RI 2023 H2 Promotion Examination - Examiner's Report

ECONOMICS Higher 2 Syllabus 9570 Examiner’s Report Year 5 Promotion Examination 2023 Raffles Institution Nurturing the Thinker, Leader & Pioneer TEL: 65 6419 9888 ● FAX: 65 6419 9898 http://www.ri.edu.sg ● One Raffles Institution Lane, SINGAPORE 575954

Y5/9570/Promo/2023 2 © RI 2023 [Turn Over ECONOMICS Y5 H2 Promotion Examination 2022 Paper 9570/01 Paper 1 Case Study a) Compare the trend in market share between skin care and that of make-up between 2012 and 2018.   Markers Comments: • Many answers lack comparison in terms of a difference. • Many did not use a suitable comparative word to signpost and reflect the skill of comparison. • Students need to be more mindful of the time period set out in the question. • Some students compared the market shares between make- up and skin care at specific points in the time period – this is not the best approach or answer; instead, students should compare the market shares over the overall/entire period. • Answers who wrote that the market share increased at a faster or greater rate were not accepted as it is inconclusive from the data about the difference in the rate of increase between make- up and sk in care; instead students, should be comparing the amount / extent of increase. Suggested Answer: Similarity: Increasing trend in market share for both skin -care and makeup between 2012 and 2018. [1] Difference: Market share for skin -care is consistently larger than that for makeup OR market share for makeup is consistently smaller than that for skincare. [1] [2] b) Using Extract 1, explain why Aether Beauty decided to shut down its operations in the short run during the COVID-19 pandemic. Markers Comments: • Weaker answers failed to recognise the question is on shut -down condition of a firm and used the market analysis approach instead of the firm analysis approach. • While majority recognised that Covid- 19 pandemic led to a fall in demand for Aether Beauty’s products, the explanation was largely descriptive as most students merely copied extensively from case material without making valid inference to which non-price demand factor is affected. It is essential to make linkages of the case evidence to the non- price demand determinant when explaining the fall in demand. • There were many theoretical answers without application to the case material, thus failed to recognise besides TR falling, TVC was also rising at the same time. • While many were aware that the shut-down condition is TR < TVC, the better answers were those that explained how loss is minimised to TFC as a result of shutting down. Weak responses did not grasp the nuances of the shut -down condition and were hence generic in their link to cost (eg. AC, MC, COP) • The diagram to illustrate the shut-down condition is not required in this answer. [4]

Y5/9570/Promo/2023 3 © RI 2023 [Turn Over Suggested Answer: