My Economics teacher scared me

[cube246]

Well I just started IB very recently and had my first DP economics class today. All classes start out at SL and we get to choose our HLs later on.

I missed out on the first econs class as I had previously been doing history but switched out into econs after my first history lesson.

My teacher asked the class who will be planning to do econs at a higher level for IB and I said I was.

At this point he started ranting on about how incredibly difficult HL econs will be and that there will even be things that he will not be able to answer without personal research of the material of his own. He emphasized that there will be a lot of math used in econs and that there were a lot of difficult concepts to understand.

I'm kind of freaking out now so I'd like to have some HL Econs takers to affirm my teacher's claim so I'll be able to brace myself for HL Econs if all was said is true. Especially the bit about using a lot of difficult math.

I don't think I'll be changing my HL Econs subjects as there's nothing I'd really rather do at HL though.

Thanks in advance

[Arrowhead]

Your teacher is probably just trying to freak you guys out so you take the class seriously.

Economics HL, statistically, has the highest rate of 7s of any Group 3 or Group 4 subject.

Economics is a combination of memorisation and understanding in that you have to memorise the definitions word-for-word, and be able to understand the concepts just enough to be able to recreate the graphs.

In my experience doing HL Economics, there were some students who just 'got' it and others who didn't. The ones who did were usually the ones that did the readings and would properly study for the subject. By "properly study", I mean spend the requisite 10-15 minutes every night just going over the definitions and ideas covered in class and ensuring that you're clear on them.

Statistically speaking, History HL is much more difficult to get a 7 or 6 in as compared to Economics HL. So you saved yourself.

Cheers!

PS. I love your school's policy of letting you sample subjects and then decide which to take at HL. If only more schools had such forethought!

[Ossih]

Hey!

I'm an econ SL student but I cover the work done by HL as well (the classes are combined and I need it for my EE) and honestly you'll be fine. The math isn't hard at all its simple graphs and things like that. Yes, when you do Theory of the Firm, you may need to keep your graphs straight in your head but that's about it.

What you need to be able to do is form connections, and understand the situations, and evaluate impacts. It's supposed to be good if you keep yourself on top of your work

[yii yann]

Well I just started IB very recently and had my first DP economics class today. All classes start out at SL and we get to choose our HLs later on.

I missed out on the first econs class as I had previously been doing history but switched out into econs after my first history lesson.

My teacher asked the class who will be planning to do econs at a higher level for IB and I said I was.

At this point he started ranting on about how incredibly difficult HL econs will be and that there will even be things that he will not be able to answer without personal research of the material of his own. He emphasized that there will be a lot of math used in econs and that there were a lot of difficult concepts to understand.

I'm kind of freaking out now so I'd like to have some HL Econs takers to affirm my teacher's claim so I'll be able to brace myself for HL Econs if all was said is true. Especially the bit about using a lot of difficult math.

I don't think I'll be changing my HL Econs subjects as there's nothing I'd really rather do at HL though.

Thanks in advance

Either your teacher's incredibly thick or he's just trying to scare you - HL Econs is one of the easiest exams to score marks in. I took the following subjects in the IB:

HL English

HL Math

HL Econs

HL Music

SL Chemistry

SL Spanish

Honestly, econs was like the 3rd easiest subject to get my 7 in. It's only tricky trying to learn the concepts for the first time (especially if you're completely new to econs, not having studied it previously), but once you get the hang of things, it's easy.

The math part is really simple. It's a little bit of work trying to remember the formulas of stuff like GDP Deflator (Was it inflator?!) but otherwise easy. The questions on the math paper (paper 3) are very straightforward, if you've studied reasonably diligently at all you will have no problem.

The best thing you can do for yourself right now is to get Economics for the IB Diploma by Ellie Tragakes. The latest version (black/dark blue cover). The content is fantastic, and also the CD has a huge bank of exam questions which are very very useful!