How hard is year 12 economics?

[dom_c]

I'm currently in year 11 and finding it a breeze, it's one of my best subjects and I perform well without having to study a lot, it also helps that I find it enormously interesting. Which astounds me as from what I've seen, it's the highest scaling humanities subject rivaling the best scaling sciences, in theory, it should be a relatively difficult subject, so what I'm anxious about is that it'll just get dramatically harder next year with significantly harder concepts and more content to reflect its scaling and my grades in year 11 won't necessarily mean I'd do well next year.

 

[Flise]

The thing about economics is it’s really easy to understand and memorise content as basically everything links to each other. I personally find eco the most enjoyable subject. Content-wise it really isn’t that difficult in year 12 and I’m sure you’ll eventually get it.

 

[yanujw]

I'm currently in year 11 and finding it a breeze, it's one of my best subjects and I perform well without having to study a lot, it also helps that I find it enormously interesting. Which astounds me as from what I've seen, it's the highest scaling humanities subject rivaling the best scaling sciences, in theory, it should be a relatively difficult subject, so what I'm anxious about is that it'll just get dramatically harder next year with significantly harder concepts and more content to reflect its scaling and my grades in year 11 won't necessarily mean I'd do well next year.

If you've particularly enjoyed topics 4, 5 and 6 in prelim then I think you will enjoy hsc eco - it goes much beyond basics into the economics of the real world and the issues we face.

 

[mmmmmmmmaaaaaaa]

There are some topics that can be difficult to understand in yr12, but as already said, if you already find it easy and enjoyable ... you should do enjoy hsc eco as well

 

[ExtremelyBoredUser]

I'm currently in year 11 and finding it a breeze, it's one of my best subjects and I perform well without having to study a lot, it also helps that I find it enormously interesting. Which astounds me as from what I've seen, it's the highest scaling humanities subject rivaling the best scaling sciences, in theory, it should be a relatively difficult subject, so what I'm anxious about is that it'll just get dramatically harder next year with significantly harder concepts and more content to reflect its scaling and my grades in year 11 won't necessarily mean I'd do well next year.

Same position as you a year ago. It might be helpful to develop a regular routine for studying economics in Year 12, with more focus on essay plans etc. early on so it'll be less work for you by the trials.

Personally, my lack of study in Year 11 carried onto Year 12 so I would cram in the last 3 days in making essay plans, studying content and so on and even though my performance did not drop, I feel it would've been less intensive/exhaustive if done periodically.

Would highly suggest to study content from all the topics early on, especially if doing Globalisation on the first term, since you'll find the content in each topic is not distinct but rather overlaps heavily - You'll find it easier to integrate economic concepts, graphs and theory into essays etc.

Regardless, economics is a really fun subject as you might know but I'd suggest trying to do some "essays" early on to get the gist of HSC economics. I found in prelims the essays were not as prioritised as your knowledge but in HSC they're (imo) very important to master early on.

 

[dom_c]

Really appreciate the tip but what do you recommend I do? Just have essay plans prepared and practice essays done consistently throughout the year that responds to a specific related question related to the topic I'm learning?

 

[ExtremelyBoredUser]

Really appreciate the tip but what do you recommend I do? Just have essay plans prepared and practice essays done consistently throughout the year that responds to a specific related question related to the topic I'm learning?

To be honest, thats really all there is to it **in my opinion**.

Solving short answer eco problems are probably the easiest part of the exam since they test your content (e.g Explain the effects of Globalisation on another economy than Aus.) + contextual knowledge (e.g causes for recent Current Account Surplus) which essay plans help consolidate. Multiple Choice just comes with practice. These 2 sections in eco. are really where to maximise marks since they just test on the most part your "content knowledge" and your performance in such sections come with how well versed you are with the topics.

Essays on the other hand are more daunting and probably the hardest part as you are expected to compose an essay roughly 6-8 pages within 40-45 mins (however I just minimise time in MC + Short answer to give myself 50-55 mins), and its not just knowing the theory, you have to know relevant stats i.e data, trends and utilise it to strengthen your argument as well as integrate 1-2 graphs (e.g Lorenz Curve, Phillips Curve) typically. Essay plans help in this regard as you have a template structure to follow in a response as well as the relevant stats needed for a decent response. Personally, I never memorised a full essay except for a globalisation assessment (lol) and rather I would just remember the template of the response and important stats (e.g CPI, UE rate) - and then I would just respond to the essay as normal.

Unlike English, Eco essays tend to be way more predictable and repetitive so thats why it makes the options of making essay plans for each topic effective and worthwhile despite being arduous.

 

[yanujw]

how does one physically write that much in that time frame
are my hands just inadequate ?

The exam pages have thicker lines - I think 6 to 8 pages is about 900 words which is doable for anyone with exam pressure and enough planning.