It is obvious that many students adopt the rapid-fire approach to answering economics questions: first identifying the key words and second proceeding to write all they know about the topic using swathes of information they have internalised before the examination. The examiner is well-aware of this “blunder” and has made multiple references to “well-rehearsed answers” that has little or no bearing to the requirements of the question. Resultantly, students were awarded with low marks, and this has not done justice to the hard-work that they have put into the subject.
In this blog post, I will attempt to explain the skill "knowledge". It is imperative that students are familiar with this specialised language so as to read and write about economic behaviour efficiently and effectively. Moreover, this skill encompasses knowledge of key terminologies, main concepts, principles and major economics theories, as well as acquaintance with major institutions such as Central Banks (Federal Reserve, Bank of England, Monetary Authority of Singapore), World Trade Organisation, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. For example, being able to recall demand, supply concepts, as well as price elasticity of demand and supply is an obvious starting point to discuss the rising trend in prices of residential properties in Singapore.
View the following image for the hierarchy of skills required for the A level economics examination.
For more details, you may consult our Principal Economics Tutor, Mr Clive Foo during his economics tuition classes.