Tips for Success in VCE Economics
Regardless of whether you're studying Units 1&2 or Units 3&4 Economics it's great to understand some of the best strategies to perform at your best in this subject area. So here's a list of some of the things I think are most important to be a successful VCE Economics student:
1. Know your task/command words. You'd be amazed how many students lose marks solely for not actually answering what the question has prompted them to do. Being aware of what each task work means and how to gain the marks in that situation is incredibly important to success in your end of your exam as well as your SACs. For example: in an evaluate question you must provide strengths and weaknesses and come to a conclusion whereas in a discuss question you must just provide strengths and weaknesses.
2. Be up to date in what's happening in the world. Economics is largely an application based subject, meaning that you must take the theory provided to you and then link it to real world situations or problems to achieve an end goal. By being able to provide real world examples/policies/data etc. It puts you a step above many other students who are simply memorising definitions and reciting them back on the page.
3. Be aware of VCAA's tricks. VCAA loves to be tricky in some of their questions to try and separate students who can read carefully from those who cannot (which is of course definitely what an exam should be trying to do right?). Be ready to field questions like "which of the following is not" or "which of the following has a different impact from the others" in multiple choice and questions with years worth of data which only asks for you to describe the "recent changes" which is the past two years. So many students lose marks simply for misreading/misinterpreting what is asked of them.
4. Use your terminology. This is incredibly important in your short answer questions. Being able to correctly use terms such as 'expansion', 'contraction', 'favourable', 'unfavourable' etc. Separates the students who fully comprehend the content from everyone else. Don't be one of the students who loses marks solely for not using the correct terminology! The same can be said about labelling graphs.
5. Seek Feedback. Your teacher is an expert (hopefully). When you complete work, revise or sit SACs, make sure you reflect on that feedback and fix your mistakes. If you do not, you're doomed to repeat those same mistakes in the future. Don't take it personally, mistakes are just an important step on the way to improving.
6. Subscribe to my YouTube channel This is very much tooting my own horn, but I now have days worth of economics videos to help you achieve your goals. Whether it be delivering the key knowledge step by step or breaking down past VCAA exam questions or general tips and tricks. I have spent hundreds of hours trying to create resources which can help any student achieve their best. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClf6gjCE03HuWh7J6VgOPEQ/
