UNIVERSITY OF MALTA
THE MATRICULATION CERTIFICATE EXAMINATION
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL
ECONOMICS
May 2010
EXAMINERS’ REPORT
MATRICULATION AND SECONDARY EDUCATION
CERTIFICATE EXAMINATIONS BOARD
Introduction
The Economics Intermediate paper touched on most aspects of the syllabus, with a
slightly higher emphasis on unemployment, inflation and macro-economic policies.
There was also a very good balance between questions that touched upon the knowledge
and understanding of economic principles and questions that focussed on the practical
application of those principles.
Candidates need to understand that in a number of areas they need to keep abreast of
developments taking place and even changes that are taking place in aspects of economic
management, such as monetary policy.
Statistics
Table 1: MATSEC Intermediate Level Econonics, May 2010
Distribution of Grades
Grades
No. of candidates
A
3
B
13
C
23
D
21
E
9
F
11
Absent
1
TOTAL
81
The examiners believe that once more they need to highlight the inability of several
candidates to express themselves logically and correctly in English. Candidates are to
understand that such a failure causes loss of marks since it generates uncertainty as to
whether they have really grasped and understood the economic concepts being examined
in the questions posed.
Another comment that is repeated from previous years is that there were several instances
where candidates used graphs and examples to support their arguments and such graphs
and examples did not reflect their explanation. There was a difference between the point
illustrated by the graph or the example and the explanation of the principle or theory
made by the candidates.
It was fairly evident that, although the Intermediate Level examination Paper covered a
wide range of topics, several candidates had prepared themselves in a narrow range of
these topics. This led to them obtaining high marks in some questions but very low marks
in others, thereby preventing them from achieving a higher grade.
In terms of specific topics, some candidates misunderstood the question concerning ways
of measuring economic growth and even went out of point. The questions about
unemployment and mobility of labour were also found to be more challenging. With
regard to the questions that required a short answer, candidates generally found difficulty
with the questions that dealt with economies of scale, supply and inflation.
The average mark obtained was 52%. This is the same as that of 2009. Of those that sat
for the exam, 45% obtained a lower mark, 4% obtained the average mark, while 51%
obtained a higher than average mark.