Exam guide

Paper structure

• Overall mark: your raw marks (30 + 90) are scaled to a total out of 150. The grade thresholds below are out of 150.
• Grades: IGCSE grades run from A to G. A exists only for the whole qualification, not for a single paper.
• Section A (30 marks) has eight parts, (a) to (h), worth 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6 and 6 marks:
  • (a) a 1-mark calculation from the fact file or chart;
  • (b) and (c) identify, state or explain points from the source;
  • (d) explain two reasons or ways;
  • (e) and (f): a demand and supply diagram (since 2023) and an analysis of a relationship shown in a table or chart, in either order;
  • (g) and (h) two 6-mark "discuss whether or not" answers.
• Each Section B question (20 marks) has four parts: (a) define or identify for 2 marks, (b) explain for 4, (c) analyse for 6 and (d) discuss for 8.
• Changes from 2022 to 2026: the format, marks and timing stayed the same in all nine sessions.
  • Diagram part: in 2022, Question 1 had no demand and supply diagram part. Since 2023, Question 1(e) is usually a 4-mark "draw a demand and supply diagram" task. In 2024 it was 1(f), "analyse, using a diagram", for 5 marks.
  • Extra components on the threshold sheets: a Component 50 (90 marks, its own route to a grade) appears in the June 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026 sheets. June 2026 also lists a new Component 17, a 30-mark Paper 1 variant paired with Paper 21. There are no local papers for either, so neither is analysed here.

Topic weights

The shares use the official weighting (Paper 1 = 30 %, Paper 2 = 70 %). Section B parts are counted at 3/4 of their marks, because you answer three of the four questions.

Top subtopics, by overall share:

Bankers

These came up in every session, or almost every one:

• Demand and supply diagrams. Question 1 has had a diagram part in every session since 2023 (7 of 9). The shift is caused by things like income, population, costs, a tax or a health warning. Section B often adds another diagram question.
• The data relationship question. Question 1(e) or 1(f), worth 4–5 marks, appeared in all 9 sessions. Typical pairs: GDP per head and migration, schooling and birth rate, health spending and life expectancy.
• Scarcity, factors of production and the PPC. Paper 1 Questions 1–3 test these every time. A PPC item appeared in 8 sessions.
• Price elasticity of demand. In 8 sessions: calculations and the link to total revenue in Paper 1; causes and pricing decisions in Paper 2.
• Costs and revenue. Paper 1 almost always asks you to define or calculate fixed, variable, average or total cost, or average and total revenue.
• Competition vs monopoly. Every session. Since 2024, Paper 1 Question 16 has always been on market structure.
• Taxes and fiscal policy. Progressive vs proportional tax, direct vs indirect tax, and budget deficits came up every session.
• Unemployment. Types, measurement, rate calculations and policies, every session. Since 2023 it has been in Paper 2 almost every time.
• Inflation and deflation. Causes, the CPI, effects on savers and borrowers, and deflation, every session.
• Population. Birth rate, ageing, dependency and migration, every session, often in Section A.
• Exchange rates. Causes of a rise or fall, effects on prices and inflation, and fixed vs floating systems, every session.
• Current account. Since 2023 the last Paper 1 item (Question 30) has always been on it. It also appears in Paper 2 in 8 of 9 sessions.

Rarely tested

These are each worth about 1 % of marks or less, or turned up in only a few sessions:

• Role of government: three Paper 1 items, never in Paper 2.
• Price determination, supply on its own, and price elasticity of supply: mostly single Paper 1 items or 2-mark definitions.
• Microeconomics vs macroeconomics: one Paper 1 item in most sessions, and one 2-mark part in Paper 2 (2024).
• Macroeconomic aims and conflicts between them: 4 sessions.
• Differences in development between countries: 4 sessions, with one Paper 2 question (2026).
• Specialisation and free trade, and trade unions: 4 sessions each, but both are becoming more common. Trade union discussion questions appeared in 2024 ON and 2026 MJ.
• Supply-side policy: in Paper 1 almost every session, but only twice in Paper 2 (2023 ON and 2025 ON).

"Rarely tested" does not mean safe to skip. Any of these can become an 8-mark discussion.

Trends

• More firms and markets, less trade and development. Each topic's share of marks in the first two years compared with the last three:

• Price elasticity of demand in Section B, three sessions running (2025 MJ, 2025 ON, 2026 MJ). The questions asked whether demand for a product is elastic, how PED affects pricing, and how a firm can make demand less elastic.
• Mergers and economies of scale keep coming back: 2023 MJ, 2024 ON, 2025 MJ, 2025 ON and 2026 MJ. Expect types of merger, internal economies of scale, and whether a government should encourage mergers.
• More labour-market questions: wage differences, minimum wages, labour mobility, older workers, working abroad, and moving between the public and private sectors.
• Section A often centres on population. 2025 ON was almost all about an ageing population and migration. The case study is always a real country, with a fact file and a chart or table.
• Paper 1 follows the syllabus order. Roughly: Questions 1–3 the basic problem, 4–9 allocation of resources, 10–16 decision makers, 17–24 government, 25–26 development and 27–30 trade. Use this to check you have revised every block.

Question styles

• Paper 1 item types:
  • definition items ("which statement describes…");
  • "which is NOT" items, which are easy to misread;
  • quick calculations: PED, PES, average cost, labour force share, current account balance, currency conversion;
  • reading tables and charts: growth rates, CPI, budget figures;
  • reading diagrams: PPCs, cost curves, tax incidence, demand and supply shifts.
• Paper 2 command words. Across the nine papers (216 parts): 54 Discuss, 52 Explain, 49 Analyse, 30 Identify, 14 Define, 9 Calculate, 5 Draw and 3 State. Discuss parts carry 36 of the 90 marks you actually answer (two in Section A plus one in each of your three Section B questions), so evaluation is the most valuable skill.
• What each command word wants:
  • Identify / State: short points, no explanation.
  • Define: a precise definition. A diagram is not a definition, and an example is not needed unless asked.
  • Explain two…: two separate, developed points, about 2 marks each.
  • Analyse: a logical chain of cause and effect. Do not argue the other side; that earns nothing here.
  • Draw: an accurate, fully labelled diagram showing the old and new equilibrium. No written explanation is needed.
  • Discuss whether or not: both sides, each developed with economic reasoning, then a supported conclusion.

Common mistakes

From the 0455 examiner reports for 2022 MJ, 2022 ON, 2023 MJ and 2025 MJ (the ones available):

• Productivity is not production. Nearly every report mentions this. Productivity is output per worker or per hour, not total output.
• Budget deficit vs current account deficit. Candidates keep mixing them up. In 2025 some even gave the current account figure when a budget calculation was asked for.
• Who counts as unemployed. Some candidates forgot that the unemployed are part of the labour force. Others treated retired people as unemployed (they are economically inactive), or said emigration raises unemployment (it lowers employment, not unemployment).
• Diagrams. Common slips: shifting the wrong curve or in the wrong direction, swapping the demand and supply labels, and writing a long explanation when the command word was "Draw".
• The relationship question. Strong answers state the expected relationship, back it with figures from the data, and name the exception. Weak answers just copy numbers, or explain the theory without using the data at all.
• Quoting the source instead of using it. In 1(g) and 1(h), you must interpret and develop the source material, not repeat its words.
• Shallow (d) answers. Weak answers list points without explaining them. Level 3 needs two sides, depth on at least one side, and real economic concepts. Allow about 12 minutes per (d).
• Not answering the question set. Examples from the reports: writing about what causes remittances to rise when the question asked how they raise living standards; comparing merit and demerit goods when the question was about merit vs public goods; defining inelastic demand when it was not asked.
• Confusing pairs of terms:
  • central bank vs commercial bank functions;
  • minimum vs maximum prices;
  • public goods vs merit goods (education and healthcare are not public goods);
  • occupational vs geographical immobility;
  • absolute vs relative poverty;
  • appreciation vs depreciation;
  • saving vs investment.
• Answering all four Section B questions. It wastes time; answer three. Label any extra work clearly with its question number.
• Paper 1 traps (2025 report): choosing the biggest absolute wage gap when the question asked about the biggest relative gap; counting only the employed as the labour force; confusing a cause of a current account surplus with its effect; and missing "NOT" in the question.

Grade thresholds

These are for the variant-2 route (components 12 and 22). Component thresholds are raw marks. Overall thresholds are out of 150.

What the thresholds show:

• Grade A usually needs about 70 % overall (103–107 out of 150), but only 95–99 in 2022.
• Grade C usually needs about 42–49 %.
• Paper 2: an A on Paper 22 has needed about 60 out of 90 since 2023.
• June 2026 was lower (P22 A = 55, overall A = 97), which suggests a harder paper.
• The O Level 2281 thresholds for the same papers were identical in every session where both files exist, so the 2281 report's 2023 ON figures (overall A* 125, A 105, C 65) are a good guide to the missing row.

Revision priorities for Oct/Nov 2026 and 2027

1. Demand and supply diagrams. Practise shifts from income, population, costs, indirect taxes, subsidies and related goods. Label axes and curves, and mark the old and new equilibrium.
2. Price elasticity of demand and supply. The formula, the link to total revenue, what makes demand elastic, and how firms use it. It has been in Section B three sessions in a row.
3. Firms. Costs and revenue calculations, economies and diseconomies of scale, types of merger, competition vs monopoly. Practise "should firms merge?" and "do consumers gain?" discussions.
4. Labour. Wage differences, minimum wages, mobility, division of labour, working abroad, and trade unions.
5. Unemployment and inflation. Types, measurement and calculations, causes (including a falling exchange rate), deflation, and policy responses. Be sure who is in the labour force.
6. Fiscal, monetary and supply-side policy. Know which tool belongs to which policy and the trade-offs between aims. Keep budget deficit and current account deficit apart.
7. Population and living standards. Ageing, birth rate, migration and remittances, HDI and GDP per head, poverty. Favourites for Section A.
8. Trade. Exchange-rate causes and effects, current-account items, protection and dumping, MNCs in host countries.
9. Exam technique.
   • The relationship question: relationship, evidence, exception.
   • 8-mark discussions: two developed sides and a reasoned conclusion, about 12 minutes each.
   • Use both 0455 and 2281 past papers, but remember they are the same papers, so do not count a paper twice.

Comparison with O Level 2281

• Same structure and weighting: 30-mark MCQ (45 min, 30 %) plus 90-mark structured paper (2 h 15 min, 70 %), scaled to 150.
• Same thresholds for the variant-2 route in every session where both sheets exist. IGCSE also publishes D, F and G boundaries, because IGCSE grades go down to G while O Level stops at E.
• Different extras: 0455 has a Component 50 route from 2022, while for 2281 it first appears in 2026. 0455 also adds a Component 17 in June 2026.
• Different examiner reports: the reports are written for each qualification's own candidates. 0455 has a June 2025 report that 2281 does not have. Its new points are in "Common mistakes" above.
• Local files: 0455 has no 2023 ON grade-threshold file; 2281 has one.