Ocr economics f581 (16/05) and/or f582 (23/05) retakes

I'm not retaking but happy to help if anyone needs it, got 100 in both modules last year good luck everyone!

I'm not retaking but happy to help if anyone needs it, got 100 in both modules last year good luck everyone!

I need help

How did you go about revising for each module

I made sure I had decent notes written out on everything, particularly with evaluation points for different policies etc, and it's worth learning good definitions to learn as you can pick up easy marks there. Past papers were the most useful for me though, I think I did all of them that I could get hold of. If you figure out how they want you to answer each question, it's so much easier to pick up marks as the structures are more or less always the same

I made sure I had decent notes written out on everything, particularly with evaluation points for different policies etc, and it's worth learning good definitions to learn as you can pick up easy marks there. Past papers were the most useful for me though, I think I did all of them that I could get hold of. If you figure out how they want you to answer each question, it's so much easier to pick up marks as the structures are more or less always the same

I have made this website with all the notes. Hope it helps. Here is the page for those who are re-trying: http://www.kaizenn.uk/re-trying.html:

Thanks, btw do you still have your notes. Also do you have model essay plans for Micro AS for the 18markers, that would be awesome!

Link isn't working bro

Sorry about that, I put a colon in there by accident. Here it is, hope it helps :P
http://www.kaizenn.uk/re-trying.html

I'm not retaking but happy to help if anyone needs it, got 100 in both modules last year good luck everyone!

Hi, thank you for helping out

Could you (or anyone else) walk me through the structure I would need to get (close to) full marks in the 18 mark essay? Would it be different for both exams? Is it as simple as definition, 2 analysis, 2 evaluation then conclusion or is there more to it?


Thanks again!

Hey, sorry for the late reply!

It is basically that simple, yeah the mark scheme is something along the lines of:
L1 - Define relevant key terms in the question
L2 - Application - relate the examples or further explanation regarding the question and possible policies to use
L3 - Analysis - build on L2 and explain the impacts using economic terminology and a diagram if possible. Try to make links, ie. x happens which causes y to happen etc. Basically argue in favour of whatever is being suggested in the question.
L4 - Evaluation - why whatever suggested policy might not work, and what its impact depends upon. List any general limitations/problems of whatever (so argue against it) then discuss how certain things might limit effectiveness, eg. output gap, offset by other factors.
L4+ - Judgement - weigh up your arguments and reach a conclusion. If it's a policy, would an alternative policy be more effective, could using the two simultaneously be better? Give an opinion, support it with evidence.

Whenever I wrote essays, L2 and L3 pretty much merged together so as long as you get the main points in, you should be fine for macro, it's worth thinking about government objectives and for micro - efficiency can be quite a big one. Plus equity can come into both. There are obviously other points but if ever I couldn't think of anything, I fell back on those.

Hope that helps a little bit! If you need more specific advice for different essays, just ask

This helped a lot thanks.

A couple more questions if you don't mind
How many times would you recommend I do L2,3 and 4 in one essay? i.e. How many points should I be making?

Also could you elaborate on what you meant by equity please? I'm not sure what that is.

No problem!

I used to do around 3 each for how/why it would work (L3), how/why it wouldn't work (L4) and 2/3 for what it depends on (L4). Then just a bit on the end to conclude, I never made that particularly long so as long as you back it up, it should be fine. It's definitely quality over quantity though, two well developed points for each should be enough as long as they're detailed and linked. If you have time, do more but if not, just try and get something decent down for each level.

Equity is all about fairness and equality, it's quite useful when evaluating things. For example, if you have to talk about taxing junk food, you might mention how the poor perhaps cannot afford to pay for better quality food and in comparison to the wealthy, they will be far worse off since the tax will take a higher proportion of their disposable income, so the tax is regressive and could be unfair/inequitable. You could also suggest hypothecated taxes as a way to reduce the impact of this - use the revenue earned from the tax on junk food to fund subsidies for fruit, for example. I don't think hypothecation is taught at AS but it's a nice concept to bring in