Economics

Mayoegian

Hi guys,

I'm going into 5th year in September and I'm doing Economics. I'm doing it outside of school by myself, because our school doesnt do it. Does anybody know what book(S?) to get for economics this year? Maybe some other students who are going into 5th year this year would know?
Is this the one i should get?

http://www.eason.ie/look/9781841318233/Economics-Book---Workbook-Lc/O-Grady-Denis

It's in easons. I'm honestly not sure-can anyone help please?

Thanks!:)

caroline1111

I have Understanding Economics by Richard Delaney. Economics would be a difficult subject to do by yourself as there is a lot of understanding and some things in it are easier understood if a teacher explains it to you rather than to read it from a book. Maybe you're getting classes/grinds outside school though?

Mayoegian

caroline1111 wrote: »

I have Understanding Economics by Richard Delaney. Economics would be a difficult subject to do by yourself as there is a lot of understanding and some things in it are easier understood if a teacher explains it to you rather than to read it from a book. Maybe you're getting classes/grinds outside school though?

Thanks for your speedy reply!! I'm thinking of getting grinds but dont know where tbh. What year are you in? Would your book be an older version?

sorry for all the q's!!:P

caroline1111

I'm just going into 6th year now, I'm pretty sure its a new book as the year above me had a different one. Economics is a really short course and a good subject, some people 'get it' quicker than others but I would advise you to try and find some grinds somewhere to be sure.

Mayoegian

caroline1111 wrote: »

I'm just going into 6th year now, I'm pretty sure its a new book as the year above me had a different one. Economics is a really short course and a good subject, some people 'get it' quicker than others but I would advise you to try and find some grinds somewhere to be sure.

Thanks a mill! I'll keep an eye out for it in Easons. I'll also see if there are any grinds going on around!

Saul-Good

I cannot warn you away from economics enough! I've finished this year I know what I'm talking about, don't be tempted by the fact it's a short course. It's a massive work load if you want to do well and if you don't necessarily 'get it'(which not that many people in my school did). The fact you're doing it by yourself only makes it harder on you because I think a teacher is essential in a subject like economics.

Like any subject, if you 'get it' it's a whole lot easier but for economics it's a whole different game. The way the questions are asked you need to have a very good degree of understanding, there's no learning off and regurgitating if you want a high grade.

That's my 2 cents on economics but if you think you can handle it go for it but if you find yourself halfway through 5th year and really struggling drop it like as soon as possible it's only more work and pressure on yourself.

To answer your question we had a book called Modern Economics, the name of the publisher escapes me now but I found it very helpful.

JSK 252

I did it in Bruce College, Cork in 5th year and didnt bother studying it in 6th year as it was the same material so I could cover it at home by myself. I however did maths grinds this year with the same guy who taught economics so he gave all the class tests and notes which I didnt have which he gave to his own full time students. Sean O Brien is the best teacher you could possibly have for the two subjects. I would seriously consider getting grinds in certain areas of the course which can be tricky. Especially National Income, Elasticity and the Market Structures ( Understanding the diagrams).

I achieved a B1 in it which I was slightly dissapointed about so Im defo going to have a look at it. Kinda wierd that the subjects I got grinds or classes in Maths B2 and Economics B1 were my worst subjects which I didnt count in my 580 points!:pac:

AJ6000

Economics is a brilliant course! You learn a lot of everyday stuff in it! With Oligopoly you learn that there is so much more to Tecso than low prices

JSK 252

AJ6000 wrote: »

Economics is a brilliant course! You learn a lot of everyday stuff in it! With Oligopoly you learn that there is so much more to Tecso than low prices

Every little helps!:pac:

MrPirate

Economics is a great subject! I loved it, but it definitely requires that feeling of understanding to it. We used the Modern Economics book and a blue economics book (can't remember the name of it..). The blue one was new but it's virtually the same stuff in it, tbh. The course itself hasn't been updated in a good while. What I would recommend is see if you can perhaps find a loan of an economics book for a while and try exam questions on it. If you can do them without looking at the book (You'd first have to cover the topic, of course) then you can decide then whether you want to do it or not. My teacher loaded me with mock papers from the last like 10years at higher and ordinary level so if you want then, I'll scan them for ya(If I can find them all.. >_>)!

snazzy

Saul-Good wrote: »

I cannot warn you away from economics enough! I've finished this year I know what I'm talking about, don't be tempted by the fact it's a short course. It's a massive work load if you want to do well and if you don't necessarily 'get it'(which not that many people in my school did). The fact you're doing it by yourself only makes it harder on you because I think a teacher is essential in a subject like economics.

Like any subject, if you 'get it' it's a whole lot easier but for economics it's a whole different game. The way the questions are asked you need to have a very good degree of understanding, there's no learning off and regurgitating if you want a high grade.

That's my 2 cents on economics but if you think you can handle it go for it but if you find yourself halfway through 5th year and really struggling drop it like as soon as possible it's only more work and pressure on yourself.

I largely agree with this.

A teacher is a necessity with Economics.
I was lucky in that I had an excellent teacher who explained things much better than the book [ Denis O'Grady's which is a ****e ****e ****e book]

Economics is not an easy subject.
For most of 5th year I just couldn't get my head around it, particularly the graphs and we began with a class of 30+ and by June this year there was about 15 left.

However without even realising it, I found that it eventually began to make sense and we were finished the course by Christmas. After that we focused on going over anything we didn't quite get and did a load of exam papers and it began to piece together.
You can interlink everything and current affairs help to put everything into practical relatable terms.

I really began to get into it after the pre's and went from a C2 in the pre's to an A2 in the leaving.

Be warned though.
A lot of success in Economics depends on exam technique.
Timing is very very important.

Good things with economics though is the exam choice [9 out of 12 short questions and 4 out of 8 long questions if I remember correctly]
Also, big reels of information is not required. Bullet points and short explanations are enough for even 30 markers.

My biggest tip for Economics and what ensured my A was during the time after Christmas and to June, I went onto the examinations.ie website.
On that website, I recommend you to go to the marking schemes and copy and paste each answer to each year's exam question in the relevant sections.
So like go sort out all the questions and answers to a topic like Monopoly and put them together. There is a substantial amount of repetition in the exam papers over the years and laying it out like that and learning it was a fantastic help to me.

Hope that helps.

straight_As

Mr. and Mrs. Boards,

I'm kinda in the same position as the chap above but I'm heading into 6th year.

I bought some purple and black revision book for economics, just see what the commotion was all about with this economic hoo-haa.

Well, when I saw that understanding was a pre-requisite, I said, sure, what the hell, I'll might as well give it a go for the LC.

So guys, here's my question, is it possible to get an A1 teaching yourself in a year and using only a revision book?

Forgive my ignorance.

Danke

Saul-Good

straight_As wrote: »

So guys, here's my question, is it possible to get an A1 teaching yourself in a year and using only a revision book?

I'd say you could learn how to fly before you could achieve an A1 in only a year with a revision book and no teacher. Revision books are made to work on the stuff you've already learned, that's why they're called revision books and not text books.

Fuascailt

Aw, loved Economics. I never studied from the book, what you need to do is print out ALL the marking schemes. Seriously. Questions are repeated over and over and over again. And the marking schemes are so much simpler than any of the books. I taught my self in fifth year, and did an hour a week grind from christmas of sixth, with a couple of revision courses. Got 95%. Its ALL about the marking schemes for this subject!!!!!!!!!

Mayoegian

MrPirate wrote: »

Economics is a great subject! I loved it, but it definitely requires that feeling of understanding to it. We used the Modern Economics book and a blue economics book (can't remember the name of it..). The blue one was new but it's virtually the same stuff in it, tbh. The course itself hasn't been updated in a good while. What I would recommend is see if you can perhaps find a loan of an economics book for a while and try exam questions on it. If you can do them without looking at the book (You'd first have to cover the topic, of course) then you can decide then whether you want to do it or not. My teacher loaded me with mock papers from the last like 10years at higher and ordinary level so if you want then, I'll scan them for ya(If I can find them all.. >_>)!

Thanks so much! I dont want ya to go to ay trouble though!!:)
I'll have a look for those books too-Soccymonster gave me the name of it!
I just had a look at examinations.ie at the economics paper, and I think it looks do-able. I don't know all the answers,(actually I don't know any!:P) but it doesn't look impossible!

Thanks a Mill to everyone that replied-ye've all been a great help!:)

irishmonkey

I picked up Economics at Easter of 6th year.
Didn't take any classes, just got some notes and poured over em myself.

I didn't take it very seriously actually, telling myself that i'd give myself the week before the exam to study.
Ended up leaving it till the night before, and had a massive panic attack.

Walked out of the exam convinced that i had utterly tanked it.

In the end, i got a D2.
Could have gotten at least a C1 if i put a little more effort in, but i still counted it instead of my ordinary level subject

Cillbill

Hey economics is a very safe bet for achieving high points as it is predictable and imo can be easily learnt at home.
I seriously had a horrible teacher as all my class will testify and covered the course myself by reading the book but managed 88% in the mocks and an A1 in the leaving cert.

There is amazing choice in the paper which makes it a comfortable exam. For short questions go through all past papers like back to 1994 as they do repeat. As someone has already said print out the marking schemes and learn them.

I used the blue book and rapid revision. I found with economics you have to pick and choose your sources i.e take the best bits from all the books!

P.M if you have any q's Good Luck!

phic

The most recent, and according to my teacher best, economics textbook is the richard delaney one as it gives more information.
For the leaving I used both that and the dennis o'grady one, and I think it depends on the chapter you're doing which one is better! neither have particularily clear explanations really, but combined you could probably do it without a teacher!

snazzy

The thing about Denis O'Grady's book which pissed me off the most was the color of the inlay.

Who uses SALMON coloured pages?!

Made it awfully tiresome to read.

Mayoegian

Cillbill wrote: »

Hey economics is a very safe bet for achieving high points as it is predictable and imo can be easily learnt at home.
I seriously had a horrible teacher as all my class will testify and covered the course myself by reading the book but managed 88% in the mocks and an A1 in the leaving cert.

There is amazing choice in the paper which makes it a comfortable exam. For short questions go through all past papers like back to 1994 as they do repeat. As someone has already said print out the marking schemes and learn them.

I used the blue book and rapid revision. I found with economics you have to pick and choose your sources i.e take the best bits from all the books!

P.M if you have any q's Good Luck!

Thanks loads!!!! I might just PM ya when I'm learning it myself-It'd be great to have a different perspective!:)

Thanks a million for all your replies!!!! Ye've all really helped me!:)

Mallox

one book .. revise wise economics .. after you have covered the course get this book to revise .. its excellent helped me get my A2 in economics

english4490

+1 on mallox! helped me nicely towards that A1 i got! that book and the folens exam papers with the list of what you need to know at the front of them going by each section, and they follow that order and layout in revise wise economics, by the time i was revising i only used that book with the occasional flick back to the text book when needed! also my advice would be to use the revision book and text book at the same time when looking at different things, sometimes its easier to understand the text book and sometimes its easier to understand the revision book, so check both and go with the one you feel more comfortable with!:eek:

Mayoegian

Hi guys, just one last question!!

I have the names of 3 economics books now, but I'm not sure which ones to get-what do ye think? Or should I get all three?

1.
Economics Book & Workbook Lc

by O Grady Denis

2.
Modern Economics Lc (New Edition)

Hardback by Spencer Keith & McCa
3.Understanding Economics

by Delaney Richard