Since the syllabus and exam style are being changed, the focus of IB Economics revision is shifted on evaluating students’ critical analysis and understanding on the contents rather than mathematical calculation skills.
The most notable change that shows this is the essay questions with large marks of 10 and 15 points which appear in all types of Economics exam papers.
In particular, Paper 2 and Paper 3 provide essay questions that require you to analyse the given text and data and write according to the context, so it can be difficult to get a good score if you are not familiar with data response.
In this post, I will focus on the last question of Paper 2 (g), the 15 marks essay question especially answering the question of to what level should an essay answer be written to stably fall into the 13-15 marks band?
According to Economics Paper 2 Mark schemes, the essay that receives a 13-15 band score in question (g) should satisfy all the conditions below.
Do check!
A. You must answer “exactly” what the essay question asks. (Because this is a question of A Policy Recommendation, you must recommend “one” policy using the given text and data.)
B. Economic terms and theory must be accurately defined and analysed. Even if the person reading the student's essay does not have knowledge of economics, there will be no problem in understanding the content.
You must accurately define terms and explain the theory. (Perhaps is it because it is a concept that students take for granted? There are quite a few students who do not do this properly.)
C. Since the 15 marks essay in Paper 2 is an essay question that requires students to DISCUSS or EVALUATE, balanced synthesis must be the main content. This means that you must thoroughly present the pros and cons, short-term and long-term impacts and potential alternative discussion of the topic you are analysing.
D. In Paper 2 essay, most of the evidence must be taken EXPLICITLY from the given text and data.
E. Your essay should have a proper essay format.
Then, check out a sample essay written by a student to see if the conditions mentioned above are met.
The exam question is (g), the last question of Paper 2 Question 1 of the 2023 May exam.
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