IB Economics SL & HLTopic 5 — Exam Skills and AssessmentPaper 1Essay skill~9 min read
Structuring a Paper 1 Essay
A Paper 1 answer is not one essay, it is two very different pieces of writing that happen to sit under the same question. Part (a) explains. Part (b) argues. Students who use the same shape for both usually over-write the first and under-develop the second.
📚 What you need to know
Part (a) is worth 10 marks and tests knowledge, application and analysis. No evaluation is required.
Real-world examples are not required in part (a), so do not spend time hunting for one.
Part (b) is worth 15 marks and is mainly about synthesis and evaluation.
Part (b) does need a real-world example — specific, accurate, and linked to the theory.
A real-world example should support your analysis, not replace it.
Diagrams belong in both parts wherever they carry the explanation, and must be fully labelled.
The conclusion has to be a judgement, not a summary of what you already said.
Two answers, two shapes
Five short blocks each. Write the skeleton in the margin first and the essay almost writes itself.
Part (a): the 10-mark explanation
Start with the definitions, because everything else rests on them. Then set out the theory, draw the diagram, and explain what the diagram shows step by step. Finish with a sentence that answers the exact question asked.
You are not being asked whether the outcome is good or bad, so do not tell the examiner. The last line should point back at the question, not open a debate.
A good part (a) reads like an explanation to someone who has just missed the lesson. Clear, ordered, no rhetoric, one idea per sentence.
Part (b): the 15-mark evaluation
Part (b) needs two things that part (a) does not: a real-world example, and a judgement you can defend. Everything else — definitions, theory, diagrams — is still there, but it is now serving an argument.
🧩 What makes a real-world example count
Specific — name the country, policy, market, firm or year.
Accurate — if you are not sure of a figure, describe the direction instead of inventing a number.
Linked to the theory — say which part of your argument it supports.
Used, not listed — it should make one of your points stronger, not sit in its own paragraph doing nothing.
Where the evaluation should sit
Most students save every critical thought for the final paragraph. It is far stronger to evaluate as you go: make a point, then immediately weigh it. By the time you reach the conclusion the judgement has already been earned.
The right-hand shape also protects you if you run out of time — there is already evaluation on the page.
Worked examples
WORKED EXAMPLE
Planning a part (a) answer
Explain how an indirect tax on a demerit good affects the price paid by consumers and the quantity traded. [10]
Paragraph 1: definitions
indirect tax; demerit good; one line each.
Paragraph 2: theory
The tax raises firms’ costs per unit, so supply shifts left from S to S + tax.
Diagram
Labelled demand and supply, both supply curves, both prices, both quantities, tax shown as the vertical gap.
Paragraph 3: explain the diagram
Price paid by consumers rises from P₁ to P₂; quantity traded falls from Q₁ to Q₂; the burden is shared between consumers and producers.
Paragraph 4: link
So consumers pay more and less of the good is traded.
Plan finished in 2 minutesNo evaluation anywhere. Whether the tax is a good idea belongs in part (b).
WORKED EXAMPLE
Planning a part (b) answer
Evaluate the use of indirect taxes to reduce the consumption of demerit goods. [15]
Set up
Define demerit good and indirect tax; say what the tax is trying to fix (over-consumption and external costs).
The case for
Higher price → quantity demanded falls → external costs fall; the government also raises revenue that can fund treatment or education.
Real-world exampleMexico’s tax on sugary drinks, introduced in 2014 — purchases of taxed drinks fell in the years that followed.
The case against
Demand for many demerit goods is price inelastic, so quantity falls only a little; the tax is regressive; it can push buyers into unregulated markets.
Judgement
It works best where demand is more elastic and where the revenue is spent on reducing the same problem. As a stand-alone fix it is weak; as part of a package it is effective.
Balanced, evidenced, decidedNotice the judgement names its conditions. That is what turns “it depends” into a real conclusion.
💡 Exam tip
Plan both parts before writing either. Five bullet points each is enough.
Define in the first two lines of each part. It is the fastest way to start scoring.
Prepare three or four flexible real-world examples that can stretch across several topics.
Signal your evaluation with clear words: however, on the other hand, in the short run, this depends on.
Name the conditions in your conclusion — elasticity, time frame, how the revenue is used, enforcement.
Leave the last five minutes for the conclusion. An unfinished argument loses the marks it had almost earned.
⚠ Common mix-up
Writing a memorised essay that answers a slightly different question.
Evaluating in part (a), which earns nothing and costs time.
A real-world example with no economics attached — a story rather than evidence.
Saving all evaluation for the last paragraph, then running out of time to write it.
Ending with a summary instead of a judgement.
Inventing statistics. A wrong figure damages the example; a described trend is safer and still credited.
Letting part (a) swallow the clock. Part (b) is worth 50% more marks.
Up next: Structuring the Paper 2 Extended Response — the same skills, but now every paragraph has to be anchored in the stimulus material.
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