Exam guide

Paper structure

• Overall: your raw marks (30 + 90) are scaled to a total of 150. That is why the grade thresholds below are out of 150.
• Section A (30 marks) always follows the same pattern of eight parts, (a) to (h), worth 1, 2, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6 and 6 marks:
  • (a) a 1-mark calculation from the data;
  • (b) and (c) identify 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 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.
• What changed from 2022 to 2026: the format, mark allocation and timing did not change in any of the nine sessions. Two small changes:
  • Diagram part: in 2022 Question 1 had no demand and supply diagram part; diagrams appeared only in Section B. Since 2023, Question 1(e) is usually a plain "draw a demand and supply diagram" task worth 4 marks. In 2024 it was 1(f), "analyse, using a diagram", worth 5 marks.
  • New component in 2026: the June 2026 grade thresholds also list a new Component 50 (90 marks, its own route to a grade). There are no local papers for it, so it is not analysed here.

Topic weights

The shares below use the official weighting (Paper 1 = 30 %, Paper 2 = 70 %). Section B options 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 nearly every one:

• Demand and supply diagrams. Paper 2 Question 1 has had a diagram part in every session since 2023 (7 of 9): a shift in demand or supply caused by income, population, costs, a tax or a health report. Section B adds more diagram questions.
• Data relationship analysis. Question 1(e) or 1(f) appeared in all 9 sessions, for 4–5 marks. Typical pairs were GDP per head and migration, schooling and birth rate, or poverty and life expectancy.
• Scarcity, factors of production and the PPC. Paper 1 Questions 1–3 cover these every time. A PPC question appeared in 8 sessions.
• Price elasticity of demand. It was in 8 sessions: calculations and total revenue in Paper 1, and causes or pricing decisions in Paper 2.
• Costs and revenue. Paper 1 asks for definitions and calculations of fixed, variable, average and total cost, and of average and total revenue, almost every session.
• Competition vs monopoly. This was examined in every session. Since 2024, Paper 1 Question 16 has always been on market structure.
• Tax types 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 came up every session. Since 2023 it has appeared in Paper 2 almost every time.
• Inflation and deflation. Causes, CPI, effects on savers and borrowers, and deflation questions came up every session.
• Population. Birth rate, ageing population, dependency and migration came up every session. They are often in Section A.
• Exchange rates. Causes of a rise or fall, effects on prices and inflation, and fixed vs floating systems came up every session.
• Current account of the balance of payments. Since 2023 the last Paper 1 question (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 and never in Paper 2.
• Price determination on its own, 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 economic development between countries: 4 sessions, with one Paper 2 question (2026).
• Specialisation and free trade, and trade unions: 4 sessions each. Both have appeared more often recently. There were trade union discussion questions in 2024 ON and 2026 MJ.
• Supply-side policy: it is 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 be the basis of an 8-mark discussion.

Trends

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

• Price elasticity of demand in Section B. It appeared in three consecutive sessions (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 are frequent. They came up in 2023 MJ, 2024 ON, 2025 MJ, 2025 ON and 2026 MJ: types of merger, internal economies of scale, and whether a government should encourage mergers.
• Labour topics are growing. Recent papers have asked about wage differences, minimum wages, labour mobility, older workers, working abroad, and moving between the public and private sectors.
• Section A often focuses on population. 2025 ON was almost entirely about an ageing population and migration. The case studies are always real countries, with a fact file and a chart.
• Paper 1 follows syllabus order. Questions 1–3 cover the basic problem and 4–9 allocation. Questions 10–16 cover decision makers, 17–24 government, 25–26 development and 27–30 trade. You can use this to check you have revised every block.

Question styles

• Paper 1:
  • definition items, such as which statement describes a term;
  • "which is NOT" items, which are easy to misread;
  • quick calculations (PED, PES, average cost, labour force percentage, current account balance, exchange-rate conversions);
  • reading data from tables or charts (growth rates, CPI, budget figures);
  • diagram reading (PPCs, cost curves, tax incidence, shifts on demand/supply diagrams).
• Paper 2 command words. Over nine papers there were about 54 Discuss parts, 52 Explain, roughly 45–50 Analyse, 30 Identify, 14 Define, 9 Calculate, 5 Draw and 3 State. Discuss parts carry 36 of the 90 Paper 2 marks you actually answer: two in Section A and one in each of your three Section B questions. So evaluation skill matters most.
• What each command word asks for:
  • Identify / State: short points; no explanation needed.
  • Define: a precise definition. A diagram does not count as a definition, and an example is not needed unless asked for.
  • Explain two…: two separate, developed points, 2 marks each.
  • Analyse: a logical chain of cause and effect. Do not argue the other side; examiners say this wastes time.
  • Draw: an accurate, labelled diagram showing the original 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

These come from the examiner reports for 2022 MJ, 2022 ON and 2023 MJ, the only reports available:

• Confusing productivity with production. Examiners mention this in nearly every report. Productivity is output per worker or per hour, not total output.
• Confusing a budget deficit with a current account deficit. Candidates wrote about exports when the question was about tax and spending, or the reverse.
• Mixing up shifts and movements. Some candidates treated a price change of the good itself as a shift of its demand curve. Others swapped the demand and supply labels, or mislabelled the axes.
• Not using the data. In the relationship question, the best answers state the expected relationship, back it up with two pieces of evidence and point out an exception. Weak answers only describe the table.
• Listing points in (d) answers. Weak answers stated points without explaining them. For example, they said higher output means higher profit without considering both costs and revenue.
• Confusing terms:
  • central bank functions with commercial bank functions;
  • minimum prices with maximum prices;
  • public goods with merit goods or free goods;
  • absolute poverty with relative poverty;
  • appreciation with depreciation;
  • saving with investment.
• Answering all four Section B questions. This wastes time; answer only three. Also label any extra work clearly with its question number.
• Mistakes in Paper 1:
  • misreading "NOT" items;
  • treating a falling but still positive growth rate as falling output;
  • thinking that reducing an import quota increases imports, when it actually reduces them.

Grade thresholds

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

What the thresholds show:

• Grade A usually needs about 70 % overall (103–107 out of 150).
• Grade C needs about 42–49 %.
• Paper 2 boundaries: an A on Paper 2 has needed about 60 out of 90 since 2023.
• June 2026 was lower: the boundaries dropped (P22 A = 55, overall A = 97), which suggests a harder paper.

Revision priorities for Oct/Nov 2026 and 2027

1. Demand and supply diagrams. Practise shifts caused by income, population, costs, indirect taxes, subsidies and related goods. Label everything, and show the old and new equilibrium.
2. Price elasticity of demand and supply. Know the calculation, the link to total revenue, what determines elasticity and how firms use it. It has been in Section B three sessions in a row.
3. Firms. Cover costs and revenue calculations, economies and diseconomies of scale, types of merger, and competition vs monopoly. Practise "should firms merge" and "do consumers benefit" discussions.
4. Labour. Cover wage differences, minimum wage effects, mobility, division of labour, and trade unions (recent discussion questions).
5. Unemployment and inflation. Cover types, measurement and calculations, causes (including exchange-rate-driven inflation) and deflation, plus the policy responses.
6. Fiscal, monetary and supply-side policy. Know which tool belongs to which policy, and the trade-offs between policy aims.
7. Population and living standards. Cover ageing, birth rate, migration and remittances, HDI and GDP per head, and poverty. These are favourite topics for Section A.
8. Trade. Cover exchange-rate causes and effects, current-account items and policies, protection and dumping, and MNCs in host countries.
9. Exam skills.
   • Practise the Section A data-relationship answer: expected relationship, evidence, exception.
   • For 8-mark discussions, write two developed sides and a reasoned conclusion. Aim for about 12 minutes per (d) part.