China case study bad idea for state rank? (1 Viewer)

[swagmeister]

Hi guys,

I have to do China as my case study for the first assessment this year, but was thinking particular to avoid it as I am aiming for a state rank and want to differentiate myself. It sounds like others agree including mreditor16 who state ranked and said in his guide:

"Also, please don’t do China or Brazil or Indonesia – they’re overdone and you can still do well with a completely obscure country. For example, my class was forced to do Spain and it was still perfectly fine. All you need essentially are the stats and examples, and you can easily source them for pretty much any country from news websites and economic websites. "

Would it be best to do China for the assignment and then do all the work again for another country (I was thinking India cause it is a developing country so I will have more of an edge if I get a HSC question along those lines or doing Ireland cause it sounds interesting as well)? Or would I be best just sticking to China? Or are their any other things I could say to my teacher to help convince him that it would be beneficial for him to open up the assignment to doing other countries. His reason for China is cause the school bought a powerpoint that has information on it and our textbook covers it as well.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

 

[enigma_1]

inb4mreditor

I would think you can still state rank with China.

 

[mreditor16]

Hi guys,

I have to do China as my case study for the first assessment this year, but was thinking particular to avoid it as I am aiming for a state rank and want to differentiate myself. It sounds like others agree including mreditor16 who state ranked and said in his guide:

"Also, please don’t do China or Brazil or Indonesia – they’re overdone and you can still do well with a completely obscure country. For example, my class was forced to do Spain and it was still perfectly fine. All you need essentially are the stats and examples, and you can easily source them for pretty much any country from news websites and economic websites. "

Would it be best to do China for the assignment and then do all the work again for another country (I was thinking India cause it is a developing country so I will have more of an edge if I get a HSC question along those lines or doing Ireland cause it sounds interesting as well)? Or would I be best just sticking to China? Or are their any other things I could say to my teacher to help convince him that it would be beneficial for him to open up the assignment to doing other countries. His reason for China is cause the school bought a powerpoint that has information on it and our textbook covers it as well.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Hi there

Hmmm that's actually an interesting situation. Because you're stuck in the dilemma of being forced to do China as your case study country....

And, you see - if you were to redo the work and all the research for another country, it would waste a lot of time and there is a chance your school might mark you down in HYs or trials, if you talk about a country other than China, because your school might try to be smartass-like and dock you marks for not answering about the country you have been assigned to do. Even worse, because everyone is being forced to do China, in your internal assessments, if a case study Q comes up, they might specifically say "talk about China". And so if you don't know enough because you've been researching effectively two countries, then you're stuffed for that Q if it pops up in internally. those are all possibilities though - I'm just trying to think about the pros and cons......

If I was in your situation, I would stick with China, BUT make sure you do it well, to stand out amongst the other people who have chosen China. And if you can, convince your teacher to let you do a country besides China, but that does bring risks mentioned in the previous paragraph. In my honest opinion, don't go anywhere near India or the other BRIC nations - try something better.

But then, considering your school is providing you good resources on China (e.g. the powerpoint you mentioned), if I was you, I would just stick with China. Just ensure you do it properly - use a variety of sources (since it is China, you will be able to find a lot) and make sure you have everything bolted down.

Good luck and I am glad to hear that people are using the study guide

 

[mreditor16]

And btw good luck with that goal of state rank. Don't hesitate to PM me with any questions, especially November onwards, since I'll be done with the HSC. finally

good luck again

 

[iStudent]

Surely there have been state rankers who used China for their case study...
If you're going to state rank you're going to have to "stand out" no matter what country you do. Nothing wrong with China as far as I can see. (a 20 with China is the same as a 20 with an obscure country such as Madagascar... unless I'm wrong). Should also be easier to get 20 with China too since you have a lot more to talk about (+ more resources). But I'm not an expert in economics.

 

[swagmeister]

Hi there

Hmmm that's actually an interesting situation. Because you're stuck in the dilemma of being forced to do China as your case study country....

And, you see - if you were to redo the work and all the research for another country, it would waste a lot of time and there is a chance your school might mark you down in HYs or trials, if you talk about a country other than China, because your school might try to be smartass-like and dock you marks for not answering about the country you have been assigned to do. Even worse, because everyone is being forced to do China, in your internal assessments, if a case study Q comes up, they might specifically say "talk about China". And so if you don't know enough because you've been researching effectively two countries, then you're stuffed for that Q if it pops up in internally. those are all possibilities though - I'm just trying to think about the pros and cons......

If I was in your situation, I would stick with China, BUT make sure you do it well, to stand out amongst the other people who have chosen China. And if you can, convince your teacher to let you do a country besides China, but that does bring risks mentioned in the previous paragraph. In my honest opinion, don't go anywhere near India or the other BRIC nations - try something better.

But then, considering your school is providing you good resources on China (e.g. the powerpoint you mentioned), if I was you, I would just stick with China. Just ensure you do it properly - use a variety of sources (since it is China, you will be able to find a lot) and make sure you have everything bolted down.

Good luck and I am glad to hear that people are using the study guide

Ya thanks so much for your advice, also looking forward to when you publish the next section in your guide about how you revised and how you didn't actually take notes - I'm spending heaps of time on them right now so hopefully I'll get some ideas from it.

My Eco class is has only about 16 people in it now, and I know the teacher really well so if he lets me not do China then it would be fine for the internals. The thing is, I have been going through the syllabus and making sure I know everything well as we move through topic 1 because in class we seem to be jumping around a bit do I am having to learn heaps on my own anyways; meaning I wouldn't miss out much if he is teaching the class about China.

So if he lets me, I am thinking of doing Ireland - seems to be a rarer choice, not a BRIC nation, still heaps of information available and the creative economics textbook covers it as well with a bonus.

Just one thing I realised - in the case study information page you linked to in your guide, it actually seems to recommend countries like China, saying "According to previous marking guidelines, generally some of the more popular case studies (eg: China) are actually some of the best to use
as the impact of globalisation is more evident." What are your thoughts on this?

 

[RivalryofTroll]

Doesn't matter.

Someone from my school state ranked Economics with the China Case study so yeah...

If your essay is a 18/20, 19/20 or 20/20, then it'll be a 18-20/20, regardless of the used country.

 

[BLIT2014]

Doesn't matter what case study you use..

 

[Maxwell]

In the HSC the criteria for any essay/short answer does not say: If a candidate used China as their case study, take off 5 marks because lots of other students did (if it did everybody would be screwed lol - imagine Business Studies and the Qantas case study ahahahahaha). If you meet the requirements of the marking guidelines, you cannot be penalised. I was originally doing an abnormal country to 'stand out' but after marking 123123123123 responses, a marker doesn't give a shit if you did China or Indonesia or some other country. Sure, it might be more interesting... but after 32312312312 responses for the same question, even 'different countries' would be boring as fuck because it is literally just the same shit with a different smell (i.e. same question with a different case study). By doing an abnormal country, I also found that finding information was difficult, and when I did, it wasn't all too reliable and outdated. It was NOT worth the additional effort in hindsight, so before half yearlies I just did the China case study. Lots of information, impacts of globalisation are highly evident (even HSC Markers have said this) and a response is easier to structure as there are more discussion points.



TL;DR

China is a common case study for a reason. It is even recommended in the markers' comments, etc. Highly ranked schools force their kids to do it (at least I am fairly sure they do). Information on other countries is hard to find (generally) and is, depending on the country, unreliable (due to different measurements/outdated). China is a safe options. There is a multitude of resources, and, there is a lot of discussion points (like lol their environment is fucked - it's so good for an environmental sustainability question/quality of life question).

 

[mreditor16]

If your essay is a 18/20, 19/20 or 20/20, then it'll be a 18-20/20, regardless of the used country.

in my opinion - not always, because markers will be affected by their subconscious - let me explain in a new post.

Highly ranked schools force their kids to do it (at least I am fairly sure they do).

It's actually the opposite - many of the high ranked schools are forcing their students to do less popular countries, which still have ample resources about them.

 

[mreditor16]

seems like some people have been misinterpreting me. and what have I said seems to be not agreed upon by anyone, but that's fine. this is a topic where there is no correct answer. people can simply advise what they think is best.

first and foremost, let me clarify - I am not saying that doing China will prevent you from doing well. what I am simply saying is you have to do it very well, because you're competing against a very large crowd. whereas if you choose a less popular country that still has lots to talk about (nearly every country has enough to talk about, as long as you do the right research), you're competing against a smaller crowd, and hence you stand out more, and subconsciously it might lead to the marker giving you marks, because it is easier for them to see you've done the job well, instead of you being lost amongst the crowd of responses if you do China. this is my opinion, and it has been strongly influenced by virtually similar advice from two teachers at my school (both hsc markers) as well as a family friend's teacher (who was a senior marker and in 2012, was head marker of the case study essay Q).

and yes I agree that there are more resources easily on hand about China, but if you spend a little bit more time doing the right research, you can obtain just as much valuable and comprehensive information and stats about pretty much any country (as long as you don't pick a country too obscure - I am definitely not advocating that - so no Madagascar or anything like that). Pick a country that is not too popular, yet still has a story to tell and has played a role in the global economy and has seen considerable change due to the process of globalisation and has adopted strategies to deal with it.

Now, to the topic of markers recommending using China - well, in my opinion, that is because of one big reason. So many students (especially those in the lower bands) don't bother putting in the time to properly research nor to use the correct methods of researching etc. This means, when such students choose less popular countries, they do it very poorly - obtaining little amounts of unreliable information and then communicating it poorly in the exam. However, when such students do China, everything is placed on a silver platter - you have textbooks and website covering China comprehensively and tailoring the information to HSC requirements. You have notes and resources from past students, since so many people have done it before. So then there is much less work for the lower band student to do, and they get all this information with very little effort and then they can talk about it well in the exam.

In my opinion, that is why markers recommend popular countries like China - because there are so many resources available to lazy-ass students and then their answers in exams are improved. but here, on this thread, I'm sure I'm talking to band 5 and 6 students who don't mind going the extra mile.

So in summary, don't hesitate to do China - just make sure you do it well. But if I was you, do some research, find a country with a good economic story to tell, and do that country. Don't choose a country too obscure though. And who knows, you might enjoy learning about this country more than if you had just chosen China. And also, in my opinion, it'll be easier to show the marker you deserve the marks, when amongst the sea of other responses.

But hey, this is just my 2 cents, and it seems like a lot of people disagree with me on this. So it is up to you OP.

good luck

 

[this_guy22]

It's actually the opposite - many of the high ranked schools are forcing their students to do less popular countries, which still have ample resources about them.

You're both right. Some schools are forcing students onto less popular but still major countries, others are forcing them to do China, e.g. SBHS is making the 2015s do China. There are valid arguments for both sides, and if you're that good, you'll state rank no matter what country you pick.

 

[mreditor16]

You're both right. Some schools are forcing students onto less popular but still major countries, others are forcing them to do China, e.g. SBHS is making the 2015s do China. There are valid arguments for both sides, and if you're that good, you'll state rank no matter what country you pick.

well said. definitely agree especially the bolded part

 

[mreditor16]

Do essay questions weigh differently like English modules?

I think so, but the moderation due to different Qs is minimal.

 

[swagmeister]

Ended up doing China as my case study, and I used it in the big short answer question. No wonder I was one mark off 2nd in the state

 

[MBTMaster]

IMO if you are doing China or Brazil or one of the popular ones, the marker is going to get tired of it (the 5th China in a row..?) In order to wow them you need to be fantastic. But if you pull off a very good essay for an out of the way economy I think you are more likely to access the higher bands. Just my two cents.

 

[swagmeister]

IMO if you are doing China or Brazil or one of the popular ones, the marker is going to get tired of it (the 5th China in a row..?) In order to wow them you need to be fantastic. But if you pull off a very good essay for an out of the way economy I think you are more likely to access the higher bands. Just my two cents.

My post before was just a joke about why I didn't state rank

In general I agree with you though - kind of like my business studies strategy where I only used hypothetical case studies cause

I don't really think it matters that that much though, plus to be honest China in the past few months has become a whole lot more complicated than before due to all the latest stuff going on

 

[Chronost]

Not just about doing well in Economics but knowing about China in general is great and doing a China case study forces you to keep up to date with their developments which are increasingly important around the world and especially it's impact on Australia - screw obscure economies, in reality if you're still doing Bcomm or similar after high school you'll be thankful for studying a year on China rather then Nigeria.

 

[swagmeister]

Not just about doing well in Economics but knowing about China in general is great and doing a China case study forces you to keep up to date with their developments which are increasingly important around the world and especially it's impact on Australia - screw obscure economies, in reality if you're still doing Bcomm or similar after high school you'll be thankful for studying a year on China rather then Nigeria.

Completely agree, except I feel even beyond just studying - even in terms of life and the world, following China's developments are really interesting and vital to know about, especially for the future of a nation such as Australia.