Recently I have received many queries from my business contacts and some parents about the difference between JC Econs and Poly Econs. At such, I might as well clarify these queries here to help many other more parents! 🙂
Basically, the learning styles for JC and Poly Econs are quite different:
- Time – For JC Econs, this is a two years course when typically Microeconomics is covered in the first year while Macroeconomics is covered in the second year. For Poly Econs, this is usually for 1st year Business students whom have to take both Micro and Macro as compulsory modules for half a year each (total one year). Poly students are thus more “disadvantaged” as they only have one year to complete the course instead of their peers’ two years;
- Content – For JC Econs, the emphasis is placed heavily on qualitative writing i.e essays and case studies. Marks will be awarded base on student’s ability to argue on the essays, provide real life examples and critical thinking. For Poly Econs, the emphasis is rather quantitative and dry – many calculations and many factual answerings are required. My honest view is that Poly Econ’s content is rather dated and diluted as compared to JC and many Poly students simply forget what they learnt in poly after they graduated;
- Choice – For JC Econs, JC students have a choice to study this course during their choice of subject combination while for Poly Business and Law students, Econs is two mandatory modules and they have to pass it no matter what.
I sincerely hope that MOE can step in to review its content for Poly Econ’s to make it more lively and applicable like its JC counterpart instead of dry calculations and pure memory work. Many poly students whom are struggling with the course confide with me that they are learning for the sake of learning and they totally hate the subject.
Side note for JC parents & JC 1 students: you can find out more how I conduct classes for JC Classes and whether your child/you should study H1 or H2 Econs.
[aio_button align=”center” animation=”none” color=”green” size=”small” icon=”none” text=”Related Post – H1 or H2 Econs” relationship=”dofollow” url=”https://aceyourecons.sg/h1-or-h2-econs/”]
[aio_button align=”center” animation=”none” color=”yellow” size=”small” icon=”none” text=”Related Post – What is Economics in JC” relationship=”dofollow” url=”https://aceyourecons.sg/what-is-economics-in-jc/”]
<