How is Economics Taught/Tested

I have been accepted into an Economics course at Queens University Belfast, however after reading their prospectus about five times, I still can't tell how the subject will be taught and tested.

How is Economics normally taught and tested at university? I have studied Economics at A-level and it was essentially just a lecture, scribble down some notes and then 2 tests at the end of the year. These tests had two questions, the first question was a response question to a case study, which was provided with the test. The second question was more of a discussion/debate question, where you were given a current topic and asked to form an opinion on the matter. E.g. Should smoking be made illegal?

Is this how Economics is taught at university? Or are there smaller, non-essay tests / multiple choice? Or is there a lot of case studies throughout the year like a form of coursework?

Reply 1

MagicNMedicine

It's going to depend on your university but the likelihood is it will mainly be tested by exams and not multiple choice unless they are lazy. I remember Economics exams either being 3 essays in 3 hours or 3 shorter questions and 1 longer one in 2 hours. The essays generally require some diagrams and/or mathematical expositions.

Reply 2

xKayze

Hmmm, so it is essentially the same as my Sixth year experience then, except not in a classroom. That's encouraging to know, as I am comfortable with that method. Thanks.

Reply 3

.ACS.

It will depend entirely on the university.

At Southampton we have lectures where we cover the general content, and then tutorials where TAs will go over problem sets and exercises. Each module will have a core exam component, usually about 80% to 90%, and the rest made up of assessed problem sets or courseworks or midterms.

In the exams, it depends entirely on the module as to the rubric. In first year, most exams were short answer questions. In second year, one module was essay based and the rest were either short answer questions or similar to problem sets. (Micro Theory was pretty much applied maths.)

The big difference is that you won't get any normative questions. (As you highlighted forming your own opinion.) The focus on everything will be positive analysis, and so it's much more about the actual economic theory than your personal opinion.

Additionally, what I've found is there is little to any application to real life. (So no case studies.) It's a purely theoretical course and little to any of the theory you learn is put into a real life context, so often you're left without an appreciation for how the economic theory makes a difference in the real world unless you go and read applied/empirical journals which make use of the theory and use case studies. (Or unless you read an Applied Economics textbook and look at the case studies provided.)