General Thoughts: Economics (3 Viewers)

[milkytea99]

god I hope the band 6 cut off drops quite a bit. Everyone ignore my sig the dream is over

Same here! Fail in eco!!!

 

[mreditor16]

Very conventional essay questions from what I can see. Short answers is where BOSTES seems to be wanting to inflict most pain with economics.

my thoughts: the paper was okay, MC was eh, but I feel like the short answers was something that would've threw a lot of people off if they simply rote learnt the content as opposed to actually understanding what's going on, which is a good direction for the eco papers as you can't fully rely on cramming your notes and expecting to do well lol.

Does this mean that the eco papers are moving towards understanding the content as opposed to rote learning?

Yes yes yes yes yes. That is something that BOSTES is definitely and consciously doing with HSC Economics examinations. And they're targeting this pretty much in short answers (and in MC a bit, but really mostly in short answer).

That's why I've said something from the beginning:

I advocate the approach of knowing your stuff and answering the question you get on the day from scratch. I especially recommend this approach because, of late, HSC final exams have increasingly been asking unconventional and left-of-field questions (e.g. the question in the 2013 paper about the highway) and prepared essay skeletons can restrict you (and your marks) when faced with such questions. My approach with extended responses (and economics in general) can be easily summed up by the immortal words of the BOS user Cleavage (Band 6er FYI) – “Don't memorise economics, be economics. Let it flow through you” and “If you don't feel confident with this method, practice. Practice, not memorise.”

 

[teridax]

Very conventional essay questions from what I can see. Short answers is where BOSTES seems to be wanting to inflict most pain with economics.





Yes yes yes yes yes. That is something that BOSTES is definitely and consciously doing with HSC Economics examinations. And they're targeting this pretty much in short answers (and in MC a bit, but really mostly in short answer).

That's why I've said something from the beginning:

100% agree. That's why, in some sense, I liked the paper, because it differentiated the ones who actually could think on the spot and the rest who just accepted the content without critically evaluating. Guess it shows that whilst the HSC is mainly about rote learning (particular in the sciences), it definitely won't work for economics (there's still some rote but that pales in comparison to the sheer amount that must be understood).

 

[ProjectAcademy]

Hey Guys,



We managed to get our hands on the paper (missing the Short Answers as of time of writing) so figured we'd share!
You can find it here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics.pdf


Some of our Economics tutors decided to write up solutions to the Multiple Choice so you can see how you went!
You can find that here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics_Solutions.pdf



All the best

Project Academy

 

[milkytea99]

100% agree. That's why, in some sense, I liked the paper, because it differentiated the ones who actually could think on the spot and the rest who just accepted the content without critically evaluating. Guess it shows that whilst the HSC is mainly about rote learning (particular in the sciences), it definitely won't work for economics (there's still some rote but that pales in comparison to the sheer amount that must be understood).

And that's why I'm fcked . End of story

 

[teridax]

And that's why I'm fcked . End of story

you might surprise yourself when results come out haha

but is rote learning your way of studying

 

[teridax]

Hey Guys,



We managed to get our hands on the paper (missing the Short Answers as of time of writing) so figured we'd share!
You can find it here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics.pdf


Some of our Economics tutors decided to write up solutions to the Multiple Choice so you can see how you went!
You can find that here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics_Solutions.pdf



All the best

Project Academy

just checked this

would've got 16/20 for MC (lol fuck me)

 

[iStudent]

Same... I wrote like 9-10 pages for question 26, and then q27/28 only 4 pages wtf.... Gg band 6
I can't believe the extended responses were so hard this year. I was expecting at least a bop/cad essay or exchange rates

Actually, BOP/CAD is pretty much the main focus in external stability (there are others, but BOP is a lot of it). Even though it specified "macro policies", you should still explain what BOP and CAD were (and other stuff in external stability) - that would've been the first half of your essay. The 2nd half you'd focus on strategies. (which you should have known had you memorised the ones in the textbook - statistics and stuff can be made up).

Idk, I always saw BOP/CAD in topic 2 the same as external stability in topic 3 since it basically went over the same things.

 

[HecticSandWitch]

Hey Guys,



We managed to get our hands on the paper (missing the Short Answers as of time of writing) so figured we'd share!
You can find it here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics.pdf


Some of our Economics tutors decided to write up solutions to the Multiple Choice so you can see how you went!
You can find that here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics_Solutions.pdf



All the best

Project Academy

19/20! Fcking question 5, saw foreing aid and went straight for secondary income FML.

 

[karan96]

20/20 yessssssss <3

 

[sida1049]

My cohort enjoyed the paper apparently.

Multiple choice: Took me a little longer to finish this year's multiple choice section than most other HSC papers. Had a couple of unconventional questions, but not too difficult.

Short answers: I agree with most of you here in that it some questions was unconventional. For the international division of labour question, I wrote about how governments are willing to foster greater movement of labour (i.e. migration of labour), as its supply gives rise to aggregate supply in the individual economy, by opening up to greater economic linkages, hence contributing to globalisation. Can't remember much else, but that was the only question that irked me.

Extended responses: I found the questions to be fairly generic. I went after Q25 (microeconomic reforms) and Q28 (macroeconomic policy and external stability). I found Q28 a little strange, considering that monetary policy is considered to be rather ineffective in achieving external stability (but nevertheless mentioned because the question asked for macroeconomic policies).

Overall I felt as if I got lucky with the exam, but easy wouldn't be how I would describe it though.

 

[HecticSandWitch]

20/20 yessssssss <3

If u were in my room I would headbutt you rn, so jelly.

Lol jks, good job bro!

 

[sida1049]

Hey Guys,



We managed to get our hands on the paper (missing the Short Answers as of time of writing) so figured we'd share!
You can find it here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics.pdf


Some of our Economics tutors decided to write up solutions to the Multiple Choice so you can see how you went!
You can find that here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics_Solutions.pdf



All the best

Project Academy

YES!!! Thank you! That's one less section I have to worry about.

 

[aanthnnyyy]

Damn disappointed 16/20 oh well can't dwell on the past

 

[matchalolz]

I think I got 19/20 for mc but I can't really remember one of the things where I was tossing up between two.
I definitely got the aid question wrong, but that was my own fault for not studying and reading my notes because I found it so hard to balance 4 exams this week

I think the paper was pretty fair, like you can't expect things to be 1 + 1 = 2 every single year...
I think I did ok in SA because I actually understood the content and it just came to me

I got rekt by the microeconomics extended response (bad choice) because I didn't study for it and can't memorise for shit
I'm pretty happy with my response to the macro/external stability though

 

[luhanbby]

hey guys!! I did question 28 which was the analyse how macro policy achieves external stability and i was pretty confused how to approach it. Contrary to question 25 microeconomic reform. Have i approached it wrong by outlining the causes of external instability (so the net foreign debt, liabilities, cad as a % of gdp, trade, savings/investment gap) and then as I analysed each cause, I would link with an effect for eg. savings investment gap increased reliance on foreign financial flows which adds to net foreign debt as a % of gdp, THEN I linked it to either of the macro policies and suggested how it would achieve external stability? omg I honestly got so confused what to focus on since external stability does have several components and I didn't really think that fiscal or monetary really achieved external stability so I wasn't outlining cause and effects for the macro policies? omg expecting like a 5/20 if I've done it all wrong. great

 

[aanthnnyyy]

hey guys!! I did question 28 which was the analyse how macro policy achieves external stability and i was pretty confused how to approach it. Contrary to question 25 microeconomic reform. Have i approached it wrong by outlining the causes of external instability (so the net foreign debt, liabilities, cad as a % of gdp, trade, savings/investment gap) and then as I analysed each cause, I would link with an effect for eg. savings investment gap increased reliance on foreign financial flows which adds to net foreign debt as a % of gdp, THEN I linked it to either of the macro policies and suggested how it would achieve external stability? omg I honestly got so confused what to focus on since external stability does have several components and I didn't really think that fiscal or monetary really achieved external stability so I wasn't outlining cause and effects for the macro policies? omg expecting like a 5/20 if I've done it all wrong. great

Eco markers just really want students to directly answer the question unlike english

 

[atargainz]

Hey Guys,



We managed to get our hands on the paper (missing the Short Answers as of time of writing) so figured we'd share!
You can find it here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics.pdf


Some of our Economics tutors decided to write up solutions to the Multiple Choice so you can see how you went!
You can find that here:
http://projectacademy.com.au/2015_HSC_Economics_Solutions.pdf



All the best

Project Academy

wow according to this I got 18?! But i'm gonna expect 16 just in case lol

 

[malcolm21]

hey guys!! I did question 28 which was the analyse how macro policy achieves external stability and i was pretty confused how to approach it. Contrary to question 25 microeconomic reform. Have i approached it wrong by outlining the causes of external instability (so the net foreign debt, liabilities, cad as a % of gdp, trade, savings/investment gap) and then as I analysed each cause, I would link with an effect for eg. savings investment gap increased reliance on foreign financial flows which adds to net foreign debt as a % of gdp, THEN I linked it to either of the macro policies and suggested how it would achieve external stability? omg I honestly got so confused what to focus on since external stability does have several components and I didn't really think that fiscal or monetary really achieved external stability so I wasn't outlining cause and effects for the macro policies? omg expecting like a 5/20 if I've done it all wrong. great

did it the same way , i think we should be alright because i remember reading a practice response to the question months ago and it was structured the same way. even though the question seemed like it was focused on macro policy, my teacher focused on explaining a lot on external stability components before putting 2-3 pages max on the macro policies, so i did the same thing

 

[middo2112]

for those who chose q26 sources of eco growth, what did you talk about? i literally ran out of ideas after writing 3 pages about mining boom lol

For sources i just did: micro policy, MB1, GFC, MB2, end of MB2 until now. and then effects were the economic objectives.