GCSE Economics
Brief Summary of the syllabus:
- THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM
- Factors of production
- Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost
- Approaches to the economic problem
- Money and interest rates
- THE COMPETITIVE MARKET
- Competitive markets
- The demand curve
- The supply curve
- Price elasticity
- Determination of price in competitive markets
- Costs
- Revenue
- Profits
- Productivity
- Rewards for labour
- THE ECONOMIC ROLE OF GOVERNMENT WITHIN THE UK
- The rôle of government within the UK economy
- Government income and expenditure
- Recent trends in the UK economy and government economic policy with regard to:
- Economic growth
- Unemployment and training
- Price stability and inflation
- Potential conflicts between policy objectives
- Market failure and government policy
- THE EUROPEAN AND INTERNATIONAL SETTING
- International specialisation and trade
- European Union
- Balance of payments
- Exchange rates
- Standard of living
What skills/attributes are being developed and examined?
A course based on this specification should enable candidates to:
- make effective use of relevant terminology, concepts and methods, and recognise the strengths and weaknesses of ideas used
- apply knowledge and critical understanding to current issues and problems in a wide range of appropriate contexts
- distinguish between facts and opinions and evaluate quantitative and qualitative data in order to help build arguments and make informed judgements
- appreciate the perspectives of a range of stakeholders in relation to the environment, individuals, society, government and enterprise
- develop key skills in numeracy, literacy, information and communication technology, working with others, improving own learning and performance, and problem-solving.
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What can parents expect to see in classwork and homework specifically?
Homework will be set on a weekly basis. This will include case study-based work, research into various aspects of the Economics syllabus and extended reading and note-taking. In addition, students are required to select Economics-related articles from the quality press and comment upon those articles. Class work will include case studies, exercises, discussion and debate and group activities.
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What can parents do to help in this subject at this stage?
Encourage your son to watch Economics-related programmes on television and to read the business and money sections of the quality press. It is also important that your son keeps up to date with all homework/class work, and if absent, catches up on any missed work.
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Setting and course schedule:
Students' sets may change following half-term tests and examinations during Year 10. There will be no change of sets in Year 11.
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Course schedule
Term 1 Introduction to Economics, the economic problem, finance and growth of firms, money and interest rates, supply and demand.
Term 2 Elasticity, location of industry, globalisation, costs revenue and profit, production and productivity, economies and diseconomies of scale.
Term 3 Macroeconomics. Rôle of government, circular flow of income, GDP and GNP, business cycle.
Term 4 Economic growth, unemployment, inflation, policy conflicts, Phillips curve and NAIRU, role of the government, taxation, market failure, monopoly, international trade, global interdependence, protectionism and the WTO.
Term 5 The European Union, balance of payments, exchange rates, standard of living indicators, research into G8.
Term 6 Revision and work on the pre-release case study.
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Final examination:
Course Details: Economics, OCR 1985
All students are entered for Higher Tier Papers 3 and 4.
Paper 3 consists of short questions and longer structured questions based on data - 50% of the total mark.
Paper 4 will consist of a series of questions related to a pre-released case study - 50% of the total mark.
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Test:
Each half-term, the students will be tested. The subject matter tested will be cumulative, thus giving the students considerable practice in examination techniques. The examinations will be in the format of the GCSE examination.
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Revision:
Students will be prepared for each half-term test, reminding them of previous areas covered in the course. The syllabus will have been covered by the end of February of Year 11. All lessons following that date will be spent familiarising students with the pre-release material for Paper 4, practising examination technique and revising more challenging areas of the Economics syllabus. In addition, weekly revision clinics are held between March and May of Year 11 for those students requiring additional support.
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Pupil Target Setting:
Students will review their performance in each of the tests and will identify action points to improve their performance; this will then be monitored in subsequent tests.
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Upper band grade descriptor:
To attain a Grade A, candidates must demonstrate in-depth knowledge and critical understanding of the full range of specification content. They apply this knowledge and critical understanding, using terms, concepts, theories and methods effectively to address problems and issues. They select and organise information from a wide variety of sources and interpret and use this information effectively to analyse problems and issues with a high degree of accuracy. They also evaluate evidence effectively, making reasoned judgements and presenting conclusions accurately and appropriately.
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Progression Beyond GCSE:
This course is an important, but not essential foundation for the study of Business Studies or Economics at A-Level.
Recommendations to take A Level Economics will be based on assessment in examinations and half-term tests, together with two evaluative pieces of work set in Year 11.
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Entry Criteria
Students must be in the top five sets for Mathematics.
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