[MACRO Academy] H2 Economics Essay Cheat Sheet

Essay Cheat Sheet H2 ECONS Understanding H2 Economics (9570) For more FREE notes, join our Telegram channel @macroacademy Students are graded on both breadth and depth for each essay. Breadth (essay scope) Depth (econs theories) 2 requirements 1 para per requirement Most questions take an thesis/anti-thesis approach Draw relevant graphs Note: explain graphs!! Define relevant keywords Use economic terms Essay Planning H2 students’ biggest enemy is going off-topic. This will get your marks stuck at a 3-4 out of 10. Analyse keywords to avoid this. a. Command Words ‘Explain’ - no evaluation needed ‘Discuss’, ‘Assess’, ‘Evaluate’, ‘Comment’ - must evaluate b. Topical Keywords These words indicate the relevant topics (and sub-topics) ‘Price’, ‘Quantity’, ‘Revenue’, ‘Expenditure’ - Demand & Supply ‘Decide’, ‘Factors’, ‘Rational’, ‘Consider’ - Rational Decision Making ‘Allocative efficiency’, ‘fairness’, ‘external costs’ - Market Failure c. Contextual Keywords These words tell us where, when and what economic state the essay is in Use these words to contextualise and beef up your evaluation ‘Singapore’, ‘during the pandemic’, ‘in 2008’, ‘in the financial crisis’ Essay Writing Once you’ve analysed the question, plan out the 2 points/requirements in your content paragraph. To help you, use the PEEL format: a. Point This is your paragraph’s first sentence. Make a clear statement and summarise your requirement in one sentence. b. Explanation Using economic terms and keywords, expand on what you stated in your point sentence. This portion should be roughly 3-4 sentences long. Don’t overwrite! c. Example/Elaboration This part is mainly to achieve ‘depth’. Use graphs, real world examples, diagrams (e.g. circular flow of income diagram) to support your answer. Limit to one per requirement. d. Linking Sentence Summarise your paragraph in one sentence. Evaluation For paper 2, evaluation is only required for 15 mark questions. While some schools may still use 25 mark questions for practice, this has been out of the syllabus since 2023. There are 2 types of evaluation: In-Body Summative At the end of each paragraph To evaluate, rebut your requirements through writing limitations. At the end of your essay In this paragraph, choose a stand and support it through elaboration.

Essay Evaluation Level Marks Requirements E1 1 Basic Summary + Stand E2 2-3 + Analysis of SOME Points E3 4-5 + Analysis of ALL Points + Insights H2 ECONS Cambridge’s Evaluation Rubrics The only way to score E3 is to provide insights: Steps of Evaluation Mastering evaluation involves mastering the rubrics involved in marking: 1. Determine Stand Figure out which of your points are easier to support. Write your stand in your introduction. 2. Craft Ev1 & Ev2 These are the in-body evaluation segments. To evaluate, explain limitations to BOTH your thesis & anti-thesis. Ideally, these should be roughly 2-3 sentences at MAX. 3. Rebut Ev1 In your summative conclusion, provide insights to weaken Ev1 (thereby supporting your thesis - requirement 1) 4. Support Ev2 In your summative conclusion, provide insights to strengthen Ev2 (thereby weakening your anti-thesis - requirement 2) Time Period This method is usually used to evaluate policies. Evaluate a policy’s usefulness by whether they are more effective in the short or long run. Short-run Policies - taxes, subsidies, regulations, bans, price floors Long-run Policies - education campaigns, supply-side policies Context This method uses question context and general economic knowledge to evaluate the severity of problems/effectiveness of solutions. Country-specific Context: e.g. Education is effective in SG because we have a small population size. Economic State Context: e.g. During the pandemic, consumer confidence is likely to be low, which makes subsidies less effective. Root Cause This method is also usually used to evaluate policies. Evaluate a policy’s usefulness by whether it solves the root cause of the MF. Root Cause Solution - Retraining workers to reduce inequity Symptomatic Solution - Minimum wage to reduce inequity Combined Effect Sometimes, two policies can complement each other. Suggest using both policies together in your summative conclusion. Education campaigns (long-run) & subsidies (short-run) to address underconsumption of vaccines due to imperfect information. Blueprint to Score E3 for Evaluation