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Cambridge International AS Level

Economics 9708

Micro- and macroeconomics with data response and essays, adding international economic issues at A Level.

Syllabus version: 2026–2028 syllabusChecked against the Cambridge syllabusExam year 2027 is covered by the 2026–2028 syllabus.
Subject review complete (19 Oct 2026). All 22 AS Level Economics questions were re-solved and checked against the syllabus and Cambridge mark-scheme conventions, and their auto-marking was tested with correct and incorrect answers.
Paper 1 AS Level Multiple Choice: 33%Paper 2 AS Level Data Response and Essays: 67%Weighting2 papers
  • Paper 1 AS Level Multiple Choice33%
  • Paper 2 AS Level Data Response and Essays67%
Original questions22
Topics covered6/6
Papers2
Mock papers2

What is assessed

2 components. Question formats: multiple choice, data response, essay.

Paper 1 AS Level Multiple ChoiceAS
1 h30 marks33% of AS

30 compulsory four-option multiple-choice questions on the AS Level subject content.

What the paper looks like

30 four-option items in 1 hour (about 2 minutes each), all compulsory. Mix of definitions, diagram interpretation (PPC, demand/supply, AD/AS), short calculations such as elasticity, tax incidence, terms of trade and trade balances, and 'which statement is correct/definitely true' items. Watch for negatives and words in bold. Calculators allowed; no formulae given.

Multiple choiceCalculator permitted
Checked against the Cambridge syllabus
Paper 2 AS Level Data Response and EssaysAS
2 h60 marks67% of AS

Section A: one compulsory data response question (about six parts, 20 marks); Sections B (micro) and C (macro): one two-part essay from a choice of two in each (20 marks each).

What the paper looks like

Section A: a compulsory data response (20 marks) built on an unseen article with a table or chart; about six parts rising from 1–2 mark identify/calculate items to 4–6 mark 'consider'/'assess' parts that need evaluation and use of the data. Sections B and C: choose one micro and one macro essay, each split into (a) 8 marks (AO1/AO2 6 + AO3 2) and (b) 12 marks (AO1/AO2 8 + AO3 4), marked with levels. Diagrams are expected where relevant.

Data responseEssayCalculator permitted
Checked against the Cambridge syllabus

Assessment overview

From the 2026–2028 syllabus. Checked against the Cambridge syllabus

AS Level
Paper 1Paper 2
Assessment objectiveAS Level weighting
AO1 Knowledge and understanding35%
AO2 Analysis40%
AO3 Evaluation25%
Changes in this syllabus version
  • No significant changes affecting teaching compared with the 2023–2025 syllabus; assessment structure, timings and content are unchanged.
  • Version 2 (December 2025) only updated a weblink; specimen materials were not changed.
Command words used in Economics papers (17)
Analyse
Examine in detail, showing the meaning, identifying the elements and the relationships between them
Assess
Make an informed judgement
Calculate
Work out an answer from the facts, figures or information given
Comment
Give an informed opinion
Compare
Identify or comment on similarities and/or differences
Consider
Review the information given and respond to it
Define
Give the precise meaning
Demonstrate
Show how, or give an example
Describe
State the points of a topic or give its main characteristics and features
Discuss
Write about issues or topics in depth, in a structured way
Evaluate
Judge or calculate the quality, importance, amount or value of something
Explain
Set out purposes or reasons, make relationships clear, say why and/or how, supported by evidence
Give
Produce an answer from a source or from recall
Identify
Name, select or recognise
Justify
Support a case with evidence or argument
Outline
Set out the main points
State
Express in clear terms
Examiner guidance from recent reports (14)
Basic economic ideas and resource allocation (AS Level). A good being supplied free of charge does not make it a free good, and government provision does not make it a public good. Classify using opportunity cost, rivalry and excludability, not price or provider.
The price system and the microeconomy (AS Level). When a formula is requested, write it out (for example YED = %ΔQd ÷ %ΔY) before substituting. Always state the sign and interpret it: the sign of YED and XED carries the economic meaning.
The price system and the microeconomy (AS Level). When asked to identify a trend in a table, give the overall direction between the first and last dates in one sentence; listing every period wastes time and earns nothing extra.
Government microeconomy intervention (AS Level). Tax and subsidy diagrams must show the vertical distance equal to the per-unit amount and clearly mark the consumer and producer shares. Link the split of incidence explicitly to the relative elasticities of demand and supply.
The macroeconomy (AS Level). GNI differs from GDP by net primary income from abroad, while net measures differ from gross by depreciation; inflation separates nominal from real. Keep these three adjustments distinct.
The macroeconomy (AS Level). If a source says inflation is driven by costs, identify cost-push only and draw an SRAS shift; showing both types or an AD shift loses the mark. Label axes as price level and real output, not price and quantity.
Government macroeconomic intervention (AS Level). For policy questions, trace the full transmission chain (for example interest rate → borrowing and spending → AD → output, prices, jobs) and then evaluate with time lags, size of the output gap and confidence.
International economic issues (AS Level). Terms of trade = (index of export prices ÷ index of import prices) × 100; a fall is a deterioration in the price ratio but is not automatically bad, since it may raise export volumes.
International economic issues (AS Level). Gains from specialisation depend on factors moving easily between industries within a country. Read 'smallest' or 'not' in multiple-choice stems carefully before choosing.
The price system and the microeconomy (A Level). On cost and revenue diagrams, MC must cut AC (and AVC) at its minimum and profit maximisation is where MC = MR. Shade supernormal profit between AR and AC at the profit-maximising output.
The price system and the microeconomy (A Level). With indifference curves, separate the substitution effect (always opposite to the price change) from the income effect; for a Giffen good the perverse income effect outweighs it. Then evaluate how far the outcome depends on the size of each effect.
Government microeconomic intervention (A Level). Evaluation earns higher credit when it is explained: do not just say a tax 'depends on PED' — show how inelastic demand limits the fall in output and why that matters for correcting the externality.
The macroeconomy (A Level). In multiplier questions, write the formula 1 ÷ (mps + mrt + mpm) and show working. Remember the full-employment gap is closed by the change in AD equal to the gap divided by the multiplier.
International economic issues (A Level). Gini runs from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (perfect inequality); do not reverse them. When judging whether data support a claim, look for a consistent pattern across all countries and say so if there is none.

Topic map

Practice types

Free sample questions

A farmer can use a field to grow either 100 tonnes of wheat or 60 tonnes of maize in a season. She decides to…
A farmer can use a field to grow either 100 tonnes of wheat or 60 tonnes of maize in a season. She decides to grow wheat.
What is the opportunity cost of her decision?
  1. 100 tonnes of wheat
  2. 40 tonnes of maize
  3. 60 tonnes of maize
  4. the money spent on wheat seed

Answer: C. 60 tonnes of maize

Opportunity cost is the next best alternative forgone. By growing wheat the farmer gives up the 60 tonnes of maize the field could otherwise have produced. The wheat is what she chooses, not what she gives up, and seed spending is a money cost rather than the forgone alternative.

Which feature means that a good is a free good in the economic sense?
Which feature means that a good is a free good in the economic sense?
  1. It is supplied by the government without charge to users.
  2. Using more of it involves no opportunity cost.
  3. Nobody can be prevented from consuming it once it is provided.
  4. Its consumption creates benefits for third parties.

Answer: B. Using more of it involves no opportunity cost.

A free good is one that is not scarce, so using more of it means no other output is given up: its opportunity cost is zero (for example air in most places). Being free at the point of use (A) does not make a good free in this sense, since resources were still used to supply it; non-excludability (C) is a property of public goods, and external benefits (D) describe merit goods or positive externalities.

FAQs

Are these official 9708 past-paper questions?

No. They are original questions written to match the Economics syllabus topics. Official past papers are available to schools through Cambridge.

Why choose an exam year?

Cambridge updates syllabuses periodically. Your exam year selects the matching configuration so topics and components follow the right version.

How do AS and A Level differ here?

Both pathways share code 9708. AS pages include AS topics and components only; A Level pages add the A Level content and papers.

Is a calculator allowed?

In this configuration a scientific calculator is permitted for the listed papers. Check your syllabus for the exact rule.