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Assessment

Assessment IGCSE Economics Syllabus

IGCSE Economics 0455 – How Will I Be Assessed?

Victor Tan
 

We’ve talked a little bit about the syllabus and what IGCSE Economics 0455 consists of, as well as assessment objectives and a range of other things.

In case you haven’t gone into a total state of catatonia while you think about taking on this new subject just yet, then in that case, today, let’s dive deep into the IGCSE Economics 0455 Assessment structure so you’ll understand exactly how you will be assessed in the exams!

The Cambridge IGCSE Economics (0455) assessment is made up of two papers:

🧮 Paper 1: Multiple Choice

⏱ Time: 1 hour
📝 Marks: 40 marks
📊 Weight: 30% of the final grade
📦 Format: 40 multiple-choice questions

✅ What It Tests

  • AO1: Knowledge and understanding
  • AO2: Application and analysis

Expect to be tested on definitions, calculations, diagram interpretations, and quick conceptual relationships (e.g. shifts in supply/demand, price mechanisms).

🔎 Real-World Examples

  • “What is the opportunity cost of a choice?”
  • “If price increases from $5 to $6 and quantity falls from 100 to 80, what is the PED?”
  • “Which diagram shows a contraction in demand?”

🧠 Pro Tips (Beyond the Syllabus)

  • Don’t underestimate this paper. Many students treat MCQ as “easy marks,” but 4 deceptively plausible answers require deep understanding.
  • Time yourself tightly — that’s 1.5 minutes per question. Don’t linger. Skip and return. Remember that every single question is worth the same number of points. If you get one wrong, it is bad, but you shouldn’t let any individual question take up your time to the point that you end up losing marks on the rest of the paper.
  • Master your diagrams. Many questions show supply and demand graphs — a small shift can change the entire meaning. Understand what everything means, why it works that way, and how to use the diagrams in order to illustrate or understand real-world situations. Understanding the theory itself is something that you can brag about, but if you cannot deal with real-world situations, I doubt that you understand the theory.
  • Memorize formulas cold — PED, PES, GDP per capita, average cost, etc. Make sure to know how to use them and practice using them with real questions.You won’t have time to figure them out on the spot.
  • Use process of elimination. Even if you’re unsure of the right answer, you can usually spot at least one wrong one.

✍️ Paper 2: Structured Questions

⏱ Time: 2 hours
📝 Marks: 80 marks
📊 Weight: 70% of the final grade
📦 Format:

  • Section A: 1 compulsory data response question (20 marks)
  • Section B: 3 out of 4 extended response questions (3 × 20 marks)

✅ What It Tests

  • All 3 Assessment Objectives:
    • AO1: Knowledge
    • AO2: Application and Analysis
    • AO3: Evaluation

🔍 Section A – Data Response

You’re given a short article, chart, graph, or table and a set of questions from (a) to (f).

This is where Cambridge tests your ability to:

  • Read real-world economic data
  • Extract and apply relevant concepts
  • Use evidence to support answers
  • Demonstrate analysis and some evaluation

✅ Insider Insight:

  • This section reflects what the examiners consider a “real economist in action.”
  • You MUST use the data provided – don’t ignore it. Quote a figure, mention a trend, refer to the chart. USE your data.
  • Common error: Writing answers as though this were a generic question. If they gave you a chart about Malaysia’s inflation, don’t answer as if it’s the USA. Be specific and tailor your answers to the context.

🔍 Section B – Essay Questions

Choose 3 out of 4 questions. Each has parts (a), (b), (c), (d) – usually:

  • (a) Define / Identify / State → Simple (2–4 marks)
  • (b) Describe / Explain → Short explanation or diagram (4–6 marks)
  • (c) Apply / Analyse → Often diagram-based or scenario-based (6–8 marks)
  • (d) Discuss / Evaluate → Full essay with balanced arguments + judgment (6–8 marks)

✅ Insider Insight:

  • Cambridge is really testing if you understand not just what economics is, but how to think like an economist.
  • Evaluation is where A* students separate themselves from A students. Use phrases like:
    • “It depends on…”
    • “In the short run… but in the long run…”
    • “Assuming that…”
    • “A potential limitation is…”
  • The phrases above are all about evaluating or deciding what is right and being able to deal with uncertainty.What if what you believe was not true? What if it’s only true in a certain way? If it’s true, then what will happen now? Then, what will happen later on if this is allowed to play out? These are questions that you will need to ask about.

🎓 What Sets Top Students Apart (Not in the Syllabus!)

  1. They treat command words like legal instructions
    • Explain ≠ Describe, Discuss ≠ Evaluate. Misinterpreting these costs marks.
  2. They practice writing under timed conditions
    • 20-mark essays need to be done in ~35–40 minutes, including thinking + diagrams + writing. Make sure to do timed practice, but before you even get to that, make sure that you can do your papers accurately and with good quality analysis. You will have plenty of time to practice when you begin the IGCSE, but you can honestly do so even earlier on.
  3. They practice.
    • It’s all good and well to know theory and to have the sense that you understand what you say that you understand, but you will never really know how much you understand until you test yourself against reality. This means collecting actual past year papers and dealing with those past year papers, working with them, and ensuring that you are able to do the paper. If you are not good enough, this doesn’t mean that the paper is unfair, this doesn’t mean that you are in an unreasonable situation. If you chose to take this paper, you have the ability to improve, you have the ability to deal with the subject.
  4. They know their diagrams inside out
    • Don’t just draw — annotate. Show shifts, label new equilibria, write clear captions and titles (Figure 1 says…). Be clear what your diagrams actually represent, rather than just drawing them out. What are they really saying? What are you trying to say? What does the diagram communicate? Don’t just memorize and then draw one after another. You are not here to memorize how they look. You are here to use them as tools. In order to demonstrate the clarity of your thinking.
  5. They incorporate context, especially in evaluation
    • A* answers show real-world thinking — e.g., “In developing economies like Kenya…” or “Due to oil dependence, this might be more relevant for countries such as…”
  6. They build “evaluation templates” in their head
    For every topic, they ask:
    • What are the arguments for?
    • What are the arguments against?
    • Under what conditions does this work/not work?

🔖 Summary Table – At a Glance

PaperTypeDurationMarksWeightKey Features
1Multiple Choice1 hr4030%40 MCQs, diagrams, definitions, quick calculations
2Structured Questions2 hrs8070%1 Data response + 3 Essay questions, long-form analysis

All right, and that is your assessment structure and that’s how you’re going to be graded on your IGCSE Economics 0455!

Hope this helps, and look forward to seeing you in the next piece, sepupus!

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Assessment Exam tips IGCSE Economics Syllabus

Understanding Your Command Words in IGCSE Economics

Victor Tan
 

Today’s blog post is about what we call command words in the IGCSE.

Command words are extremely important because these are the words that you’re going to see in every IGCSE question.

Each one has a specific meaning as identified by Cambridge, and it is crucial to understand all of them in order to understand how you should respond.

…How wonderful that your beloved sepupu has compiled not only a list of your command words but also will be demonstrating how to make use of them!

Without further ado, here are your command words as taken from the IGCSE Cambridge Economics syllabus – these were the same across the 2023 -2025, 2026, and 2027-2029 syllabi – behold!

Now that you know what the command words are, let’s look at some tangible examples of situations where they would be used and how they would be used.

Ready?

Let’s go!

1. Analyse

“Examine in detail to show meaning, identify elements and the relationship between them.”

Example Question:

Analyse how an increase in interest rates might affect consumer spending and borrowing.

What to Do:

  • Identify the elements: interest rates, consumer spending, borrowing.
  • Show the relationships: Higher interest → costlier loans → less borrowing → lower spending.
  • Include linking phrases like: “This leads to…”, “As a result…”, “Consequently…”.

✅ Use:

“As interest rates increase, the cost of borrowing rises. This discourages consumers from taking loans for major purchases such as cars and homes. At the same time, saving becomes more attractive, reducing overall consumer expenditure.”

2. Calculate

“Work out from given facts, figures or information.”

Example Question:

Calculate the price elasticity of demand using the following data: Price rises from $10 to $12, quantity demanded falls from 100 to 80.

3. Define

“Give precise meaning.”

Example Question:

Define opportunity cost.

✅ Answer:

“Opportunity cost is the next best alternative foregone when a decision is made to use scarce resources for one purpose over another.”

✳️ No examples needed unless asked for.

4. Describe

“State the points of a topic / give characteristics and main features.”

Example Question:

Describe the characteristics of a mixed economy.

✅ Answer:

“A mixed economy is one where both the private sector and the government are involved in resource allocation. It combines features of a market economy, such as private ownership and profit motive, with government intervention in areas like education and healthcare.”

🔹 This is factual, descriptive — not evaluative. You are not expected to talk about whether a mixed economy is good or bad. You are only meant to retrieve your understanding and memory of what you are being asked about.

5. Discuss

“Write about issue(s) or topic(s) in depth in a structured way.”

Example Question:

Discuss whether a government should subsidise the production of electric vehicles.

✅ Answer Structure:

  • Introduction of the issue
  • Arguments for subsidies: reduce pollution, encourage innovation
  • Arguments against: opportunity cost, risk of inefficiency
  • Conclusion: balanced, thoughtful judgment

✅ Answer Snippet:

“Subsidising electric vehicle production can encourage environmentally friendly transport and reduce emissions. However, it may be costly for governments and could distort the market. Whether it is justified depends on the long-term environmental and economic benefits.”

6. Explain

“Set out purposes or reasons / make the relationships between things clear.”

Example Question:

Explain why inflation can hurt savers.

✅ Answer:

“Inflation reduces the purchasing power of money. If savers keep their money in accounts with low interest rates, the real value of their savings falls, meaning they can buy less with the same amount of money over time.”

✳️ Look for cause-effect chains. To get good at this, start thinking about how everything you are learning relates together and ask yourself how different factors can affect one another. Don’t just commit things to memory but actually think about the common sense implications of how certain factors can cause other things to happen. Get used to doing that repeatedly.

7. Give

“Produce an answer from a given source or recall/memory.”

Example Question:

Give one example of a merit good.

✅ Answer:

“Education.”

✳️ Usually just a one-word or short-phrase recall question.

8. Identify

“Name/select/recognise.”

Example Question:

Identify two causes of unemployment.

✅ Answer:

“Cyclical unemployment, structural unemployment.”

✳️ Similar to “Give”, but may come with options or lists.

9. State

“Express in clear terms.”

Example Question:

State one function of a central bank.

✅ Answer:

“To control the money supply.”

✳️ Be concise, clear, and exact.

Hope this was helpful to you. Thank you for reading, and look forward to seeing you in the next ones!

V.

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Assessment Exam tips IGCSE Economics Syllabus

IGCSE Economics – Assessment Objectives

Victor Tan
 

As a student, you’ve probably understood for a long time now that you are assessed on pretty much everything that you do, whether it’s homework, exams, class participation, or anything else that you can imagine.

Well, IGCSE Economics (Cambridge Subject Code 0455) is no different.

The subject too has its own set of assessment objectives – things that define how you will be assessed as an economics student, whether as a good one or a not-so-good one.

So let’s be a little more clear about this.

🧠 What Are Assessment Objectives?

Assessment objectives (AOs) are the specific skills, abilities, or understandings that a student is expected to demonstrate in order to be evaluated meaningfully. They form the foundation of what is being assessed.

They answer the question:

“What exactly are we trying to measure?”

🔍 How Do They Relate to the Word “Assess”?

Remember the Latin assidēre — “to sit beside [a judge]”? The role of the assessor was not merely to observe but to make a judgment — based on criteria.

Assessment objectives are the modern expression of those criteria.

They:

  • Define what kinds of knowledge or skill are being valued.
  • Provide a basis for judgment (standardization).
  • Make the act of assessing transparent and justifiable.

These are not suggestions — they are what will determine your score. Your writing is assessed against these.

⚙️ Why Are Assessment Objectives Important?

  1. Clarity: They tell you what matters. (No more guessing what the examiner wants.)
  2. Consistency: Markers can evaluate different students against a shared standard.
  3. Fairness: Students are judged by performance against stated criteria, not impressionistic bias.
  4. Design Alignment: Exams, rubrics, and mark schemes are all structured to reflect the AOs.

🧩 What It Means in Practice

When a teacher marks a paper, they’re not just saying “This is good” or “This is weak.”

They’re implicitly (or explicitly) saying:

  • Did this student demonstrate AO1?
  • How well did they meet AO2?

In other words:

We assess in reference to the assessment objectives.

We measure in reference to assessment objectives – we quantify, count, judge.

If a student demonstrates what we are looking for, we reward that – if they don’t, we do not.

Does it seem arbitrary? Are your marks too low? Then maybe understand the assessment objectives more closely and the marking schemes that operationalize them in the exam context to determine how every single point is allocated and accounted for.

🧠 How Do Assessment Objectives Matter?

The phrase “assessment objectives” is a kind of contract: it declares what you will be judged on, in advance. It aligns the ancient role of the assessor — sitting beside the work — with the modern idea of accountability, standardization, and pedagogical clarity.

It transforms “assessment” from something vague and fearful into something logical and methodical — something you can engineer.

Now let’s do a bit of a deep dive into all of the assessment objectives and why they matter in this context.

1. AO1 – Knowledge and Understanding

According to Cambridge, to demonstrate knowledge and understanding, you need to know about economic definitions, formulas, and ideas. But that’s not all. You need to be able to prove your understanding and show your ability to use the language of economics.

When I say use the language of economics, I don’t mean that you just repeat the definition like a parrot.

I mean that you are actually able to make use of the definitions in order to understand the real world. To understand the situations that you are presented. To be able to look at things that are happening and then make assessments based on the theory that you’re going to be learning.

If it were just about memory, then you could just memorize an economics textbook. But that’s not all you need to do for knowledge and understanding go beyond that – it is about being able to fluidly use the concepts that you’ve learned. Understand when to use them and understand intuitively how they apply when confronted with novel situations. But this then brings us to…

2. AO2 – Analysis

Knowledge and understanding is about understanding the facts and comprehending them. Analysis is about using your knowledge and understanding.

Being able to analyze means being able to look at what you see and understand it by understanding the patterns that are present, and to be able to comment effectively and intelligently on what you’re seeing.

For example, suppose that there is a drought in an onion-producing country (India, let’s say – the country produces the majority of Malaysia’s onions).

Here are some questions that you might ask and some that you might be expected to be able to respond to.

  • How does that affect the demand for onions? Does it affect it or does it not affect it?
  • How does it affect the supply?
  • How does it affect the price? Will it definitely affect the price? What might influence that?
  • Can you illustrate that situation with graphs?
  • Can you predict the effect on the price of onions based on the theory that you’ve learned?
  • Based on onion data, before and after the drought, can you make any statements that are supported by the data and that you have good reason to believe?
  • Can you reason about what happened if the price of onions has fallen if there was a massive harvest season?
  • Can you look at a diagram that somebody has drawn or written and then understand what is being said?
  • Can you look at novel or new situations and then analyze them as and when you will?
  • Can you look at what is happening out there in the world and then break down larger problems into smaller ones?
  • How do the dots connect and why?
  • Can you clearly and logically justify every statement you make about the world based on what you’ve learned, and formulate intelligent arguments that can guide people’s decisions?

All of these are related to being able to analyze situations – to look beneath what you see on the surface to discover the deeper truths.

That’s the skill that you will learn on this course, and it may be more practical than you even know or think about at the moment.

3. AO3 – Evaluation

Analysis was about understanding things and developing a single interpretation, but you can think of evaluation as the skill to choose between different interpretations and to consider limitations and alternatives. It means weighing alternatives, judging them against one another, and understanding and being able to choose between different analyses of situations.

Why is this important? Well, the late Charlie Munger once said, “To the man with a hammer, everything is a nail.”

In this context, you can think of the hammer as the economic theory. The problem is, oftentimes we are the ones holding the hammers, especially when we don’t have a strong understanding and can’t accurately or clearly think about what is happening in this world, often finding ourselves in the wrong territory infinitely more likely or often than in territory where we are correct, caught in the parroting of definitions, the usage of understanding in order to find constellations of real patterns in the stars and in the markets but somehow being unable to choose the correct ones.

Consider some of the following points:

  • Economics is complex. The choices that people make depend on many different factors, and there are many different ways of understanding how or why something happens. The question is, what are the correct ways of understanding things, and can you show that you recognize the fact that there are many different ways of understanding the world?
  • Not every analysis of data is necessarily correct. There can be gaps, data insufficiencies, problems with the method of analysis, or the way that a claim was argued that ultimately makes it impossible to make a reasonable or logical conclusion.
  • At the end of the day, not all conclusions, assessments, or opinions are equal. There are some that are better than others.
  • Are you able to choose the best ones? Not only the ones that you hear or parrot from other people, but rather the ones in your own mind, even as they compete for your attention for the right to shape your understanding of the world?

And well, that’s about it. It’s pretty interesting to think about what makes a good economics student.

But knowledge, analysis, and evaluation are a good place to start.

I would point out, though, that these are not siloed things.

One cannot evaluate without being able to do an analysis, and one cannot do an analysis without having knowledge in the first place – but at the same time, having more knowledge increases the likelihood that a person can conduct a good and useful analysis, while experience of analysis in turn helps make a person familiar with patterns of thinking that are not just their own but also potentially other people’s.

The question of how to develop these skills is one that is highly individual but that comes from curiosity and a wish to develop the learning necessary to satisfy it as well as the hunger to continue being curious for a lifetime – but to begin doing that, you must first ask the question.

From there, whether you like it or not, your mastery can be assessed, quantified, put into tangible numbers through the assessment objectives.

It can seem a little harsh, but it is a fact – there is a difference between good and bad, and if you’re here, sepupus, you know what to aim for. ✨

Here is to your economics journey and to many more of those questions – Hope you enjoyed learning about the Assessment Objectives (AO), and see you in the next ones ahead!

V.

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