Difficulty verdict

This series is a demanding but fair set (about 4 out of 5). Roughly 130 of the 240 marks are in the highest-tariff evaluative responses (the four 25-mark essays and two 15-mark questions), and every one of them is marked on levels of response that need a diagram, context and a supported judgement. The 2- and 3-mark items and the 30 multiple-choice questions are accessible, but several MCQs and calculations punish careless reading.

Where the marks are

  • Paper 1 (Micro): market failure, information failure, government intervention and regulation, business objectives and the principal-agent problem, oligopoly and the allocation of resources.
  • Paper 2 (Macro): trade policy and tariffs, exchange rates, fiscal policy and income tax, policy conflicts, employment, development and income distribution.
  • Paper 3 (Themes): a 30-mark MCQ block spread across the whole specification, then a labour market and pension-age case, a specific tax on tourist accommodation, the Phillips curve and monopolistic competition.

Government intervention and regulation is the single largest theme because it appears in Papers 1 and 3. Trade policy, supply side policy and information failure follow.

What the mark scheme rewards

  • Every extended question says the side of the argument presented first is credited as analysis and the other side as evaluation. Plan a clear for and against structure.
  • Diagrams must be accurate and integrated. A bolted-on diagram stays in the lower levels. Label axes, old and new equilibria, and use the labels in your text.
  • Data and extract questions need explicit evidence. Quote the figures, then explain the economics behind them.
  • Judgements need to say what the answer depends on (elasticity, time period, size of the policy change, market power, information) and not simply restate both sides.

Typical pitfalls

  • Missing units or currency in calculation answers (for example the national debt figure) lose a mark.
  • Labelling a labour market diagram with price rather than wage costs diagram marks.
  • Describing the data without linking it to theory in the 4-mark relationship questions.
  • Writing a one-sided essay with no developed counter-argument, which caps the mark at Level 3.

Strategy

Spend roughly 1.5 minutes per mark. Take the MCQs first on Paper 3 and leave time for the 15-mark questions. Practise one-minute plans for the 25-mark options so that you can pick the question where you hold a strong diagram.

Looking ahead

Topics that carried heavy marks in earlier series but were light this time (monetary policy, inflation, aggregate demand, costs and economies of scale, financial regulation, monopoly) are strong candidates to return. Government intervention, trade policy and fiscal policy remain safe bets for revision.