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Economics HL November 2014 exam discussion


Harrison Fuller

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Hey everyone!
 

What were all your thoughts on the three economics HL papers for 2014 November?
I found paper 1 alright, except for 1a) which i realised I had answered wrong regarding price functions and incentives. 

Paper 2 was great, I did questions 2 and 3.

Paper 3 was excellent, don't think I lost many marks at all, did questions 2 and 3 (didn't do the theory of the firm one).

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Hello!

 

Paper 1, did not know what 1.a) meant...didn't want to waste time figuring it out, or take the risk even though it looked like it was probably just the simply stuff worded weirdly. 

So I did Q2 and 3. Q2 went well. 

Q3 a)stuffed up what demand - deficient unemployment was.... 

3b) Did not manage time effectively to answer the question as well as I could have. (Got my diagram wrong then had to re-do it and spent like 10 mins trying to make sure it was the right way around). 

Paper 2: Did questions 2 and 4 and it went amazing.

Paper 3: Did questions 1 and 2. It went really well despite me being an idiot and calculating the slope wrong (lost easy 2 marks), I didn't make many other mistakes (hopefully). 

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Nice! Yeah 1a for paper 1 confused me and I thought it meant price incentives in terms of elasticity and hence the more inelastic a product is the higher the 'incentive' the price function is. Looked up some examples on google afterwards and realised it was just to do with market equilibrium...

I agree, paper 1 is very crucial for time management and I ended up only having about 15 mins to answer the 15 minute discuss question, however it was a great question I must say.

Yep, 2 was great on paper 2 (can't remember what 4 was). Discussion question at the end was good, and definitions were relatively easy too and the diagram questions were good.

Same with 3, I don't think I lost any marks (or at least only a couple). Question 2 was by far the easiest due to being demand functions etc.

 

I might add I actually didn't revise theory of the firm on purpose - I knew you could choose questions that didn't involve it. A little risky, but it payed off :)

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Hey! I didn't do this question (I did 2 and 3) but apparently for Paper One, question 1a has appeared in a previous paper...I think that it may have been in 2008? It's obviously not much help now, but it might be worth having a look to gauge how you went.

 

Paper Two and Three were both pretty easy, especially Paper Three. Pretty happy with how economics went!

 

Good luck for the rest of your exams!

 

 

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The exam was generally fine, I think.

 

On paper 1 I did 2 and 4, and I did miss a concept on 2(a) but the rest was fine.

I also thought that paper 2 was relatively easy, I did questions 2 and 3 too:D

Surprising that quite many people here did 2 and 3, most of my classmates did 1 and 4 so I felt kinda left out lol

I freaked out before paper 3 so I was so relieved when I looked at the questions. I did 1 and 2, since GDP sometimes confuses me.

 

I really hope my IA's don't get downgraded too much. Economics is one of the subjects that I am really hoping to get a 7 in!

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Thought the papers were generally manageable!

 

Essay Paper (Paper 1): Attempted Q1 and Q3 - both questions went almost smoothly as I had amply prepared for them. Ran out of time for Q3 to write a proper conclusion though :/ Also thought Q4 was slightly difficult to attempt. 

 

Data Response Paper (Paper 2): Attempted Q1 and 4. Felt the paper was generally rather manageable!!! For kids out there doing the papers after Nov 14, remember: know your Micro and Macro stuff for Paper 2 as well! 

 

Math Paper (Paper 3): Attempted Q1 and Q2. Thought both went well too, aiming for close to 50/50 to pull up any losses I may have made in paper 2! 

 

IA: I know my script was sent to IBO for moderation :hmmph: Hope they weren't downgraded 

 

All the best for the remainder of the papers, people!  :surrender:

Edited by ben322
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Nice! Yeah 1a for paper 1 confused me and I thought it meant price incentives in terms of elasticity and hence the more inelastic a product is the higher the 'incentive' the price function is. Looked up some examples on google afterwards and realised it was just to do with market equilibrium...

I agree, paper 1 is very crucial for time management and I ended up only having about 15 mins to answer the 15 minute discuss question, however it was a great question I must say.

Yep, 2 was great on paper 2 (can't remember what 4 was). Discussion question at the end was good, and definitions were relatively easy too and the diagram questions were good.

Same with 3, I don't think I lost any marks (or at least only a couple). Question 2 was by far the easiest due to being demand functions etc.

 

I might add I actually didn't revise theory of the firm on purpose - I knew you could choose questions that didn't involve it. A little risky, but it payed off :)

Ahaha my tactic exactly!! I never learnt theory of the firm and it paid off so much :) :) Hahaha we outsmarted the IB :P

 

I did the same thing with paper one :/ and am a little worried now. Apparently a very similar question was on a 2008 paper urgh.

Paper 2 and 3 were surprisingly easier than i thought :)

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Nice! Yeah 1a for paper 1 confused me and I thought it meant price incentives in terms of elasticity and hence the more inelastic a product is the higher the 'incentive' the price function is. Looked up some examples on google afterwards and realised it was just to do with market equilibrium...

I agree, paper 1 is very crucial for time management and I ended up only having about 15 mins to answer the 15 minute discuss question, however it was a great question I must say.

Yep, 2 was great on paper 2 (can't remember what 4 was). Discussion question at the end was good, and definitions were relatively easy too and the diagram questions were good.

Same with 3, I don't think I lost any marks (or at least only a couple). Question 2 was by far the easiest due to being demand functions etc.

 

I might add I actually didn't revise theory of the firm on purpose - I knew you could choose questions that didn't involve it. A little risky, but it payed off :)

Ahaha my tactic exactly!! I never learnt theory of the firm and it paid off so much :) :) Hahaha we outsmarted the IB :P

 

I did the same thing with paper one :/ and am a little worried now. Apparently a very similar question was on a 2008 paper urgh.

Paper 2 and 3 were surprisingly easier than i thought :)

 

Agreed! My friends were all like dude you can't not revise theory of the firm, it's like the biggest topic in HL economics! Good thing I checked out the past exams and saw that only max 1 theory of the firm question would be for each paper meaning I could just do the other :)

Yeah I'm pretty annoyed with 1a, it felt like I had never covered it in class or anything, like I never remember my teacher mentioning the words "price incentives/functions" ever.

Ah well, only a 10 mark part, the 15 mark bit was much better!

 

And yep, loved paper 2 and especially 3 (hoping for a 7 in paper 3 at least!) :)

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Nice! Yeah 1a for paper 1 confused me and I thought it meant price incentives in terms of elasticity and hence the more inelastic a product is the higher the 'incentive' the price function is. Looked up some examples on google afterwards and realised it was just to do with market equilibrium...

I agree, paper 1 is very crucial for time management and I ended up only having about 15 mins to answer the 15 minute discuss question, however it was a great question I must say.

Yep, 2 was great on paper 2 (can't remember what 4 was). Discussion question at the end was good, and definitions were relatively easy too and the diagram questions were good.

Same with 3, I don't think I lost any marks (or at least only a couple). Question 2 was by far the easiest due to being demand functions etc.

 

I might add I actually didn't revise theory of the firm on purpose - I knew you could choose questions that didn't involve it. A little risky, but it payed off :)

Ahaha my tactic exactly!! I never learnt theory of the firm and it paid off so much :) :) Hahaha we outsmarted the IB :P

 

I did the same thing with paper one :/ and am a little worried now. Apparently a very similar question was on a 2008 paper urgh.

Paper 2 and 3 were surprisingly easier than i thought :)

 

Agreed! My friends were all like dude you can't not revise theory of the firm, it's like the biggest topic in HL economics! Good thing I checked out the past exams and saw that only max 1 theory of the firm question would be for each paper meaning I could just do the other :)

Yeah I'm pretty annoyed with 1a, it felt like I had never covered it in class or anything, like I never remember my teacher mentioning the words "price incentives/functions" ever.

Ah well, only a 10 mark part, the 15 mark bit was much better!

 

And yep, loved paper 2 and especially 3 (hoping for a 7 in paper 3 at least!) :)

 

Heyy :) yeah it will be interesting to see what happens with the mark boundaries for econ. 

 

You do geography HL? Me too. Any idea where I can find some recent practice past papers?

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Nice! Yeah 1a for paper 1 confused me and I thought it meant price incentives in terms of elasticity and hence the more inelastic a product is the higher the 'incentive' the price function is. Looked up some examples on google afterwards and realised it was just to do with market equilibrium...

I agree, paper 1 is very crucial for time management and I ended up only having about 15 mins to answer the 15 minute discuss question, however it was a great question I must say.

Yep, 2 was great on paper 2 (can't remember what 4 was). Discussion question at the end was good, and definitions were relatively easy too and the diagram questions were good.

Same with 3, I don't think I lost any marks (or at least only a couple). Question 2 was by far the easiest due to being demand functions etc.

 

I might add I actually didn't revise theory of the firm on purpose - I knew you could choose questions that didn't involve it. A little risky, but it payed off :)

Ahaha my tactic exactly!! I never learnt theory of the firm and it paid off so much :) :) Hahaha we outsmarted the IB :P

 

I did the same thing with paper one :/ and am a little worried now. Apparently a very similar question was on a 2008 paper urgh.

Paper 2 and 3 were surprisingly easier than i thought :)

 

Agreed! My friends were all like dude you can't not revise theory of the firm, it's like the biggest topic in HL economics! Good thing I checked out the past exams and saw that only max 1 theory of the firm question would be for each paper meaning I could just do the other :)

Yeah I'm pretty annoyed with 1a, it felt like I had never covered it in class or anything, like I never remember my teacher mentioning the words "price incentives/functions" ever.

Ah well, only a 10 mark part, the 15 mark bit was much better!

 

And yep, loved paper 2 and especially 3 (hoping for a 7 in paper 3 at least!) :)

 

Heyy :) yeah it will be interesting to see what happens with the mark boundaries for econ. 

 

You do geography HL? Me too. Any idea where I can find some recent practice past papers?

 

Hey :) I'm stressing out about geog because I don't know any case studies :( I've got past paper 3's from 2011 until 2014 may but no mark schemes for them, otherwise you could go on freeexampapers.com/#/IB but those papers are like 2010 and older. I should have asked my teacher for past papers, now it's probably too late :( If you've got facebook or something I could send you what I have?

Edited by Harrison Fuller
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