TALENT’S HSC SUBJECT GUIDE
    GETTING 
    THE EDGE IN 
    ECONOMICS 
    “ Equal  opportunity   
     to me, more than anything, 
     means a great education.”
          GETTING  
          THE EDGE IN  
          ECONOMICS 
                                                   Economics is the highest scaling social 
                                                   science in the HSC, but scoring top 
                                                   marks in this subject comes with its 
                                                   own unique challenges. 
                                                   In this article, Richard Chua and        We are going to look at three 
                                                   Dilshan Seneviratna explore              important questions that any 
                                                   what it takes to get the edge            prospective Economics student 
                                                   in Economics.                            should be able to answer. 
                                                   Richard won the Economics Prize          1. Why Study Economics?
                                                   at Sydney Grammar and 
                                                   graduated from UNSW                      2. What are the hidden dangers? 
                                                   Commerce with Distinction. 
                                                   Richard is the Founder of Talent         3.  What does it take to ace the 
                                                   100 and current Academic                    HSC Exam?
                                                   Director overseeing all course 
                                                   development and delivery.                Why study Economics? 
                                                   Dilshan ranked 5th in NSW in             One of the most practical reasons 
                                                   HSC Economics in 2008, and was           to study Economics is due to its 
                                                   awarded the coveted UNSW                 exceptional scaling. 
                                                   Finance Co-op Scholarship. He is 
                                                   currently a Doctor and MedStart          Of the humanities subject, 
                                                   Mentor at Talent.                        Economics scales the best on par 
                                                                                            with Physics and Chemistry. To give 
                                                                                            you some perspective, scoring in 
                HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
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                                                                                                                                                      ECONOMICS
            the top 5% of Economics puts you 
            on track for an ATAR of 99+, top             Essay questions: The hidden danger 
            10% puts you on track for 97+, and 
            top 20% on track for 94+. But aside          (and hidden opportunity)
            from scaling, there are other more 
            important reasons why you should 
            consider studying Economics.                 Despite the excellent scaling in             did not even end up counting for 
                                                         Economics, there is a hidden                 my ATAR. And that all happened 
            A basic understanding of                     danger or risk involved in doing             in one exam. 
            Economics is essential knowledge             this subject as there are in all 
            for any aspiring business person,            humanities: Essay questions. Whilst          In contrast, in subjects like 
            whether you are looking to enter             60% of the exam is based on                  Mathematics or Science, even if 
            finance, accounting, marketing or            multiple choice and short answer             one particular question may be 
            sales. It will train you in the right        (which tend to be very                       difficult or unexpected, you may 
            type of thinking needed to succeed           predictable), 40% of your exam is            experience a swing of 2-3 marks. In 
            in these professions. Before you             based on essay questions.                    Economics, the swing can be much 
            enter the high-flying corporate                                                           greater, so you need to be well 
            career, you will need to know the            Essay questions are ‘risky’ in the           prepared for your essays in an 
            basics - what motivates the                  sense that they can have a                   Economics exam. 
            behaviour of individuals, firms and          significant impact on your mark 
            governments in market economies,             and can very often catch even the 
            and how these groups seek to                 most prepared students by 
            improve production and profit.               surprise. If you are able to guess 
                                                         the essay question and adequately 
            In fact, understanding Economics is          prepare for it, you will ace the 
            so important in succeeding in these          exam, but if the essay question                    60%
                                                                                                            40%
            professions that it is a compulsory          catches you off guard, you can 
            course in all Business/Commerce/             have a massive swing in your final                                   40% of the exam 
            Economics Degrees in Universities.           exam performance.                                                    is based on essay 
                                                                                                                              questions
            This means what you study in Year 
            11 and 12 Economics you will also            This is something that affected me 
            study in University Microeconomics           personally in my HSC. I had a knack 
            and Macroeconomics.                          for guessing the essay questions 
                                                         set by my school teacher and 
            And finally, even if you don’t ever          guessed them perfectly for the 
            have the intention of entering the           school trials. I scored a raw mark of 
            business world, a basic of                   98% and received the Economics 
            understanding of Economics is a              Prize. It was my best subject for                  60%
            very useful life skill to have. Things       my assessments. Unfortunately, I                                     60% of the exam 
            like interest rate changes and the           guessed the Essay Questions                                          is based on 
            ups and downs of a business cycle            incorrectly in the HSC Exam,                                         multiple choice 
            will affect even scientists, engineers       dropping more than 30 rankings.                                      and short answer
            and health professionals.                    This meant that my “best” subject 
                                                                                         HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT           3
         GETTING  
         THE EDGE IN  
         ECONOMICS  Some tips for 
                                                                                   preparing 
         Breaking down the exam                                                    effectively for 
         To do well in the Economics exam, you need to understand exactly how      these two 
         the exam is structured. There are 100 marks in the Economics exam, 
         broken down as follows.                                                   sections are: 
           Section              Weighting               Preparation                1. Make notes on the syllabus dot 
                                                                                   points: Since your exam is based 
          Multiple Choice           20%       Syllabus and Textbook only           entirely on the syllabus, it makes 
          (20 Multiple                                                             sense to make notes on the 
          Choice Questions)                                                        syllabus dot points. These dot 
          Short-answer                                                             points also outline the extent of 
                                    40%       Syllabus and Textbook only           knowledge that you need about 
          questions                                                                any topic through the use of the 
          (4 Questions of                                                          verbs such as “outline”, “explain”, 
          10 marks each)                                                           “discuss” etc. so being able to 
          Essays                    40%       Syllabus and Textbook -              answer each specific dot point to 
          (2 Essays of 20                     Current Research and                 the required level of detail ensures 
          marks each)                         Recent Performance of                that your study remains focused 
                                              Australian economy                   and relevant.  
                                                                                   2. Write concise and structured 
                                                                                   answers for the short answer 
         Acing MCQs and short answer                                               questions: When answering short 
                                                                                   answer questions, you need to 
         The multiple choice and short answer sections are very straightforward.   ensure that your answers are clear, 
         They require an understanding of the basic Economic theory, which has     concise and structured. Many 
         remained unchanged for decades, such as how the federal budget and        students seem to “ramble on” 
         interest rates are used to stimulate or dampen the economy. You’ll also   before answering a question half 
         need to be able to interpret such theory in a variety of forms, such as   way down the page. Markers will 
         tables, graphs, statistics and models.                                    penalise such verbosity. 
              HSC SUBJECT GUIDE MAKE YOUR TALENT COUNT
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