NOV11 Economics HL Paper 3

[Jennifer]

No-one has started a thread on this so I've decided to. Thoughts?

I found it quite challenging and I was really pushed for time.

[Matthew Sinclair]

Ok, so our test was probably at least 72 hours ago

I'll be honest, this was probably my worst exam so far. This and English paper 1 were quite horrible.

I spent ages trying to find 3 questions that I'd like to do. I spent almost 10 minutes longer than normal reading the data and I don't even think I read them properly

I thought this exam was MUCH harder than normal. I was expecting (before sitting P1 and P2) for the Data Response paper to have a question on externalities which I thought was quite common, that's why I was so shocked about the externalities question on P1. I was also hoping for a more basic theory of the firm question on P3. The one that they had was fine ish, but the other questions it accompanied weren't so good.

About 20 minutes into the exam I had a freak out and was on the verge of leaving (I'd never actually leave an exam though) and I was thinking I was going to fail etc.

In the end, it was ok. I did question 3, 4, and 5. I was a bit confused with the diagram in the tariff on coat hanger question. I ended up drawing a monopolistically competitive firm diagram and just showing a higher ATC curve

I liked the evaluation questions for 3, 4, and 5 So that was good.

I was really confused by question 3's evaluation though. The increase in the interest rates seemed almost counter-intuitive to the phase of the business cycle as it would reduce spending, therefore further lowering economic growth. I said it was ultimately to reduce inflation and thus achieve the macroeconomic objective of low inflation/price levels.

How did you find it? Which questions did you choose? Did you think it was harder than normal?

I really wish it was the N09 paper - that was amazingly easy/nice for P2 and P3!!

I was just really happy to leave the exam let's say

Also, in question 5, was a poverty cycle diagram fine for question C as a 'diagram' to show the poverty trap? I wasn't quite sure if it were actually a diagram or not

[Albert]

Okk I gotta remember what the case studies were on...

I know I did #3, #4 and #5

#5 was on something to do with the poverty cycle. I was really glad for that because after P1 and P2 I thought there hadn't been enough of development economics so I went over the poverty cycle and aid in a lot of depth. I think it was to do with aid given from Spain to Haiti? Ah yes... they also gave us the HDI's for Haiti and Madagascar. Yeah it wasn't bad actually...

#4 was to do with cost curves I think. Oh yes! I think this one was to do with coat hangers and how the US put a tariff on them thus driving up the cost to dry cleaners (from $12.95 to $12.97 lol). Yeah this one was OK as well... I struggled with drawing the cost curve graph because I didn't know if AC and MC shifted to the right or if just one did. I think though I ended up shifting them both. My evaluation wasn't great because I spent a lot of time drawing/explaining a tariff diagram. I don't know if I referred to the text enough too... =(

#3... errrr... wait I remember! It was to do with the Bank of England raising interest rates or something. I found this question pretty straightforward actually; you just had to know contractionary monetary policy (how to explain it) and the ramifications of it (half of which were in the case study).

I mean, I'd done quite a few practise exams and probably looked at the clock a bit more than I should've so time for me wasn't so much a problem, but I think it depends on the questions you picked. #2 was something to do with Apple and #1 was to do with a cartel I think. Anyway, all over now!

Ok, so our test was probably at least 72 hours ago

I'll be honest, this was probably my worst exam so far. This and English paper 1 were quite horrible.

I spent ages trying to find 3 questions that I'd like to do. I spent almost 10 minutes longer than normal reading the data and I don't even think I read them properly

I thought this exam was MUCH harder than normal. I was expecting (before sitting P1 and P2) for the Data Response paper to have a question on externalities which I thought was quite common, that's why I was so shocked about the externalities question on P1. I was also hoping for a more basic theory of the firm question on P3. The one that they had was fine ish, but the other questions it accompanied weren't so good.

About 20 minutes into the exam I had a freak out and was on the verge of leaving (I'd never actually leave an exam though) and I was thinking I was going to fail etc.

In the end, it was ok. I did question 3, 4, and 5. I was a bit confused with the diagram in the tariff on coat hanger question. I ended up drawing a monopolistically competitive firm diagram and just showing a higher ATC curve

I liked the evaluation questions for 3, 4, and 5 So that was good.

I was really confused by question 3's evaluation though. The increase in the interest rates seemed almost counter-intuitive to the phase of the business cycle as it would reduce spending, therefore further lowering economic growth. I said it was ultimately to reduce inflation and thus achieve the macroeconomic objective of low inflation/price levels.

How did you find it? Which questions did you choose? Did you think it was harder than normal?

I really wish it was the N09 paper - that was amazingly easy/nice for P2 and P3!!

I was just really happy to leave the exam let's say

Also, in question 5, was a poverty cycle diagram fine for question C as a 'diagram' to show the poverty trap? I wasn't quite sure if it were actually a diagram or not

English paper 1 was terrible. Agreed.

The mid year exam had a question on externalities on paper 1 so I don't think it was that out of the ordinary (it was the cigarette market failure question).

I was a bit confused with the diagram in the tariff on coat hanger question. I ended up drawing a monopolistically competitive firm diagram and just showing a higher ATC curve

Yes this was the one I had the most trouble with... as I said.. I just raised the AC and MC curves (which is equivalent to what you did it sounds like). I did a monopolistic curve too, and that the tariff was leading to a 'loss of profits' (we only needed to show a decline in profits).