economics or business studies? (1 Viewer)

janani2556

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Making my mind up for subject selection and I'm tossing up between economics and business studies.

If any of you are doing it now r have done it before, what are each of them like and which one would you recommend out of the two.

Thanks!
 

BandSixFix

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Eco is a more interesting subject, but business is relatively more easier. Pick both if you can.
 

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Business is dry- but easier, as essentially it barely takes any level of brainpower and is mostly about memory and recall. Eco is a lot more interesting but has harder more intrinsic concepts.
 

janani2556

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Business is dry- but easier, as essentially it barely takes any level of brainpower and is mostly about memory and recall. Eco is a lot more interesting but has harder more intrinsic concepts.
In what way is eco harder? Also how good at maths would you need to be to do eco?
 

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You dont need to be good at maths to do eco. The only maths in eco is figuring out percentages and simple multiplication with a calculator. The way that eco is harder is that most business concepts are common sense- e.g. Marketing is important for a business cause it increases awareness and sales etc. Where as eco's concepts are harder and multiple things lead to different outcomes, e.g. Appreciation of currency leading to greater imports of goods, leading to a Balance of Payments deficit.
 

BandSixFix

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In what way is eco harder? Also how good at maths would you need to be to do eco?
I dropped maths at the end of year 11 and I've been finding eco maths alright. You don't need to be good at maths - just enough to add and subtract numbers with a calculator :)
 

qwert73

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Economics has basically no math in it. Eco is a lot harder than business but is far more interesting. It requires a lot of work and you need to be good at essay writing, short answers and knowing heaps of stats in order to do well, but it is quite rewarding. If you don't like eco at the start then maybe change subjects because a lot of people who I know didn't like it at the start never started liking it.

Business studies is really easy in comparison, so while eco requires higher order thinking and harder questions, business just lets you regurgitate the textbook to get a band 6, nothing else required really, apart from your case study which you can make up if you want. Business can be quite dry and content heavy, but it depends on your attitude, because it can also be quite interesting at the same time.
If you are naturally good at stuff and want to pick a strategic subject to get a better atar then go business, because the smaller workload and higher marks will pay off.
If you want something more interesting and fun, then go with eco. It scales better, but the effort to get the same marks is disproportionally larger I reckon.
 

BandSixFix

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Economics has basically no math in it. Eco is a lot harder than business but is far more interesting. It requires a lot of work and you need to be good at essay writing, short answers and knowing heaps of stats in order to do well, but it is quite rewarding. If you don't like eco at the start then maybe change subjects because a lot of people who I know didn't like it at the start never started liking it.

Business studies is really easy in comparison, so while eco requires higher order thinking and harder questions, business just lets you regurgitate the textbook to get a band 6, nothing else required really, apart from your case study which you can make up if you want. Business can be quite dry and content heavy, but it depends on your attitude, because it can also be quite interesting at the same time.
If you are naturally good at stuff and want to pick a strategic subject to get a better atar then go business, because the smaller workload and higher marks will pay off.
If you want something more interesting and fun, then go with eco. It scales better, but the effort to get the same marks is disproportionally larger I reckon.
lolwat
 

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If you cant decide choose eco. You could seriously swap at the end of prelim to business because theres not a whole lot you miss out on, except learning to write business reports, which you can easily learn.
 

si2136

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Eco has so much freaking maths, I use maths to do the questions while everyone is strugly m88

f(x)'s

@OP

Economics is really understanding the concepts of the markets etc

Just like any other test, multiple, short answer, extended

Business is the same, however, there is more of a structure for it's extended response, which is a business report. You'll notice that Business Reports have a certain structure that you MUST follow.

Same as eco in terms of tests, but there could be practical tests (writing a report from analysing an IRL business)

Business = Prac
Eco = Theory

Bus + Eco = Dream
 

BandSixFix

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How are the assignments and tests like?
Most HSIE subjects share similar exam formats. The good ol' MC, SA and Extended response(s). Eco MC can get very tricky at times, but most of the exam is just knowing your information and applying it adequately in exams, making sure to follow directive words in the question to the point. Assignment are usually research tasks that aren't too much trouble if you follow and guidelines/criteria and ask teachers for help.
 

pikachu975

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Judging from the students in my grade that do the subjects, business studies seems really easy and is really about memorising whereas economics is harder. Might be because of the teachers but who knows!
 

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