The A Level Economics Examination cover both microeconomics (focused on the study of a market) and macroeconomics (economy-centric analysis). Across both spectrums, it is extremely common to see questions relating to the impact of an event on a micro or macroeconomic outcome. As such, the 2 Powerful Tips for Tackling H2 Economics Impact questions are heavily emphasised in TET’s weekly Economics tuition classes.
Tip No. 1: Understanding Impact Questions Well
The trick to understanding Impact questions well is to “split the dartboard” or to split the outcome into its constituent parts。 For example:
Resource Allocation in Competitive Markets
- Impact on a market – split into P, Q and Revenue/Expenditure impacts
- Impact on consumers – split into consumer surplus and expenditure impacts
- Impact on producers – split into producer surplus and revenue impacts
Firms and How They Operate
- Impact on a firm – split into revenue and cost impacts
- Impact on society – split into efficiency (allocative, productive and dynamic) and equity
Macroeconomics
- Impact on average resident – split into material and non-material SOL
- Impact on economy – split into four macroeconomic objectives
Tip No. 2: Structuring Your Essay Well
For questions in this format: ”Discuss the impact of an [event] on the [outcome]”, the structure should look like this:
R1 = beneficial impacts
E1 = extent of benefits may be limited
R2 = detrimental impacts
E2 = extent of drawbacks may be limited
Summative Conclusion
For questions where the event is one-sided, i.e. either good or bad e.g.: “Discuss the impact of Covid on an economy”, the structure should look like this:
R1 = Covid is bad for internal performance of an economy (economic growth, employment and price stability)
E1 = extent of damage can be limited e.g. with counteracting measures
R2 = Covid is bad for external performance of an economy (balance of trade)
E2 = extent of damage can be limited e.g. with counteracting measures
Summative Conclusion
In other words, we split the impact into its constituent parts and feed this into R1 and R2, instead of splitting R1 and R2 into the pros and cons.
Conclusion
This is an example of how learning smart based on repeated patterns in the examination questions can help JC Economics tuition students in TET’s weekly Economics tuition classes cut through the stress of practising many papers and achieve MORE with LESS.
To learn more about powerful techniques taught in TET’s Economics classes, sign up for a trial class here.