AQA A-level Economics new 7136 - 06, 13 & 19 Jun 2017 [Exam Discussion]

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I'm going to order it now then. I'm using the aqa textbook, it gives me a headache, as theres a lot to process :/
Do you have any tips on writing essays?

I didn't even look at the second year AQA textbook because the one at AS was dense enough.

Okay, so for essays this is the structure I usually use (it seems to get me anywhere between 20-25 depending on how strong my judgement/evaluation is):

As an example I'll use the following question: "To what extent are low interest rates appropriate in the UK at a time of deflation? (25 marks)"

1) Intro - here I define 2 relevant terms (usually keywords from the question). In this case I would define interest rates and inflation. So I'd just kick off with "Interest rates are defined as the cost of borrowing or the return on savings. Inflation is defined as a persistent rise in the average price level of the economy."

2) Make an initial argument (NOTE: In an essay what you're trying to do is address the question from a few different angles). For the first paragraph of this question I would briefly explain how inflation targeting works to keep inflation in check. Reference the fact that since the introduction of the inflation target of 2%±1% we haven't seen inflation anything like the inflation commonly seen greater than 10% in the 1980s. This paragraph will help gain context marks, showing use of own knowledge. Next I'd draw a relevant diagram (in this case an AD/AS diagram showing an AD curve yielding a price level of less than 2% or even showing deflation. Then I'd draw on another curve which brings inflation back up to the target level of 2%. Explain how this may be achieved through lowering interest rates, as this would reduce the incentive to save as people get a lower return on their savings. Furthermore, low interest rates reduce the cost of borrowing. Explain how this would lead to the rightward shift of the AD curve as shown on your diagram. Also explain how AD is total planned spending in the economy at each price level and give the formula (AD = C+I+G+(X-M)).

The second paragraph is where you should really build up your analysis and knowledge marks through your initial point and addressing of the question.

3) In the previous paragraph you explained how lowering interest rates would boost AD and hence see an increase in the price level. Question this assumption. So in this case you could say how in a recession, or following a recession, lowering interest rates may not boost AD as people my be too busy paying off debts (deleveraging). In this case explain how interest rates may actually not be effective in this case. Explain how the Bank of England can boost demand through Quantitative Easing etc etc.... Explain how QE would boost demand and show this increase in demand (it's often good on these questions to go with the Keynesian diagrams as I find them more useful for showing demand-pull inflation.

4) The 4th paragraph is where I would question what I've just said. So I just said that interest rates may actually not be appropriate. This time question QE. Raise issues to do with whether reliance upon QE is a bad thing. Should the government be doing more to incentivise consumers to boost consumption? Question how robust the economy is if the Bank of England have to "artificially" boost demand.

5) (A 5th paragraph may not be necessary, you could just put everything in this paragraph into the 4th paragraph). Here you need to make a judgement. Say yes or say no. Make it clear. Make it explicit. Don't sit on the fence and don't be afraid to make a judgement. Once you've made your judgement it is fine to say something along the lines of "I believe that in the main, interest rates are important at a time of low inflation...(Justify your judgement).... However, I do believe that in certain areas of the economic cycle such as during recession or in the recovery phase interest rates may be less effective and another method such as QE may be more effective. I do, however, believe that methods of boosting AD and hence the price level such as QE are only a short-term fix and won't benefit the resilience of the economy in the long-run and thus the government should do more to relieve some of the reliance on QE at times where interest rates are ineffective in boosting AD and raising the price level.

(This structure scored me 22/25 for this question in a mock)

I hope this helps! :smile:

Edit: changed the question bc I realised initially it was wrong.... Whoops!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 21

BogglingBug

Original post by AmilaL

I was just wondering if this question is from the AQA specimen papers for Unit 2?

I'm actually not sure where it's from. Variations of this question have been asked many times where, for example, instead of asking about deflation and interest rates they ask more broadly about the effectiveness of monetary policy in general. Something along the lines of "to what extent does monetary policy help achieve macroeconomic stability" where you'd pretty much write the exact same as I did for the above question.

My teacher just gave us that question in a mock he compiled, but I believe all of the questions were from past papers. Not sure exactly where the question was from though :smile:

Reply 22

Rubyx

is there a multiple choice section for paper 1 and 2???

Reply 23

keynes24

Original post by Rubyx

is there a multiple choice section for paper 1 and 2???

A level paper 1 and 2 no
AS papers yes

Reply 24

BogglingBug

180/240 possibly? That would mean averaging 60/80 (75%) in each paper which seems about right for an A/A* I think????

That was roughly the % needed on the old spec... New spec now though so goodness knows - tricky to predict I think...

Reply 25

Nadine_08

Original post by RG110man

It should be slightly lower for us, right? Since we're the first lot to do the new spec? I hope so anyway..

Reply 26

BogglingBug

Original post by Nadine_08

It should be slightly lower for us, right? Since we're the first lot to do the new spec? I hope so anyway..

Potentially - seeing as it's a new spec even the exam board don't know how students are going to perform in these exams. They set the grade boundaries in relation to how people have performed anyway.

One thing I will say is that other than mark allocation the structure of papers 1&2 hasn't really changed that much so I'm not expecting any big surprises there - paper 3 is obviously the one people are most in the dark about (teachers included) because we're not entirely sure what to expect other than some MCQs and some essays.

Reply 27

Shoot

Economics hopefully will be something like 75% for an A and about 80-85% for an A* which isn't too bad.

Reply 28

username2052983

Whats tecÚologies?
The textbook keeps mentioning it. I mean its something to do with technology but what is it? :confused:

Reply 29

Nadine_08

Original post by BintM

Whats tecÚologies?
The textbook keeps mentioning it. I mean its something to do with technology but what is it? :confused:

I have no idea what the hell that is.

Is that AQA?

Reply 30

username2052983

Original post by Nadine_08

I have no idea what the hell that is.

Is that AQA?

Yeah. I can't even find anything on google about it. Like in under the consequences of unemployment one of the points says 'high unemployment can reduce incentives for firms to invest in new state of the art tecÚologies, particularly when high unemployment accompanies a stagnant economy, low profits and a climate of business pessimism'
And then it also says about the causes of change in the phases of the economic cycle: Supply-side factors: 'It is now recognised that supply-side factors can also trigger economic cycles. Edward Prescott and Finn Kydland, the 2004 Nobel laureates in economics, have developed a theory of ‘real business cycles’, which argues that changes in tecÚology on the supply side of the economy might be as important as changes in aggregate demand in explaining economic cycles.'

Its mentioned a few times and was wondering what it was. :confused:

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 31

username2052983

I did think it was a typo at first but then it was mentioned a few times?
But yeah i'll just assume it is technology.

Reply 32

username2044383

Do any of you guys have a list of case studies/ past events of the UK economy and other economies to read up on for the exam? I know for the 25 markers, sometimes they require you to add in your own external economic knowledge in relation to the question (e.g.: if the question asks about interest rates and the bank rate, one can mention the dropping of the UK bank rate to 0.25% post-Brexit).

If anyone can help, I'll be dearly grateful :smile:

Reply 33

BogglingBug

Original post by Mimssss

I don't keep a list of case studies or anything like that simply because there isn't a need to have one. Just keep up with current affairs in the news. One thing I would do before the exam is read the most recent Bank of England report to have rough figures for inflation, unemployment, GDP and all that stuff. Other than that just keep an eye on the news and current affairs :smile:

Reply 34

TSAntidote

Hey, I was just going through what I needed to cover in each AS unit. I'm not sure whether this specification is the one I'm using, it says new economics so I'm assuming it is

I want to know if we have to know about Consumer/producer surplus or Barter system? I don't see it listed here, but my teacher has covered it in school. Can someone clear this up please?

NEW AQA AS ECONOMICS Specification: http://www.aqa.org.uk/subjects/econo...market-failure

Reply 35

BogglingBug

Original post by TSAntidote

Consumer and producer surplus you should definitely know and as far as barter system is concerned I don't think we really need to know it - we do, however, need to know about money e.g. properties money needs to have etc. Great to know as much as possible thought tbh because you can bring stuff from outside of the spec into your essays and you will still get credit for it.

Reply 36

kas9

Hi,

How likely do people think the topic of "Brexit" will come up?

I've been hearing that it's quite unlikely due to the timing of Brexit and the timing of exams being written and processed.

Reply 37

physicsamor

I am more or less done with the majority of topics (notes wise) except for the new big finance topic which I hate and the Labour market unit. Need to revisit a lot of things though.

I am using the textbook and lesson ppts and any online resources I can find. I might buy the cgp revision guide to just double check everything. I quite like the textbook not for like explanations of diagrams as it tends to overcomplicate things but its really useful with quantitative analysis and also evaluation. Plus the questions are pretty good to do for practice (though I am yet to do them) they seem hard so they are pretty useful plus there's answers to check (there's a link you have to use to download them )

Reply 38

citibankrec

In the As last year i got 126/140 raw marks

Do you think this will be enough for an A* if i was to get the same this year

Reply 39

BogglingBug

Original post by citibankrec

In the As last year i got 126/140 raw marks

Do you think this will be enough for an A* if i was to get the same this year

You really can't compare it or tell. To even try to guess is futile. AS exams: 2 papers each out of 70. A2 exams: 3 papers each out of 80. The structure of the papers at AS and A2 are different, the content obviously is different. The A2 places much more emphasis on your ability to write essays.

126/140 shows you did well at AS though, so best of luck - I'm sure you'll do great!