The TED Pedagogy
So perhaps you’re here to find out how I myself and some of my students have made such miraculous improvements in our Economics Grades, and that you wish to be part of the cult as well (MUAHAHAHA!)👹
In any case, let us revisit some of the possible issues that you may have been facing with Economics as an A-level/IB subject.
The CAST Problem
Content
You struggle to understand technical concepts, formulas and diagrams
Application
You don't know how to interpret and analyze the information given to you in order to answer the question.
Skills & Structure
You aren't sure how to craft your answer the way examiners want it and score the necessary points needed to ace your exams.
Time Management
Despite practicing loads and knowing how to answer every question, you always run out of time.
When I first stepped into Junior College, grasping the fundamental economics concepts were still straightforward and manageable. However, the real annoyance began when I tackled the open-ended questions. I was massively struggling even with the seemingly innocent 4-mark ones. It felt like being thrown into a maze without a map. The worst thing was, my teacher would mark our answers down us with the all-so-common:
Adapting to this subject was challenging for me as it didn’t reward the automatic regurgitation of “textbook” answers, a habit I had become accustomed to in secondary school. What’s more frustrating is that teachers would fail to offer any further explanation on how to do so properly. Even if JC teachers would provide students with answers schemes, students may not accurately diagnose where they might have gone wrong even after receiving answer schemes from their teachers.
At TED, we completely empathize with your economic subject woes. Hence, through numerous trial-and-error processes, we have managed to distill what is truly important to ace your exams. At the heart of TED’s educational approach is our commitment to equipping students with the ability to think from first principles.
FIRST PRINCIPLES THINKING
First principles are the fundamental concepts that build the foundation for understanding a subject or solving problems. Thinking from first principles includes breaking down complex ideas into their most basic parts and understanding them individually, in order to build understanding from the foundation.
The image below is an illustration of what the typical JC student thinks about economics as a subject. Before joining TED, some students miss the connections between chapters and think they should study each subject separately. If they struggle with a topic, they tend to believe the solution is to focus on that particular topic. But what they may not realize is that their difficulties often come from poor understanding of basic concepts in earlier chapters. For example, if a student struggles to follow Market Structure or Market Failure, it may be because that he or she has a poor understanding of how Demand & Supply works.
At TED, our focus is on understanding the first principles of each topic and how they fit together to create a clear conceptual map. Embedded within each topic are sub-topics, where the application of first principles can also be used to link these concepts as a whole. Our course is designed so that every student can easily identify the root cause of the problem/question they are trying to answer.
First principles thinking also applies to examination skills and techniques. If we break down the entire economics paper into its marked components, it becomes essential for students to learn proper writing techniques to score those marks. Our goal is to guide students in exploring how to construct high-quality essay responses by applying first principles.
A quick primer on employing first principles for writing would be:
Words → Sentence → Paragraphs → Essay
From first principles, we recognize that words are indeed the building blocks of writing proper essays! At each and every step, we will be coaching you how to quickly identify and use key economic words that are crucial towards scoring those points. This will be followed by crafting proper sentence and paragraph structures in order to best express your ideas in a systematic manner. Lastly, we teach students how to generate original ideas using first principles, enabling you to answer essay questions concisely without solely relying on rote memorisation.
In the testimonials from our past students, a consistent theme emerges: TED’s remarkable ability to simplify complex content into basic concepts. The focus is on ensuring students thoroughly grasp these fundamental concepts before delving into more intricate topics and practical skills. At TED, we’ve developed an exclusive step-by-step approach, carefully organized in a systematic order, so you won’t find yourself fumbling through what needs to be done to prepare for A-levels/IB!
Are you finally ready to take the next step and experience the TED Advantage for yourself?
Click on the link below before slots get filled!