How I Structure My IB Economics Exam Review Sessions...

How I Structure My IB Economics Exam Review Sessions

March 6, 2026

Here’s the 64-million-dollar question at this time of year for IB Economics Teachers…

In terms of content review, how should review sessions be structured in the weeks leading up to the IB Economics exams?

It is such an important question because review time is limited. No one has the luxury of revisiting every single corner of the syllabus in depth.

So the real issue becomes this…

Where should you focus your time to give students the greatest return on their effort? Or better said, give them the best chance to earn the marks they desire.

Here is how I think about it.

If there are roughly ten lessons available for structured review of content (as opposed to skills), I break them down strategically across Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, The Global Economy, and Market Power.

The goal is not to re-teach the course. The goal is to sharpen the areas that most consistently appear on the IB Exams in the past.

Let’s walk through it.

Microeconomics: Government Intervention and Market Failure

Microeconomics can feel enormous during review season. But not all topics carry equal weight.

Over the years, I have found that focusing on two core areas pays the biggest dividends.

Government Intervention

Students should have mastery of the four key diagrams:

Indirect tax
Per-Unit Subsidy
Price Ceiling
Price Floor

If they understand these thoroughly, they can handle almost any scenario in which a government steps into a market to alter outcomes.

Market Failure

The four externality diagrams are equally critical. Students must be able to explain why the market fails and justify government solutions. Conveniently, those solutions often loop directly back to indirect taxes and per-unit subsidies, which reinforces the earlier diagrams.

Here are the four Market Failure diagrams…

Negative Externality of Consumption
Positive Externality of Consumption
Negative Externality of Production
Positive Externality of Production

Elasticities also weave into this review. Understanding elasticity strengthens students’ explanations of why governments tax certain goods or subsidize others.

If students are strong in these diagrams and the logic behind them, Microeconomics becomes far less overwhelming.

Macroeconomics: Anchor Everything to AD-AS and Government Objectives

In Macroeconomics, everything flows from the two Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply Diagrams.

Neoclassical Aggregate Demand/Aggregate Supply Diagram
Keynesian Aggregate Demand/Aggregate Supply Diagram

Students need mastery of both.

If they can draw, label, and explain both models confidently, they can handle most Macroeconomic “problems” the IB presents.

From there, review should center on three government objectives:

Low Unemployment
Low and Stable Inflation
Economic Growth

Most Macroeconomic questions ultimately circle back to one or more of these.

Then comes “solutions” to these Macroeconomic “problems”.

Students must be comfortable explaining both…

Fiscal Policy - Expansionary and Contractionary Fiscal Policy
Monetary Policy - Expansionary and Contractionary

More importantly, they should understand how these policies shift aggregate demand and how they address unemployment, inflation, or economic growth concerns.

When students see Macroeconomics as a connected system rather than isolated topics, their answers become far more coherent.

The Global Economy: Be Selective and Strategic

The Global Economy is broad. Trying to cover everything evenly during review is rarely efficient.

Instead, I focus on the following...

International Economics: Free Trade and Protectionism

Students should be able to clearly explain:
Arguments for Free Trade
Arguments for Protectionism

And they must know the three key protectionism diagrams:

Protective Tariff
Protective Subsidy
Protective Quota

These three appear frequently and are highly versatile across both Paper 1 and Paper 2.

Exchange Rates and the Balance of Payments

Students should be fully comfortable with the exchange rate diagram and the relationship between currency movements and the balance of payments. This is one of the most consistently examined areas.

Development Economics

There are no diagrams here, but strong conceptual understanding matters.

I encourage students to focus on the impact of these three aspects of development…

Foreign Direct Investment and Multinational Corporations
Government to Government Aid
Non-Governmental Organizations

The key in Development Economics is that students truly review the material and develop a clear understanding of the impact of development. They need to recognize that most international development funding flowing into developing nations is directed toward improving education, healthcare, or infrastructure.

One of the coolest insights a former student shared with me was this: many of the goals and objectives in Development Economics are almost exactly the same as the macroeconomic goals and objectives for development. The difference is simply the source of the money. In Macroeconomics, the funding comes from within the country. In Development Economics, the funding comes from outside the country.

I thought that was an incredibly astute observation, and I’ve repeated it ever since. It’s a powerful way to bring cohesion to students’ understanding and help them see how the different areas of economics connect..

Market Power: Center on Cost, Revenue, and Profit

For Higher Level students, Market Power deserves concentrated review.

Everything should be anchored to cost, revenue, and profit.

Students must master the profit diagrams for:

Perfect Competition
Monopoly
Monopolistic competition
Oligopoly

If they can clearly explain profit outcomes in each structure and discuss efficiency and welfare implications, they will be well-positioned for any HL question.

Final Thoughts….

In the end, the review process is about focus, clarity, and building students’ confidence. I hope these insights into which parts of the curriculum to prioritize help you think more intentionally about how to structure your IB Economics review plan.

Of course, there is another layer to this work.

Beyond content, we need to ensure that students are confident in the Five Essential Skills: Language, Calculations, Diagrams, Analysis, and Evaluation. These skills are foundational, and they ultimately determine how effectively students can communicate what they know on the exam.

If you are interested in going deeper into how to integrate those five essential skills into your teaching and review sessions, I have written more about that in a previous newsletter.

Here’s the link. I have a look, if you think it would be helpful.

Otherwise, I hope this brief insight into how I have always organized content review sessions proves helpful in your classroom.

See you next week.

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