conclusion.
6) Answering quantitative questions explaining the meaning
behind the numbers
Some structured questions will require you to do some calculations
(either explicitly directly asking you to work something out, or implicitly
where working out a number will help you in your analysis and
discussion). For such questions, ensure that you cross-check ALL figures
and calculations as mistakes are surprisingly common. Also, get into the
habit of interpreting your results. For example, a final GDP growth
number of 4% next what does this mean in general? What does it mean
in the context of the question? Or a profit margin of 10% what does this
mean?

7) Time management
Here are some points to remember about time management:
- Best practice is to allocate between 60 and 90 seconds to each
mark. This would mean spending a maximum of 3 minutes on a two mark
question and 15 minutes on a ten mark question. Using this approach,
you will have enough spare time to focus on questions you have struggled
with or go over your work. Do not stick rigidly to this formula.
- Do the questions you feel most confident about. Your time is best
spent on questions that will bring you more marks. And this way, you
leave all your free time to tackle the questions you have struggled with.
- Do compulsory questions earlier on. In the economics exam, do
Question 1 first.
- During your revision period, simulate exam conditions as soon as
you feel confident with the material. This means completing an entire past
paper within the allotted time.