Paper 1 consists of three questions that come from all units of the syllabus.  Students must answer one of the three questions and will have 75 minutes to do so.   For High Level students Paper 1 is worth 20% of their composite score, while for Standard Level students it is worth 30%.  

Each question on the paper has two parts, parts (a) and (b).    Part (a) asks students to analyze an economic situation and is worth 10 marks.  Part (b) asks students to not only evaluate an economic real-life example but also provide a judgment of sound economic policy to address the situation.   Part (b) is worth 15 marks.

The exam starts with a five-minute reading period that students can use to decide which of the three questions they will answer and time to plan their approach to answering the question.  

Advice: First of all, be sure to answer the question that is asked.  Provide a topic sentence to each part of your answer. Be sure to define all of the economic terms you use with precision.  Definitely strive to embed at least one of the Nine Central Themes into your answer.  They show deep understanding of the big picture.