IB Economics Tutoring, SL and HL
IB Economics looks like a theory subject, but the marks depend on using that theory: a labelled diagram that matches the explanation, a real-world example that does work in the argument, and a judgement that weighs one policy against another. Students who know the models still lose marks when diagrams are inaccurate, examples are merely named, or evaluation turns into a list of advantages and disadvantages.
Short answer
IB Economics is offered online, one-to-one.
A private lesson runs 90 minutes and starts at USD 95 per lesson; lessons are booked singly or in packages.
IB group classes are private groups of three or more friends, who agree the start date with us.
From USD 95 per lesson
Your lessons are taught by İlker Başaran, who teaches IB Economics.
- SL and HL assessment from the IB’s own subject brief
- Live online lessons of 90 minutes
- From USD 95 per lesson
How IB Economics is assessed
External papers set and marked by the IB, and an internal assessment marked by your teacher and moderated by the IB. Standard Level and Higher Level differ in length, weighting and, at HL, in the extra paper or component. Figures are from the IB’s own subject brief, linked below.
International Baccalaureate
IB Diploma Programme · Economics · subject brief, first assessment 2022
| Component | SL: weight and length | HL: weight and length | What it involves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 | 30% · 1 hour 15 min | 20% · 1 hour 15 min | Extended-response paper on all units of the syllabus. |
| Paper 2 | 40% · 1 hour 45 min | 30% · 1 hour 45 min | Data-response paper on all units of the syllabus. |
| Paper 3 (HL only) | HL only | 30% · 1 hour 45 min | Policy paper: using data to recommend and justify an economic policy. |
| Internal assessment | 30% · 20 hours | 20% · 20 hours | Portfolio of three commentaries on news-media extracts, each on a different unit and analysed through a different key concept. |
Checked on 24 September 2026
Paper names are the IB’s own. Internal assessment time is the teaching time the IB allocates to it, not an exam.
The IB Economics syllabus
Topic names are left in English, as they appear on the paper and in the mark scheme.
Unit 1: Introduction to economics
What is economics? · How do economists approach the world?
Unit 2: Microeconomics
Demand and supply · Elasticities · Role of government in microeconomics · Market failure · Market power (HL)
Unit 3: Macroeconomics
Measuring economic activity · Aggregate demand and supply · Macroeconomic objectives · Demand-side and supply-side policies
Unit 4: The global economy
Benefits of international trade · Types of trade protection · Exchange rates · Balance of payments · Economic development
Where IB Economics marks are usually lost
Diagrams that contradict the explanation
The guide expects correctly labelled, clearly drawn diagrams wherever they are relevant, and some questions make them essential. Marks go when a curve shifts the wrong way, an axis or equilibrium is left unlabelled, or the diagram sits on the page without the text ever referring to it. A diagram earns its marks only when the written explanation walks the examiner through it.
Examples that are named but not explained
To reach the highest markbands, students are expected to illustrate answers with real-world examples where appropriate, and the guide says that simply stating an example is too limited. A sentence naming a country and a policy does little; the example needs enough detail to be credible and a clear link to the theory and to the question. Without that link, it adds words rather than marks.
Evaluation as a list of pros and cons
Questions that ask students to evaluate or discuss reward a reasoned judgement: which effect is likely to dominate, for whom, over what time frame and under what assumptions. Listing two advantages and two disadvantages without a conclusion falls short of the balanced evaluation the top markbands describe. On Paper 2, the final part also wants a judgement drawn from the text and data provided, not from theory alone.
The IB Economics internal assessment
The internal assessment is a portfolio of commentaries on published news articles. Each commentary applies economic theory and diagrams to an article and evaluates the issue through one of the course’s key concepts. The articles must be recent, come from different units of the syllabus and from different sources, and each commentary uses a different key concept. A tutor can help a student judge whether an article contains enough economics, check diagrams and terminology for accuracy, and explain what each criterion rewards. Choosing the articles and writing the analysis remain the student’s work.
A tutor can explain the criteria, question a draft and point to what is weak. The research, the writing and every decision in it stay the student’s own, as the awarding body’s rules require.
How we teach IB Economics
A tutor teaches IB Economics by joining three things in every topic: the model, its diagram and a real case. A lesson on price ceilings, for instance, has the student draw the diagram from memory, explain the shortage it predicts, test it against an actual policy and ask who gains and who loses. Over the year the student builds a bank of real-world examples organised by unit, often including their own country’s economy, with the details needed to use them. Paper 1 essays are planned under time pressure and marked against IB markbands; Paper 2 practice focuses on reading data quickly and using it in the final evaluation. HL students also rehearse the policy paper: interpreting data, carrying out calculations and recommending a course of action.
There is no separate diagnostic, because there is no single test that stands in for two years of a school syllabus. The first lesson is the assessment: the tutor works through your recent marked work, past-paper questions from your own specification, and the units your school has already covered, and reads current level, gaps, exam technique and where school work stands. It is a normal paid lesson and it teaches as it assesses.
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