Unit 3: Exploring Economic Behaviour · 1520U30-1
WJEC A-level Unit 3, June 2025
All 17 written questions from WJEC A-level Unit 3 (June 2025), Exploring Economic Behaviour. Each question shows its marks and topic, with an examiner insight on 3, and opens the question paper and mark scheme at the right page.
Section A
Q1(a)
State the level of daily output at which the firm is: (i) Allocatively efficient (ii) Productively efficient
Mark splitApplication 2
Q1(b)
Calculate the firm's total daily profit when producing a daily output of 6 units. You are advised to show your working.
Mark splitApplication 2
Q1(c)
The firm targets a daily output of 9 to maximise revenue. Explain, using relevant calculations, whether this is the correct level of output for this objective.
Q1(d)
Outline the difference between accounting profit and economic profit.
Mark splitKnowledge 2
Q2(a)
Using the production possibility frontier diagrams, complete the following opportunity cost ratios. (i) For country A 1 m coffee bags:.................................. m gold (kg). (ii) For country B 1 m coffee bags:.................................. m gold (kg).
Mark splitApplication 2
Q2(b)
Using your answers to part (a), suggest a suitable quantity of gold country B could exchange for 1 million bags of coffee from country A, describing how both countries gain from this trade.
Mark splitApplication 3
TopicThe economic problem and resource allocationInternational trade and exchange rates
Q2(c)
Discuss the view that the theory of comparative advantage is relevant in determining whether countries should specialise and trade.
Q3(a)
(i) On Saturday 3rd August 2024 between 06.00 and 11.59 the ticket price was 14% higher than the price between 00.00 and 05.59 on the same day. To the nearest whole number calculate the price of this ticket. (ii) Outline how Getlink might be using price discrimination.
TopicMarket structures
Q3(b)
Discuss whether it is only producers that benefit from price discrimination.
TopicMarket structures
Q4
With reference to the data, discuss the extent to which the changes to the UK's base interest rate have been effective in controlling the UK's inflation rate over the period shown.
TopicMeasuring economic performanceMacroeconomic objectives and policy
Q5
According to property website Zoopla, 60% of all house purchases are made using a mortgage. With reference to the housing market, describe one cause and one consequence of asset bubbles.
Section B
Q6(a)
Using Figure 1, calculate and interpret the percentage change in the trade in goods balance for Wales between 2021 and 2022.
Q6(b)
Explain two possible reasons for Wales' worsening trade in goods balance in recent years.
Q7
With reference to lines 17–19 and the use of an appropriate cost and revenue diagram, describe why Tata Steel experienced a fall in profits between March 2022 and March 2023.
Q8
Discuss whether the government financial support for 'green' technology will lead to a positive impact on economic development in Wales.
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Keep economic development, not economic growth, at the centre. Link the green technology support in the case study to development indicators such as national income, health, education and the environment in Wales.
- Evaluation
- Counter with the data: the level of Welsh government support compared with governments abroad, Tata's request for a larger package, and job losses caused by the green investment itself. Close with a weighted judgement that names what the outcome depends on.
- Watch out
- A large number of candidates wrote about economic growth rather than development, which capped the banding for both AO3 and AO4.
- How it went in the exam
- Examiners said the data was used well by most candidates, and that only a minority reached top band AO4, almost always through a detailed depends on judgement tied to development.
Q9
Using Extract 3, discuss the factors that may determine whether the introduction of freeports will be beneficial for the Welsh economy.
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- The question asks for the factors that determine whether freeports will be beneficial, not the benefits and drawbacks themselves. Name factors such as whether the jobs are genuinely new or displaced from elsewhere, the size of the tax revenue forgone, the type of firms attracted, the strength of local supply chains and infrastructure, and the length of the incentives.
- Evaluation
- Judge which factors matter most for Wales, and make the final judgement about the factors, not about freeports in general.
- Watch out
- Analysing the benefits and drawbacks of freeports limited responses to Band 1. Structure the answer by factor, one per paragraph, using Extract 3.
- How it went in the exam
- Examiners called this the biggest challenge of the extended responses in 2025, purely because candidates answered the wrong question.
Q10
With reference to Figures 2 and 3, and other relevant information, to what extent does the growing UK financial sector benefit the Welsh economy?
TopicThe financial sector
Examiner insight
- What to cover
- Use Figures 2 and 3 analytically. Link high employment growth in the financial sector to incomes, tax revenue and the multiplier in Wales, then set against it the regional inequality point: those jobs sit in two cities while other areas depend on sectors with negative job growth.
- Evaluation
- Push further with the data: Figure 3 shows total jobs in the sector are still low compared with other sectors, so the benefit is a long run rather than a short run effect. Reach a judgement on the extent.
- Watch out
- Describing the data caps AO3 and AO4. Every figure quoted needs a chain of reasoning attached to it.
- How it went in the exam
- This final question worked well as a differentiator. Most candidates used the data on both sides, but only the strongest turned it into analysis and evaluation.
Question text is quoted from the question papers, © WJEC CBAC Ltd, for students’ private study. Open the official papers and mark schemes from the links on each question. Examiner insights are written with AI assistance and moderated by Finn.