Last minute guide to the 2021 HSC economics exam
What about the difference between conventional and unconventional monetary policy? Our expert reveals the 10 things markers will look for in today’s HSC economics exam.
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A leading textbook author has revealed the 10 things markers will be looking for when 5000 students put pen to paper when they sit their economics exam.
Mohan Dhall is a published author of journal articles and Economics books in NSW and Victoria as well as an economics tutor.
He said a range of small changes could yield big results. Here are his tips:
KNOW YOUR STATS
Statistics can be useful to show trends in economic data and to strengthen an argument.
They include economic growth (9.6% RBA), inflation (3.0%, RBA), value of the AUD (USD$0.74), number of FTAs — 15 of which 12 are bilateral and 3 multilateral (DFAT) — Gini Coefficient (0.33, AIHW), the unemployment rate (4.6%, ABS), size of external debt ($1.3tr or 40% of GDP, RBA), household savings ratio (9.7% down from nearly 30% last year) and HDI (0.944, HDR, 2019).
IN SECTION THREE, USE STIMULUS IN YOUR OPENING PARAGRAPH
In Section 3 you are given some stimulus which could come from a report excerpt, graphical information or a quote.
It is important in the extended response that you refer to the stimulus in your opening paragraph.
You do not need to make too many references to stimulus in your essay, but you must make sure that you reference each piece of stimulus two or three times in total.
Be careful not to overuse the information as it is meant to be a prompt for you to demonstrate what you know and for you to use it only as much as required to answer the question.
USE QUOTES AND REFERENCES IN ECONOMIC AUTHORITY
Using appropriate quotes in an opening paragraph of an essay can be very powerful.
This is particularly the case if the quote adds to your thesis.
An example is Guy Debelle (RBA) saying this: “In Australia, public debt is very manageable.” (Nov 2020).
Apart from quotes, the use of economic data such as statistics, numerical information, trends, and findings of reports all add to powerfully constructed responses.
DISTINGUISH BETWEEN ENABLERS OF GLOBALISATION AND FEATURES OF GLOBALISATION
Insightful student responses in short answer questions and essays will demonstrate how transportation, technology and communication act to enable globalisation whereas transfers of capital, goods and services, labour, financial flows and innovation are features of globalisation.
USE EVIDENCE IN THE SHORT ANSWER QUESTION
Examiners always like it when students use evidence to support their answers.
This means a question about unemployment could be supported by the evidence from the ABS quoting the 4.6% September rate.
Similarly, quoting the cash rate of 0.1% is important if talking about monetary policy
USE DIAGRAMS IN HSC ESSAYS
Do not be afraid to use diagrams in essays.
Diagrams such as those that show how the Australian dollar can be subject to the forces of supply and demand, the Phillips Curve, the J curve, tariff and subsidy diagrams can be useful in essays.
However, they should be labelled, used in context and also referenced in the paragraphs in which they are found. As a general rule in exams, write before a diagram and then draw it rather than drawing the diagram and then giving it context.
CONVENTIONAL AND UNCONVENTIONAL MONETARY POLICY DIFFER
Good students will distinguish between conventional monetary policy such as the lowering of the cash rate and unconventional monetary policy such as quantitative easing (which is not just simply ‘printing money’).
If there is an essay on monetary policy, ensure you distinguish between the two.
COVID ISN’T EVERYTHING
The impact of coronavirus has led to a rich source of economic information and data, the very recent responses to coronavirus, such as massive fiscal stimulus through government spending on programs such as Jobkeeper ($120bn) are only important in the very current context. Students should also be aware of the trends going back to before the GFC.
Prior to the GFC Australia ran surplus budgets and since the GFC has had deficit budgets.
In addition, very recent external data show so we‘ve had nearly three years of current account surpluses.
However, the syllabus refers to current account deficits therefore being up to date with the current situation in terms of external balance is just as important as having a reasonable historical grasp of the trends in other data such as fiscal balance and monetary policy.
KNOW YOUR CASE STUDY
Whichever country is your comparative economy you must know specific data about the policies used and their effectiveness.
You must understand the nation’s engagement to globalisation, and you must have specific data related to rates of growth, rates of development, poverty rates and its approach to environmental sustainability.
Nation-specific data must be used for any question about a comparative economy — you cannot give a generalised response.
CHECK EVERY RESPONSE IN MULTIPLE CHOICE
When answering multiple choice questions in economics it is possible that a few of the responses may have A as the correct answer.
If you think A is correct, continue to check B, C & D because every response needs to be interrogated and consciously discarded before you finalise your decision. It often happens that by reading every response a student suddenly realises they might have misread the question.
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