1The four components

The exams are 70% of the grade at SL and 80% at HL. Three hours of examination at standard level, four hours forty-five at higher.

Two things follow from that table and both matter. At SL the portfolio is worth more than Paper 1, and it is the only component you write with the books open — three commentaries, done over the course, worth almost a third of the grade. And at HL every paper can ask for the HL extension material; at SL no paper can. When a section of these notes is marked HL only, an SL paper cannot ask for it. That is a rule of the guide, not a guess.

2Paper 1 — the extended response

1 hour 15 minutes. 25 marks. One question from a choice of three. No calculator.

Each question comes in two parts and the split is always the same.

Four things move a part (a) up the bands: the question's actual demand is addressed, the theory is fully explained rather than described, the terms are used correctly throughout, and the diagram is included and explained. A diagram sitting on the page unexplained does not reach the top band.

Part (b) adds two requirements that are worth more than most students think. The response has to show synthesis or evaluation that is balanced — not advantages then disadvantages, but a judgement that depends on something you name. And it has to carry a relevant real-world example, identified and developed in the context of the question. "A country might impose a tariff" is not one. "The United States imposed tariffs on imported steel in 2018" is, and developing it is what separates 10–12 from 13–15.

Learn three or four real examples per unit and reuse them. The examiner is not checking whether the example is famous; they are checking whether it is real, relevant and developed.

3Paper 2 — the data response

1 hour 45 minutes. 40 marks. One question from a choice of two. Calculator allowed.

You are given a text and data about a real economy, and the question is cut into seven parts.

Only part (g) is marked for evaluation, and it is worth as much as parts (a) to (f) put together minus one. Budget your time to leave 30 minutes for it.

The rule that decides most Paper 2 marks is simple: answers must use the extract. A technically perfect answer that never quotes or refers to the text is marked down, because the paper is testing whether you can read an economy off a page of data. Every part except the definitions should point at a line, a figure or a paragraph in the text.

A four-function calculator is enough for everything on this paper. A graphic display calculator is allowed.

5The portfolio — internal assessment

Three commentaries. 800 words each. 45 marks. 30% at SL, 20% at HL. Identical at both levels.

You choose three articles from published news media and write a commentary on each, using economic theory from the syllabus to explain what the article describes.

The four rubric rules. Break one and you lose marks under criterion F before the economics is read.

1. Each commentary is based on a different unit of the syllabus, and Unit 1 cannot be used. So: one from microeconomics, one from macroeconomics, one from the global economy.
2. Each commentary uses a different key concept as its lens, and says which.
3. Each commentary uses a different source. Three articles from the same newspaper breaks this.
4. Each article is published no earlier than one year before you write the commentary.

What every commentary must record: the article title, the source (with the date you accessed it if it is online), the date the article was published, the date you wrote the commentary, the word count, the syllabus unit, and the key concept.

How each one is marked, out of 14:

Three commentaries make 42. The portfolio then carries 3 more marks for criterion F, rubric requirements — the four rules above. 42 + 3 = 45.

What does not count towards the 800 words: diagrams, labels of five words or fewer, headings on diagrams of ten words or fewer, tables of statistical data, equations, formulae and calculations, acknowledgments, a contents page, and citations and references. Definitions and quotations do count. Moderators stop reading at 800 words, so anything after that is unmarked.

The commentary is not a summary of the article. Roughly: a paragraph saying what the article reports, then the theory with a diagram, then the analysis of what follows for the people in the article, then an evaluation that says what it depends on. The article is the evidence, not the subject.

6What the markbands actually reward

Every extended answer — Paper 1 (a) and (b), Paper 2 (g), Paper 3 (b) — is marked against level descriptors rather than a tick list, and the same four things move you up all of them.

The demands of the question are addressed. Not the topic: the question. "Evaluate the view that…" is not answered by explaining the view.

Theory is fully explained, not described. Describing is saying what happens. Explaining is saying why it follows.

Diagrams are included and explained. Both axes labelled with the variable and its unit, every curve labelled, equilibrium marked, and shifts arrowed. Then a sentence saying what the diagram shows. The label alone is worth marks; the label with the sentence is worth the band.

A real-world example, developed. Required in every 15-mark band. Identified is not enough at the top: it has to be developed in the context of the question.

7Command terms

The command term fixes what has to be on the page. Answering a discuss as though it were an explain costs the evaluation marks however good the economics is.

8The nine key concepts

scarcity · choice · efficiency · equity · economic well-being · sustainability · change · interdependence · intervention

These are not decoration. Paper 1 questions are often framed around one, every commentary has to use one as its lens, and naming the relevant concept and then using it reads immediately as a stronger answer. Each unit of these notes says which concepts it carries in its header block.

9The small rules that cost marks

• Five minutes of reading time before every paper. You may not write. Use it to choose your question and, on Paper 2, to find the figures you will need.
• No calculator in Paper 1. Calculators are allowed in Papers 2 and 3; a four-function one does everything, a GDC is permitted.
• SL papers cannot ask for HL extension material. Every section in these notes marked HL only is off your papers if you are SL.
• Unit 1 is examinable in the papers even though it is barred from the portfolio.
• Working earns marks. A correct final figure with no working does not reach the top of a calculation part; wrong working with the right method still earns some.
• Units and axes. A calculation without units and a diagram without labelled axes both lose marks that cost nothing to keep.

Educerie · written from the published IB Diploma Programme Economics guide, first assessment 2022. Original text. Component durations, mark totals, weightings and criteria checked against the guide. Compiled 11 September 2026.