I don't get Economics (HELP) (1 Viewer)

[yoyo0904]

I go to a school ranked in the top 10 and it is an independent school - so the teachers generally should be good and most of them are. I do economics and I'm not only terrible at it and slow at understanding the concepts but I also have a really bad teacher - he doesn't teach off the syllabus, he thinks he's really funny and he really does nothing. In the beginning of preliminary it was ok-ish to get through. i got 68 in my first exam and then 80 for essay (it was memorised though) but then the concepts got harder and I was just dying, i got 50 for the essay and just barely passing with 51 for the yearly. He's a really bad teacher - he plays videos of how hot dogs are being made and doesn't explain any of the concepts, he just goes in circles and starts ranting about irrelevant things.

Thing is I'm on 12 units (including 4U maths and 3U english) in which i have a crappy teacher for 3u english and I HAVE THE SAME TEACHER FOR BUSINESS AS ECONOMICS. Business is gernerally easier and it's possible to self teach the syllabus, but at least to economics is a whole new world.

I'm thinking of asking if I can change lines to get in another teachers class but I dunno if school will let me, they also want everything on 12 units for the majority of year 12.

So is it possible to just memorise crap without understanding it?
Are there any ways to actually "study" for economics? I dont have motivation either.

some advice/thoughts would be appreciated!!!!!!

 

[seventhroot]

So is it possible to just memorise crap without understanding it?

yeah it's called rote learning; generally pretty useless

Economics in a nutshell: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economics

 

[astroman]

drop it like its hot

 

[BLIT2014]

I'd probably try to drop economics if I were you...

 

[enigma_1]

Eco's cool though
Try stuff like Khan Academy and reading the textbook and understanding rather than roting. It's better to understand eco because you'll need to show links between several things and if you understand stuff you can explain it better.

If it's really bothering you then you could consider dropping :/

 

[Mrmellow]

I have a similar situation doing 13 units doing 4u maths and 3u english, thinking of dropping ecos

 

[RivalryofTroll]

So is it possible to just memorise crap without understanding it?
Are there any ways to actually "study" for economics? I dont have motivation either.

some advice/thoughts would be appreciated!!!!!!

Firstly, see if you can drop it. If you can't then... here's some advice.

Can you rote learn HSC Economics like HSC Business Studies?

Yes, you can. It's possible to ''memorise'' your way to a high band 5/low band 6 in my opinion.

But most of the top students would discourage you from doing so. Trying to understand the content basically saves you from having to memorise so much (cause let's face it, the Economics syllabus is content-heavy).

In the end, the best way to approach Economics is a combination of both ''memorising'' and ''understanding''.

Anyways, Economics study in a nutshell:

1. The syllabus - know it (obviously not just the dot-points themselves but also the definitions and content found in textbooks). Making syllabus notes is a good way to consolidate knowledge. If you know your syllabus content inside-out, you've got MC and short answers covered.

2. Statistics - know them. They will come in handy when you write your essays. Make a stats summary of some sort.

3. Economic theory and diagrams - know them. Like statistics, they are handy for essays.

4. Know how to write an Economics essay. Practise, practise and practise writing well-structured essays.

By points 2 and 3, I mean this:

Some questions from Ealdoon:

ECONOMICS
1. What are all of the statistics and graphs that we should know? For example, economic growth.
2. How exactly should we be preparing for sections III and IV? Should we be coming up with essay plans for every topic? What are all of the essay questions they can ask in each topic?

QUESTION 1
Stats summaries - I'll link you guys to my teacher's summaries (they're great). I do not own this material (my teacher freely distributed these to his classes back in 2013). This is for educational purposes.

Link 1 (Lee Roche 2013) - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55923340/essential_statistics_summary5.docx

Link 2 (Lee Roche 2013) - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/55923340/detailed_statistics_summary5.docx

Figures are outdated so you'll have to update them yourself.

GRAPHS (just to name a few from each topic):
- Topic 1 - BUSINESS CYCLE, QUOTA/TARIFF/SUBSIDY diagrams

- Topic 2 - EXCHANGE RATE DIAGRAM, J-CURVE

- Topic 3:
EG - Keynesian Cross (Income-Expenditure), Production Possibility Curve, Inflationary/Deflationary Gap, AD/AS diagram
UE and INF - Phillips Curve
EXT STAB - J-Curve (for BOGS/trade balance/CAD)
INCOME DISTRIBUTION - Lorenz Curve
ENVIRO - Negative/Positive Externalities diagram, PPC (illustrating constraint on growth)

- Topic 4 -
MACROECONOMIC POLICIES - Shift in AD in AS/AD diagram
FISCAL POLICY - Keynesian Cross (spending)
MONETARY POLICY - DMO operation (CASH RATE and QUANTITY OF CASH DIAGRAM)
MICROECONOMIC POLICIES - Shift in AS in AS/AD diagram
LABOUR MARKET POLICY - PRICE FLOOR DIAGRAM for MINIMUM WAGE
ENVIRO POLICIES - Externalities diagram, for Emissions Trading Scheme - please refer to the MARKET FOR TRADEABLE EMISSIONS PERMITS diagram

QUESTION 2
- I've (and other have) probably answered these questions throughout this thread.

As for all the questions possible - refer to the ''Learn To'' dot-points. It's a great starting point.

yeah it's called rote learning; generally pretty useless

lol.

 

[seventhroot]

lol.

w0t

 

[Futuremedstudent]

do you go to abbotsleigh?

 

[enigma_1]

do you go to abbotsleigh?

gg

 

[Futuremedstudent]

enigma- the only independent girls school school i can think in the top 10

 

[avi888]

like the best thing to do( I have a fairly useless teacher as well) , maybe try getting a tutor to help you understand the concepts or even try myed courses which are decent for understanding, I assume you are using the Tim Riley textbook, in which case use Dixon instead cos the concepts are easier to understand from Dixon, dont give up yet it is still early days

 

[enigma_1]

enigma- the only independent girls school school i can think in the top 10

Ohh I see, good deduction skills

 

[screwuhsc]

if u dt like it simple just drop it