IB Economics SL & HLTopic 5 — Exam Skills and AssessmentPapers 1, 2 & 3Exam technique~7 min read
Scoring Full Marks on 2-Mark Questions
Everyone calls these the easy marks, and everyone loses some. A 2-mark question is not testing how much you know — it is testing whether you can be exact. Two clean sentences beat half a page, every time.
📚 What you need to know
2-mark questions appear on all three papers and mostly test AO1, with a bit of AO4 where accuracy is technical.
You either give one accurate definition or two distinct correct points — the command term tells you which.
Each correct point is worth one mark. Two points, two marks.
No development, no example, no diagram and no evaluation is needed unless the question says so.
Write one clear sentence per mark, then stop.
Extra writing cannot add marks, but it can introduce a mistake that costs you one.
The two shapes a 2-mark question comes in
Look for the word “two” in the question. If it is there, the examiner is counting points, not sentences.
Getting a definition to full marks
Most economic definitions have two parts hiding inside them. Find both and you have your two marks. “Inflation” needs the idea of a sustained rise and the idea of the average price level. Leave either one out and it is a one-mark answer.
🧩 Building a full-mark definition
Say what kind of thing it is — a payment, a rise, a measure, a situation where…
Add the condition that makes it that thing — sustained, average, next best, over time, per unit.
Use economic words, not everyday ones. “Price level”, not “prices in the shops”.
Stop. No examples, no causes, no consequences.
Learn definitions as a pair of ideas rather than a block of words. It is far easier to recall “next best alternative” plus “given up when choosing” than to recite a full sentence you half remember.
Why longer answers score worse
Every extra minute spent on a 2-mark question is a minute stolen from the parts that decide your grade.
Worked examples
WORKED EXAMPLE
Define the term opportunity cost. [2]
Step 1: find the two ideas
idea 1 = the next best alternative; idea 2 = given up when a choice is made.
Step 2: put them in one sentence
“Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative that is given up when a choice is made.”
2/2“What you lose when you choose” gets 1 mark at best — it misses “next best”.
WORKED EXAMPLE
State two possible causes of demand-pull inflation. [2]
Step 1: the command term is “state two”
So I need two separate points, each on its own line, with no explanation.
Step 2: write them
1. A rise in consumer spending as incomes increase.
2. An increase in government spending in the economy.
2/2“A rise in spending” and “a rise in consumption” would count as one point, not two. They must be genuinely different.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Repairing a weak answer
A student writes: “Inflation is when prices go up in the shops, for example bread got more expensive last year, which is bad for people on low incomes.”
What went wrong
“Prices go up” is vague; the example and the consequence earn nothing and cost time.
The two ideas that were missingsustained and average price level.
The repair
“Inflation is a sustained increase in the average price level of an economy over time.”
1/2 becomes 2/2Shorter, sharper, and finished before the original answer had reached its example.
💡 Exam tip
One sentence per mark is the safest rule you will ever learn.
Number your points when the question says “two”. It makes the marks impossible to miss.
Keep a definitions list and test yourself on the two ideas inside each one.
If you are unsure, stay short and precise. Writing more does not raise the mark and usually lowers the clarity.
Use the subject word in the answer: price level, output, revenue, real income — not “stuff”, “money”, “things”.
Do not give three points when two are asked for. Examiners usually mark the first ones you wrote.
⚠ Common mix-up
Turning a definition into a mini-essay with causes and effects tacked on.
Giving an example instead of a definition. “Like petrol prices rising” does not define inflation.
Two points that are really the same point in different words.
Missing the second idea in a definition, which quietly halves the mark.
Everyday language where the economic term exists.
Spending four minutes here and then rushing the answer worth fifteen.
Up next: Scoring Full Marks on 4-Mark Questions — where one clear sentence is no longer enough and the examiner wants to see the chain of reasoning.
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