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IB ECONOMICS
IB Economics tutor online for HL and SL
IB Economics is marked on application: a correct diagram, a real example and a balanced judgment. IB Learning Star offers online tutoring for the IB Diploma Economics course, for HL and SL students alike. One-on-one lessons run live on Google Meet at times that suit your time zone, and your first class is a free trial.
HL and SL
One-on-one on Google Meet
Lessons in your time zone
Free trial class
Where the marks go
Why strong Economics students still lose marks
Students who understand the theory still drop marks in the same three places.
1
Diagrams that are drawn but not explained.
A correct curve with a missing label, or a diagram that the answer never refers to, earns far less than the same diagram explained step by step.
2
Theory with no context.
Paper 2 and the IA reward answers that use the data or the article in front of you. A textbook paragraph on elasticity, with no figure from the case, stays in the middle bands.
3
Evaluation that picks one side.
The top bands ask for a judgment that weighs both sides and rests on a real example. “It depends” with no reason does not count as evaluation.
We work on these from the first lesson, with your own class notes and recent answers in front of us. For students who learn Economics in a second or third language, we build a word bank for each unit and practise the terms in full sentences.
Our tutors are certified IBDP tutors or have completed IBDP training, at least IB Category 2 workshops, and they teach in IB schools.
This page describes the course first examined in 2022. We will update it if the IB publishes a new Economics guide.
The course
What the IB Economics course covers, and what HL adds
The course has four units plus the internal assessment. SL is 150 teaching hours and HL is 240. The extra 90 hours at HL go mostly into Microeconomics and Macroeconomics.
UNIT
■ SL ■ HL
SL / HL
Unit 1 Introduction to economics
10 / 10
Unit 2 Microeconomics
35 / 70
Unit 3 Macroeconomics
40 / 75
Unit 4 The global economy
45 / 65
Internal assessment
20 / 20
Total
150 / 240
HL ONLY
HL students take three topics that SL students do not: market failure from asymmetric information, market power, and the market’s inability to achieve equity. HL also adds extra calculations and diagrams inside other topics, and a third exam paper.
scarcity
choice
efficiency
equity
economic well-being
sustainability
change
interdependence
intervention
Nine key concepts run through the whole course and the IA: scarcity, choice, efficiency, equity, economic well-being, sustainability, change, interdependence and intervention. We teach each unit through at least one of them, because the IA asks you to use a different one in each commentary.
Assessment
How the Economics papers work
SL students sit two papers and HL students sit three. All papers are written exams, and questions come from all four units (HL papers include the HL extension material).
Paper | Time | Marks | Weight at SL | Weight at HL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Paper 1 extended response | 1 h 15 min | 25 marks | 30% | 20% |
Paper 2 data response | 1 h 45 min | 40 marks | 40% | 30% |
Paper 3 policy paper (HL only) | 1 h 45 min | 60 marks | not taken | 30% |
Internal assessment | about 20 hours of class time | 45 marks | 30% | 20% |
PAPER 1
no calculator
Paper 1: one extended answer from a choice of three
You answer one question out of three. Each has a part (a) worth 10 marks and a part (b) worth 15. Part (a) asks you to explain theory, usually with a diagram. Part (b) asks for a discussion or an evaluation, and it needs a real-world example. Calculators are not allowed in this paper.
PAPER 2
calculator allowed
Paper 2: data response, seven parts
You answer one question out of two. Each question gives you a short text and data, then asks seven parts, (a) to (g). The first six are short, worth 4 or 5 marks each, and include some calculations. Part (g) is worth 15 marks and asks for an evaluation that uses the text. A four-function calculator is enough, and graphic display calculators are allowed.
PAPER 3
HL only
Paper 3: the HL policy paper
HL students answer two compulsory questions, each worth 30 marks. Part (a) is worth 20 marks and has several subparts, many of them calculations. Part (b) is worth 10 marks and asks you to recommend a policy using the data and economic theory. Graphic display calculators are allowed.
Worked cases
Diagrams and calculations that earn the marks
The IB expects you to construct and explain diagrams. Drawing them is the first half. Here are two short cases, the kind we work through in a first lesson.
A worked case: a negative externality of production
Question: explain, using a diagram, why a market with a negative externality of production is inefficient.
Step 1. Draw axes with cost and benefit on the vertical axis and quantity on the horizontal axis.
Step 2. Draw demand, which is marginal private benefit, and supply, which is marginal private cost.
Step 3. Draw marginal social cost above marginal private cost. The gap is the external cost on each unit.
Step 4. Mark the market quantity where private cost meets private benefit, and the socially best quantity where social cost meets social benefit.
Step 5. Shade the welfare loss triangle between the two quantities.
Then explain in words. At the market quantity, the last units cost society more than they are worth to buyers, so the market produces too much. The shaded triangle is the value lost. Finish by linking back to the question: a market left alone is inefficient here because the producer does not pay for the harm.
In the top markband the theory is fully explained, the terms are used correctly throughout and the diagram is explained in words as well as drawn. The five steps and the closing sentence give you each of those.
A worked calculation: price elasticity of demand
Question: the price of a ticket rises from $10 to $12, and the quantity demanded falls from 200 to 170. Calculate price elasticity of demand and say what happens to total revenue.
The change in quantity is -30 out of 200, which is -15%. The change in price is +2 out of 10, which is +20%. Price elasticity of demand is -15 divided by +20, which is -0.75. Demand is price inelastic, because the size of the figure is below 1. Revenue rises from $2,000 (10 × 200) to $2,040 (12 × 170), because the fall in quantity is smaller than the rise in price.
“Calculate” asks you to show the working, so each stage earns marks. We practise this layout until it is automatic.
Evaluation
Evaluation that weighs both sides
In Paper 1 part (b), Paper 2 part (g) and the IA, the highest marks go to a judgment that is balanced and backed by a real example. A list of “advantages and disadvantages” is not enough.
× WEAKER ANSWER
“A carbon tax reduces pollution.”
→
✓ STRONGER ANSWER
“A carbon tax raises the price of fossil energy, so output falls toward the socially best level. The fall may be small in the short run if demand is price inelastic and firms can pass the cost on, so the tax works best with time and with alternatives available.”
× WEAKER ANSWER
“Subsidies are good for farmers.”
→
✓ STRONGER ANSWER
“A subsidy raises farmers’ output and income, but it costs the government money that could fund other spending, and it can keep inefficient producers in business. Whether it is worth it depends on how important the crop is and what else the money could do.”
The pattern is the same each time: say what happens, give the reason, then say what the result depends on, and finish with a judgment. We practise it with examples from the countries our students live in, such as a sales-tax change in the UAE or a carbon tax in Singapore, so the real-world example is one you can explain with confidence.
Internal assessment
The IA portfolio: three commentaries, 45 marks
The Economics internal assessment is the same at SL and HL: a portfolio of three commentaries on published news articles. Each commentary is up to 800 words. The portfolio is worth 30% of the grade at SL and 20% at HL.
EACH COMMENTARY · 14 MARKS
3 × 14 + 3 =
45
Each commentary is marked on five criteria out of 14: diagrams (3), terminology (2), application and analysis (3), key concept (3) and evaluation (3). A last criterion, worth 3 marks, checks the rules for the whole portfolio. Three commentaries at 14 marks plus those 3 marks gives 45.
The rules catch many students out. Each commentary must use an article from a different unit (Units 2, 3 and 4), from a different source, published no more than a year before you write. Each must use a different key concept. Repeating a key concept costs marks.
In lessons we help you find articles that fit the units and the concepts, test whether an article gives you enough to build a diagram and an evaluation, and read your draft against the criteria before you submit.
How it works
What an Economics lesson looks like
01
The first lesson is a diagnostic. You show us a recent test, a Paper 1 answer or an IA draft, and we find where the marks went: a diagram without labels, a data answer that ignores the figures, or an evaluation that picks a side. After it we agree a plan around your weakest units and your exam session.
02
Each lesson takes one topic and ends with a full answer in the form the markscheme rewards. You get a short set of questions to try before the next lesson. Closer to the exams we add timed Paper 1 and Paper 2 questions (and Paper 3 for HL), with written feedback on your diagrams and wording.
03
Many Economics students also take Maths AI or Business Management. If you do, we can link the two, for example by using statistics from your Maths course in a Paper 2 calculation.
Lessons are one-on-one on Google Meet, in your time zone.
FAQ
What Economics students and parents ask us
Q.
My child understands the theory but still gets a 5. What changes in lessons?
We look at where the marks are going before we teach anything new. Usually it is diagrams without full labels or explanation, answers that do not use the data or the example, or an evaluation that does not reach a judgment. Lessons practise those three things on exam-style questions, and we show the corrections in writing.
Q.
Is IB Economics HL hard?
HL asks for more than SL: 90 more teaching hours, three extra topics, extra calculations, and a third paper that combines calculations with policy advice. Students who practise diagrams and calculations steadily manage it well. We build that practice into the plan.
Q.
How is HL different from SL?
HL covers market failure from asymmetric information, market power and the market’s inability to achieve equity, adds calculations and diagrams in other topics, and includes Paper 3. The skills of drawing diagrams and writing balanced answers are the same at both levels.
Q.
Can I use a calculator in the Economics papers?
Not in Paper 1. In Paper 2 and Paper 3 a four-function calculator is enough, and graphic display calculators are allowed. Your school will tell you the rules for your exam session.
Q.
Can I use the same article or the same key concept twice in the IA?
No. Each commentary needs an article from a different unit and a different source, and a different key concept. Using the same key concept again costs marks in the key concept criterion.
Q.
Which past papers fit the course?
Use papers from the course first examined in 2022. Older papers followed a different syllabus, so only some questions still apply. Your tutor will tell you which ones are still useful.
Q.
Can lessons help if English is not my first language?
Yes. We build a word bank for each unit and practise the terms in full answers, because Economics markbands look for terms used correctly throughout.
Q.
Who teaches the lessons?
Your tutor is a certified IBDP tutor or has completed IBDP training, at least IB Category 2 workshops, and teaches in an IB school. We match the tutor to your course and level.
Q.
Will lessons fit my time zone?
Yes. Lessons are one-on-one on Google Meet and we plan them around your school day, wherever you are.
Q.
How do I start?
Book a free trial class. We use it to see where you are, then suggest a plan and a lesson schedule.
Start with a trial class for Economics
Tell us your level (SL or HL), your exam year and the units that worry you most. We will plan the first lesson around them.
