When one talks about economics, it deals with an understanding of how goods and services are created, distributed and consumed by society. It also analyzes how individuals, groups, and institutions behave in certain conditions and environments.
While the concept is easy to grasp, many students find the subject difficult to grasp because it often involves advanced mathematics and statistics to support the data provided. For students planning to take up economics as their undergraduate degree, they will need to ace their advanced mathematics and statistics courses to move on to the next challenge.
If your secondary school offers economics as one of their minor subjects, it is ideal to take the chance because it will help you prepare for college economics.
If you are unable to take economics during your high school years, do not worry. You can follow these four steps to do well in your economics classes:
• Knowledge
• Comprehension
• Application
• Analysis
Knowledge
To gain knowledge, a student must be able to study and remember the course materials properly, especially the facts, descriptions, and results.
Knowledge-based questions do not require too much analysis and they are very easy to answer. Here is a good example of a knowledge-based question:
Question: Differentiated products tend to occur during:
(A) Oligopoly only
(B) Monopoly
(C) Monopolistic competition only
(D) Both A and C
Answer: C. Monopolistic competition only
For economics college exams, at least 15-20% of the questions are knowledge-based.
Comprehension
While knowledge covers a student’s capacity to get the material required for their classes, comprehension deals with their capacity for understanding the material’s content.
For economics, comprehension can be showcased through (a) transforming words to numbers, (b) explaining the data or material, (c) predicting patterns and trends.
Here is a good example of a comprehension question for economics:
Question: If Apple computers and Acer computers are substitutes, an increase in price for Acer computers can lead to:
(A) An increase in demand for Apple computers
(B) A decrease in demand for Apple computers
(C) An increase in demand quantity for Apple computers
(D) A slight change in the demand quantity for Apple computers
Answer. A. An increase in demand for Apple computers.
Students will need to tackle a lot of comprehension questions during their economics tests because exams will have at least 30 to 40% of these questions.
Application
Once the student gains the knowledge and comprehension necessary to understand the economic concepts, laws, and theories, they should now be able to apply these concepts in real life.
Here is an example of an application-based question:
Question: The article written by The Guardian talked about the increase of house properties being sold because of low prices. What does this trend illustrate?
(A) Law of Supply
(B) Law of Demand
(C)The indirect relationship between prices and demanded supply
(D) The direct relationship between prices and the available supply
Answer. B. Law of demand
Application questions cover at least 30-50% of the test questions for economics exams.
Analysis
This skill enables the student to break down the concepts into various points to understand the structure completely.
For economics, analysis covers (a) determining the concepts, (b) understanding the relationship between these concepts, and (c) determining what principles and theories are involved in their relationship.
Here’s an example of an analysis question that could appear in your economics test:
Question: Based on the figure above, what will happen if there was a declared $10 price ceiling:
(A) There would be a 10 unit-shortage
(B) There would be a 20 unit-surplus
(C) There would be a 20 unit-shortage
(D) There would be a 10 unit-surplus
Answer. C. There would be a 20 unit-shortage.
At least 10-15% of the questions of your economics test would test your Analysis capacity.
How to survive your economics classes?
Considering the complex nature of economics even if it is considered a social science, it can be a tricky subject to pass. Fortunately, there are ways to survive in economics classes and pass it easily.
Here are some tips for you to try to survive economics:
• Do your homework in advance
Before you go to class, it is best you finish your homework because it will give you an idea of what to ask your professor about the topic. Sometimes, the assignments would involve concepts that were not discussed in class and the teacher will be waiting for you to ask for clarification when you finish your assignments.
• Read and analyze
When you read your economics textbook, it is important that you take the time to understand the main points. Try to remember these points and see the relationship of these concepts as you read.
• Do not ditch class
Because of the terms and concepts involved in economics, missing a class would definitely put you behind your peers. Make sure to take notes when you attend your classes because it will help you with your studies.
• Master the lectures
Just like math, economics is an acquired skill for students to practice. After the lectures, try your best to review the material and master the terms before checking the new material. Don’t cram when you review the lecture since it will not help you understand the concepts better.
• Listen, ask, answer and take notes
As you study your subjects, may it be economics or other topics, you must follow these four steps to prepare yourself for your classes. If you are unprepared, you will be unable to understand every aspect of economics.
Final Thoughts
Just like any other subject that is tricky to understand and perfect, there are ways to get past this difficulty and pass economics in flying colors. For economics, you must begin by taking in the material, understanding its definition, apply the concept and break it down into pieces to see the pattern.
As you do every step, you will slowly realize how each concept is related to another and understand how they change based on the society’s situation. When this occurs, you will be able to breeze through economics quite easily.
Need to do well in your Economic class? Here are some guides to help you:
Star Tips For Scoring Economics Essays In Your A-Levels
Prepping For Junior College Economics: What You Need to Know
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