AQA Economics Unit 1 Exam Dicussion

You could be right, I'm definitely no expert on this.



From what I understand, you get 2 marks per relevant point (max 4 overall) for citing data to support an observation. An incorrect unit of measurement would probably lose you 1 mark per point, so you should still get the other marks for attempting to cite the data values - i.e 6/8 for that question. It might even be that they don't double penalise for the same mistake, but take my comments with a pinch of salt, since I only recently started paying attention to these things.

Ok thank you very much 6 marks will have to do i guess. Will not be making the same mistake in Unit 2 on friday as i really need to ace this exam to get to a B after Unit 1. Multiple choice in unit 2 along with the 12 and 25 marker are easier and more predictable so i am more confident with unit 2. What do you think?

I'm not sure that you would be credited for the diagrams unfortunately. It's more of an ECON2 topic, mentioning AD and AS... I stuck with the Market Forces diagram (Supply and Demand) with a Costs and Benefits diagram too (MSB, MSC,etc)

1 - I would say most likely 5, but it may be that you need to include the fact that is is paid 'to a firm/supplier'. 4 marks on a really bad day.

2 - I don't think they will knock you down if you've put the thousands in there. At worst, if the examiner doesn't see the small writing, they will give you 6 marks (1 mark lost for accuracy citing data for each relevant point).

3 - I did the same, but I'm much more unsure about the 12 and 25 markers, so someone else may have a better response. Previous DRQ about merit goods have awarded up to 2 marks for definitions, 4 marks for a diagram, and up to 10 marks for explaining why merit goods are under provided.

Grade boundaries - a bit of an educated guess, but the ECON 1 'A' boundaries generally hover around the mid fifties? This seemed like a much harder paper than most of the past papers I've done, so I'm guessing the 52-53 for an A? I'm pretty sure I've either shaved a low A or a high B, so I'm hoping to drag it up with my econ 2 mark

None of them or just not the AD/AS Diagram? would they also deduct marks or just not mark it

I completely forgot to do definitions for both the 12 marker and 25 marker, I know it's a completely amateur error, but I was horrendously pushed for time, as was everyone else at my school. Can I not get 2 marks now or should I be able to pick them up somewhere else? I did do an introduction in my 25 marker, just no definitions! I did however do constant evaluation including evaluation at the end as well as 3 (slightly rushed) diagrams to show: subsidies, P-max and excess demand/no incentive to produce. Thanks,

Sounds like a few of you did the context 2 25 markers wrong.

The questions wasn't asking to assess the possibly methods of intervention, and the pros and cons of those.
It asked you to assess the cases whether a government SHOULD or SHOULDN'T intervene.

i.e.

list the reasons the government should intervene (and a exemplar method)
list the reasons the government shouldn't intervene (gov failure)
conclude whether they should/shouldn't


or, maybe I have massively failed this exam. Can anyone tell me the definite way of answering this question? :/

In the 25 mark question for context 2 I defined government intervention in my introduction. I said the government can tax the mobile companies which will reduce the amount of mobile phones produced and increase the cost of production (used a diagram) and evaluated by saying it depends on the magnitude of the tax. The other way the government can intervene is by subsidizing free hand devices which will decrease the chance of having cancer as said in the extract. I evaluated the point by saying their is an opportunity cost involved as it means less spending in other sectors like education. My last point was that the government may use maximum price for mobile phones which will stop firms from lowering there prices. I evaluated this point by saying could lead to a black market.

In my conclusion, I basically stated that mobile phones is a demerit good and they could use advertisement to shows the public the bad effects it has on health as stated in the last extract.

Does anyone think I answered this question correctly?

for the subsidy definition i put something along the lines of:
A subsidy is a form of government intervention often used in merit goods or goods that have a positive externality. The government helps to increase supply to leads to a cheaper price level therefore output increases.
What would this get?

Its on one of the previous pages on this thread, page 8 I think