Note: All of this advice is based on the  May 2019 Syllabus, and the IB economics syllabus has changed slightly since then, so Paper 1 and Paper 2 may have a different format now.

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General IB Economics Tips 

 

1) Best textbook for May 2019 syllabus (old syllabus):

Cambridge - Economics for the IB Diploma by Ellie Tragakes.

 

2) Read news related to economics 

Financial Times and Economist are best if you can afford it or if your school gives it to you. If you can’t get those, then BBC, Guardian and Bloomberg are pretty good options as well.

 

3) Time yourself when doing past paper questions

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Paper 1 Tips

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1) Time Management - Spend 15 mins on each 10 mark question and 30 mins on each 15 mark question, as the 15 mark question requires a lot more explanation and detail

 

2) Use the 5 minutes reading time to decide which questions you are going to pick

 

3) Definitions - Start your answer by defining the key terms in the questions

 

4) Diagrams - Always use a diagram unless a diagram is irrelevant to the topic (GDP might be one such topic) It’s also important to explain what is happening in the diagram (e.g. demand curve shifts right, price increases from P1 to P2). It is also a plus if you label the diagram with some real world example (e.g. market for cigarettes in UK, price for cigarettes, quantity of cigarettes)

 

5) Explain economic theory

 

6) Use real world examples effectively - they need to be mentioned throughout the essay, not just at the end or beginning. Use them when explaining your theory

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Paper 2 Tips

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1) Time Management - Spend 30 mins on each 8 mark question

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2) Don’t spend too much time on the 2 and 4 mark questions - you should be able to get through them relatively quickly

 

3) Use the 5 minutes reading time to decide which questions you are going to pick

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4) 2 mark questions - just give definitions

 

5) 4 mark questions - explain theory and usually need to draw and explain diagrams

 

6) 8 mark questions - You need to explore 2 sides of the argument, and finish off with a final judgement. For each side of the argument, you need to have theory, diagrams if possible, and involve the case study from the given text in your arguments by using quotations from the given text. You do not need to come up with your own real world examples for Paper 2, since the text is given to you.

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