Handling Evaluation

Dear Auntie Agony,

DRQ and Case Study is still a big problem for me. Sometimes I do not know which information to use, and do not know how to select the appropriate information to evaluate. For example in the minimum wage question they ask for what is the possible impact of the change in economic status.. I feel that I can use every statistic but still have no confidence to evaluate well.. am i doomed?

Confused

Dear Confused

not to worry, u r not the only one with this problem...as u should have realised by now...each evaluation is a case-by-case basis, never a one-size fits all...and thats why it is said to be the highest order thinking skill...u can never say there is a standard format...

usually for such questions, you have to do a balanced analysis, then judging by the context, u might want to weigh the pros vs. cons...and do a final evaluation. Each situation is unique...and u will really have to evaluate the context, is there any limitations to the data, the conclusion? or are there any other possibilities?

examiners love to see students thinking out of the box ( and still stay relevant!!!) in essays especially. good application of theory into a context is the key. make good use of theory to either explain the data, or to evaluate the data, especially if it does not "fit" into the theory. some students merely regurgitate lecture notes, others merely evaluate freely witout any reference to economics. at times, with extra general knowledge to quote as examples, it does help to distinguish the normal candidates from the outstanding ones.

writing a good economics essay or evaluation is an art, it takes practice, and to a certain extent, a flair. but that does not mean u cant do well if u have no flair. what is lacking in most of the students, is not really even evaluation, but the mastery to explain and elaborate a concept well. and there are many other technical faults which i find in essays, like bad or irrelevant diagrams, incoherent argument, bad organisation, the worst, not answering the question. avoiding all these will certainly make for a far better quality answer...

in the meantime, happy revision!