Learner Guide for Cambridge AS and A Level Economics
How to use this guide
The guide describes what you need to know about your Economics examination.
It will help you to plan your revision programme and will explain what Cambridge International
Examinations is looking for.
The guide contains the following sections:
Section 1: How will you be tested?
This section will give you information about the different examination papers you will take.
Section 2: Examination tips
This section gives you advice to help you do as well as you can. Some of the tips are general advice and some are based on the common mistakes that learners make in exams.
Section 3: What will be tested?
This section describes the five assessment objectives in Economics
Section 4: What you need to know
This shows the syllabus content so that you can check:
• which topics you need to know about
• details about each topic area in the syllabus
• how much of the syllabus you have covered
Section 5: Useful Websites
© Cambridge International Examinations 2012
Learner Guide for Cambridge AS and A Level Economics
Section 1: How will you be tested?
The table below gives you information about the examination papers you will take.
Paper
Type
Duration
Number of
Questions
Maximum
Mark
1
Multiple
Choice
(Core)
(a)
Data
Response
(Core)
(b)
Structured
Essay (Core)
1 hour
30
30
Weight (% of total marks for syllabus) 40
45 minutes
(recommended)
1
20
30
45 minutes
(recommended)
1 from a choice of 3
20
30
2
2
© Cambridge International Examinations 2012
Learner Guide for Cambridge AS and A Level Economics
Section 2: Examination tips
General Advice
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It is very important that you look very closely at the ‘command’ or ‘directive’ words used in a question. These tell you what we are looking for. If a question asks you to ‘identify’,
‘state’ or ‘calculate’ something, you should not write a very long answer. If,