DD209 Running The Economy : Week 32 - Last Week of the Course

So glad I opted for Part 5, it's beginning to look very do-able, and the section I was most concerned about, dumping, is covered expertly in the example exam paper.

Quite happy with the TMA chapter, with comparative advantage and getting better at public goods and game theory.

A weekend of solid study awaits, good luck everyone.

DD209 Running The Economy : Revision Indecision

I am now very happy with Book 1. Although I have a mountain (almost literally) of Flash cards to revise now.

MEC Curve
IS Curve
Wage/Price Setting
Phillips, VPC and Monetary Rule Curves
Transmission Mechanisms
Quantitative and Qualitative Easing (to a certain extent)

If there is a question on dealing with inflation, deflation or recession I will be pretty happy, or something to do with Paradox of thrift.


The problem now is with Book 2.

The amount of graphs and lines needed for Part 4 is such that in a n exam setting things could go wrong very quickly if you muck up the diagrams or get lines in the wrong places. I am therefore pretty much paralysed with indecision regarding which Part to revise, but I have to say that Part 5 is now looking to be more of a risk free option, especially the poverty v  inequality, Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve - and I have even got my head around Game Theory - I think - Nash Equilibrium and the Prisoners Dilemma.

I think tonight is make your mind up night.

 

DD209 Running The Economy : Exam - 7

So, just a week to go. The last fortnight seems to have slipped past unnoticed.

Revision has now got serious as I have made flash cards with equations and definitions on them.

I have pretty much got Parts 2 and 3 revised, now to sort out Part 4 and a bit of Part 5.

So, that's the rest of this week and the weekend taken care of .......

DD209 Running The Economy : Week 31

Week 31:

How is the revision going ?

DD209 Running The Economy : Last Online Tutorial

For those who couldn't make the day school there was an online tutorial last night.

It was worth logging in for and I did pick up  a couple of valuable clarifications on certain points, but the most interesting point was that there were crib sheets available from the Saturday day school that have not been sent out, so hopefully these will be shared with the whole tutorial group shortly.

It would have been far more useful if those crib sheets had been sent out earlier :-(

Now off to a three day beer festival and boat show. Not sure how this is going to help the study, but you know what they say, "All work and no play........"

DD209 Running The Economy : Exam - 14

Days to do and getting even fewer.......

Section 3 has been revised. In retrospect this was my first error, I think I should have done section 2 first, however too late now.

I now know.

Wage Setting / Price setting Curves
Phillips Curve/IS Curve/Vertical Phillips Curve/Monetary Return - MR Curve
Credibility Importance
Transmission Mechanisms
Quantitative Easing
but do we need to know about standard deviations and the like ???

So that is chapter 7,8,9,and 10 initially revised.

I'll do the back-up Section 2 next and then section 4. Try and get 1 chapter down a day and that will leave the last weekend and days before to 'cram and panic'.

I'll get a list of formula, equations, tables, graphs and case studies and commit to memory as best I can.

DD209 Running The Economy : About time the website tutorial errors were sorted.

We last came across these problems months ago, so why has the online tutorial not been corrected to provide accurate answers.

It doesn't exactly help when doing revision.......

Box 2: Asset prices

Which of the following are likely to result from a fall in the base rate? (Choose more than one answer.)

 

an increase in wealthCorrect. This happens because of the inverse relationship between asset prices and interest rates, so that the price of all assets increases, and so does the wealth of asset owners. This can encourage more spending, and consequently a higher equilibrium output.

 

a fall in investment

 

a fall in savingCorrect. Since the rise in asset prices makes people feel wealthier, they feel less need to save.

 

a movement down the IS curveCorrect. The ‘asset price’ or ‘wealth’ effect encourages more spending so this is a second channel whereby more spending is linked to a fall in interest rates. This is what is shown by the IS curve.

  

You have 2 correct answers and 1 wrong answer. Try again.

its not really good enough is it ?

DD209 Running The Economy : Sand storm stops study......

It is a bit of a shock to see this heading towards you.

UK Forces Afghanistan Facebook - Image by Cpl Daniel Wiepen RLC, © Crown Copyright 2014

It is effectively a vertical beach, to be followed by terrific winds and a bit of rain.

and once it arrives there is not much you can do, until it passes.

but luckily we are all back to (ab)normal now, so with the excuses now gone, time to get back to study.....

DD209 Running The Economy : Week 30 - Revision Strategy Revised.

Week 30:

How is your revision going ?

Well its time to get serious !

The disappointment of the last TMA and iCMA has pretty much meant a change in strategy for the exam in so much as I will concentrate on the three TMAs that I got the highest marks in, so I am concentrating on Part 3 and Part 4, with Part 2 as a back up.

I've pretty much decided that Part 5 is a gonner, not because I don't know the content but because I thought I knew the content but appear not to have done. So while the Parts 3 & 4 appeared more instinctive, Part 5 appears anti-instinctive to me and therefore too much of a risk as this stage of the game. 

So Part 3 "When Inflation Mattters' - look out I'm coming to get you, and we will be spending this weekend together.

DD209 Running The Economy : TMA05 Marked and Returned

Worst mark so far, and by quite a bit, which is disappointing. However, pretty clear explanation of why I did not get a higher mark and to be honest I missed the requirement for this information in the answer, but I'm not sure how I could have fitted in this information.

So, last TMA and iCMA worse scores across the course, which is probably explained through lack of study due to family pressures lately and where I am and have been for the last month.

Still, overall OCAS score is by far the highest of the 4 courses done so far and I would happily have taken it at the start of the course. The apparently pointless OU substitution calculation raised my score by a whole 1%. If I hadn't handed in this TMA, and therefore scored 0%, the substitution calculation would have added 6% to my overall OCAS, but wouldn't have changed the grade. So again I ask, substitution - what is the point?

I think I have a big week of study ahead, with sections 3 and 4 looking favourite, but first to get some sleep as I'm up in a couple of hours and there is a hot and dusty day ahead.

DD209 Running The Economy : Exam - 21

Days to do are getting few !!! But a complete lack of motivation to study has meant that revision has not progressed a jot.

It is a real motivational problem not having the TMA or iCMA back until within three weeks of the exam.

My tutor has said not to expect the TMAs to start coming back until the end of the week, so some will be getting them at the start of next week, within two weeks of the exam !

While this may be a busy time for tutors with day schools etc, it is a fairly majorly busty part of the year for the students and I think prompt return of TMAs is the least they should be able to do.

Anyway, the iCMA has just come back...... bit of a mega disappointment. Some problems with pulling lines on to the graph - just carelessness, and the fact that I seem to not understand the game theory things, which I thought I did, means that the elusive 100% pass mark was not achieved.

Oh well, unless the last TMA was a surprising disaster this is by far and away the best marks I have received for a course so far. Now, need to get studying.

DD209 Running The Economy : Week 29

Week 29 : Revision Week

Full of good intentions this week, got both the books out and had a look through my revision notes (such as threy were) and then sort of stalled.

I think I may regain some motivation if I can get my TMA and iCMA result back and establish in my mind the amount of effort i need to put into the exam in order to achive the best grade I can.

I am also going to look at some strategic studying, I may limit the study to 3 sections of the course as it is possible to answer the 4 questions from part A and the two questions from Part B from only 2 sections of the course.

The example exam paper also looks like a good source of revision material - i'm sure if you need to know about it the topic will have been covered there even if the questions are very different.

DD209 Running The Economy : Revision Starts, (Exam - 28)

I have started sorting out my notes and getting a timetable and strategy together with which to tackle this revision.

However, having looked at some of the early chapters again, it really seems that this course started an awful long time ago - I can barely remember doing it.

So it appears that Revison is a case of reading seemingly new and interesting facts from the early part of the course and trying to work out if I have simply forgotten this information or if I never read them in the first place.

DD209 Running The Economy : I want my TMA05 result.... NOW ! ! !

Found myself checking the OU website for my TMA result, which is a bit previous becuase the deadline for sublission is tonight at midnight. Doh !

The perils of submitting early.......

This is goona be a long wait.

DD209 Running The Economy : Course Work Complete - Just the exam to go.

Well today's OU study has gone far better than expected.

The last essay for DD209 is now finished and submitted, and I have to say I'm feeling pretty confident about this one..... well it seemed to go pretty well and the words flowed from my fingers to the keyboard, so from that point of view it wasn't such a chore to write, and now that I know pretty much all I need to about inequality that pretty much guarantees it won't be in the exam.

So I'll give myself the rest of today and tomorrow to relax and watch the footie, and then I'd better get a study plan organised and more importantly stick to it.

DD209 Running The Economy : Week 28

Would you believe it, I seem to have caught up with the course at last :-)

iCMA 44 - submitted already. Pretty confident on all but 4 questions and of those 4 ther eis only one that I have serious concerns over, but I had had enough of this and thought best to submit it and then that is that - I can do not more even if I wanted to.

TMA05 - is pretty much finished. Word count is around 1700 which is OK, well within the 10% anyway, and I just have to tidy up the references and give it another read through.

Strangely, this seemed to be the easiest TMA to write as it appeared simply to be a matter of addressing the question section by section and once done the maximum word count had been reached - at lest I hope this waas the approcah that was required.

The real challenge now is to keep the study momentum up for the next month, as I feel that the Exam will soon be upon us. This will be especially difficult while waitng for the results of the last two pieces of course work.


And I also came across a particularly useful website..... well it certainly explained the effect of Tarrifs far betterb than the book did. The blog is at Claire Ramsey's Blog

Right then, where is that Harvard Referencing guide, time to put the TMA to bed.

DD209 Running The Economy : Nearly finished the course work

This week has sort of gotten away from me as with two days effectively travelling or in transit and trying to get my head round a fairly difficult time difference I find that it is suddenly Thursday and the TMA and iCMA have to be submitted next Tuesday.

The iCMA is, as usual, straightforward, but it is easy to make silly mistakes and there is one question that isn't exactly covered in the course work so a bit of deductive reasoning required on that one.

However, the TMA is another matter. I sat down tonight with a plan and some carefully crafted diagrams and 3 hours later I have the TMA pretty much finished. It needs edited and ideally get the word count below 1700 words. I need to sort out some references and examples but all in all it is there or there-abouts. This means either I have completely understood all of this section of the book, or I have completely misunderstood it. Either that or I have mis-read the question and over-simplified the answer. However, I am not minded to start again, I think that ship has sailed.