Class 12 Board exams: Here are some dos and don’ts for Economics

Taking the Board exams can be daunting. There is a lot of pressure on students to score high grades so that they can get into the college of their choice or be able to pursue a career they want. A lot of people say that class XII grades can make or break your career path. While this is not always the case, it doesn’t mean that there is less stress on those taking this exam.

  “Direct questions have more or less been eliminated from the Economics question paper – only two or three are asked – the rest are data analysis, interpretations, and newspaper headline articles that are related to economic policies”

 – Jyotika Gupta, Economics teacher at Apeejay School, Panchsheel Park  

Hence, every little help that they can get from any corner can be a huge stress buster. A teacher at Apeejay School, Panchsheel Park, who teaches Economics to students of classes XI and XII shares some tips that can give them an edge and help them score well.

Format of the class XII Board exams

While it is not recommended that students go for selective study if a student is looking at scoring full marks, it is possible to thoroughly read a few topics and still manage to score well. “The class XII Economics Board exam is scheduled for March 17, 2023. And there has been a slight change in the format of the question paper. The type of questions remain the same – like MCQs, and assertion-reasoning questions – what has changed is that there are no long-answer questions. The 6-mark questions have been divided – either 2 and 4 marks, or 3 and 3 marks,” Jyotika Gupta, Economics teacher at Apeejay School, Panchsheel Park explained.

This is the advantage that the Central Board of Secondary Education had given to the students of class XII Board exams. “This will reduce the burden of the students to spend hours cramming long-answer questions. This will also limit the word count for the answers as well saving time. The students are expected to give examples from real-time situations when they are asked to analyse policies or their impact. This is especially true for chapters on Indian economics – students must give examples with a small introduction to be followed by an analysis. A bit of conclusion at the end, will enhance the answer and leave a better impression on the examiner,” Gupta opined.

Topics to study

In all, there are 11 chapters divided into Part A and B. Part A – Introductory Macroeconomics – has five chapters: National Income and Related Aggregates, Money and Banking, Determination of Income and Employment, Government Budget and the Economy, and Balance of Payments. In part B  –  Indian Economic Development – the chapters are: Development Experience (1947-90) and Economic Reforms since 1991, Current Challenges facing Indian Economy, and Development Experience of India – A Comparison with Neighbours.

1. Under Introductory Macroeconomics – students must not miss out on money banking, government budget, and economy, and income and employment are topics that students find easy to learn and questions based on these topics are scoring as well.

2. Under Indian Economics – students must study development experience, development experience of India – a comparison with neighbours like India and Pakistan and India and China.

3. Students can expect numerical questions as well though these are not always easy to tackle, but if they can be mastered they are scoring as well.

4. The rest of the topics can be given a read a couple of times so that the students can attempt questions based on these topics.

5. Direct questions have more or less been eliminated from the Economics question paper – only two or three are asked – the rest are data analysis, interpretations, and newspaper headline articles that are related to economic policies.

Dos and don’ts

1.  Do attempt the questions in a reverse manner. Do the questions that carry higher marks and go to the ones that have lower marks.

2. Answer questions that are scoring first.

3. Don’t waste time thinking about the answer you don’t know. Leave the space and go to the next question.

4. To attempt the MCQs – the students must read the key concepts that are given at the end of each chapter. These should be read from the NCERT book. For part B – Indian Economic Development – read the conclusion of the chapter to understand what the chapter is trying to explain.

5. If a student wants to consult another book, they can but in that case, they must stick to it aside from the primary NCERT book.