The WAEC syllabus for Economics tells you what you need to study in order to take the test. It has the exam’s goals and objectives, as well as the format and notes.
You need to study the Economics syllabus if you want to do well on your test. It will help you figure out what you want to read about. There are also notes on important ideas that you should learn.
Getting ready for an exam without using the Economics syllabus is like going to a farm without any tools for farming. You won’t be able to get anything done. Make sure you start studying for the test using the syllabus.
This post has the West African Examination Council’s Economics course outline and suggested books (WAEC).
WAEC Economics
This syllabus is meant to test how well candidates know the basic economic principles that help people, businesses, the government, and society make good decisions.
This information is important for them to better understand government economic policies, problems with putting them into action, and how they affect the economy.
This will help candidates understand that economics is not just a field of study in the classroom, but also something that can be used in real life.
Objectives
The candidates will be tested on the list.
understanding of the structure and functioning of commercial, agricultural, industrial, and financial institutions; understanding of the basis for making rational economic decisions; ability to explain the basis and structure of the West African economy, including the roles of agriculture, industry, and mining and their contributions to the national income; ability to explain the basis and structure of the West African economy, including the roles of agriculture, industry, and mining and their contributions to the national income;
Examination Scheme
There will be two tests: Paper 1 and Paper 2. Both will be on the same test, which will be taken at the same time.
Paper 1 will have 50 multiple-choice questions that you will have to answer in 1 hour for 50 points.
Paper 2 will have two parts, A and B, with eight essay-style questions each. There will be two “data response” questions in Section A.
Candidates will have to answer four questions, one from Section A and three from Section B. They can choose any three questions from Section A and one from Section B. The test will take 2 hours and be worth 80 points.
WAEC Economics Syllabus
What Economics Is and What It Does
Scarcity and Choice, Scale of Preference, Opportunity Cost, and Production Possibility Curve. Production, distribution, and consumption are the three main parts of an economy.
Classification of economic activities: primary, secondary, and tertiary, and their relative contributions in terms of output/income, jobs, savings, investments, and foreign exchange.
How things are made:
Land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship: what they are, what they do, and how important they are.
Types of economic systems and their most important parts
There are three types: capitalism, socialism, and a mix of both.
Basic facts about each system Pros and cons of each system Economic problems that society faces and how each system tries to solve them
Tools for Analyzing the Economy
There are also charts and graphs.
Some basic ways to measure and show statistics, like the arithmetic mean, median, and mode, and how to use them.
Demand
The concept of demand and the law of demand, the demand schedules and curves, the reasons for unusual demand curves, the different types of demand (derived, composite, joint, and competitive), and the factors that affect the demand for goods and services, such as price, income, tastes, price expectations, etc.
The difference between a demand curve shifting and moving along it; the idea of elasticity of demand.
Price, income, and cross elasticity of demand: how to measure them; how important the idea of elasticity of demand is to consumers, producers, and the government.
Supply: The idea of supply and the law of supply, as well as supply schedules and curves, and the three types of supply: complementary, competitive, and composite.
There are many things that affect supply, such as input prices, technology, the prices of other goods, the weather, etc.
The difference between how the supply curve shifts and how it moves along.
How elasticity of supply is measured and what it means for producers and the government
The theory of how consumers act
Total utility, average utility, marginal utility, and how to figure out a utility schedule.
The relationship between total utility, average utility, and marginal utility, as well as how the law of diminishing marginal utility works.
The idea of balance for a consumer.
Find out what the consumer equilibrium is.
What happens to consumer equilibrium when prices change? How marginal utility and the demand curve are related to each other.
Theory of How Prices Are Set
The idea of the market and how demand and supply work together.
Prices are set in markets that are both free and regulated.
Price and quantity are in balance in both product and factor markets. What happens to prices and amounts at equilibrium when supply and demand change.
An introduction to using algebra to figure out the price and quantity at equilibrium.
Price controls: meaning and effects of maximum and minimum price regulations, rationing, and the black market (parallel market)
Theory of Production: Specialization and division of labor
The scale of production (both internal and external economies), the ideas of total, average, and marginal productivity, and the law of variable proportions.
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Cost and Revenue Theory
Cost concepts include total cost, average cost, marginal cost, variable cost, and fixed cost, as well as short-run and long-run costs.
The difference between how an economist and an accountant look at cost (opportunity cost and money cost).
Total revenue, average revenue, and marginal revenue; margin of profit Market Structures for Products
The idea of a market, the features of different market structures, and how prices and output are set in different structures, including perfect competition and imperfect competition (monopoly and monopolistic competition).
Review the ideas of costs and income.
Price discrimination.
Business Enterprises
Types of businesses and their main characteristics: Sole proprietorship, partnership, joint-stock companies (both private and public), co-ops, statutory corporations, and joint ventures.
Funding sources.
Problems that businesses face in general and on a basic level.
Privatization and commercialization are seen as solutions to the problems of public enterprises. Policies on indigenization and nationalization.
Trade that spreads out
Distribution process, the role of producers, the role of wholesalers, retailers, and co-ops, the role of government agencies in product distribution, and distribution problems and how to solve them.
People and the job market
Population: figuring out the size and growth of the population and what that means, rural-urban migration, and the Malthusian theory of population. Distribution by geography, age, gender, and job.
Problems and benefits of the census.
Population growth and economic growth (underpopulation, optimum population and over-population).
The job market
Concept of the labor force and human capital, the efficiency and mobility of labor, and the factors that affect the size of the labor force, especially the characteristics of the population (age, sex, occupation, education, etc.)
How wages are set is based on the supply and demand for labor. Concept of unemployment and underemployment, Trade Unions, Employers’ Association, and Government policies on labor and wages.
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Agriculture Structure (such as food crops, export crops, livestock, and fisheries); Systems of Agriculture (such as peasant, commercial, co-operative, and state farming); The Importance of Agriculture to the National Economy; Marketing of Agricultural Products (commodity boards).
Agricultural policies (minimum agricultural prices) problems of agriculture and remedies.
Industrialization
What industry means and what kinds of industries there are. Plant, firm, industry, and industrial estates are all examples of industrial terms. Where industries are located, how they are localized, and what role industrialization plays in economic growth.
Strategies for the development of industry.
Industrialization has caused problems.
The link between the growth of agriculture and industry.
The country’s income
Gross Domestic Product and Gross National Product are two of the most important ways to measure a country’s income.
Gross Domestic Product, etc.
There are different ways to measure the national income and problems with each one.
What you can do with national income data and what you can’t do with it; national income trends and structure.
Money and Price Growth
Money: what it is, how it came to be, its problems, types, characteristics, and how it works. Money’s supply and demand, its value, and the price level.
What it means, what causes it, what effects it has, and how to stop it.
Types of Financial Institutions (traditional, Central Bank, Commercial Bank, Development Bank, Merchant Bank, Insurance Companies, and Building Societies) and how they work.
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Money and capital markets: what they are, what they do, and how they work
The public budget
Sources of government income, fiscal policy, and the goals of public finance.
Taxation: types (direct and indirect), goals, pros and cons, and how it works;
Taxation rules or principles; How much tax you pay (proportional, progressive and regressive) Direct and indirect taxation: incidence and effects of taxes, composition/structure of public spending (recurrent and capital spending): effects of public spending. Budget and debt of the government.
Planning for economic growth and development
Meaning of economic development, difference between economic growth and development, problems and traits of developing countries, and planning parts for development (objectives of planning, and problems of planning).
Different plans (short term, medium term, perspective or long term, rolling plan etc.).
Trade around the world and the balance of payments
International Trade: Differences between domestic and international trade, the basis of international trade, absolute and relative cost advantage, terms of trade (definition and measurement) Commercial policy is made up of goals and tools, like tariffs and direct control.
Trends and structures in the outside trade of West African countries.
Balance of Payments: role of money in international transactions, meaning and parts of balance of payments, balance of payments disequilibrium, balance of payments adjustments (exchange rate policy, exchange control, monetary and fiscal policies), and financing (the use of reserves and international borrowing).
Economic Integration
Economic Integration (objectives, levels of and features).
ECOWAS: Integration of the economy in West Africa: problems and progress
International Economic Organizations
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), African Development Bank (AfDB), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), etc., their history and roles, and how they affect West African countries.
Most Important Resources
West African economies are affected by the use of major natural resources like oil, gold, diamonds, timber, groundnuts, etc (positive and negative).
Economics books from WAEC
Here is the list of Economics books that WAEC thinks are good;
Aderinto, A.A., and others (1996). Economics: Exam Focus. Ibadan: University Press Plc.
J. Black’s Oxford Dictionary of Economics was published in 1997 by Oxford University Press.
Economics Made Easy, by D.O. Eyiyere, Quality Publishers Ltd., Benin City, 1980.
Fajana, F., et al. (1999). Countdown to SSCE/JME Economics. Evans, Ibadan.
Falodun, A.B. et al (1997) Round-up Economics, Lagos: Longman.
Modern Microeconomics by A. Kountsoyiannis. London: Macmillan, 1979.
Lawal, O.A. (1985). Success in Economics.
R.G. Lipsey wrote An Introduction to Positive Economics in 1997. It was published in Oxford by Oxford University Press.
Samuelson, P., and Nordhaus, W. (1989). Economics. Singapore: McGraw-Hill. Udu, E., and Agu, G.A. (2005). New System Economics: a Senior Secondary Course.
Wannacott and Wannacott published Economics in 1979.
Richard Brownson-Otton, 2010. What is Micro-Economics? Niky Printing and Publishing was coy.
Richard Brownson-Otton, 2010. What is Macro-Economics? Niky Printing and Publishing was coy.