Hi there fellow readers/ candidates. Feel very bad for the long delay of this posting. Sorry if I kept you all waiting. As usual, I’m always bogged down by tonnes of paperwork and long working hours. This post will more or less give you the bright side and perhaps a new approach on how the Economics subject is taught and learned
A. Essential Revision/ Reading Materials
1. What are the textbooks that you highly recommend?
You may be caught by surprise. I’m not going to recommend any A-Levels Economics textbooks at all but instead, go for the IB Diploma written by Ian Dorton. The sample is as below. Well, it is not that other textbooks are not good enough. They are excellent and written by dedicated teachers. So, I have nothing to complain. I just feel that this IB Diploma is slightly better in communicating the notes/ messages/ explanations/ ideas to young minds like you all. The topics are short, precise and extremely easy to understand, something which I think crucial for express revision. Of course you don’t have to worry about the content. It is 95% similar to Edexcel and in fact in my personal opinion, Edexcel Economics is leaning towards IB style. However, if you want a reference book, rich with interesting illustration/ case studies, then Alain Anderton Economics 5th edition would be good (see below)
Next you will definitely need, Edexcel Economics Student Unit Guide. The author is Quintin Brewer, one of the official examiners for the paper. It is extremely good too. It teaches you how to organise and allocate your time, provides you with express revision notes, common errors and also sample questions with students answers and examiner’s comments. This is a must have for those looking towards better grade
2. How about online reference materials?
Of course textbook alone is insufficient. You need to complement it with other reading materials. For simple reason, a textbook like IB Diploma (Ian Dorton) may provide you with some simple examples and if you yearn for more and totally different, you have to source from other areas. Sometimes, you may not understand the explanation of one book and may need to make cross reference with another book. In this case go for:
http://econ.economicshelp.org
This blog is well maintained by Tevgan Pettinger. He blogs about almost everything but in the recent he focuses more on the economic woes in US, UK and eurozone. Popular issues are like macroeconomic indicators, budget deficit and unsustainable national debt, currencies and others. Watch out for his evaluations. I love all his work and in fact I myself as an educator also benefit from his writings. He has a brilliant mind for evaluations, which I think candidates should pay extra attention to
These two are pretty similar. All AS and A2 are separated according to topics. If you wish to read up about reasons for protectionism, then there will be a specific topic/ page for it. If you are considering for more recent updates, then I guess tutor2u would be better. If you want crystal clear explanations for a theory, I say economicsonline would be preffered
3. Do I have to read up news?
Of course and as per specification, you need to have general knowledge for about past 10 years. It doesn’t have to be UK-centred. It encompasses issues in continental Europe, emerging Asia and the falling back sub Saharan African economies. For such purpose, go for http://news.bbc.co.uk
This is by far, the best news portal for me. Communication is highly effective. There is no dwindling English here. Everything is kept simple and most unique is, the information sometimes can come in the form of class notes. There will be lots of How/ Why/ What/ Who as the heading. Check this out:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11177214
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6279679.stm
It can also be a good substitute for the Economist. Oh yes, I nearly forgot. Please don’t read the Economist. Perhaps I’m the only teacher that gives such recommendation. From my humble opinion, it is damaging your interest, too many economic jargons used in which I think 70% of the young readers will not understand and there is where communication breakdown happens. One more. I hate their fonts
5/4/2012
Now, I will explain the myth or shall I say reasons why many candidates do not perform well for A Levels Economics. For some, they say it is extremely subjective, some others say that there are just too many things to study, few will admit that they are lazy to practice writing since it is tedious and tiring and another bulk will say it is boring or do not even know how to study. If you fall into any one of them, then let me tell you that I can offer you some solutions. It may not be easily done and it may not necessarily escalate your grades overnight, BUT for sure it will ease your burden mentally and emotionally. I shall start with the first one which is....
B. Understanding yourself before you understand the subject
1. What is an auditory learner?
Do you actually realise that some people love to occupy the first row of lecture hall? Do you even realise that it will always be that few same people? And if it happens that you are one of them then call yourself the auditory learner. As a matter of fact, many and I would say majority students tend to have certain learning habits/ traits. Sitting close to the lecturer is just one of them and it is common that most people don’t even know why they are doing it. Welcome to the dark science of learning!
Generally auditory learners will:
(a) Sit close to the source of voice. It can be the lecturer or microphone
(b) Pay attention to the tone of voice and pitch within the voice
(c) Read out aloud and slowly when studying on their own
(d) Recording the information and replay them
(e) Love music. Blind musicians like Stevie Wonder, Andrea Boccelli, Ray Charles etc are superb and talented auditory learners
(f) Notice sound effects in movies
(g) Great ability in learning foreign languages
Best revision techniques to you:
(a) Join group studies. Be more proactive. Speak your ideas out and encourage one another to brainstorm for more points or even evaluations.
(b) In case if you’re studying on your own, recite the facts over and over again. Use words association techniques, mnemonics, songs or even economics events to strengthen your learning process
2. What is a visual learner?
Do you happen to love curves, colourful charts,diagrams and feel excited watching your teacher use all those power point slides? Do you actually realise why some of your friends use highlighters in their study notes? Welcome to the second type of learner, the visual one. This type of students will generally:
(a) Like textbooks with colourful illustrations e.g. Economics 5th Edition by Alain Anderton, Edexcel AS/A2 Economics by Peter Smith and others
(b) Sit close to the white board where you can have a clear view of your lecturer, white board and power point slides
(c) Create mind maps
(d) Usually have very tidy and clean notes
(e)Good imagination
(f) Find something to watch or play games if boring
(g) Experts of body language
Best revision technique to you:
(a) Make your own notes. Don’t rely so much on your lecture notes or typical textbooks. But of course before that, you need to have some substantial reading before you can summarise the whole chapter on your own
(b) Some people can study perfectly in a busy environment but in this case it will not work for you. Why? Because you are a visual person and that means you can be easily attracted by motions. Best place to study is your own room or libraries with cubicles
Stay tune for kinaesthetic learner. I will post it up tomorrow. The best part of revision techniques is yet to come. I always save the best for the last. At the end of the day, I will teach you how to score even by doing fewer questions than your friends
14/4/2012
3. What is a kinaesthetic learner?
Tactile students are rather unique. They learn best by experiencing or by becoming part of an event such as attending conference, field trip study to the United Nations, central bank or even to a factory. They would love to see real people like George Soros talking about currencies, David Cameron debating in the House of Common, Warrent Buffett advising on stocks picking and Mervyn King chairing the meeting on interest rate cut etc. Kinaesthetic people must learn by obtaining the feel and sense, and the only way to achieve this is by touching or doing it
Perhaps, this is one of the many reasons why some of your friends continuously skip lectures. I caught your attention now didn’t I? The logic is simple. Learning process in the classroom is dull, dry and boring to them since the only thing that they can get is audio and visual. However, this may not be applicable to subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, literature and law since there are experiments, role-play and moot court
You are classified as kinaesthetic if you:
(a) Enjoy reading economics case studies more than theories
(b) Choose to sit right towards the end or at the corner where your teacher is unlikely to notice what you do
(c) Cannot sit still for long
(d) Cannot concentrate for long and would want to have frequent breaks within a lecture
(e) Study for about 15 minutes and your mind begins to wander
(f) Love sports, singing, musical instruments and dancing
(g) Adventurous and usually hyper-active
Best revision methods for you:
(a) Suggesting field-trip studies to your lecturer e.g. central bank, United Nations, headquarter of any commercial banks or even a factory. If not, you and your friends may want to bring up the issue of inviting someone to talk about economics crisis, how the central bank really works etc
(b) Watch more interactive videos such as http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15492115
(c) Improve your understanding by doing more past year questions. Spend lesser time on theories
(d) Read more case studies. Get the feel/ sense/ knowledge of how things around you work and immediately associate them with the theories taught in class
As a matter of fact, no one can be either one from the three. To some extent all of us are audio, visual and tactile learners but definitely we do incline towards one or two. As for me, I'm 50% audio, 25% visual and 25% kinaesthetic. What about you?
Find out from here:
http://homeworktips.about.com/od/homeworkhelp/a/lstyleqz.htm
15/4/2012
C. Studying vs. learning
1. Is there any difference?
Of course there is AND a very large one. Studies have shown that people with the LEARNING mindset tend to outperform those who have STUDYING mentality. If you feel like being dragged into the lecture hall and each of your steps is so heavy, then you have the so-called STUDYING mindset. If you feel like need ‘to be paid a million pound’ just to open the textbook, then again you have the STUDY mentality. If you do your assignment, past year questions or revise for the exam just for the sake of getting good grades you are the STUDYING type
On the other hand, candidates with LEARNING mindset are rather different. They have certain traits such as:
(a) Certain excitement about the subject e.g. gaining something useful out of learning Economics
(b) Usually pro-active in the class with heavy participations during lecture. They ask tonnes of questions and the things they want to know are rather on the ‘intellectual’ side. For instance, I had few students who asked me about NMW (National Minimum Wage) and why it must be set above the equilibrium wage rather than below it and does Malaysia have it yet, is Malaysia part of WTO (World Trade Organisation) and OPEC (Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) etc
(c) Among the first few to reach the class rather than after 15 minutes of commencement
(d) Taking up Economics to boost up their general knowledge
(e) Attending lectures, doing assignments and revision for major January or June exam with two outcomes in mind. Getting a good grade AND hoping that the case studies/ general knowledge will help them in their future studies, interns or career. I have a student who is extremely passionate about Macroeconomics and hear it from me, she dislikes studying and I guess she spends more time partying than anyone else. Guess what? After her major June 2011 examination, I still teach her Unit 4: Global Economy but more towards the application side. See the difference now? She finds it useful and so, she wants to retain what she had gained earlier
2. Is that going to be easy?
No, I did not say that. Habits in many ways are like politics. To make a change, every small effort counts. You need to have the right mindset from NOW. Avoid thinking about good grades at the moment, or at least try to have a dual-aim. I’m not sure about other subjects but as for Economics, you need to be inquisitive and have strong curiosity as you read. Your mind must be bombarded with questions like HOW, WHY and WHAT (I will blog about efficient revision techniques later). Since the exam lingers around in May/ June, I guess you need to salvage whatever you can to make such transformation. Remember what I have said earlier, every small detail counts
