Economics IGCSE
Course Length
One-year.
The course
Economics will open your eyes and challenge you to think in different ways about the world around you. The Economics IGCSE is designed to offer understanding of the major issues in economics and how these affect us in our daily lives and in the future. You will be taught to think from a micro-economic perspective and learn about the fundamental problem of how best to allocate scarce resources like time and money. Knowledge and understanding of how the laws of supply and demand affect the price of oil, gold, shares, cars and houses will also be provided. You will learn about the dynamics of the government’s macroeconomic policy and how this affects interest rates, exchange rates, taxation, and unemployment. You will study why the core of macro-economic policy is the control of inflation. You will also learn all about globalisation and the advantages and disadvantages it brings to us and people in developing countries like Brazil and India.
You will look at two broad areas. In “Microeconomics and Business Economics” you will look at topics such as the market system, productivity and the divsion of labour. In “Macroeconomics and the Global Economy” you will look at topics such as the relationship between macroeconomic objectives and government policies, and globalisation and international trade. The course provides an excellent foundation for the Edexcel A level.
What skills do I need?
In addition to a natural curiosity, an interest in current affairs, and a joy of reading, the key skills for studying economics include: logical thought used in solving problems, observation and inference from data, and presenting ideas in compelling writing and speech. Logical analysis underlies an economist’s ability to understand economic phenomena. You also need to be committed to studying both inside and outside of the classroom to do well as this is an intensive course.
How is the course assessed?
There are two papers: Microeconomics and Business Economics (Paper 1) and Macroeconomics and the Global Economy (Paper 2). Each paper has consisting of four compulsory questions that contain a mixture of multiple-choice, short-answer, data response and open-ended questions. Each paper lasts 1 hour 30 minutes and is worth 50% of the total marks.
Reading
IGCSE Economics
By S. Grant
Published by CUP, ISBN 978-1107612334
Useful sources:
Exam Board and Specification Codes
Edexcel 4EC1
Duncan Chamberlain
Head of Department
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