Saturday, May 5, 2018

Basic Examination Techniques for Section A of 9708/42 Cambridge A-Level Economics (CIE)

Dos and don’ts in Section A
1.    Do not provide lengthy and unnecessary explanations for instructions like IDENTIFY, OUTLINE and STATE

2.    Do not start your sentence by reproducing/ rewriting part of the question. They don’t add value to your explanations

3.    Pay attention to instructions like:
a.    ‘The article says that ….’

b.    Figure 1 shows ….’

c.    ‘How far does Figure 1 ….’

d.    ‘Discuss whether the last sentence ….’

e.    ‘Using the article ….’

All of them will require you to make specific reference to the information provided. You may not gain full marks if you ignore these instructions

4.    You must provide evaluations to instructions like:
a.    ‘Consider whether ….’

b.    ‘Analyse whether ….’

c.    Does the article give enough evidence ….’

d.    Discuss what difference ….’

e.    ‘Assess whether ….’

5.    Normally, 2 marks will be awarded for:
a.    1 explanation (identification and analysis)

b.    1 evaluation (identification and analysis)

c.    1 diagram

6.    You should not spend more than 50 minutes for this section

7.    You will lose 1 mark if you do not provide conclusion. However, it is also possible that you may not gain full marks even if you provided a conclusion. Your examiner will still have to determine the validity of your conclusion e.g. whether it is making sense, suitable or relevant to the question

8.    Techniques to evaluate include:
a.    Contradiction

b.    Short-run vs. long-run

c.    Magnitude


9.    Techniques for conclusion include:
a.    Prioritisation

b.    Depends/ indeterminate

c.    Alternative

10.  Please write your analysis coherently. Please make sure that the chain of analysis is not only logical but also complete and easy to be understood. Put yourself in the examiner’s shoe

11.  Read each question at least twice before you attempt. If there is a need, do underline those keywords  

12.  Doing well in the exam are not just about studies and preparations. Being able to follow basic instructions and monitor your time-usage are equally important too

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