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AQA ECON UNIT 3 and 4

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Reply 100
GoodTimesGonnaCome
i thought it was horrible! - i thought it being a new spec. and the jan paper looking doing wouldnt mean they do some really dodgy data response qs! :angry:

section b was ok.. did women wages

section a .. nightmare. .. ended up picking 1st q .
(second one looked to much like macro?!)

i need like 90-100ums in the next paper to get an A... -- how will i do this?!!!?!?


Grade boundaries were really low for the JAN paper, so just hope they are low again.
Reply 101
amagalhaes1
what did ppl write for the 25 marker on trade unions? :frown:


It's a good thing this question came up, i just read an article on this the night before :eek3: . For the trade unions i talked about how they increase wages for members but could result in low employment in a competitive market then talked about how wages and employment would rise in a monopsony market. For the last point i just concentrated on how trade unions could raise the productivity of its members and making them attractive to employers .
yunghamz
It's a good thing this question came up, i just read an article on this the night before :eek3: . For the trade unions i talked about how they increase wages for members but could result in low employment in a competitive market then talked about how wages and employment would rise in a monopsony market. For the last point i just concentrated on how trade unions could raise the productivity of its members and making them attractive to employers .


:frown: i think i failed that. I said they could be effective, because of the whole strike thing which would mean employers would lose out on profits etc etc.
but then i said it might or may not be very effective in a bilateral monopoly because its just down to who has the most power.
and then i gave some alternatives, like giving women more training opportunities, government help with childcare etc so women can work longer hours, and tougher legislation.

Does that sound like a complete fail or just half a fail? honestly?
Reply 103
amagalhaes1
:frown: i think i failed that. I said they could be effective, because of the whole strike thing which would mean employers would lose out on profits etc etc.
but then i said it might or may not be very effective in a bilateral monopoly because its just down to who has the most power.
and then i gave some alternatives, like giving women more training opportunities, government help with childcare etc so women can work longer hours, and tougher legislation.

Does that sound like a complete fail or just half a fail? honestly?


As long as you explained a benefit of a trade union with evaluation and an alternative point then i don't see why that should be a fail. I also gave alternatives to trade unions like providing training to women which improves their productivity.
yunghamz
As long as you explained a benefit of a trade union with evaluation and an alternative point then i don't see why that should be a fail. I also gave alternatives to trade unions like providing training to women which improves their productivity.


Thanks that made me feel a lil better. Definitely not LSE material though :'(
Reply 105
I did the second question from section A and last question from section B.

Can someone tell me if this is alright please?

5 marker:
Compared the much larger range of food indices to non-food. And said how food index is usally above non-food index for the period blah blah. May have trawled a bit with dates and figures and stuff. For the range I even said the highest for food is this in this date and the lowest is this for this date so the range is this, and repeated for non-food. Trawling or not?

10 marker:
listed the loads of assumptions about large numbers of buyers and sellers such that no individual can affect price, perfectly mobility of factors of production, homogenous products, etc. Then did that industry and firm joint diagram with the demand curve shifting, making the AR=MR curve shift downwards so profit decreases. My diagram started with it in long run normal profit to making a loss after the shift though. Did anyone else find it hard to fit this diagram in with the stupid new AQA answer book?

25 marker:
said about economies of scale. I said that economies of scale could reduce costs and up profit and possibly market share. But could also cause limit pricing for some firms and make it impossible to compete.
said a monopoly in UK might just be an oligopoly if it's competing internationally. Did the whole kinked demand curve. stable prices, high prices though, loss of welfare. Maybe price discrimination too. WHich might be good or bad depending on whether they reinvest high profits.
Said extract C says that in real-life monopoly stuff might not be too bad because tescos are good for consumers.
Did something similar to the 10 marker, but said the analysis is the same only the supply curve could shift to the right if there's more EU competition.
Said about the exchange rate. And how it's more choice for consumers probably. More competition for retailers but they get the benefit of cheaper raw materials. Also everybody benefits from the lower cost-push inflation, right?
concluded by saying there are definitive benefits no matter what but some depends on the market structure.


Section B:
did the poverty questions.
15 marker:
said about poverty trap, replacement ratio, waste of resource of labour if people in poverty trap, government spends on benefits and gets less in VAT and income tax if there's poverty. Said about productivity decreases as their skill set decreases. Possibly of more crime and poor mental health. Lack of competitiveness abroad.

25 marker:
Talked about minimum wage, how it decreases unemployment unless it's a monophony market where it can increases wages and employment. Also training. Also more information in databases. Also laws against discrimination. Also more power to trade unions. Concluded by saying you need them all but the best sure way to reduce poverty is with the tax and benefits system just cares needs to be taken so that it's no abused and there is still some incentive to find work. Think that's just about it. Tired of typing now.



Is that okay? I'm worried because my section A 25 market sounds a lot different to the one a page back! :redface:
Reply 106
Data questions=horrible. The essay q's were quite nice I thought.
Reply 107
Tallon
I did the second question from section A and last question from section B.

Can someone tell me if this is alright please?

5 marker:
Compared the much larger range of food indices to non-food. And said how food index is usally above non-food index for the period blah blah. May have trawled a bit with dates and figures and stuff. For the range I even said the highest for food is this in this date and the lowest is this for this date so the range is this, and repeated for non-food. Trawling or not?

10 marker:
listed the loads of assumptions about large numbers of buyers and sellers such that no individual can affect price, perfectly mobility of factors of production, homogenous products, etc. Then did that industry and firm joint diagram with the demand curve shifting, making the AR=MR curve shift downwards so profit decreases. My diagram started with it in long run normal profit to making a loss after the shift though. Did anyone else find it hard to fit this diagram in with the stupid new AQA answer book?

25 marker:
said about economies of scale. I said that economies of scale could reduce costs and up profit and possibly market share. But could also cause limit pricing for some firms and make it impossible to compete.
said a monopoly in UK might just be an oligopoly if it's competing internationally. Did the whole kinked demand curve. stable prices, high prices though, loss of welfare. Maybe price discrimination too. WHich might be good or bad depending on whether they reinvest high profits.
Said extract C says that in real-life monopoly stuff might not be too bad because tescos are good for consumers.
Did something similar to the 10 marker, but said the analysis is the same only the supply curve could shift to the right if there's more EU competition.
Said about the exchange rate. And how it's more choice for consumers probably. More competition for retailers but they get the benefit of cheaper raw materials. Also everybody benefits from the lower cost-push inflation, right?
concluded by saying there are definitive benefits no matter what but some depends on the market structure.


Section B:
did the poverty questions.
15 marker:
said about poverty trap, replacement ratio, waste of resource of labour if people in poverty trap, government spends on benefits and gets less in VAT and income tax if there's poverty. Said about productivity decreases as their skill set decreases. Possibly of more crime and poor mental health. Lack of competitiveness abroad.

25 marker:
Talked about minimum wage, how it decreases unemployment unless it's a monophony market where it can increases wages and employment. Also training. Also more information in databases. Also laws against discrimination. Also more power to trade unions. Concluded by saying you need them all but the best sure way to reduce poverty is with the tax and benefits system just cares needs to be taken so that it's no abused and there is still some incentive to find work. Think that's just about it. Tired of typing now.



Is that okay? I'm worried because my section A 25 market sounds a lot different to the one a page back! :redface:


Thats how i started off the 25 marker aswell. For 10 though i made the assumption that individual firms were making super normal profits and the shift in demand creates normal profits in the long run. I was worried that i should of started off with normal profits so in the end i wrote about how the effects of the fall in demand would depend on where the firm was operating.
There's a ton of different stuff you could have done for the data response question - no particular one is wrong or right. I listed the stuff I wrote about earlier and included a lot of the same things, lower cost-push inflation benefits consumers, exchange rate etc. I was surprised by how macroeconomic-focused the question was.
Reply 109
@Tallon, I think you may have confused it (or I have! haha) with regards to the Euro.

It said the pound fell interms of the Euro, therefore Raw Materials brought in from the Eurozone would be more expensive, not less. However, they'd benefit from lower export prices.
Reply 110
exam is not bad.
done first question in data response. talked about how gm can be considered as merit good, methods of intervention and argue against saying it create negative externalties

Done female essay question on essay section. part a= apply theory to female saying how their mrp is lower than male and more supply than male. diagram in as well ^^
part b=analyse trade union action in perfect competitive and monosony market. how they can increase mrp and another method is NMW
I'm actually really happy about how that went!

I did the global context data response, about GM crops etc., which was good for me. Diminishing returns question was a bit tricky, but I think I got there! The EU one didn't look great for me, so I thought I'd go for GM. Externalities, productivity, increasing competition to rival the US GM monopoly etc...

Then I did the poverty essay questions, which were a godsend! I did an essay almost identical a month or so ago, and I reread that very essay first thing this morning! All the essay questions looked pretty accessible though, nothing too nasty there!

I'm SO glad that's over, I was pretty much hyperventilating waiting for the exam to start, hahaha! I hope we're not punished with a terrible macro exam on Friday!
Reply 112
i felt the questions on the paper could've have been a lot better but i'm feeling fairly confident about my performance (touch wood).
I chose the GM crops question after quite a while deciding and realising i could discuss monop etc in that one!
i ended up doing poverty in section b, even though i told myself i wouldn't do a poverty question if it came up but i did! i disliked the 15mark part but hopefully gained my marks in the 25mark question.

now onto unit4 for friday, not looking forward to it!
i seem to be one of the only people in my class to hate unit4 more than unit3:frown:
Reply 113
Hoodo
@Tallon, I think you may have confused it (or I have! haha) with regards to the Euro.

It said the pound fell interms of the Euro, therefore Raw Materials brought in from the Eurozone would be more expensive, not less. However, they'd benefit from lower export prices.



Still, raw materials from the EU without a tariff and taking into account the exchange rate (even if the pound has fell) still means importing raw materials from the EU should be cheaper than buying them from the UK.
Reply 114
amagalhaes1
:frown: i think i failed that. I said they could be effective, because of the whole strike thing which would mean employers would lose out on profits etc etc.
but then i said it might or may not be very effective in a bilateral monopoly because its just down to who has the most power.
and then i gave some alternatives, like giving women more training opportunities, government help with childcare etc so women can work longer hours, and tougher legislation.

Does that sound like a complete fail or just half a fail? honestly?


No, I covered all your points in my essay. :wink:
Reply 115
Tallon
I did the second question from section A and last question from section B.

Can someone tell me if this is alright please?

5 marker:
Compared the much larger range of food indices to non-food. And said how food index is usally above non-food index for the period blah blah. May have trawled a bit with dates and figures and stuff. For the range I even said the highest for food is this in this date and the lowest is this for this date so the range is this, and repeated for non-food. Trawling or not?

10 marker:
listed the loads of assumptions about large numbers of buyers and sellers such that no individual can affect price, perfectly mobility of factors of production, homogenous products, etc. Then did that industry and firm joint diagram with the demand curve shifting, making the AR=MR curve shift downwards so profit decreases. My diagram started with it in long run normal profit to making a loss after the shift though. Did anyone else find it hard to fit this diagram in with the stupid new AQA answer book?

25 marker:
said about economies of scale. I said that economies of scale could reduce costs and up profit and possibly market share. But could also cause limit pricing for some firms and make it impossible to compete.
said a monopoly in UK might just be an oligopoly if it's competing internationally. Did the whole kinked demand curve. stable prices, high prices though, loss of welfare. Maybe price discrimination too. WHich might be good or bad depending on whether they reinvest high profits.
Said extract C says that in real-life monopoly stuff might not be too bad because tescos are good for consumers.
Did something similar to the 10 marker, but said the analysis is the same only the supply curve could shift to the right if there's more EU competition.
Said about the exchange rate. And how it's more choice for consumers probably. More competition for retailers but they get the benefit of cheaper raw materials. Also everybody benefits from the lower cost-push inflation, right?
concluded by saying there are definitive benefits no matter what but some depends on the market structure.


Section B:
did the poverty questions.
15 marker:
said about poverty trap, replacement ratio, waste of resource of labour if people in poverty trap, government spends on benefits and gets less in VAT and income tax if there's poverty. Said about productivity decreases as their skill set decreases. Possibly of more crime and poor mental health. Lack of competitiveness abroad.

25 marker:
Talked about minimum wage, how it decreases unemployment unless it's a monophony market where it can increases wages and employment. Also training. Also more information in databases. Also laws against discrimination. Also more power to trade unions. Concluded by saying you need them all but the best sure way to reduce poverty is with the tax and benefits system just cares needs to be taken so that it's no abused and there is still some incentive to find work. Think that's just about it. Tired of typing now.



Is that okay? I'm worried because my section A 25 market sounds a lot different to the one a page back! :redface:



You big timer, pretty much same as me but yours sounds better as i din't talk about oligopolies in competing internationally and i just generally talked about more comp for firms and more firms moving abroad, chance to expand and more job opportunities but more job comp and increased liberalisation but i think my answer was way too macro... which means fail
Fiasco
No, I covered all your points in my essay. :wink:



lol whats your predicted grade? do you mean you covered my points PLUS a lot more lol
I did the EU one based on the fact it was the only one I understood. For the data response I completely blanked out and couldn't think of anything to write about why consumers may be diadvantaged by joining the SEM and wrote some rubish about shipping costs.
Didn't know the economic costs of poverty so just wrote about crime and wasted money by governments. Think I only got about 52/80 so hopefully that will be a B
Anybody got any idea what the grade boundaries are likely to be? Considering the data response questions seem to have been greeted rather negatively?
Reply 119
Tallon
Still, raw materials from the EU without a tariff and taking into account the exchange rate (even if the pound has fell) still means importing raw materials from the EU should be cheaper than buying them from the UK.


True, in comparison without the Eurozone. I understand your viewpoint.

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