Economics can be a challenging subject for many people. It is not an exact science but it is neither an art. We label it as a social science as we have economic models (Keynesian is an example) that can be tested, but does not always have to be the course of action that everybody follows. As a year 12 student who is currently taking Economics A level, these are some of the helpful tips and methods I use to study Economics.
Tip No. 1: Wider Reading
Economics is an essay-based subject and requires a lot of writing, however, it also requires you to understand the general way in which scarcity, demand, supply etc. all work in the economy. Personally, the best way I find to understand how different economic techniques work, is to just read the news. Wider reading in general can go a long way.
It is important to not limit yourself to a certain website or nation. Not every journal or newspaper covers the same stories, so it is extremely beneficial to keep up to date with current affairs happening across the globe. You can apply what you read in your economics lessons, understanding the effects of changes in policies on supply and demand for a business/ firm.
Some recommended resources for news include “The Economist”, “The Financial Times”, and “The Monday Briefing”.
Tip No. 2: Command Words and Examiner’s Report
Economics command words include describe, explain, and define. This may seem obvious, but something which happens too often is the mix-up between describe and explain. It is crucial in exams that you don’t waste time explaining trends or patterns and why they occur in a DESCRIBE question. Not only will you lose marks, but you will run out of time for other questions. Especially with Economics, a subject where there are multiple long answer questions, you want to dedicate the most time in your exam to the essays you are required to write. Something that could help as well, is to look at examiner reports to see what they expect for an answer to a question; it could be more useful for those longer answer questions where you are not quite sure what to write. Examiners provide feedback on general patterns or trends they see students do with questions and explain what they specifically want to see in your answer.
Tip No. 3: Practice Graph Drawing
Economics requires a lot of graph drawing, whether you are showing changes in income, price, demand, supply, etc. Sometimes, you may feel confused by the different graphs and what they show as they can all look quite similar. Furthermore, the different shifts and movements may be something that you are struggling to grasp. Another issue that students face is not understanding when and where curves shift and why they do. Having a superficial understanding will not help you under test conditions since you will always be required to apply your knowledge to different case studies.
The above issues can all be solved by practicing graph drawing. Give yourself scenarios where you can represent change in a graph and attempt drawing one. Practice at that will make sure you have no doubts when answering graph drawing questions or analyzing why a graph changed.
Tip No.4: Dictionary
Economics is full of abbreviations, letters, and technical terms. Something that I did was create a mini dictionary for myself with all the key terminology I had learnt. This meant that by exam time, I had a list of all the possible words I could be asked to define in the exam. Furthermore, having this makes sure that you can understand any question that comes your way!
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