Essay Writing Skills (Selected segments)

INTRODUCTION TO WRITING
AN ECONOMICS ESSAY

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 Essay Writing Skills (Selected segments)

CONTENT PAGE

The Bare ESSENTIALS

Chapter 1: Marks allocation & Skills Descriptors

UNPACK!
Chapter 2: Dissecting the essay

RECIPE for success

Chapter 3: Planning the essay

You had me at “HELLO”!

Chapter 4: Writing introductions

The devil is in the DETAILS

Chapter 5: Developing paragraphs

Go with the FLOW

Chapter 6: Useful connecting words & phrases

The FINISHING touch!

Chapter 7: Writing conclusions

Dispelling MYTHS
Conclusion: On Model Essays

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 Essay Writing Skills (Selected segments)

The Bare ESSENTIALS

Chapter 1: Marks allocation & Skills Descriptors

Marks Allocation for Essays

For H2 Economics, Paper 2 (3 Essays) takes up 60% of total marks.

Students are given 6 essay choices and they have to pick at least 1 question from
Section A (Predominantly Microeconomics) and 1 from Section B (Predominantly
Macroeconomics). The last question can be from either.
Useful Tip!

Your mind is at its clearest the first 15 minutes of the examinations. I would strongly
recommend reading, choosing and planning all 3 essays before writing. However, the
student needs to be disciplined and complete this process within 10-15 minutes. Read
more in Chapter 3 to understand why planning is crucial.

Corresponding marks for essays with 10/15 split

Part (a) Part (b)

Knowledge, Application/Understanding and Analysis

Levels 10 15

L3 8 – 10 8 – 10

L2 5-7 5-7

L1 1–4 1–4

Evaluation Marks

E3 - 4–5

E2 - 2–3

E1 - 1

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 Essay Writing Skills (Selected segments)

Corresponding marks for 25m essays

Knowledge, Application/Understanding and Analysis

Levels Marks

L3 (Upper) 18 – 20

L3 (Lower) 15 – 17

L2 (Upper) 12 – 14

L2 (Lower) 9 – 11

L1 (Upper) 5–8

L1 (Lower) 1–4

Evaluation Marks

E3 4-5

E2 2–3

E1 1

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 Essay Writing Skills (Selected segments)

UNPACK!
Chapter 2: Dissecting the essay
MC3 –
Step 1: check Marks allocation
Step 2: identify Command/Cue Word
Step 3: identify Content (or Concept/s) relevant to question
Step 4: identify Context (if any)

Marks allocation
Marks give us a reference or guide to the expectations of the examiner. While quantity is not everything,
insufficient quantity will definitely not allow you to fully demonstrate quality! If a student choses a split parts
question (a/b), he/she has to keep track of time so excessive amount of time is not invested in part (a). Refer to
Chapter 1 for marks allocation of essays.

Command or Cue Word/s (Direction Words)

Command Word/ Phrase What is required

Explain* • Provide details about how something happens/ed

• Give clear (economics) reasons for
• Similar to “Account for”
Account for* • Give (economics) reasons for , provide evidence to support

Analyse* • Break down into the component parts & explain how they relate
to each other
• Make a detailed examination or investigation into something
Summarise* • Give a concise account of the main points of a matter/topic
• Avoid unnecessary details & examples
Distinguish* • Explain the important differences that stand out

Discuss • Investigate and/or examine in detail

• Sift the arguments & debate
• Give reasons for & against
• Examine the implications
Consider • Take into account; weigh up both sides

Assess • Consider something in a balanced way: the points for & against
something usually
Evaluate • Appraise the merit or worth of something
• Judge the impact, importance of success of
• Include your personal opinion & evidence to support case

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 Essay Writing Skills (Selected segments)

Comment • State clearly your opinions on the topic in the question

• Support your views with evidence
Examine • Investigate, scrutinise & question the evidence/data

To What Extent •
Weigh the evidence for & against
•
State “how far” something is valid
Justify •
Show adequate grounds (could include providing evidence) for
perspective, decision or conclusion
Do you agree • Weigh (explain) both sides and come to a reasoned judgment
at the end
*Command Words commonly used in part (a) of split parts essays

Content or Concept/s
The first thing to do is to pick out explicit economic terms used in the question. However, some questions do
not have any explicit economic terms precisely because the examiner expects the student to identify the relevant
concept/s based on the issue or problem presented. A strong grasp of concepts and sufficient exposure to a wide
range of questions would train up one’s ability to do the latter.

Context
Context refers to the setting of the questions. The ‘A’ levels syllabus leans heavily on application and the examiner
therefore expects students to relate what they learn in theory to the real world.

1) Look out for a preamble/sign-post of the question- The Cambridge examiner puts in a preamble as a
springboard for students to address the question so there will often be hints of contextual information.
2) Is there a time-stamp? This is sometimes found in the preamble or question directly. It may also be
revealed in the source of the preamble.
3) For a microeconomics questions, look out for the market/markets involved (eg. the particular good/s to
be examined). For macroeconomics questions, look out for country or countries mentioned.
4) What if there is no context? This just means students are expected to build their own illustrations into the
essay!

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