Written examinations: L1, L2, Mathematics and two further written subjects
What the written component tests
The written examinations are the largest single component of the European Baccalaureate. Every candidate sits five papers: L1, L2, Mathematics, and two further written subjects chosen from the options. Economics is commonly taken as one of those two further papers, so the economics written examination is your chance to show sustained, structured economic reasoning rather than recall alone. The paper is set within the European Schools' common framework and is marked against subject criteria that reward accurate knowledge, application to unfamiliar data, analysis using models, and critical evaluation.
Core rules for the economics paper
- The paper is normally three hours and combines data-response questions with an extended essay or structured evaluation task. You may be given a case study, table, graph, or extract and asked to apply economic concepts to it.
- Command words carry marks: 'define', 'explain', 'analyse', 'discuss', 'evaluate'. An 'analyse' answer needs a chain of reasoning; an 'evaluate' answer needs a judgement with conditions and counter-arguments.
- Diagrams must be integrated into the answer: supply and demand, price ceilings and floors, externalities (MSC/MPC), AD/AS, PPF, or elasticity. Label axes, curves, and equilibrium; refer to the diagram in the text.
- Quantitative skills from the Mathematics paper - percentages, index numbers, growth rates, elasticity, real versus nominal values - are applied in economics data questions. Show workings and units.
- L1 and L2 papers test language and argumentation; in an L2 economics answer, use precise subject vocabulary (e.g. 'opportunity cost', 'deadweight loss', 'crowding out') rather than vague paraphrase.
Worked example
Question: 'Using a supply and demand diagram, explain the effect of a maximum price set below equilibrium.' First define a maximum price and state the condition: it is binding only below the equilibrium price. Draw axes with price and quantity, a downward-sloping demand curve and upward-sloping supply curve, and mark the ceiling below equilibrium. At the ceiling, quantity demanded exceeds quantity supplied, creating excess demand (a shortage). Explain consequences: queues, rationing, black markets, reduced investment in supply. Add evaluation: the size of the shortage depends on elasticities; a price floor above equilibrium would create surplus instead. The diagram alone earns little; the marks come from linking the shortage to the diagram and evaluating the policy.
Traps that cost marks
- Drawing a diagram but not referring to it in the text.
- Confusing a shift of a curve with a movement along it.
- Writing everything you know about a topic instead of answering the command word.
- Giving a one-sided answer to 'evaluate' or 'discuss'.
- Ignoring data in a data-response question.