IB Economics SLTopic 5 — Assessment and Exam SkillsPaper 2Exam skill~8 min read
What Paper 2 Asks You to Do
Paper 2 gives you an article, a table, a graph, and then asks seven questions about them. It is not a test of how much theory you can remember. It is a test of whether you can take theory to a real situation and use the numbers in front of you as evidence.
📘 What you need to know
Paper 2 is data response. Every question is tied to the stimulus material: text, tables, graphs, diagrams and extracted figures.
You choose one question out of two and answer all of its subparts. It is worth 40 marks in 1 hour 45 minutes.
Each question has seven subparts, (a) to (g).
Parts (a) to (f) are short: definitions, calculations, reading data, diagrams, brief explanations. They share 25 marks.
Part (g) is worth 15 marks on its own and needs a full evaluation built on the data.
From May 2024 onwards SL and HL sit the same Paper 2, so nothing HL-only is tested.
Marks come from precision, not length. Explaining theory without touching the stimulus caps your mark, however good the theory is.
How the paper is built
Think of the stimulus as the ground everything stands on. You read it once for the story, once with a pen. Then the subparts walk you from small skills to one big one, and the marks get heavier as you go.
The subparts are meant to be done in order, because the early ones often hand you the figures and the diagram you will reuse in part (g).
Same paper for SL and HL since May 2024. Everything on the paper can be answered from the common syllabus, so if a question looks like it needs HL-only content, read it again — it does not.
Parts (a) to (f): fast and exact
These are short-answer questions, and they reward precision rather than paragraphs. Marks are for saying the right thing, not for saying a lot of things around the right thing. Point at the table, figure or line of text you are using, every single time.
What it asks
What it looks like
How to score it
Define
“Define the term inflation”
One precise sentence. No examples needed
Calculate
Work something out from the table
Show the working and add the unit
Interpret data
Describe a trend or compare two years
Quote the actual figures, not “it went up”
Draw a diagram
Sketch and label a market or model
Label everything, then explain it in words
Explain briefly
Two or three lines of reasoning
Tie it to the text, in context, not in the abstract
🧩 A routine for every short subpart
Find the source. Which paragraph, table or figure is this about? Underline it.
Answer the command term. “State” wants a sentence. “Explain” wants a because.
Use the numbers. A figure from the data turns a vague answer into a marked one.
Use the terms. Say “price elasticity of demand”, not “how much people react”.
Stop. When the point is made, move on. Extra sentences earn nothing here and cost you part (g).
WORKED EXAMPLE
Table 1 shows unemployment at 8.4% in 2022 and 6.3% in 2024. Calculate the percentage change in the unemployment rate.
Step 1: find the change8.4 − 6.3 = 2.1 so it has fallen by 2.1 percentage points.
Step 2: percentage change is measured against the starting value(2.1 ÷ 8.4) × 100 = 25The unemployment rate fell by 25%A fall of 2.1 percentage points is not a fall of 2.1%. Mixing those two up is the most common calculation slip in this paper.
Part (g): the one worth 15 marks
Part (g) is a full evaluative essay, and it is where students who “know the theory” still lose marks. The examiner is checking six things: do you understand the economic issue in the data, can you apply the right theory, do you actually use the stimulus, can you analyse and evaluate the options, is the answer balanced, and do you reach a judgement grounded in what the data shows.
Both answers might contain the same economics. Only one of them is answering this question about this economy.
The word to hold on to is selective. Copying out the whole table is not using data; it is decorating. Choose the two or three figures that carry your argument, and say what each one proves.
The part (g) sentence pattern
a figure from the data + the theory that explains it + what it means for the policy
WORKED EXAMPLE
Table 2 shows exports rising from $42bn in 2021 to $57bn in 2024. Turn a generic sentence into one that would score.
The generic version
“A weaker currency makes exports cheaper abroad, so exports rise.”
Step 1: work out the change so you can quote it57 − 42 = 15(15 ÷ 42) × 100 = 35.7%Step 2: rebuild the sentence around the figure
“Exports grew from $42bn to $57bn, a rise of about 36%, which fits the fall in the exchange rate in Figure 1: a weaker currency lowers the foreign price of exports, so quantity demanded abroad rises.”
Step 3: add the evaluation
“How much of this is really the exchange rate depends on the price elasticity of demand for these exports, and the text says most of them are commodities.”
Data + theory + what it meansOne sentence like this is worth more than a page of correct but floating theory.
A judgement in part (g) has to belong to this economy. “The policy may work, it depends on circumstances” fits any paper ever set, so it earns nothing. “This works here because the data shows spare capacity” belongs to this one.
Diagrams in Paper 2
Use a diagram when it adds something, not out of habit. A diagram that is correct, fully labelled and then explained in words does real work. A diagram that sits there unexplained, or that has nothing to do with the data, will not lift you into the higher marks. Draw it, then write the sentence that tells the examiner what to look at.
Where the 105 minutes go
The single most common way to lose marks on Paper 2 is running the clock down on calculations and diagrams in the early parts, then writing part (g) in fifteen rushed minutes. That is 15 marks — more than a third of the question — being squeezed into a corner of the booklet.
Write the time you must start part (g) at the top of your answer booklet, and move on when you reach it even if a short part is unfinished.
WORKED EXAMPLE
Paper 2 gives you 1 hour 45 minutes for 40 marks. How much of that belongs to part (g)?
Step 1: minutes per mark105 ÷ 40 = 2.625 minutes per markStep 2: what part (g) is worth in time15 × 2.625 ≈ 39 minutesStep 3: take the reading and checking time out of the rest10 read + 55 for (a) to (f) + 35 for (g) + 5 check = 105Part (g) needs 35 to 39 minutesPart (g) is 37.5% of the marks, so anything under half an hour is already costing you.
💡 Exam tip
Read the stimulus twice before writing: once for the story, once with a pen, circling figures, dates and any phrase that sounds like a policy.
Number your data. Note “Table 1, 6.3%” in the margin so you can grab figures quickly in part (g) instead of hunting for them.
Answer the subparts in order. They build on each other, and the early ones set up the ideas part (g) needs.
Say where the figure came from. “As Table 1 shows…” is a small phrase that proves you are using the stimulus.
Balance part (g) deliberately: short run against long run, gains against costs, and who wins or loses.
Finish with a judgement tied to the data, not a general one. Name the figure that convinced you.
⚠️ Common mix-up
Writing a Paper 1 essay in part (g). Perfect theory with no data is exactly the answer the mark scheme caps.
Percentage change against percentage points. A rate moving from 8.4% to 6.3% falls by 2.1 percentage points, which is a 25% fall.
Copying out the table. Listing every number is not analysis. Pick the figures that support the point you are making.
Spending too long on the diagram in an early subpart and arriving at part (g) with fifteen minutes left.
Ignoring the command term. “State” and “explain” are not the same size of answer, and neither is “evaluate”.
Assuming a question is HL-only. Since May 2024 the paper is shared, so everything on it is answerable from the common content.
Long explanations that add nothing. Extra words do not add marks here, and they take the time part (g) needed.
Up next: The Skills Every Answer Should Show — the four skills sitting behind every question on both papers, and the command terms that tell you which one is wanted.
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