Year 11 Economics equips us with the necessary tools to begin our journey into exploring what the economy is, and how it functions. This is the start towards a greater understanding of how occurrences of real life events affect the economic climate and in turn, us, as business owners, consumers or taxpayers.In this course, we are first introduced to the concepts of wants and needs, which is critical to understanding the economic question of infinite wants, finite resources. We then dive into the key concepts of supply and demand, as well as the nature of the labour market. In the final two topics of the course, we familiarise ourselves with monetary and fiscal policy, two key economic tools used by the government to achieve its objectives.These concepts are not only fascinating in themselves, but all contribute to paint a bigger picture of the operation of the economy, proving to be a challenging but extremely rewarding journey.

Year 11 Economics places a large focus on understanding key economic concepts and beginning to apply them to current events. It is recommended that students begin constructing their own syllabus notes, ensuring that they go beyond the scope of the textbook and explore real life examples to substantiate and strengthen their responses.
Students should also prepare for their exams by preparing essays for each topic, and engaging consistently with past paper exams.

While all 6 topics play an important role in shaping our understanding of economics, topics 1 and 6, Introduction to Economics, and Government and the Economy respectively, are fundamental in excelling in the HSC course. Topic 1 introduces the concept of the Circular Flow of Income, which allows us to understand the flow of money around the economy, and their implications on the each individual sector that exists within it. Furthermore, Topic 6 is concerned with developing our understanding of the government’s role in achieving economic objectives of growth, full employment and sustainable inflation. This is explored through the use of Fiscal Policy, which is a fundamental component of the final topic of the HSC course.

The key difference between Year 11 and Year 12 Economics is the expectations placed on students regarding the application of statistics and trends in their responses. Year 11 responses, especially those derived from the first 3 topics, do not require statistical analysis and application, but rather, involve engaging with core content and concepts. While the expectation of students to apply more of their research increases with the later topics of the course, the HSC course, in comparison, places a much larger emphasis on current events and drawing links to the concepts explored in the syllabus.In summary, while much of the Year 11 content can, and should be supplemented by the use of statistics, the Year 12 syllabus often requires students to explore real life events in much greater details and utilise relevant theory to draw links to the syllabus