Chapter 1: What subjects are being reviewed for the Leaving Cert 2026?
Now time for Study Hub 2026. We've been looking at leaving cert subjects with tips for students. Today we're going to take a closer look at the economics paper, which is due on Friday the 19th of June. Joining me now is Ray Silk, economics teacher at Closh to Ignite in Galway. Morning, Ray.
Good morning, David.
Research project has already been submitted, so that's good news, I suppose.
Yes.
Well, I suppose it is if you've submitted a good one. Yes. There's definitely nothing you can do at this stage. So, yeah, that gets done. Usually it gets completed between September and November and then the students give it to the teachers and then it's uploaded in early January. So, look, it's a new element that's coming into a lot of exams in business. It's going to be 40%.
And some other subjects, 25 applied maths, 40 as well. So it's a seismic change in assessment. And, you know, it has its pros, but it also has its cons. But for 2026, for my class anyway, all 24 have submitted theirs anyway.
Great. OK, so that's 100 marks. Your exam in June is 400 marks. Break down the paper for us, Ray, if you would.
Yeah, no problem. It's a very, very straightforward one. Section A, which is 10 short questions. That's 100 marks, which is another 20% of the overall exam. We always recommend, David, that the students do all those questions and the examiner, which is an owner's job enough, his or her job is to pick the best eight of those 10. So you always do those 10.
You have about 30 minutes, maybe 35 minutes there for that because it's 100 marks. And then there's four questions, four long questions out of six, and each of those represent 75 marks. And then if you tie that into the paper, maybe with five minutes to pick your questions, That then leaves you with a nice 10 minutes, which I always think is a good idea just to review, just to scan back over.
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Chapter 2: What are the new assessment changes in Economics for 2026?
So the main thing is that students, I would recommend at the top of the page, do a SEE, which stands for State, Explain and Give an Example, because having corrected before, there must be a statement there must be an explanation and ideally then there'll be an example as well.
Okay, and that's how you get your 75 marks for each question or for each essay. What topics should we be looking out for, do you think?
There's a few key ones that are just imperative. They come up nearly every year. The first one is market structures. It's a huge topic. It's the four markets, perfect competition, imperfect, oligopoly, monopoly, which might make some people feel a bit nauseous, but it's a huge topic, comes up nearly every year. National income is massive as well, the circular flow of income.
Then the old basics like supply and demand is massive. Fiscal policy is very important. And then the kind of hub that they've built into new course, David, is sustainability. And there's three types, economic, social, and environmental. You kind of have to have that overarching feel for economics.
The key thing to do well, David, I think, is that people or the students understand the language of economics and are able to use the phraseology like fiscal policy, monetary policy, the different types of demands. You know, you won't fool the examiner if you're waffling. You're better off, I think, just to think before you ink, take your time, take a step back.
Even the topics you discussed there, the chapters on about the heart, that has economic implications if someone gets sick. On about the record vinyls, that has implications as regards supply and demand, what prices are there. So economics in the new syllabus, it's absolutely everywhere. You had a lady on about choices. Well, then you've opportunity cost, fiscal, financial costs.
So to be honest, I kind of love the subject. I think it's absolutely fantastic. We have fairly good numbers. I have two boys going into fifth year myself. And I'm pushing them hard to do economics because it is a very fair exam now, I feel. And what I base my success on, David, just isn't just the grades of the students.
It's that they enjoy it, they love it, they go on to college and that they see economics as a choice and as a way of life, because indeed it is.
Okay. In terms of the reading, I mean, obviously the students need to be on top of the curriculum, but should they be listening to this show, maybe, as you've just given us a very good ad, you were listening intently earlier on.
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Chapter 3: How is the Economics exam structured and scored?
Should they be reading the newspapers? Should they be watching the news on telly?
Absolutely. And if parents look, every parent loves their child. And I coach a lot of children as well. And we don't want anyone with childitis, which is over love for their child. But if a parent is there and they see a good article on the Times or the 42.ie or the journal, just snip and paste it and send it on because
The students who get H1s and H2s, now be mindful of the fact that a H1 is over 90. Now, I didn't get any H1s in my life, I would say, but over 90 is very difficult. What sets the students apart are the people that can talk a little bit. You did it, McWilliams on there last week, or Kinslow, or Stephen Kinslow. I love John Fitzgerald as well. It becomes a conversation at home around the table.
What's your pension like that? What do you think of AI? What are the implications of it? What do you think of the, you know, what do you think of the foreign direct investment? How are we going to be affected by that? The students that learn to love it and come in with articles and enjoy the subject, they are the students who do well and it just makes sense, to be honest.
Okay. We're getting close to the exam, as I was saying earlier. What are your last minute tips for students?
My last minute tips would be to maybe have some flashcards done up, know your definitions, know the language of economics. And also, and this is hugely important, some of my students, as you said, Economics David is out on the 19th of June. Some students I teach have six and seven days before the exam. Use that time wisely. I'm a huge person for peer teaching.
Meet up with your friends, talk about things, ask each other different definitions, ask each other what you think of sustainability or what you think of Simon Harris and Michael Martin and the social housing and the homelessness, just enjoy it. And then the learning is so much easier. One of my favorite teachers ever said, if you don't enjoy it and you don't understand it,
practically impossible to learn it.
And as you were saying, the widest... You don't sound convinced. No, I am, I am. I did economics in my leaving cert and did quite well in it, actually. Thank you very much. So basically, if you're in the exam, if you can display a kind of a wide knowledge of current events as they are in an economic context, that would be very helpful.
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