Preparing for the 'A' levels... What next?

Paper 1

• Constantly review the skills you need to do well in Case Studies. Awareness of what will impress the examiner in this part of the exam is critical!!
  
• Firstly, having an appreciation of the central or general theme/issue/s being presented in the particular case study will put you in an excellent position to answer the questions in a way that impresses the examiner. For an economics case study, it is not enough just to identify the right data to answer various questions. You need to know WHAT the issue is!
  
• Secondly, an attempt at making reference to a wide range of the available data is expected, especially for the higher-level response questions that tend to carry more marks (e.g. 8 to 10 marks). This is the case whenever it is not indicated specifically which part of the data you need to focus on. By this, we mean making use of ALL the charts, tables, figures and extracts, i.e. whatever is relevant to answering the question, making cross references where necessary. It is after all a CASE STUDY (i.e. study of a case!). While bringing in your own knowledge of the context is possible, it MUST NOT be the focus of your answer.
  
• Thirdly, as most of you should know by now, referring to the data goes beyond just quoting, lifting, "cutting and pasting" or even paraphrasing! When a piece of information is taken from the case study, the examiners expect the candidate to display the skills of knowledge, comprehension, analysis, and evaluation to process and present the information, skills that any 'A' level candidate should possess! If you treat the case study as a mere comprehension passage, failing to display the "sound economic reasoning and analysis and theoretical framework" that is expected of you, you CANNOT expect to do well.
• Lastly, responding to the command word, e.g. discuss, explain, compare is very important! It is critical that the examiner can see that you understand what skill is being asked of you and respond appropriately and sufficiently.
  

• Learn from the past - as part of your revision, do make sure you give some time to go through the questions and answers for ALL the case studies you have done in the past, including looking through the suggested answers you have downloaded from Litespeed. These should include:
• Those from your tutorials, tests & exams (2007 to 2008)
• 2008 Prelim Paper 1 Case Study 1 (Car and beer market) and 2 (India Economy)
• 2007 GCE 'A' Level paper 1 Case Study 1 (Brazil, Russia & China) and 2 (Supermarketization)
• 2007 Prelim Case Studies of AJC, SAJC, NJC and IJC that were put up before your Prelim exams for your self-timed practice - Complete them before you look at the answers!! The more you practice, the better!
• 2008 June Holiday Assignment (Case Study 2 and 3)
  
• 2006 Case Study 2 (Water shortage)
• 2008 Mock Prelim Case Study 1 (Airline Deregulation) and 2 (Vietnam Economy)
• 2007 Specimen Paper Case Study 1 (Market for Air Tickets) & 2 (The China Effect)

• Thirdly, PRACTICE MORE - the 2008 Prelim Paper 1 Questions of 6 other colleges have been put in the printshop - Practice to gain some confidence if you need to. Prelim 2008 papers of individual JCs are also available in Library for reference.
  

Paper 2

• Constantly review the skills you need to do well in the essay part of the paper too!
• In this case, the "Revision Packages" you were given for the various topics will be very useful in giving you an idea what are considered "good" essays. DO NOT TRY TO MEMORISE THESE ESSAYS!! The same questions are unlikely to come out again and if you merely reproduce everything from one essay into another, it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that you will do well!!
• Instead use the essays as a resource to understand what is needed to score well:
• Answering the question - see how the essays attempt to address the requirement of the questions, ensuring sufficiently scope (width) and presenting accurate and relevant economic analysis (depth), as well as how they try to show application to the given context (recent years? Singapore?).
• Displaying the skills of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, and evaluation - look through the Revision packages to see how this has been done in each essay! The suggested answers are certainly not perfect but can give you an idea what an attempt at answering the question will usually entail. It is perfectly alright (and in fact strongly encouraged) for you to question the answers that are given!

• Secondly, as part of your revision, again you need to give time to go through the questions and answers for the many essays you have done in the past, including looking through the suggested answers you may have downloaded from Litespeed. These should include:
• Those from your tutorials, tests & exams (2007 to 2008)
• 2008 Mock Prelim Paper 2 Essays 1 to 6
  
• 2008 Prelim Paper 2 Essays 1 to 6
• 2007 GCE 'A' Level Paper 2 Essays 1 to 6
• 2008 June Holiday Assignments (Essays 1 to 5)

• Thirdly, PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE - You would have been given the 2008 Prelim Paper 2 Questions of Other Colleges - Use them to practice doing essay outlines (as well as to review your economic analysis) before checking that your answers are on the right track. The more you try out other questions, the better you will be at handling some of the more challenging questions from the 'A' levels!