Basic Techniques To Elevate Your Marks For Paper 2 CIE (CAIE) Economics

1) Regarding diagrams. This is one of the most overlooked areas. Most candidates would just proceed into explanations without having a second look/ thought about the diagram they drew. When I go through my students' work, I often find that the diagrams are either wrongly labelled or unlabelled. For instance, there is a tendency to label 'Price' vs. 'Quantity' instead of 'Price level' vs. 'Real output' for an aggregate demand-aggregate supply analysis. Another problem is the tendency to label 'Price' vs. 'Quantity' instead of 'Price of USD1 (in MYR)' vs. 'Quantity of USD' for an exchange rate diagram. Such mistakes can cost candidates up to 2 marks

2) Regarding the 'Discuss' question under data response. I personally find that this is the most poorly-answered question in Section A. The most obvious reason is poor time management. Candidates may feel that they have spent too much time in the first couple of questions and as a result, this particular question has to be rushed through to make way for Section B. Sometimes, they are even being left out. My suggestion is, in the worst case scenario, list out the answers (in a proper sentence). You would still qualify up to 2 marks provided if the points and arguments are sound and relevant. In case if you do not know how to argue/ evaluate, you could still earn up to 4 marks for one-sided answer

3) Always remember to ask yourself a question. 'Am I answering the question?'. According to the examiner reports (it's not the first time), very frequently, candidates tend to write very generally about a particular economic theory without even considering whether it answers the question or not. For instance, if a question asks candidates to discuss whether the knowledge of PED would be useful for the government, then by all means, PED must be written with the theme 'government' in mind. Unfortunately, in a large account, many would write 'everything-they-know-about-PED' e.g. when a firm should increase or decrease prices (not even relevant in the first place), factors that influence the value of PED etc. Marks could be significantly increased if one keeps this simple rule in mind

If these three are strictly adhered to, it is possible to easily raise your overall Paper 2 marks to as much as 8 (consider 22/40 to 30/40). That could be a three-grades jump!! (assuming your Paper 1 is doing fairly well)