Which topic carries the most marks in the QCE Economics external exam?

Economic management carries 71.5% of the marks across the 6 QCAA papers from 2020 to 2025, ahead of Macroeconomic objectives and theory on 28.5%.

How are marks split between question types in the QCE Economics exam?

Short answer carries 50.9% of the marks, extended response carries 32.9% of the marks and multiple choice carries 16.2% of the marks, measured across 6 papers and 371 marks from 2020 to 2025.

Has the topic balance changed in recent QCE Economics papers?

Yes. Economic management moved up 5.9 percentage points and Macroeconomic objectives and theory moved down 5.9 percentage points between the 2020 to 2022 and 2023 to 2025 papers.

How many past papers is this QCE Economics analysis based on?

6 QCAA external papers from 2020 to 2025, covering 86 questions and 371 marks. 4.6% of those marks carry no dot-point mapping and sit outside the percentages.

QCE Economics most tested topics

Across the six QCAA Economics external papers from 2020 to 2025, Economic management carries 71.5% of the marks against 28.5% for Macroeconomic objectives and theory, so the paper rewards Economic management more than any other topic. At dot-point level 4.3.4.3 carries 20.0% of paper marks, and three of the 16 dot points that the board assesses externally have not appeared in one of these papers. Every percentage below covers the 95.4% of marks that map to a syllabus dot point.

Computed from 6 QCAA Economics external papers, 2020 to 2025: 86 questions, 88 question parts and 371 marks.

Unit, topic and dot-point shares below are of the 354 marks that map to a dot point, so each of those tables adds to 100%. 25 of the 88 parts are assessed against more than one dot point, and their 187 marks are divided evenly between the dot points they cover.

What these papers are

Year	Exam	Questions	Marks
2025	Exam	15	61
2024	Exam	15	60
2023	Exam	15	61
2022	Exam	14	65
2021	Exam	13	60
2020	Exam	14	64

Marks by unit

Unit	Share of marks
Unit 4: Contemporary macroeconomics	100.0%

Marks by topic

Topic	Share of marks	Papers it appears in	Years
Economic management	71.5%	6 of 6	6 of 6
Macroeconomic objectives and theory	28.5%	6 of 6	6 of 6

Marks by subtopic

Each topic above breaks into the subtopics below, in the same order.

Subtopic	Share of marks	Papers
Supply side and microeconomic policies	23.1%	6 of 6
Demand management policies — monetary policy	18.5%	6 of 6
Economic management	17.6%	6 of 6
Demand management policies — fiscal policy	12.3%	6 of 6

Marks by dot point

Dot-point numbers and wording are QCAA's own. Where a dot point is written as a list, its items run together here separated by semicolons.

Dot point	Content	Topic	Share of marks	Papers
4.3.4.3	Analyse and evaluate the impact of and/or effectiveness of policy responses to achieve Australia’s economic objectives	Economic management	20.0%	5 of 6
4.3.3.2	Comprehend, explain, analyse and evaluate the concept of inflation targeting and the significance of monetary policy on the level of economic activity, and include a discussion of percentage change and basis point change; transmission mechanism and channels of monetary policy, and their influence on the level of aggregate demand; impact on and/or effectiveness of monetary policy responses to achieve Australia’s economic objectives	Economic management	18.2%	6 of 6
4.3.1.1	Comprehend and explain a rationale for the government to develop and implement economic policies that consider efficiency, equity and trade-offs; stabilise the economic cycle and attain a range of economic objectives including sustainable economic growth; economic prosperity and wellbeing; internal stability; external stability	Economic management	12.0%	5 of 6
4.1.0.3	Comprehend and explain cyclical and structural factors affecting movements and shifts of short- and long-run aggregate demand and supply; the factors affecting the production possibility curve; the concept of the multiplier effect and calculate the value of the simple Keynesian multiplier, in terms of the marginal propensity to consume and save; the four phases of the economic cycle, in the context of macroeconomic objectives; the macroeconomic objectives of sustainable economic growth: full employment; price stability; external stability; sustainable development; and improved living standards; how interest rates and federal budget decisions are policy tools that influence economic growth	Macroeconomic objectives and theory	11.4%	6 of 6
4.1.0.6	Comprehend and explain causes, effects, benefits and costs of the following to different groups and economic agents sustainable economic growth; unemployment, including cyclical, structural, frictional, seasonal, natural, hidden, long-term and underemployment; inflation, including headline, underlying, demand-pull, cost-push, imported and inflation expectations	Macroeconomic objectives and theory	6.8%	4 of 6
4.3.2.2	Analyse and evaluate the impact and/or effectiveness of fiscal policy responses to achieve Australia’s economic objectives in the future	Economic management	6.3%	5 of 6
4.3.2.1	Comprehend and explain the sources of government revenue (direct and indirect taxation; progressive, proportional, and regressive taxation) and the components of government expenditure (current, capital and transfer payments; public utilities and merit goods) in the federal budget	Economic management	6.0%	5 of 6
4.3.1.2	Comprehend and explain demand management and supply side policies and their limitations including structural deficits, time lags, global influences and political constraints	Economic management	5.6%	4 of 6
4.1.0.7	Comprehend and explain the role in fiscal policy of automatic stabilisers and the role of discretionary spending in influencing aggregate demand and stabilising the economic cycle, and apply using diagrams	Macroeconomic objectives and theory	5.4%	5 of 6
4.1.0.5	Comprehend, explain and apply the aggregate demand/aggregate supply model to determine the overall price level and equilibrium level of real output in an economy	Macroeconomic objectives and theory	4.9%	3 of 6
4.3.4.1	Comprehend and describe the nature and aims of aggregate supply policies (including microeconomic reforms) and explain their relationship to domestic macroeconomic objectives	Economic management	2.3%	6 of 6
4.3.4.2	Comprehend and explain how a government policy focused on a supply side improvement can impact Australia’s economic growth through productivity, efficiency or competitiveness, using infrastructure; education and training; research and development; innovation, and deregulation	Economic management	0.8%	3 of 6

These 12 dot points carry 99.7% of the paper marks between them. Another 1 assessed dot points share the rest, and 3 of the 16 externally assessable dot points have not been assessed in any of these 6 papers. Content that has not appeared is still examinable.

What has moved between papers

Comparing the 2020 to 2022 papers with the 2023 to 2025 papers, two topics have moved by more than 3.0 percentage points.

Topic	2020 to 2022 share	2023 to 2025 share	Movement
Economic management	68.7%	74.6%	up 5.9 points
Macroeconomic objectives and theory	31.3%	25.4%	down 5.9 points

How the papers are built

Short answer carries 50.9% of the marks across these 6 papers.

Question type	Share of marks	Marks	Parts
Short answer	50.9%	189	22
Extended response	32.9%	122	6
Multiple choice	16.2%	60	60

Verb	Share of marks	Marks	Parts
evaluate	39.4%	146	7
analyse	34.5%	128	8
explain	31.3%	116	15
draw	14.8%	55	5
recommend	5.9%	22	1
decide	5.7%	21	2
interpret	5.1%	19	2
describe	4.3%	16	3

What these percentages do not tell you

Where to practise

Every topic above links to its own page of real QCAA questions with marking criteria and average scores attached: Economic management and Macroeconomic objectives and theory. For how students actually score on this content, read QCE Economics hardest topics, and for the full question bank start at QCE Economics.

Syllabus and assessment material referenced in this guide is © State of Queensland (Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority), licensed under CC BY 4.0. See our QCAA licensing notice. AusGrader is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the QCAA.