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SACE Economics past exams 2023–2025, by year and topic

The official SACE Board exams, marking guides and examiner reports we index, organised by topic and subtopic and labelled with the study design it was written under. Open the official paper, work the question in your own workspace, or bring a tutor into it live.

Index last synced 19 August 2026.

Papers, marking guides and examiner reports open on the official SACE Board website — they stay official and up to date. Question descriptions below are our own; we never republish exam content. Prefer to be walked through it? See the tutor directory →

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ATARMAxxing indexes 3 official SACE Board Economics papers from 2023 to 2025, with 41 questions mapped to 5 topics. Every paper opens on the SACE Board website.

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Earlier outline — check current requirements · 2023–2024Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculated · 2025–present

SACE Economics exams by year: official papers & marking guidance

Past exams indexed: 2025, 2024, 2023. Open the official SACE Board papers, with marking guidance where available.

Year	Study design	Official paper(s)	Marking guidance
2025 SACE Economics exam	Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculated	Examination paper ↗	Marking guidance ↗
2024 SACE Economics exam	Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculated	Examination paper ↗	Marking guidance ↗
2023 SACE Economics exam	Earlier outline — check current requirements	Examination paper ↗	Marking guidance ↗

3 official papers across 3 years (2023–2025), 3 with marking guidance, published by SACE. These span more than one study design; the most recent is Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculated. Earlier papers may cover material that has since changed.

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Data analysis · 3 mapped questions

Identifying trends, relationships and the direction of correlation

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q4(b)2 marksUses a quarterly and annual real-GDP-growth graph to support a conclusion that a country is experiencing a downturn rather than a recession.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Interpreting (not calculating) mean, median, quantiles and variance

2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q2(b)3 marksExplains what a gap between a given mean and median for fry consumption suggests about the distribution, then states the relationship between income and fry consumption shown in a quintile table.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Interpreting R and R-squared without calculation

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q4(d)6 marksStates the direction of the relationship between real GDP growth and consumer confidence, explains what an R-squared of 0.513 means for its strength, and illustrates the resulting shift in aggregate demand on an AD-AS diagram.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Also in this topic: Reading qualitative and quantitative data from tables and graphs — question-level mapping in progress; the year table above links every official paper.

Microeconomics · 19 mapped questions

Demand and supply, equilibrium, and shifts versus movements

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q1(a)3 marksExplains and diagrams how weather disruption and plant disease affecting cacao-bean supply move the equilibrium price and quantity in the cacao-bean market.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q1(b)3 marksDiagrams how poor weather affects the linked markets for processing potatoes and table potatoes.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q1(c)3 marksOutlines how a processing-potato shortage flows through to the market for frozen fries and explains how the price mechanism restores that market to equilibrium.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q1(e)4 marksExplains and diagrams the flow-on effect of changes in the frozen-fry market on the market for meals at family restaurants.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Price elasticity of demand and of supply (incl. total revenue)

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q1(b)3 marksInterprets a price elasticity of supply coefficient of 1.2 in words and justifies it against one determinant of supply elasticity (the storability of harvested beans).Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q3(a)2 marksAnalyses how a growing dark-chocolate substitute is likely to have changed the price elasticity of demand for milk chocolate bars.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q1(d)5 marksExplains why restaurant demand for frozen fries is likely to be highly price-inelastic and analyses the total-revenue effect of a price rise using a labelled diagram.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Market structures: perfect competition, monopolistic competition, oligopoly, monopoly

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q2(a)6 marksJustifies the likely market structure of chocolate production from a four-firm market-share chart, then assesses how well that structure serves the producers themselves.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q3(c)4 marksEvaluates how well the chocolate-retailing duopoly meets the needs of consumers.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q1(a)3 marksExplains why a potato market cannot be classified as perfect competition and outlines a disadvantage this creates for consumers.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Consumer surplus, producer surplus and deadweight loss

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q2(b)3 marksExplains why producer surplus rises when firms use market power to raise price above equilibrium, then identifies the resulting deadweight-loss area on a labelled diagram.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q1(f)6 marksReads the consumer- and producer-surplus areas off a diagram for a supermarket holding its price below equilibrium, then assesses the intended and unintended consequences of that decision.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Price ceilings, price floors, subsidies and taxes

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q1(c)5 marksDiagrams a price floor and, separately, a producer subsidy for cacao beans, identifying the consumer-surplus area remaining after the subsidy is paid.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q1(d)4 marksCompares and contrasts the effects of a price floor against a producer subsidy on consumers and producers in the cacao-bean market.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Market failure: public goods, uncompetitive markets, externalities, asymmetric information

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q1(e)4 marksJustifies the type of market failure created by cacao farming's environmental harm and completes the matching marginal-private/marginal-social-cost externality diagram.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q2(a)5 marksExplains why fry consumption creates a market failure and completes the matching marginal-private/marginal-social-benefit diagram, labelling the deadweight loss.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Measures to address market failure

2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q2(c)5 marksSuggests and evaluates one government strategy to address the market failure created by fry consumption.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Duopoly and simple 2x2 game theory (payoff matrices, Nash equilibrium)

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q3(b)4 marksUses a two-supermarket payoff matrix to rule out a proposed Nash equilibrium and to explain how the matrix shows interdependence between the two firms.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q1(g)4 marksUses a revenue payoff matrix to explain a rival supermarket's likely pricing response and why the two chains' pricing decisions are interdependent.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Macroeconomics · 19 mapped questions

Price stability: inflation via CPI; demand-pull and cost-push inflation

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q5(a)4 marksJustifies which type of inflation a country most likely experienced from three years of productivity, electricity-price and minimum-wage data, then illustrates it on an AD-AS diagram.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q3(a)2 marksExplains one possible reason a country would target a positive rather than a zero inflation rate.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q3(b)4 marksEvaluates a government claim that low and stable inflation supports long-term growth and living standards, but high inflation does not.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Economic growth: measuring and the limitations of GDP

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q4(a)3 marksOutlines a method used to calculate GDP and explains one limitation of GDP growth as a measure of a country's economic growth.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q4(a)2 marksExplains how real GDP growth could turn negative in a given year despite a rise in business investment.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Leading, lagging and coincident indicators and the business cycle

2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q4(b)2 marksIdentifies and justifies the business-cycle phase shown by a year of GDP-growth, investment, building-approvals and consumer-confidence data.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q4(c)2 marksPredicts the likely next-year change in economic activity using one leading indicator from a supplied data set.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Five-sector circular flow and the expenditure multiplier

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q4(c)3 marksIdentifies the expenditure component dragging on annual real GDP growth in a given quarter and explains why overall growth stayed positive despite that drag.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Monetarist AD-AS model with SRAS and LRAS

2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q3(c)3 marksExplains and diagrams the long-run adjustment expected in an inflationary economy if the government does not intervene.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q4(f)4 marksExplains and diagrams how increased government health and education spending contributes to both short-run and long-run economic growth.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Demand management (fiscal and monetary) and supply-side policy

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q4(e)8 marksExplains how fiscal policy could use leakages and injections to help a country avoid a recession, then assesses whether a falling marginal propensity to consume would weaken that policy's effectiveness via the expenditure multiplier.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q5(c)5 marksExplains two channels through which higher official interest rates reduce consumption spending, and why contractionary monetary policy conflicts with the full-employment objective.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q5(d)4 marksEvaluates the effectiveness of one supply-side policy proposed to help reduce a country's inflation.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q3(d)3 marksExplains and diagrams how contractionary monetary policy could help restore price stability in an overheating economy.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q3(f)5 marksEvaluates whether contractionary monetary policy is currently the most effective demand-management tool for achieving price stability.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q4(d)4 marksEvaluates a government's plan to cut discretionary spending in order to shrink its budget deficit during a period of strong growth.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Floating exchange rates

2025Current subject outline (2025 onwards) — mean/median/R interpreted, not calculatedExamination paper Q5(b)7 marksExplains how sustained high inflation is likely to have affected a country's living standards, then diagrams and justifies the resulting shift in demand for that country's currency.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q3(e)4 marksAnalyses and diagrams the likely impact of contractionary monetary policy on a country's exchange rate.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →
2023Earlier outline — check current requirementsExamination paper Q4(e)4 marksDiscusses whether a preceding currency appreciation changes the appropriateness of that government spending cut.Official paper ↗Marking guidance ↗Check tutors for this question →

Also in this topic: Full employment: unemployment rate, participation rate, NAIRU — question-level mapping in progress; the year table above links every official paper.

The rest of the syllabus

Question-level mapping for these areas is still being verified. Every official paper covering them is in the year table above.

Economic inquiry skills — Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost · Production possibility curve · Economic decision-making and its intended and unintended consequences · Applying concepts and models to unfamiliar, evidence-based scenarios
Assessment Type 1: Folio and Assessment Type 2: Economic Project (school-assessed, not externally examined) — Folio (40% of the subject; three or four tasks, maximum 4000 words) · Economic Project (30% of the subject; maximum 2000 words) · The eight teaching contexts (firms; macroeconomic management; trade and globalisation; wealth, poverty and inequality; environment; health; sport and entertainment; school-developed)

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