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Blog Site update Syllabus

Welcome to Sepupunomics!

Victor Tan
 

Welcome friends and sepupus from around the world!

Sepupunomics is a blog and educational resource for both the young and the old on the wonderful subject of economics!

At this stage, many of you are coming from YouTube – thank you for stopping by and I hope you’ll find this entertaining and educational.

If you didn’t, you’re probably wondering – What is a sepupu?

Well, it means “cousin” in Malay. If you’re not down to read too much, just know that in my mind, I am sepupu, you are sepupu, we are all sepupu from across the universe; if you REALLY want to know what a Sepupu is and why I’m using this name against all good sense and even though it requires an explanation, here’s why this site is called Sepupunomics.

Part blog, part IGCSE, A Level, and IB Diploma Program economics resource sheet and combination of deep dives that almost nobody goes into, this is my attempt to help you understand the world and economy a little better as I learn about the world through the lens of economics, read about it, and reflect about it with you on this journey.

If you’ve never studied economics and you want to know why you should consider studying it…

Start with What is Economics and Why Learn About It?

There you will get a bit of the flavor of choice, what economics is, and why you may care even if you never take economics formally as a subject.

I hope you will have fun reading and thinking about some of these questions which have animated me for many years!

Meanwhile, just as we have our things in order, consider the…

Site Directory!

IGCSE, A Levels, and IB Diploma Economics: What You Need To Know

  1. Syllabus-related
  2. Tips for optimizing your time for exam practice

Cambridge IGCSE/A Level Economics

  1. Syllabus-related
  2. Premium resources:

IB Diploma

  1. Syllabus-related

Resources and publications

Think of these as different things that I’d like to offer to you to give you value so that you will be willing to support my journey. Premium reports are curated reports on a range of different issues which you can go ahead and learn about just by reading this website. Generally speaking, you can expect these to deepen your understanding of the world and bring you just a little bit further in your journey.

I started this blog because it’s what I would have wanted as a student, and I think that the topics within are both fascinating and intriguing to me – if they’re interesting to you too, it looks like we’ve found a match, an equilibrium, a clearing! 😀

Also yes, it is a blog, so you’ll get some of my thoughts here, there, and everywhere.
If you find this work valuable, do consider sharing it over social media, sharing it with your students, feel free to integrate it into your lesson plans as well, and make sure to learn as much as you can during this epic time ahead 🙂

…What are you waiting for?

Meanwhile, a most urgent matter: If you’re here for the first time and scratching your head about what a sepupu is, it means “cousin” in Malay – also, watch this video.

It may seem silly, but this is one of my many sources of motivation. More to come soon!

Happy reading!

V.

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A Levels Blog Economics IGCSE Economics

Analysis Versus Evaluation

Victor Tan
 

Analyze better!

Your evaluation is not enough. 

If you were like me, these were words that you confronted in the course of your economics classes as a younger student. And if you are anything like me, they would have infuriated you as you wondered to yourself what it would mean to perform that strange, almost unavoidable injunction time after time as understanding eluded you and comprehension of what you were meant to do evaded your every grasp. 

In today’s blog post, I hope to explain the difference to you and also to ground your understanding of what it means to analyze and to evaluate to make your economics journey that much smoother, that much easier, and hopefully just a little more meaningful than you might have expected it to be. 

Ready? Let’s go!

Let’s start by revisiting something small, but fundamental and important. 

Economics is the study of choice under scarcity. As we discussed before, that scarcity can take the form of pretty much anything and everything that is finite in this universe. 

Most often we think of it as money, but it can also be time, or anything else that we could use to serve a goal in our universe.

Okay, great. Now have a look at the analysis and evaluation assessment objectives for a quick bit. 

All right, you’ve probably seen that before – it’s also relevant for IB Economics since all we really are interested in is just the general idea or concept of what this set of topics mean, so now let’s refresh everything a little bit.

Let’s first talk about analysis. 

You’re told that analysis means that you’re able to select, organize, and interpret data. You should be able to use economic information and data to recognize patterns and to deduce relationships, and apply economic analysis to written, numerical, diagrammatic, and graphical data and analyze economic issues and situations, identifying and developing links. 

Sounds like a mouthful? 

Sure, but here’s another way you can think about it. 

Think about it as understanding the results of a choice. 

Analyzing in economics is understanding and knowing consistently how to answer this question: what will happen if we make this choice according to economic theory? 

Here you can see why the diagrams come in because you need to be able to look at something that’s happening and understand how to apply the theory and what would happen according to the theory in the situation that you’re describing.

For example, if for some reason there is extremely good weather for the season or somehow all of the seeds that you use for a crop happen to spontaneously evolve and begin producing a much higher yield, what happens is that clearly more crops can be supplied at every single given price and you should be able to predict that a supply curve would then shift to the right based on that. 

On the other hand, there is evaluation, which is a little bit trickier.

Same with the other assessment objective, we know what that looks like for the IGCSE and A levels as well.

Evaluation, in the context of IGCSE/A Level economics, means being able to evaluate economic information and data, distinguish between economic analysis and unreasoned statements, recognize the uncertainties of outcomes of economic decisions and events, and communicate economic thinking in a logical manner. 

Think of evaluation as trying to decide if your choices make sense, the impacts of your choices on other people, how the choice could play out under different situations whether in the short-term or the long-term, and how your choice could affect different people or parties, amongst other things. 

In both cases, you are thinking and reasoning about choices across time frames, considering how choices affect others, yourself, and thinking about how scarce resources are used, provided, and distributed throughout our society. 

If this seems a little vague, it is often because you may not be thinking about the choices and the occurrences that may happen in our society and world from different points of view, or thinking deeply about how to understand the choices that we face in life.

That is natural because often times the world teaches us to take things as given. We are presented with a million different choices on a day-to-day basis and are so overwhelmed with them that it often becomes easy just to make choices all day. Well, that’s exactly the kind of thinking that economics trains you to participate in, and I think that it’s valuable to learn about it for that reason. Because it is relevant to everyone.

Now you might say that thinking about choice doesn’t necessarily mean that you should be learning about economics, and I totally respect that. But the framework that economics gives for thinking about choice I think is something that is definitely worthwhile to think about, so long as we live life on this planet and scarcity remains a real and lived out facet of human experience. 

Till the next one!

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Blog Economics Economy Reflections

Education and Economics: The Linkage and the Grand Design.

Victor Tan
 

Hello Sepupus one and all! 

Fun little blog post today. I’ve been meaning to talk about this for a while but a lot of syllabus planning and a whole range of other things got in the way.

But here we discuss for you right now the relationship between education and economics.

Whether you realize it or not, these two are linked with one another in an inextricable fashion, and it doesn’t matter that you don’t take economics at all because it remains true.

In this blog post, I hope to show you the outlines of the picture and help you understand how everything connects together in what some might say is a grand design, but what others might very easily and rightfully say is just “how the world works”.

Ready? Let’s go!

Now it’s no secret that in this blog you’re going to find a whole range of maximum value packed resources for education. Specifically you’ve got a range of different resources for IB, IGCSE, A-levels and everything out there.

Some of you out there who are of the opinion that education shouldn’t be linked to a particular syllabus, shouldn’t be linked to curricula, want to abandon your college degrees right now and go out and become heroes of the new liberal universe. Well you might want to read this and read it closely. 

When we talk about education, it is easy to just think of it as a process of making people learn, and indeed, that’s very much what it is.

Education is for training. 

In search of that training, students enter classrooms by the dozens, the hundreds, the thousands, and the millions, depending on whether you’re talking about the scale of a single classroom, a school, a country, or in turn, the world, to get training on language, mathematics, the sciences, history, and any number of other things in the service of an educational program, whether that of a nation aiming to shape its identity and build up a competent generation able to compete in the world or a private initiative that aims for the same, getting that parents will seek the very best possible outcomes with the resources that they invest into as they test out their philosophy of what is correct, proper, and necessary for the whole advancement of a child. 

Isn’t it wonderful that people are so dedicated to self-improvement? 

That they would all automatically and out of the goodness of their own hearts direct their kids to go through academic torture all in the name of gaining wonderful skills in the modern world for their self-empowerment? 

Well, you might think that, but in most parts of modern society—no matter what country you live in nowadays—If you have children below the age of 18, and you don’t send them to school and have no valid reason, you will be fined, you may be arrested, and child and social services may arrest you — this is because 

Education is not just training; it is also legally required.

In other words? The state takes an interest in whether you train your child or not; negligence of your child’s education is in fact against the law. 

Is it just a matter of the law though?

Well, as it turns out, no. That’s just one part of it. Because if parents were just coerced to bring their kids into schools against their will, you could imagine there being an entire generation of people just malingering, doing the bare minimum in order to help their kids not become prison liabilities for them.

The reality, however, is infinitely more complex and interesting than that. 

Rather than just doing the bare minimum, parents engage in incredibly complex stances to ensure that their children not only enter the education system but thrive within it by an act of willing volition.

But before you come up with your fanciful speculations about what is and what is not, no, it is not by pure altruism that this happens and it is not on account of a mere game.

Education not only trains, but it also certifies.

This one has a college degree – good! He has certain basic skills! Wow! This one graduated from a top university. Amazing! He must be really smart! Wow, this one reads Sepupunomics and also took IG, A-levels and IB economics. He must surely know a lot about economics!

What’s the corollary of that? 

Education not only certifies but it facilitates selection. 

It is probably easiest to show you what I mean with an example. 

Wow! We have so many qualified scholarship applicants, but only one scholarship to give. Hey! She got 10 A*s for her IGCSEs and we have one scholarship and everyone got 9A*s and one A and only 20 minutes to decide before clock out at 5pm. Let’s pick her!

Hey! We need some really smart people to work on our very sensitive project and we only have one hour to get through all the resumes before saving the world from Thanos! What do we do? 

Oh, the University of Chicago is renowned for smart people – hire him! (Sorry had to glaze my alma mater there LOL) 

And what’s the corollary of all that? 

Beyond teaching you about choice, giving you inspiration, cultivating the way that you think, make decisions, articulate yourself, and develop skills and develop skills that are important not only for functioning in the adult world but also in day-to-day life, education also shapes how other people make choices about you — Not only by certifying you but also providing mechanisms for training and assessing you across all relevant dimensions, which is what educational programs like the IGCSE A-levels, IB, and the whole smorgasbord of different economics courses you may encounter later in university may present to you, to not even speak about the ways that people can make inferences about whether you are educated or you are not from the way that you speak, the way that you articulate yourself, the topics that you raise, and the ideas that you communicate with the world. 

On these dual levels then, and in respect to the scarcity that we all share in both of time and money and a whole range of other resources that none of us have an infinite amount of. 

Education is inextricably linked with the economics that you are studying — Either formally if you’re taking one of the educational programs I mentioned earlier or otherwise or informally if you are just reading this and nodding along. 

Isn’t it lovely and meta to think about how by studying economics you learn about choice, and right now in reading this blog post you’re learning about how you are learning about choice? 

It’s almost like that John Green novel about turtles all the way down, except now this is economics and we are talking about choices all the way down and how they all take part in a common framework that can’t be separated from society and the real world as it stands. 

Whether it’s for training and you can’t get out of it because of the law, you’re seeking certification or in turn trying to be selected. It’s clear that education interfaces with economics in all too many critical ways. 

We would not pay the doctor who has no medical degree, nor would we hire someone who doesn’t have the right skills. It doesn’t make sense on both of those counts, and in both counts, the ostensible problem is a lack of education, whether in providing the certification that the doctor can actually perform the operation or in the vibe check that affirms that the person who’s trying to get a job from you is actually someone worth while speaking to or listening to. 

When we move beyond that abstraction, it becomes easier to understand. 

If you pay this doctor and not an educated doctor, you lose your money — Not only might it be the case that your disease won’t be cured, but if he prescribes you the wrong medicine or does the wrong kind of treatment, you could become even more ill and in the worst case die. If you hire someone who doesn’t have the skills or doesn’t have the learning a bit of someone who needs to master a very difficult field in a very short amount of time, the money that you pay out every single month to put them in the job that you might put them in would actively be a drain on company expenses with no measurable benefit. 

Look through and understand our economy and the way that we provide and receive services, instruction, training, and guidance in all of its forms, and there you will see — In every industry and in every way, the dynamics of scarcity, choice, education, and decision come into play in a symphony that even if you cannot directly tease apart, you engage in playing a role, even if you are not conscious of it.

Alright, and that’s all for today. I’ll see you guys in the next one! 

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Assessment Economics Economy International Baccalaureate Syllabus

🎯 Nailing the IB Economics IA: Your Ultimate Survival & Success Guide

Victor Tan
 

Be careful what you wish for, because you may actually get it.

This is one of the things that I constantly say to people who are contemplating the IB and who want to do so because it provides a ‘balanced’ education.

Well yes, it’s ‘balanced’, but do you know what that entails?

Today, let’s explore a little bit of that!

One of the things that almost every IB student yearns for but later regrets is the Internal Assessment.

🧠 What is the IB Economics IA?

The IA is a series of three commentaries, each based on a real-world news article. You’ll write one for each of the main branches of economics:

  1. Microeconomics
  2. Macroeconomics
  3. The Global Economy (trade or development)

Each commentary is capped at 800 words, and you’re expected to:

  • Use a news article no more than one year old.
  • Analyze the article using relevant economic theory.
  • Include at least one diagram.
  • Apply your own evaluation (not just description).

It’s internally marked by your teacher and externally moderated by IB, and it counts for 20% of your final grade.

Internal Assessments are, as the wording suggests, internal (they are within your school) and they are assessed (these are not just homework); they contribute 20% of your overall IB grade.

Let’s also observe that this process will take place about one year into the course after you’ve learned a good bit of course material and will also take place alongside the IA process for every single one of your other five subjects while you are trying to desperately complete your CAS (if you hadn’t already) and also your Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge essay as you revise your one designated draft with your teacher in the knowledge that how well you do will determine your entire grade.

But here’s the truth: the Economics IA doesn’t have to be a nightmare. In fact, it can be one of the most rewarding parts of the course—if you know how to approach it.

Let’s break down everything you need to know. Consider this your friendly survival guide from someone who’s been through the trenches and lived to tell the tale.

🔎 Step 1: Finding the Right Article—The Scavenger Hunt

This is where your IA journey really begins. At first, you may feel like a detective trying to find a clue in a haystack of economic headlines. But trust me—this part is crucial.

Here’s what you want:
✅ The article is recent (published within the last year).
✅ It focuses on a policy (like a tax, subsidy, interest rate change, or trade tariff).
✅ It’s not too technical or long—you want to explain it, not quote it.
✅ There’s room for analysis, application, and evaluation.

The reason that this is crucial is that when you write your commentary, you want to have something that you can effectively comment about, it has to be intellectually interesting and worth talking about, and it has to be a recent matter.

🧠 Pro tip: Use Google News with search terms like “government imposes tax,” “central bank raises interest rate,” or “import tariff Malaysia.” Once you find a good one, screenshot and save it—you don’t want to lose your gold nugget.

🏗️ Step 2: Building the Commentary—Your 800-Word Masterpiece

Think of your commentary like a mini-essay. Here’s a reliable structure to follow:

  1. Introduction: Briefly summarize the article and define the economic concept(s).
  2. Theory and Diagram: Explain the relevant theory. Draw and label your diagram.
  3. Application: Show how the theory applies to the article.
  4. Evaluation: Weigh the pros and cons. Consider stakeholders. Suggest alternatives. Include short-run vs. long-run effects. CLASPP is a nice guide and acronym (Conclusion, Long term/Short term, Applications, Stakeholders, Priorities, Pros/Cons), but it’s not a good substitute for critical thinking and for understanding how things relate to one another in both broad and narrow aspects; it is very easy to repeat the acronym over and over again; if you are not getting inspiration, take a step back. More on this soon.)

Don’t waste words. Be concise, clear, and logical.

🧠 Pro tip: Your diagram is your best friend. A well-labeled diagram can communicate what 200 words can’t—and yes, it must be fully explained in the text.

👩‍🏫 Working with Your Teacher—Your IA Wingperson

Your economics teacher isn’t just marking your IA—they’re mentoring you through it.

In most schools, your teacher will:

  • Approve your article
  • Give feedback on your first draft (IB allows only one round of formal feedback)
  • Help clarify the concepts and guide your structure

Let me also say this:

Teachers have a huge role in this process and you want your teacher to be on your side, because that makes all the difference – also, the quality of the teacher and how well they’re organized/how they are able to allocate time is very crucial; it’s clear that the commentary and the feedback process requires individualized attention – imagine what that must be like to deal with if you’re dealing with a class of 30 economics students where each student has one commentary and one round of feedback, which means that there will be 90 separate pieces of feedback that that single teacher has to produce for their students after having read each individual commentary, understood each commentary, and provided guidance on what specifically to improve; imagine that these 30 students each ask for feedback meetings for one hour for their commentaries – that’s 180 hours total on student meetings alone, not even including preparation time for those feedback meetings and the cooldown time after.

Clearly, it is very labor intensive and it’s also one reason why it’s justifiable for IB to be so expensive.

Use your privilege of feedback wisely. Don’t show up with a half-baked idea and hope for a miracle. Instead, prepare your thoughts, show initiative, and be open to rewriting (because you will rewrite)

Make your teacher’s life simple and reason through everything properly – don’t come in with half-hearted preparation, but rather with the attitude that your first draft will be your final draft, and do the very best that you can.

✍️ Writing Tips to Make Your IA Shine

  • Define your terms. IB loves clear definitions, and your sepupu does as well. Make sure that people have a clear idea of what you mean when you speak, and ensure that that’s the case by clearly articulating your definitions before you use them.
  • Avoid narration. Don’t just retell the article. Analyze it. Understand what’s happening. In other words, make it so that when I read what you write, I understand what is happening from an economics perspective.
  • Stick to the word limit. 800 words means 800 economically powerful words.
  • Keep it focused. Don’t try to cover everything. Go deep, not wide.
  • Use real-world language. But keep your tone academic.

I may include exemplars from my own students soon.

🧠 Pro tip: Write with the IB rubric in mind. You are scored on diagrams, application, analysis, evaluation, and language. So always ask: “Which criterion am I hitting with this sentence?”

⏳ The Emotional Rollercoaster

Let’s not sugarcoat it: the IA process will test your time management, your research skills, and occasionally your sanity. You’ll write something, feel proud of it, then realize you misunderstood the policy. Or you’ll find the perfect article a week after you’ve written the draft.

That’s normal. Everyone goes through this.

The best students are not the ones who get it perfect the first time. They’re the ones who revise, reflect, and stay calm.

🏁 Final Thoughts: Your IA Is a Mirror

Here’s the real magic of the IA: it reflects how well you understand economics and how well you can apply it in the real world. It’s not about memorization—it’s about thinking like an economist.

But more importantly, it’s about applying your ideas to the real world.

I think that that is really fascinating, because theory is not really a satisfying thing at the end of the day, and it is useless if it doesn’t help people to explain reality – in a way, we could therefore say that being able to write an IA intelligently and to comment on the world around you is the entire meaning of economics; it is how you test yourself against that reality and demonstrate that you are able to communicate with other human beings.

So embrace the process. Be patient with yourself. And when you finally hand in your IA and realize, “Hey—I just used economic theory to explain real-world issues,” you’ll feel that flicker of pride; you’ll feel that flicker of pride even more strongly when you realize that what you wrote can actually cause a person who is reading it to understand the issue more deeply and understand how it relates to resource allocation and how it’s likely to benefit or to harm society.

Isn’t it nice to be able

Go forth, young economist. The world is waiting to be analyzed and evaluated, and a 45 out of 45 awaits you.
And who knows? That little commentary might just be the first step toward a lifelong fascination with how the world works!

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