Hello incoming juniors! My name is Sophia Santiago and I am an incoming senior who has just taken IB economics this school year and am here to tell you about it. Considering the fact that this year was the very first year that this course was taught here at Coral Reef and that it is supposed to be taught in two years rather than the one year we have, taking this course has been quite a rollercoaster. But don’t worry, I am here to give you a little advice and things to know before going into the class.
The course is divided into three major sections: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and The Global Economy. The book included both HL and SL topics, but the HL topics are clearly labeled so that you don’t study what you don’t have to. The concepts are fairly simple to understand, but what is really important is that you memorize and are able to explain the graphs and equations in the book. There are a lot of them, but as long as you understand the concept, you should be able to understand the graph. Additionally, you guys are going to be getting a new teacher for this course and while I don’t know how this teacher plans on teaching the course, my teacher didn’t really go over the real-world connections of these economic concepts, but they are very important, as I will discuss in the next paragraph.
The exam is divided into a paper one and a paper two. In paper one, you will be given the option between three different questions, each with two questions within them. Generally, these three questions will cover one of the three sections: micro, macro, and global. Within these questions, in part (a), you will be asked to explain a specific concept within the topic. In order to explain the concept well, you need to define it, explain it, draw a graph (if applicable), explain the graph, and expand upon your answer. Part (b) involves a broader real-world application of the concept that you explained in part (a) and while you could potentially make up a real-world example, it is better to know one that really happened in history in order to solidify your answer. Paper 2 involves many more questions that cover the entire curriculum.
The biggest tip that I can give is to actually read the book. The chapters are long and I know that when you have to take notes on the chapters, students tend to just write down a few things in order to get through the notes as quickly as possible. While this might get you an A on your notes, it won’t help you for your tests. Take the time to sit down and read the chapters slowly and take as much time as you need to understand the concepts. Don’t wait until the end of the year to do this. With this course, once you truly understand a concept, you won’t need to re-teach it to yourself, maybe just a quick review later on in the year. This will give you the time to really focus on the concepts that you struggle with.
One final tip, if you are pressed for time at the end of the year, chapters 18, 19, and 20 aren’t all that important. Yes, they have some good information and concepts that you need to know, but you will only get maybe one question (two if you’re really unlucky) on Paper 2 and you won’t have to worry about them on Paper 1 unless you pick the third question, aka the global economy question. While I am not saying that these chapters should just be skipped over, because they shouldn’t, if you are stressed out trying to study everything at the end of the year, it is more important to know earlier chapters in the book than those last three.
I hope that this information and these tips were helpful and good luck in economics next year!
:)