Cambridge IGCSE Economics: Paper-by-Paper Exam Preparation

Cambridge IGCSE Economics 0455 is assessed by two compulsory, externally assessed papers with very unequal weight: Paper 1 Multiple Choice (45 minutes, 30 marks, 30%) and Paper 2 Structured Questions (2 hours 15 minutes, 90 marks, 70%). Both are taken by every candidate – the syllabus is not tiered, and grades run A*-G. These notes convert that structure into a revision plan, and sit alongside the topic material already on the site for The Basic Economic Problem and The Allocation of Resources.

Paper 2 is worth more than twice Paper 1 – revision time should reflect that

The two papers do not deserve equal preparation time. Paper 2 carries 70% of the qualification across 90 marks, while Paper 1 carries 30% across 30 marks. Exam-preparation priority: the marginal return on an extra hour of extended-writing and diagram practice is roughly double the return on an extra hour of multiple-choice drilling. Multiple-choice practice is still valuable, but mainly as a way of auditing which definitions and mechanisms are shaky – it should feed back into Paper 2 preparation rather than substitute for it.

Paper 1 gives you 90 seconds per question – and no partial credit

All 30 multiple-choice questions are compulsory, and 45 minutes across 30 questions works out at 90 seconds each including reading time. There is no method mark: an answer is right or it is not. Exam-preparation priority: practise recognising the type of question quickly. Definition-recall questions and diagram-reading questions can be answered in well under 90 seconds, which is what buys time for the two or three calculation or multi-step-reasoning questions that genuinely need longer. Candidates who spend three minutes on question 4 because it is “interesting” are borrowing time from questions they would otherwise have got right.

Paper 2’s choice structure means selecting questions is itself an exam skill

Paper 2 consists of one compulsory question plus three questions chosen from a choice of four. That choice is not free – picking a question because its opening part looks familiar, without reading the later, higher-mark parts, is a common and expensive error, because the marks are concentrated in the extended parts. Exam-preparation priority: build the habit of reading all four optional questions in full before committing, and choosing on the basis of the highest-tariff part, not the first part. Two or three minutes spent choosing well is recovered many times over.

Time per mark is the single most useful number to internalise

Paper 2 offers 135 minutes for 90 marks – roughly 1.5 minutes per mark, before any allowance for reading and choosing. Exam-preparation priority: rehearse writing to that budget. A 4-mark part should take around six minutes, an 8-mark part around twelve. Practising with a timer is what stops the familiar failure pattern of a beautifully developed answer to question 2 followed by a rushed, half-finished final question – which costs far more marks than the extra development earned.

Analysis marks come from the chain of reasoning, not from the conclusion

Higher-tariff Paper 2 parts reward explanation that moves in linked steps from a cause to an effect, with each step stated rather than assumed. A conclusion asserted without the intervening mechanism earns the knowledge mark but not the analysis marks. Exam-preparation priority: practise writing answers as explicit chains, and check each practice answer by asking whether a reader could follow every link without supplying anything themselves.

Worked practice scenario: a chain-of-reasoning answer

Question (original, structured-question style): “Analyse how an increase in the price of petrol might affect the market for large petrol-engined cars.”

Step 1 - identify the relationship:
Petrol and large petrol-engined cars are complements: they are
consumed together, so the effective cost of running such a car
includes the price of the fuel it uses.

Step 2 - state the effect on demand:
A rise in the price of petrol raises the total cost of owning and
running a large petrol-engined car, so at any given car price fewer
consumers are willing and able to buy one.

Step 3 - express this correctly in diagram terms:
Demand for large petrol-engined cars therefore shifts to the LEFT
(a fall in demand), rather than a movement along the demand curve --
because the change is in the price of a related good, not in the
price of cars themselves.

Step 4 - state the market outcome:
With supply unchanged, the leftward shift in demand produces a new
equilibrium at a lower price and a lower quantity traded for large
petrol-engined cars.

Step 3 is where marks are most often lost: candidates who describe a “movement along the demand curve” have misidentified which variable changed. The distinction between a shift and a movement is worth rehearsing until it is automatic, because it recurs across the whole syllabus.

Before/during exam checklist

• Before the exams: weight revision time towards Paper 2’s extended writing and diagrams; use multiple-choice practice diagnostically to find weak definitions; rehearse answers against a 1.5-minutes-per-mark budget; drill the shift-versus-movement distinction on every demand and supply diagram in the syllabus.
• During Paper 1: answer the questions you recognise immediately first, then return to the calculation and multi-step questions with the time saved; never leave a question blank, since there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
• During Paper 2: read all four optional questions in full before choosing, and choose on the highest-tariff part; write to the mark tariff rather than to the space available; on any higher-tariff part, make each link in the causal chain explicit.

Self-test

1. Why should revision time be weighted towards Paper 2 rather than split evenly?
2. How long, on average, is available per Paper 1 question, and what follows from that?
3. On what basis should the three optional Paper 2 questions be chosen?
4. In the worked scenario, why is the correct answer a shift of the demand curve rather than a movement along it?

Answers: 1. Because Paper 2 carries 70% of the qualification across 90 marks against Paper 1’s 30% across 30 marks, so an hour spent on extended writing is worth roughly twice an hour spent on multiple-choice drilling. 2. 90 seconds, including reading – so recall and diagram-reading questions should be answered quickly to buy time for the few genuinely multi-step questions. 3. On the highest-tariff part of each question, read in full before committing, because the marks are concentrated in the extended parts rather than the opening ones. 4. Because the variable that changed is the price of a complement (petrol), not the price of cars themselves; a change in the price of a related good shifts the demand curve, whereas only a change in the good’s own price produces a movement along it.

Written against Cambridge IGCSE Economics 0455 (assessment overview, official syllabus for examination in 2026, verified 2026-08-27). The worked scenario above is an original example written for this resource, not a reproduction of any official past or specimen paper question. Always check the current syllabus for your examination year at cambridgeinternational.org.