We understand that many JC students are totally clueless about JC Econs Case Studies and how to do well for them!
Before we go on further into uncovering the tips to do well for case studies, let us uncover the rationale why case studies are involved in A level Econs syllabus in the first place:
Data Interpretation & Higher Order Thinking Skills – Cambridge realised that since early 2000, A level students that they had churned out were typically very good at memorising essays and MCQs (yes, in the early days, MCQs were very popular) but not “practical” enough, in the sense that they could not interpret real life economics data i.e inflation/unemployment table and most importantly, not being able to apply the economics knowledge they have learnt in classroom onto real life scenarios & critique the limitations of the economics knowledge they have learnt. Case studies is the perfect replacement tool of MCQs to test the application skill of candidates in the form of data analysis and critical thinking.
Many JC students are struggling with their Econs Case Studies even though some of them had prior experience of Source Based Questions in Social Studies / History. Why? Isn’t the skill set the same?
This is because:
- Inadequate economics knowledge – enough said. This is an ECONOMICS paper. Any “over-generalised” answers will be deemed like General Paper answering and also deemed as “throwing smoke bombs” at JC A level Econs teachers, which is not a very wise move. You don’t want to be “insulting” the intelligence of your markers, do you?
- “Insider Writing Technique” – many JC teachers simply spent too much resources trying to teach economics content. When they go through case studies answers, they simply go on and on and on… talking about economics theory but very few of them actually touch on the “know-how” of each sub questions. Do you know that each sub questions of case studies have a very predictable pattern of answering? Throughout my decade long of JC Econs teaching experience, I have developed a simple yet powerful answering technique system, especially for Case Studies and many of my students were simply shocked that why such useful techniques were not covered in school, not mentioning other tuition centres.
Extracted partially from my simple yet powerful answering technique, here is one of the simplest to follow and yet most important JC Econs Case Study Tips we hope you can benefit from:
Do you know that 60 – 70% of the total case study marks are easily allocated at the last few big questions? And yet why are so many students struggling to finish them?? Time and tide waits for no men. Most students fail their case studies because they fail to complete the paper in time and this is in turn, is because they lack time discipline and a concrete plan to tackle their case study.
We advise all our students to bring a wrist watch into the exam hall and exercise the golden rule of:
***1.5mins / mark for each questions***
If it is a 2 marks question, 3 minutes will be allocated to it. No more, no less. Unlike the exam hall clock which is located very far away (and very difficult to see), the personal wrist watch can be used to track your time / question closely.
Up to here, please don’t say “chey..” like that only. We have seen countless of bright JC students flopping their case studies simply because they are perfectionists and could not bear to leave their answer “too short”! They will be busy trying to write more and more AND MORE for a 2 mark question, only to realise that all these “borrowed time” from the other questions will compound and kill them in the big questions! Time discipline is the catch to start passing your case studies!
Based on 30 marks, 45 minutes will be allocated solely to writing while the first 10 minutes will be allocated to reading the extracts carefully. The balance time 10 minutes will be allocated to planning of big questions. Allocating time to planning is very important as well as failing to plan is usually the first step to planning to fail!
In our exclusive case study online workshop, we will like to showcase to you the full “insider technique” and how we use it to systematically and effectively answer all case studies question. And yes, we mean ALL KINDS of case study questions. And you will be surprised how predictable and boring how case studies questions can be after learning this answering technique!
But most importantly, we really feel your frustrations like the girl above and we really want you to start passing your case studies immediately! Find out how our program can help you:
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