Economics 4410 考试技巧

计算器程序

常见错误

1. 1high涉及分数: 4Section B data response

   Quoting the raw numbers from the case study table instead of manipulating them, for example writing that unemployment 'increased' without giving the percentage point change or percentage change.

   如何避免: Calculate the change yourself: state the start figure, the end figure, and either the percentage point difference or the percentage change, before commenting on the trend.
2. 2high涉及分数: 5Market failures and imperfections

   Drawing the welfare loss triangle pointing the wrong way on an externality diagram, or labelling marginal private cost and marginal social cost as if they were the same line.

   如何避免: Draw MPC and MSC as two separate curves, with the vertical gap between them equal to the externality. The welfare loss triangle sits between the private and social equilibrium quantities, not outside them.
3. 3high涉及分数: 3Elasticity of demand and supply

   Skipping intermediate working in multi-step elasticity and consumer surplus calculations, so a single arithmetic slip loses every mark that follows.

   如何避免: Write the formula, then each percentage change as its own line, then the final figure. CCEA applies an own-figure rule that only pays out if the steps are visible on the page.
4. 4medium涉及分数: 3The basic economic problem of scarcity and choice

   Treating a movement along the production possibility frontier as if it were an inward shift of the frontier itself.

   如何避免: A movement along the PPF is a reallocation of existing resources between two goods. Only draw the whole curve shifting inward when resources themselves are destroyed or degraded, for example after a natural disaster.
5. 5medium涉及分数: 2Macroeconomic objectives

   Confusing economic inactivity with unemployment, missing that the inactive population includes students, early retirees and carers who are not actively seeking work.

   如何避免: Define unemployment as people actively seeking and available for work but without a job. Inactivity is a separate, wider category that unemployment statistics do not include.
6. 6medium涉及分数: 4Exchange rates

   Assuming a rising exchange rate works through aggregate supply, when the main transmission is through aggregate demand as exports become less competitive and fall.

   如何避免: Trace the chain on the diagram: a stronger pound raises export prices abroad, export volumes fall, and AD shifts left. Only bring in AS if the question is specifically about imported cost changes.
7. 7high涉及分数: 6Government intervention in markets

   Writing a one-sided 15-mark or 20-mark essay that lists advantages of a policy without any opposing trade-off, unintended consequence, or implementation constraint.

   如何避免: Plan a counterargument before you start writing. State it directly, for example 'however, this policy also has a time lag of...', rather than letting the essay end after the supporting points.
8. 8low涉及分数: 1Elasticity of demand and supply

   Dropping the negative sign or direction on a price elasticity of demand answer, for example writing '7.6%' instead of '-7.6%' or 'a fall of 7.6%'.

   如何避免: State the direction in words as well as the number. Demand elasticities are negative because price and quantity move in opposite directions, and the sign is part of the mark scheme, not a formatting choice.