ECON IN JC
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Econs is actually an interesting and very relevant subject if the concepts learnt are applied on current affairs and everyday life. Think it's easier to study and do well if you appreciate its relevance and applications.
For instance, try reading the book \"The Undercover Economist\" by Tim Harford which introduces the basic ideas of mainly microeconomics (eg demand and supply, price elasticity, game theory,etc) through everyday real life examples. For macroeconomics, try to apply the concepts to current affairs that you can read about in the newspapers, eg GDP, business cycles, unemployment, inflation.
Hope the above helps.
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There're actually two parts to the syllabus, and I learnt from my tutor that they're rather different.
Microecons: requires logical thinking.
It is a \"dead\" subject where every basic question in the book has a model answer, so A-level tries to set trickier questions every year. IE, ideal for the math&science mugger types.
Macroecons: requires judgment.
It is actually constantly changing even though there is a fixed syllabus. Some general rules and graphs to remember, but the rest is application, analysis and evaluation.
As far as I know, students are advised to aim for Q3 (Market Failure), Q4 and Q5 in the A-level econs paper. In general Q1 (Supply & Demand) is quite tough without detailed knowledge; it is normally taught in passing as prerequisite to understanding the whole syllabus.
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for those who are keen , i think the straits times newspapers super tutor's name is anthony. can see his details on website http://www.economics.com.sg
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Based on what i know, the economics concepts are not hard to grasp, but the main reason why students dun score is due to a lack of 'structure' in their answers. My younger brother,studying in SAJC didn't do well at first. After struggling for half a year, we engage a personal tutor for him and he really improved tremendously, scoring A and Bs consistently.
The tutor charges pretty reasonably too. you can contact him@ [email protected]. Dun expect instant miracles though. -
Hi cheese (and all)
Think the comments on structure and practice are all really relevant.
Just want to add a couple more observations.
1) A level Econs (like many other subjects) has had a new syllabus since 2007. One of the biggest changes is that students now need to demonstrate that they can skilfully apply the theory to current affairs (or more accurately, events from 1 to 2 years leading up to the exam date).
So students need to actively think about how to link theories they have learned and memorised to real world examples in their responses, rather than just \"vomit\" out theory. This can be challenging because although most school notes are decent, it's not easy for teachers to write in all the possible links next to the theory bits.
2) There is a huge focus on how events affect Singapore and how Singapore has responded, in both Papers 1 and 2. Schools cover this in depth, and there are some decent publications in bookstores.
As a first step, reading up on economic events and policy decisions in Asia / Europe / US as covered by Straits Times, The Economist, BBC is pretty helpful.
3) There is a trend toward mixing chapters from both years of the syllabus in case and essay questions. So students need to be vigilant when taking exams and actively ask themselves \"which chapter(s) are they testing me on here?\"
Cheers! -
Why is Econs a popular contrasting subject? Why not Geog/History/Lit?
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jtoh:
Why is Econs a popular contrasting subject? Why not Geog/History/Lit?
Subject is the closest to the realities of life amongst all humanities. Many science students do not take up science nor engineering courses in unis so a good foundation in this subject is helpful when they are undergrads in business schools or reading econs.
Many also feel that scoring well in science subjects is less subjective vs humanities.
Hence PCME n BCME are the two most common combinations for jc students. -
i hated this subject when i was in school… had tuition and managed to get an A in the end…after struggling with the subject for more than one year… i hate Econs…till now i have nightmares over it!!!
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Edureach:
During my time, we used text written by Prof Lim Chong Yah and also J harvy. I personally like Prof Lim's as it is simple and easy to understand. Anyone know if it is still in use now? What are the text used for Econs now?jtoh:
Why is Econs a popular contrasting subject? Why not Geog/History/Lit?
Subject is the closest to the realities of life amongst all humanities. Many science students do not take up science nor engineering courses in unis so a good foundation in this subject is helpful when they are undergrads in business schools or reading econs.
Many also feel that scoring well in science subjects is less subjective vs humanities.
Hence PCME n BCME are the two most common combinations for jc students. -
Like someone mention earlier. Econs is actually a v. realistic subject. If you want to excel, need to read a lot of business / general affairs stuff.
Personally, I feel the "issue" with how to subject is taught is that it always start with microeconomics. This is actually the "boring" portion of econs. Once you try drag students through 6 months of this, most of time will switch off and have no idea how to study for econs thereafter. I think microeconomics is pure memory subject to start with. Until the students can start to see real life examples, they will have no choice but to memorize the concepts.
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