Weekly IB Economics Analytics Report

Short-run macro effects (wages, taxes, exchange rates) drove most errors

This week’s quizzes show strong understanding of AD/AS basics but repeated mistakes on short-run effects of wage changes, indirect taxes and currency appreciation.

2026-W26

Short-run macro effects (wages, taxes, exchange rates) drove most errors

This week’s quizzes show strong understanding of AD/AS basics but repeated mistakes on short-run effects of wage changes, indirect taxes and currency appreciation.

Published July 5, 2026

Total quiz attempts

70

Active learners

14

Average score

83.6%

Overall question accuracy

75.9%

Most error-prone unit

Unit 3.2 (macro short-run)

1. Weekly Overview

Macro short-run impacts caused the largest gaps.

Aggregate results (70 attempts, 14 learners) show generally good scores but concentrated misunderstandings in Unit 3.2: how nominal wage rises, indirect taxes and currency appreciation affect AD/AS, prices and output. Micro items on supply responses also caused mistakes, while several AD/AS shift items were answered correctly.

Student takeaway: Focus next on Unit 3.2 short-run AD/AS mechanics (wages, taxes, exchange rates) and Unit 2.1 supply–demand shift logic.

2. Key Patterns

Main Insights

Misunderstanding of currency appreciation and trade effects

A question on significant domestic currency appreciation had 0% correct (8 attempts), indicating a clear gap in linking appreciation → cheaper imports, more expensive exports to foreigners → downward pressure on net exports and AD.

Advice: Revise how exchange rate appreciation affects net exports and AD; practice labeled AD/AS examples showing the immediate AD shift and effects on output and price level.

Confusion about the short-run effects of nominal wage rises and indirect taxes

Questions about large nominal wage increases and a rise in indirect taxes each had very low correct rates (12.5% and ~11%), showing inconsistent application of short-run AS shifts, cost-push inflation and tax incidence on prices/output.

Advice: Work through short-run AS shifts: map wage or tax shocks to SRAS/AS movements and then to price level and output; practice explaining incidence (who bears the tax) with diagrams.

Strength: AD shift reasoning is solid for clear narratives

Several AD/AS items describing straightforward demand-side changes (household confidence, worse business expectations, LRAS changes from technology/immigration) had very high correct rates (including perfect scores).

Advice: Leverage this strength by pairing AD/AS narrative questions with diagram practice on the trickier short-run supply and policy effects.

Time-on-question outliers suggest hesitation on elasticity items

A small number of micro elasticity items show extremely high average times, which may indicate hesitation or technical anomalies; answers were mixed on elasticity determinants.

Advice: If you struggle with elasticity, rehearse definitions (price elasticity, income elasticity) and short calculations; time yourself on short practice items to build confidence.

3. Revision Plan

Priority Areas

Short-run AD/AS effects of wages, taxes, exchange rates · 3.2

Multiple low-correct items show students misapply SRAS/AD shifts and tax/exchange-rate incidence.

Action: Practice 6–8 labeled AD/AS diagrams: wage shock, indirect tax, currency appreciation; write one-sentence conclusions about output and price changes.

Supply and demand shifts in goods markets · 2.1

High wrong rate on demand–supply interaction questions (e.g., concert tickets) shows confusion about short-run supplier response vs price movements.

Action: Do step-by-step shift exercises: identify which curve shifts, direction, new equilibrium price/quantity, and any short-run supply constraints.

Government subsidies and producer expectations · 2.2

Mixed performance on subsidy and supply-expectation items indicates uncertainty about supply-side policy effects.

Action: Sketch subsidy diagrams and compare to tax diagrams; practice questions on producer expectations and current supply changes (e.g., stockpiling or delaying sales).

Elasticity definitions and determinants · 2.5

Variable accuracy and unusually long times suggest slower recall on elasticity types and determinants.

Action: Review YED/PED definitions and determinants with brief examples; time 10 short MCQs to improve recall speed.

4. Question Evidence

Featured Questions

Most Wrong Questions

QuestionTopicUnitAttemptsCorrectWrongAvg Time
How is the economy affected when nominal wages rise significantly across the economy due to strong trade union bargaining?Macroeconomics3.21612.5%0.0%19.1 s
A student says: “When demand for concert tickets increases, firms will increase their supply, so prices will fall back down.” Using a demand and supply diagram, what actually happens when demand for concert tickets rises?Microeconomics2.12035.0%0.0%16.5 s
What happens if the domestic currency appreciates significantly, making imports cheaper and exports more expensive to foreigners?Macroeconomics3.280.0%0.0%25.2 s

Most Correct Questions

QuestionTopicUnitAttemptsCorrectWrongAvg Time
How is aggregate demand affected when households become more confident about the future and expect their incomes to rise?Macroeconomics3.212100.0%0.0%10.5 s
How is aggregate demand affected if business expectations about future profits worsen sharply, leading firms to postpone or cancel investment projects?Macroeconomics3.21492.9%0.0%20.5 s
What happens to the LRAS curve if there is a widespread adoption of advanced production technologies that significantly raise labour and capital productivity?Macroeconomics3.211100.0%0.0%13.1 s

Most Time Spent Questions

QuestionTopicUnitAttemptsCorrectWrongAvg Time
Which type of good has a YED greater than 1?Microeconomics2.5366.7%0.0%303.5 min
Which of the following increases the price elasticity of demand for a good?Microeconomics2.5540.0%0.0%105.1 min
Which of the following is true about indirect taxes like VAT?Macroeconomics3.43100.0%0.0%86.4 min

5. Conclusion

Next steps

Prioritise short AD/AS diagram practice for wage, tax and exchange-rate shocks, and complete a set of micro supply–demand shift exercises; focus on translating narrative scenarios into one clear labelled diagram and a one-sentence conclusion about price and output.

Note: This weekly report is automatically generated and may contain mistakes. Always double-check key points before using them for revision.

This report summarises anonymized aggregate quiz activity and patterns across learners; no individual student data is shown.

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