Economics.

Content

The Ellie Tragakes book is the textbook I used, and it served me fine. There are a few mistakes here and there, but it’s fine for the most part. Personally, I would say that once you have understood the core concept behind a topic, there is no need to read the entire textbook chapter. She has a Nutshell book as well, which is far better for exam revision than simply reading through the textbook. I recommend going through the Nutshell guide thoroughly and then solving past papers.

If you seriously do not understand a topic through, you should go through the Kognity notes. Their Econ notes are really good.

I also highly recommend watching Econ Plus Dal on Youtube. He really has everything covered. Topic wise diagrams, format explanations, everything. He will hook you up for the exam. I highly recommend watching the playlist below (after completing the content).

If you specifically need help with a certain topic, or are simply interesting in going indepth on that topic, check out the IB Econ Guru.

Paper 1

You choose one question from 3 options. Each option has two sub-questions (a 10 marker and a 15 marker). The 10 marker should take you 20 minutes and the 15 marker, 55 minutes. In terms of choosing the question, pick the one that you are most confident in. Obviously the 15 marker holds more weight, so if you are debating between two questions, pick the one that you think you will be able to score higher in the 15 marker. Not to say that you should completely disregard the 10 marker, but they are relatively easy so you’ll be fine.

Paper 2

Paper 2 is my favourite paper. The reason is that it is the same for SL and HL, and so it only includes SL content :) Paper 2 is a combination of short answer questions (2,3, and 4 markers) and one 15 marker evaluation question. Watch the video below to learn how to write that 15 marker.

Paper 3

Paper 2 and 3 are pretty similar, although paper 3 is a little easier in my opinion. Just please make sure that you know basic calculations, especially for policy diagrams.

Also for the final paper 3, make sure you are ready and prepared to write two 10 markers (policy recommendation essays). It’s tough, but you’ll get through it.