1/04/2010

The ten key mistakes made by candidates

To make this I had to read through 6 Examiners' Reports:

1. Rubric error was mentioned in all of them - sometimes candidates answer on more than one question in section B, which is not asked, so it's a simple waste of time.

2. Inability to apply economic concepts to the answer was mentioned in reports in Jan-Jun 07 and Jan-Jun 08

3. lack of judgment and analysis in the answers, "being descriptive rather than analytical" (Jan 08, Jan 09, Jun 09)

4. Spending too much time\writing too much on questions worth 2-4 marks (Jan 07)

5. Lack of essay planning was mentioned in Examiner's Report in Jan 08

6. Application of AS knowledge rather than A2 concepts (Jan and June 08)

7. "Candidates should write less but more coherent answers" (Jan 09)

8. No context reference (Jan 09)

9. Time management (all reports, however, a minor problem)

10. Candidates attempt to answer a question from a base of knowledge rather than using economics theory (June 07)