Jump to content

Development Economics not Important for a 7?


Recommended Posts

Is Section 4 (Development Economics) not needed very much to get a 7 in the Economics external exam?

By "not needed", I do not mean not to study it, but that we shouldn't focus too much on it. My teacher says that there are some Development Economics concepts in the exams, but if we know Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and International Trade very well, we can get a 7 using just those and not focusing on Development Economics. Is that true? Many people are telling me so, while others are telling me that it is NECESSARY to study Development Economics...

I know people who have claimed to have gotten 7s in their external exams without studying Development Economics, so I just want to find the truth behind what they're saying...

Thank you :)

Link to post
Share on other sites

Actually, you can skip the entire part of the development economic syllabus and still get a 7. You just don't do a development question in the exam i.e. dont do question 4 or what ever number development is. If you know your Supply/Demand, Externalities, AD/AS, Trade diagrams you've basically got most of it covered. More over, some aspects of development can be answered through AD/AS or trade diagrams, so why go on to learn Lewis or Harrod-Domar? Its all about where you allocate your revision. To be very frank, you could skip trade as well but since trade is relatively easy and the questions are usually nice, its good to have more questions to choose from rather than limit yourself to micro and macro only.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah you can get a 7 without studying development economics. Development economics is basically just taking information about poverty, developing nations, etc. and applying economic concepts you learned previously to them. It's true that you don't have to pick a development economics question on the exam, but by not really studying it you're limiting your options :P If you don't really like the micro/macro questions that they ask you on the exam it's nice to have a backup :yes:

But no, you don't absolutely have to study development economics to get a 7.

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thank you both!! Really helpful answers! :)

I will study Development, but I won't focus on it too much and put more study energy on Micro, Macro, and Trade...

thanks again :)


Yeah you can get a 7 without studying development economics. Development economics is basically just taking information about poverty, developing nations, etc. and applying economic concepts you learned previously to them. It's true that you don't have to pick a development economics question on the exam, but by not really studying it you're limiting your options :P If you don't really like the micro/macro questions that they ask you on the exam it's nice to have a backup :yes:

But no, you don't absolutely have to study development economics to get a 7.

Thank you!! And btw, LOVE your display picture! :P love Summer Glau!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Technically.....yes. In economics we are blessed with the fact that we get to choose which question to answer in all papers (especially in SL)& you could actually get a 7 with studying any 3 sections alone (usually people leave out development OR Int. Trade) and it is actually BETTER to study 3 sections really well than studying all of them without being really confident in any particular section or being confident in only 2 or whatever

HOWEVER, it is still too risky because:

1- In paper 2 (paper for HL)many questions are a mixture of 2 sections: you might need to define term related to development in an international trade question, trade is at many times linked to development & in general there are many overlapping topics which you might be expected to cover from the point of view of 2 sections..

2- Even if this is not the case, you never know what could happen..you can very well find yourself restricted to only 3 out of 5 questions in paper 2 even though one of them is very difficult or you cant answer it. In other words, the questions in the sections you chose might be too difficult for you to answer!

So I would definitely not go as far as saying that it is not important...you can still get a 7 but you will decrease your chances with no doubt!

The best option would probably be to study the other sections really well and then read development or look at the previous papers & mark schemes to see how development is sometimes linked..

I personally think, development is too easy to leave! I find the questions on it to be quite easy and straightforward in most cases. Even if you don't study it well, simply going over it could help you a lot! So as you said, just don't focus on it, but dont leave it out completely :D

Good luck!! ;)

Edited by Summer Glau
no text speak please =)
  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...