This is the easy part.  Most (Irish) Department of Education and Science Leaving Certificate questions follow the same pattern, and tend to recycle themselves over a relatively short period. 

Section A                           Section B

The examination paper is, as you know, divided in Sections A and B.   There are 9 questions in Section A, of which you are required to answer 6.   These are short definition type questions for which one- or two-line answers are needed.

Examples of recent Section A Elasticity type questions are

• A Giffen Good is ............................................................................
• Income Elasticity of Demand measures .....................................
• Price Elasticity of Demand measures .........................................
• An Inferior Good is ........................................................................
• Cross Elasticity of Demand measures .........................................
• Price Elasticity of Demand is usually Positive/Negative.  Give a one sentence explanation of your choice
• PED for a good is inelastic when ..................................................
• If Income Elasticity of Demand for a good is negative, then it must be an Inferior good.   True/False

• Answers to all the above questions are contained within this website, and are summarised in the Key Terms page

It would be a very good idea now to see how you get on in an Elasticity Quiz. You will be asked 20 short Section A type questions, with multiple choices. When you finish answering them, if you click the <<Submit>> button, you will receive an immediate result, with your percentage score calculated.  You will then be returned to this page.  Have a go.  Click here for the Quiz

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Section B Questions

To answer Section B Elasticity Questions, you must have the relevant formulae ingrained on your brain, and you must clearly understand

• the differences between YED, PED, CED, PES
• what happens to total revenue when demand is
  • Elastic
  • Inelastic
  • Unitary
• the concepts of
  • Normal Goods
  • Inferior Goods
  • Giffen Goods
  • Complementary Goods
  • Substitute Goods
• whether the sign is positive or negative in regard to each of the types of elasticities in respect of Normal Goods
• what factors determine whether a good is demand or supply elastic  (See the WHY? and also the PES pages to help you here)

Go the the Answers page for some examples of Section B Questions that have already been set by the Department, and suggested solutions.

Section A

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