Economics (ATAR): should I choose it?

What will I learn?

How will I be assessed?

Progression and companion subjects

No complete companion or exclusion review is attached to this profile. Check the official course-entry conditions, language eligibility and your school’s sequence before enrolling. Links between resource hubs show related learning; they do not establish a compulsory prerequisite.

Will I find it hard?

Difficulty depends on your experience, interests, teaching and assessment. These are our reflection prompts, not an official difficulty rating.

• Try explaining a case, source or argument with evidence. Does this type of writing interest you?
• Look at the amount of terminology, examples and source material in the sample rather than assuming the subject is easy.

Does it scale up or down?

Economics, 2025. TISC’s mean scaled scores summarise all students with a scaled score in the published course. The mean describes a cohort and gives no individual raw-to-scaled conversion. A scaled mean alone cannot establish whether this subject scaled up or down. Historical cohort data cannot predict your result or a future scaling direction.

Scaling is not a measure of difficulty or a guaranteed bonus. Prioritise content you can engage with and required subjects for courses you are considering.

Try a little of the subject

Introduction to economics

Economics studies how people allocate scarce resources among competing uses to satisfy wants. Scarcity means that available resources cannot meet all wants at once. It exists even in a wealthy community: a skilled worker has limited time, a workshop has limited space and a council has a limited budget. Scarcity is different from a temporary shortage at a particular price. The economic problem requires choices about what and how much to produce, how to produce it, and for whom production is undertaken. Resources include natural resources such as land and water, labour such as human effort and skills, capital such as tools and buildings, and enterprise that organises production and accepts risk. Money finances purchases but does not itself replace the physical resources needed to make goods. A service, such as bicycle maintenance, also uses resources and satisfies wants. Describing an activity as free to its user does not establish that it has no resource cost. Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative forgone when a choice is made. Identify feasible alternatives, rank them, and name the best rejected use. Do not add together every rejected alternative. Opportunity costs may involve income, leisure, environmental quality or learning. A payment is an explicit monetary cost; sacrificing an unpaid afternoon can still have an opportunity cost. Worked example. Mia has one available afternoon. Her preferred alternatives are a paid shift earning $75, a study session she values at $60, and a swim she values at $25. If she chooses the shift, the opportunity cost is the study session valued at $60, not $85. Her choice illustrates scarce time and competing wants. If she chooses study instead, the best forgone alternative is the $75 shift. Microeconomics examines ind

Original practice question: Which investigation is microeconomic?

This is ATARMAxxing’s original sample learning material. It is not an official assessment task or a prediction of your school’s workload.

Explore the resources

Open the Economics (ATAR) subject hub and free preview (opens in a new tab)

• Economics — WACE Year 12 ATAR (opens in a new tab)

Core subject information and planning are free. Full study resources are optional.