Urgent Help! (1 Viewer)

[Chinkboy90]

Okay this may sound ridiculous, but I have been having problems understanding the format of the economics paper. From many views, some have told me that the last question is ALWAYS on globalisation and involves your case study. But from one of the papers, there is not an extended response on globalisation. So now, I don't know what to do? Could someone please explain the format of the last two extended response questions. For example, does the extended response always require case studies on a country, because some past papers do not question so. So does researching a case study become a prerequisite? Lastly, what would be the best way to prepare for an economics examination, supposedly the HSC. Should people prepare globalisation essays with their case study incorporated or not? Should people prepare various essays for various topics? etc. etc. Thanks alot.

 

[cs01001]

There are normally two extended responses in a HSC Economics paper. One of them is a stimulus based question, the other you get to choose between 2 questions. The two essay questions can be based on anything from all 4 topics, not necessairily on globalisation or your case study.

 

[seano77]

Okay this may sound ridiculous, but I have been having problems understanding the format of the economics paper. From many views, some have told me that the last question is ALWAYS on globalisation and involves your case study. But from one of the papers, there is not an extended response on globalisation. So now, I don't know what to do? Could someone please explain the format of the last two extended response questions. For example, does the extended response always require case studies on a country, because some past papers do not question so. So does researching a case study become a prerequisite? Lastly, what would be the best way to prepare for an economics examination, supposedly the HSC. Should people prepare globalisation essays with their case study incorporated or not? Should people prepare various essays for various topics? etc. etc. Thanks alot.

cs01001 is right- the last question doesn't have to be a case study (but keep in mind you will need to learn statistics for Australia from the four topics to integrate into your essays). Question 25 or 26 usually involve some stimulus (graphs, quotes, tables etc) and 27/28 are usually an 'explain', 'discuss' or 'analyse' question.

To prepare for the exam try writing out your essay structures for all possible questions they could ask you. For example if th question was on
Issues and trends of the Balance of Payments your structure would be:
• The structure of Australia’s export base; focused on commodities- benefited from
• International competitiveness.
• Structural Change
• Terms of Trade:
• Cost of servicing foreign liabilities
• National Savings

It is recommended that you learn your globalisation case study too as you never know what they will ask in your trial/HSC.

 

[Chinkboy90]

Thanks! so to clarify, the last extended response will be a question from one of the four topics, or elements of various topics? Also when studying a case study, is it suggested to learn about the country's whole economy or just in terms of globalisation? E.g. China's changing trends since 80s... etc, or should the primary focus be on how globalisation has impacted upon both the Australian and 'country' economy? In the first extended response, is there a way to prepare for that? and in the final response, is there a way to assume the topics which would mostly be asked, instead of preparing plans for all broad topics which will take a substantial amount of time. (such as the first topic consists of free trade and protection, globalisation etc. or are preparation recommended for minor topics which consist in topic in topic such as your suggestion of issues and trends in the balance of payments which occurs in topic 2 in Australia's trade and financial flows. I hope i didn't make it complicated to understand :S

 

[seano77]

Thanks! so to clarify, the last extended response will be a question from one of the four topics, or elements of various topics? Also when studying a case study, is it suggested to learn about the country's whole economy or just in terms of globalisation? E.g. China's changing trends since 80s... etc, or should the primary focus be on how globalisation has impacted upon both the Australian and 'country' economy? In the first extended response, is there a way to prepare for that? and in the final response, is there a way to assume the topics which would mostly be asked, instead of preparing plans for all broad topics which will take a substantial amount of time. (such as the first topic consists of free trade and protection, globalisation etc. or are preparation recommended for minor topics which consist in topic in topic such as your suggestion of issues and trends in the balance of payments which occurs in topic 2 in Australia's trade and financial flows. I hope i didn't make it complicated to understand :S

1. Yes the last extended response could be from any one of the four topics.
2. Learn case study just in terms of 'impact of globalisation' in syllabus.
3. Memorise essay structures and stats to prepare for extended responses- there is no way of predicting, but look at past HSC's to see any trends. For example they wont ask specifically on something small such as 'demand-pull' inflation. Rather they will ask you to discuss the causes of inflation and policies for managing it.

 

[Chinkboy90]

Thank you!

 

[donetha]

There's a good chance that one essay will be on Monetary Policy. Hasn't been asked directly, like Fiscal has, in the last 4 exams

 

[seano77]

There's a good chance that one essay will be on Monetary Policy. Hasn't been asked directly, like Fiscal has, in the last 4 exams

Good tip.

 

[lyounamu]

There's a good chance that one essay will be on Monetary Policy. Hasn't been asked directly, like Fiscal has, in the last 4 exams

You serious? So they basically asked the same thing over the last 4 years?

 

[Chinkboy90]

whoah serious, monetary policy would be good. For preparation, would making an essay plan for each important sub-point be good. I wanna note, is learning what the policies have been used for extensively important? such as the use of monetary policy during the housing boom, high inflation, oil prices etc.. and the recent trends of monetary policy going back to the 80's? Also since globalisation has been asked 6/7 times in the last 7 years, do you think it'll show up this year?

 

[seano77]

You serious? So they basically asked the same thing over the last 4 years?

No they haven't asked it for 4 years so they're predicting it will be in this years.

 

[seano77]

whoah serious, monetary policy would be good. For preparation, would making an essay plan for each important sub-point be good. I wanna note, is learning what the policies have been used for extensively important? such as the use of monetary policy during the housing boom, high inflation, oil prices etc.. and the recent trends of monetary policy going back to the 80's? Also since globalisation has been asked 6/7 times in the last 7 years, do you think it'll show up this year?

You need to know what policies have been used for and have examples of its effectiveness, yes. For example this years high inflation has been targeted by the increase of interest rates. Recent trends would be helpful too. Personally, I don't think globalisation case study question will be in it this year but it could be something on globalisation and Australia form the second topic. Also remember if they don't ask about it for an essay they'll probably nail it in short answer so cover everything just in case.

 

[veloc1ty]

There's also a good chance it'll be on fiscal again, because everyone will be studying monetary due to the recent IR rises. Don't bother trying to predict will be in the test, just make sure you focus on at least 2 of the main areas so you're covered in the option question.

 

[Chinkboy90]

So is it better to only study the major policies, i.e. microeconomic reforms, labour market reforms, monetary, fiscal etc.. Or should the minor reforms be included such as microeconomic policies, i.e. microeconomic policy which includes a heap of reforms. Should we focus on each reform, or pick out the significant changes? such as financial deregulation, taxation reforms.

 

[seano77]

So is it better to only study the major policies, i.e. microeconomic reforms, labour market reforms, monetary, fiscal etc.. Or should the minor reforms be included such as microeconomic policies, i.e. microeconomic policy which includes a heap of reforms. Should we focus on each reform, or pick out the significant changes? such as financial deregulation, taxation reforms.

Study everything.