MKTG2112: nail every assessment, not just read the notes
Your complete guide to University of Sydney's consumer behaviour unit. See where the marks are, work real practice questions, and study with an AI tutor that knows MKTG2112.
Sia generates MKTG2112 practice questions, walks through individual decision making and attitudes step by step, and quizzes you on the material the heaviest assessments weight most heavily.
Sharpen your argument
Exam scenario. A shopper evaluates two brands of headphones on just two salient attributes, sound quality (importance e = 5) and price-value (importance e = 3), rating belief strength b on a 1 to 7 scale. Brand A scores b = 6 on sound but only b = 2 on price-value; Brand B scores b = 4 on sound and b = 5 on price-value. A student must explain why a compensatory (Fishbein) rule and a conjunctive non-compensatory rule (a cut-off of 4 required on every attribute) can select different brands. Which answer is the strongest and most correct?
Compute the compensatory (Fishbein) attitude Ao = sum(bi × ei). Brand A: (6 × 5) + (2 × 3) = 30 + 6 = 36. Brand B: (4 × 5) + (5 × 3) = 20 + 15 = 35. The compensatory rule prefers Brand A, 36 to 35, because Brand A's strong sound offsets its weak price-value.
The two rules select different brands (A versus B) because the compensatory rule lets a strength compensate for a weakness, while the conjunctive rule applies a hard minimum on each attribute and cannot be offset. Option B states this correctly with the right arithmetic.
Eliminate the rest: option A is false (here the rules disagree); option C misdefines conjunctive (it confuses conjunctive with disjunctive or lexicographic, which is the common trap); option D is wrong because differing importance weights are exactly what the compensatory sum is built to handle.
The weaker choice: Confusing the non-compensatory rules. Conjunctive means meet a cut-off on ALL attributes (a single weak attribute eliminates the option), not pick the best score on any one attribute (that is disjunctive) and not rank attributes then pick the best on the top one (that is lexicographic). The whole point of a compensatory rule is that a strength can offset a weakness, while a non-compensatory rule cannot offset. watch this!
One exam decides 35% of your grade. Everything covered (every reading, lecture, video and chapter) is examinable unless explicitly marked otherwise. Whether the exam is a hurdle is not stated in the materials reviewed. This whole page is built around that.
Overview
What MKTG2112 is, and where it sits
MKTG2112 Consumer Behaviour is the University of Sydney Business School's second-year unit on how people think, feel, choose, buy, use and dispose of products and services. Building on the first-year marketing principles unit, it works through the major theories that explain consumer decisions, from individual psychology (perception, learning and memory, motivation, attitudes and personality) out to the social and cultural forces (reference groups, social influence and consumer culture) that shape what feels normal and desirable. The recurring promise from the coordinator is learning to see the influence that is usually invisible.
The unit is conceptual and qualitative rather than mathematical. It draws on cognitive and social psychology, sociology and anthropology, and the only numeric tools are simple, single-step ones: the Fishbein multi-attribute sum Ao = sum(bi × ei), Weber's Law K = dI / I for the just noticeable difference, and reading an over-index number from a profiling table. The set text is Solomon, Previte, Russell-Bennett and Payne, Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being (5th Australian edition), and the assessment rewards applying a named theory to a real brand scenario, not reciting it.
Assessment is split across continuous individual and group work and a final exam. The continuous load (a consumption journal, an individual one-page insight, a group presentation and a substantial group consumer report) runs alongside a 35% short-answer or essay final where every answer must Define, Explain and Apply a theory to an example and draw the marketing implication. That applied, structured writing under exam conditions is what separates a credit from a high distinction in this unit.
Official outline: sydney.edu.au · MKTG2112 outline. Always treat the official outline and the exam timetable as authoritative.
Difficulty & time commitment
Is MKTG2112 hard, and how much time does it take?
MKTG2112 is manageable if you keep a weekly rhythm and treat the back half as the main event. Across student reviews the pattern is consistent: it starts gently and steepens, and the heaviest assessment is the part that separates grades.
A read across student reviews and course feedback. See what students say ↓
The difficulty curve and the assessment weighting point the same way: the back half is harder and worth more. Front-loading effort there is the highest-return decision in the unit.
Is this unit for you
Who tends to do well, and who tends to struggle
You will likely do well if
- You can name a theory and immediately apply it to a real brand scenario, because the marks are for application and the marketing implication, not for definitions alone.
- You build a one-line decoder for each theory (what it is, its mechanism, a branded example, the marketing implication) so you can pick the right framework fast under exam pressure.
- You keep up with the weekly reading and link each topic to the running group consumer report rather than treating them as separate tasks.
- You practise writing structured one-page answers using the IDEA or TEAS method, including the part-based mark allocations, before the exam.
You may struggle if
- You memorise definitions but cannot apply the theory to a scenario, which is exactly what the short-answer and essay final tests.
- You fish, listing every related term hoping something scores, instead of selecting the single right theory and applying it; this is explicitly penalised.
- You confuse the closely related distinctions (compensatory versus non-compensatory rules, conjunctive versus disjunctive versus lexicographic, normative versus informational influence) and lose marks on the precise wording.
- You leave the continuous group work (the 25% consumer report and the 10% presentation) to the last minute, since they run alongside the individual tasks across the whole semester.
- Build a name-the-theory decoder for all 11 topics: for each, write the definition, the mechanism, one branded example and the marketing implication on a single line.
- Drill the structured answer: take past short-answer prompts and write them in the IDEA or TEAS format to a one-page limit, then self-mark against the part-based allocations.
- Nail the fine distinctions the exam loves to test: compensatory versus non-compensatory decision rules and the three non-compensatory variants, the ABC components, the three forms of group influence, and JND below versus above for a price or pack change.
- Treat the group consumer report as a theory showcase: apply named frameworks (segmentation criteria, the EKB model, attitude models, social influence) explicitly rather than describing the brand generically.
Syllabus
The 11 topics, week by week
The exam-weight marker on each topic shows where the marks concentrate. The amber topics carry the highest exam weight.
T1 · Foundations and the Dark Side of Consumer Behaviour
Solomon et al. Ch 1 to 2What consumer behaviour is, the purchaser, user, influencer and payer roles, the pre, during and post-consumption stages, the interdisciplinary lenses, and the dark side (consumed consumers, shrinkage, counterfeiting, anti-consumption, greenwashing and addictive consumption).
T2 · The Marketer's Grail: customer journeys and influencing purchase
Solomon et al. Ch 10The buying sequence (need recognition, search, evaluation, purchase, post-purchase), customer journey maps with paid, owned and earned touchpoints, Ehrenberg's laws of marketing, light versus habitual buyers, and CRM, loyalty and advocacy.
T3 · To Whom? Segmentation, targeting and personas
Persona reading plus industry researchMarket segmentation and STP, consumer-rooted versus consumption-specific bases, the criteria for an effective target segment (Sizeable, Identifiable, Stable, Congruent, Accessible), personas, and turning consumer data into insight using over-indexing and audience profiling.
T4 · Individual Decision Making
Solomon et al. Ch 9Habitual, limited and extended problem solving, involvement and the six types of perceived risk, the EKB model, internal versus external search, the evoked and consideration sets, and compensatory versus non-compensatory decision rules.
T5 · Attitudes and Attitude Change
Solomon et al. Ch 8The ABC tri-component model and cognitive dissonance, the hierarchy of effects, the Fishbein multi-attribute model Ao = sum(bi × ei), the theory of reasoned action and theory of planned behaviour, the elaboration likelihood model, and attitude-change strategies.
T6 · Learning and Memory
Solomon et al. Ch 4Classical conditioning (repetition, extinction, stimulus generalisation and discrimination), operant conditioning and reinforcement schedules, cognitive and observational learning, and the memory systems (encoding, storage, retrieval, schemas and nostalgia).
T7 · Motivation, Values and the Self
Solomon et al. Ch 6 to 7The motivation process (need, drive, goal), utilitarian versus hedonic and biogenic versus psychogenic needs, drive versus expectancy theory, Maslow's hierarchy, motivational conflict, values and means-end chains, and the actual versus ideal self and the extended self.
T8 · Me and the Gang: groups, social power and word-of-mouth
Solomon et al. Ch 11 to 12Reference groups (membership, aspirational, dissociative), normative, informational and identification influence, conformity, the bases of social power, opinion leaders versus market mavens, word-of-mouth and viral marketing, and subcultures and family decision-making.
T9 · Kultsumption: consumer culture, rituals and CCT
Solomon et al. Ch 14How culture is learned and shared, consumption rituals (grooming, gift-giving, holiday, rites of passage), sacred versus profane consumption, Consumer Culture Theory domains, the cultural production system and cultural selection, and high versus low-context cultures.
T10 · Personality and Brand Personality
Solomon et al. Ch 5Personality theories (psychodynamic, archetype, trait), nature versus nurture and state versus trait, the Big Five (OCEAN), consumer-relevant traits (need for cognition, materialism, innovativeness), and Aaker's five brand-personality dimensions.
T11 · Perception and Sensory Marketing
Solomon et al. Ch 3Sensation versus perception, the five sensory systems, absolute and differential thresholds and the just noticeable difference, Weber's Law K = dI / I, the perceptual pipeline (exposure, attention, interpretation), Gestalt principles and semiotics.
How it's assessed
Assessment structure
| Component | Weight | Format & timing |
|---|---|---|
| Early Learning Assessment | 5% | Online Canvas quiz, individual. Early in semester (around Week 3); date subject to confirmation. Low stakes, no hurdle stated. |
| Consumption Journal and Coaching | 10% | Individual reflective journal applying course theory to your own consumption, with coaching feedback. Around mid-semester (around Week 6); date subject to confirmation. No hurdle stated. |
| Individual Insight (one page) | 5% | Individual one-page insight piece. Around Week 8; date subject to confirmation. No hurdle stated. |
| Group Presentation | 10% | Group presentation. Around Week 10; date subject to confirmation. No hurdle stated. |
| Consumer Report (group) | 25% | Group written report applying consumer-behaviour theory to a brand or category. Late in semester (around Week 13); date subject to confirmation. No hurdle stated. |
| Business Research Component and participation | 10% | A 2% Business Research Component (participate in a study or submit a research-paper review) plus participation marks that accrue across Weeks 1 to 13. Ongoing across the semester; BRC due around Week 12. No hurdle stated; the exact participation split is subject to confirmation. |
| Final Exam | 35% | BYOD online exam in the exam period: a Canvas quiz sat under Respondus LockDown Browser in a physical venue, short-answer and essay-type questions (roughly one page maximum per question, part-based with stated mark allocations). Formal exam period; date subject to confirmation against the official timetable. Everything covered (every reading, lecture, video and chapter) is examinable unless explicitly marked otherwise. Whether the exam is a hurdle is not stated in the materials reviewed. |
- Pass on a weighted average of at least 50%. No single-component hurdle is stated in the materials reviewed.
- Short-answer and essay-type questions, roughly one page maximum each, part-based with explicit mark allocations per part (for example a three-part question split across a few marks per part). Weekly practice multiple-choice questions also appear in the modules. The reward structure is Define, Explain, Apply with an example, then draw the marketing implication; listing for marks (fishing) is penalised.
- Calculator policy: The final is a locked-browser BYOD online exam and is essentially conceptual writing; the only arithmetic (a Fishbein sum, Weber's Law, an over-index) is single-step and needs no calculator dependency. Permitted materials are not stated in the materials reviewed and are subject to confirmation.
This is a coursework unit. Coursework carries 65% of the grade and the final exam is the single heaviest piece at 35%, so steady work across the semester decides your result more than any one sitting. Everything covered (every reading, lecture, video and chapter) is examinable unless explicitly marked otherwise. Whether the exam is a hurdle is not stated in the materials reviewed.
Final exam timing: approx Nov 2026 (S2 offering, confirm against the official exam timetable). Confirm the exact date and venue on the official exam timetable.
How to actually pass it
A weekly rhythm, two checklists, and the traps to avoid
The unit rewards consistency over cramming, and practice over re-reading. Here is the loop that works, then what to have nailed before each exam.
The weekly loop
Before the mid-semester checklist
- Sit the early learning quiz seriously to calibrate how the unit asks questions.
- Keep the consumption journal current week by week instead of reconstructing it in one sitting; it is graded on genuine application of theory.
- Lock the fine distinctions early (decision rules, attitude models, group influence) so they are automatic later.
- Start the group consumer report with an explicit framework plan (which theories you will apply to which part) rather than a generic brand description.
Before the final heaviest topics
- Build the name-the-theory decoder for all 11 topics and rehearse selecting the right one from a short scenario.
- Write timed one-page answers in the IDEA or TEAS structure, respecting the part-based mark allocations.
- Drill the precise wording on the distinctions the exam tests (compensatory versus non-compensatory, conjunctive versus disjunctive versus lexicographic, normative versus informational versus identification influence, JND below versus above).
- Review every reading, lecture and video, since everything is examinable unless explicitly marked otherwise, and avoid fishing by always closing with the marketing implication.
The mistakes that cost marks
Reciting instead of applying. The exam rewards applying a named theory to a scenario and drawing the marketing implication. A perfect textbook definition with no application caps low; always run Define, Explain, Apply with an example, then Strategy.
Fishing for marks. Listing every related concept hoping one scores is explicitly penalised. Select the single correct theory and apply it well within about a page, rather than padding the answer.
Confusing the close distinctions. Compensatory versus non-compensatory rules, and conjunctive versus disjunctive versus lexicographic within non-compensatory, are a recurring trap. Conjunctive means meet a cut-off on every attribute; disjunctive means excel on at least one; lexicographic means rank attributes then pick the best on the top one. Mixing these up loses easy marks.
Underrating the continuous group work. The 25% group consumer report and the 10% presentation run across the whole semester alongside the individual tasks. Leaving them late, or writing them as generic brand descriptions instead of explicit theory application, costs more than the single final exam can recover.
Teaching team
Who teaches MKTG2112
The bios below are factual. The star ratings are not ours: they are impressions from students who have taken the unit, so you can hear from people who sat in the lectures.
Dr Elizabeth King
Unit Coordinator who leads the MKTG2112 team, with extensive cross-sector industry experience and research on leadership wisdom and consumer behaviour for positive global change. Staff profile
Teaching team as listed in the unit materials reviewed. AskSia does not rate lecturers; star ratings are submitted by students who have taken MKTG2112.
Formula & concept sheet
The vocabulary and formulas you must own
- Fishbein multi-attribute model
- Ao = sum(bi × ei) over the salient attributes i, where bi is the strength of belief that the object has attribute i and ei is the evaluation or importance of attribute i. It predicts the overall attitude toward an object from belief strength times attribute importance.
- Weber's Law (just noticeable difference)
- K = dI / I, where dI is the change in stimulus intensity needed to be noticed, I is the original intensity and K is the Weber constant. The change needed to be detected is proportional to the original level; stay below the JND to hide a shrink or price rise, exceed it to make an improvement noticed.
- Over-index
- Index = (segment percent divided by base-population percent) times 100. An index above 100 means the segment over-indexes; for example 126 means the segment is 26 percent more likely than the base population to have the characteristic.
- Compensatory decision rule
- A high-involvement rule where a strong attribute can offset a weak one; the option with the highest total (for example the weighted-additive or Fishbein sum) is chosen.
- Non-compensatory decision rules
- Low-involvement rules where a weakness cannot be offset. Conjunctive: meet a cut-off on all attributes. Disjunctive: excel on at least one. Lexicographic: rank attributes and choose the best on the most important. Elimination-by-aspects: drop options failing the most important attribute first.
- Theory of Planned Behaviour
- Behavioural intention is predicted by three factors: attitude toward the behaviour, subjective norm and perceived behavioural control. It extends the theory of reasoned action by adding perceived control.
Common acronyms: STP · EKB · ABC · ELM · TRA · TPB · JND · WOM · CCT · OCEAN · VALS · CRM · IDEA · TEAS · BRC.
What students say
What students actually say about MKTG2112
Recurring themes from student reviews, paraphrased in our own words.
- Described as content-heavy but conceptual: a long list of theories to keep straight rather than hard mathematics.
- The challenge is applying the right theory to a scenario under exam conditions, not memorising definitions.
- Workload ramps in the second half as the group consumer report and the final exam land together.
- Students build per-theory decoder sheets and practise structured one-page answers using the IDEA or TEAS method.
- Demand for worked short-answer exemplars and a name-the-theory map across all the topics.
- Demand for timed practice on the short-answer and essay format and for clarifying the close distinctions between decision rules and influence types.
Recurring student opinions, paraphrased and aggregated, not official course information.
Set texts
The prescribed reading
The syllabus references map straight onto these.
Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being
Solomon, Previte, Russell-Bennett and Payne. Publisher page
Where it fits
Prerequisites, related units & why it matters
A second-year marketing unit that assumes the first-year marketing-principles foundation. It is the consumer-psychology core of the marketing major and feeds the later strategy, branding and communications units.
Your MKTG2112 study toolkit
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is MKTG2112 hard?
It is moderate. The content is conceptual rather than mathematical, so there is a lot to read and a long list of theories to keep straight, but the only numbers are single-step (the Fishbein sum, Weber's Law and an over-index). The difficulty sits in the 35% short-answer or essay final, where you have to apply the right theory to a scenario and draw the marketing implication under time pressure, not just recall definitions.
How is MKTG2112 assessed?
By continuous individual and group work plus a final exam: a 5% early learning quiz, a 10% consumption journal, a 5% individual one-page insight, a 10% group presentation, a 25% group consumer report, a Business Research Component plus participation worth around 10% across the semester, and a 35% final exam. You pass on a weighted average of at least 50%, with no single-component hurdle stated in the materials reviewed.
What is the final exam format?
A BYOD online exam sat in the exam period: a Canvas quiz under Respondus LockDown Browser in a physical venue, with short-answer and essay-type questions of roughly one page maximum each. Questions are part-based with stated mark allocations per part. Everything covered in the unit is examinable unless explicitly marked otherwise. The exact date is subject to confirmation against the official timetable.
How much maths is in it?
Very little. Consumer Behaviour is a qualitative, theory-driven unit. The only quantitative items are the Fishbein multi-attribute sum Ao = sum(bi × ei), Weber's Law K = dI / I for the just noticeable difference, and reading an over-index number from a profiling table, all single-step arithmetic that needs no calculator dependency.
What is the best way to answer the exam questions?
Use the structure the unit rewards: Identify the components of the question, Define the key terms or theory, Apply the theory to the scenario, and use one or two Examples (the IDEA method), or run the TEAS method (Theory, Explain, Apply, Strategy). Keep each answer to about a page and avoid fishing (listing terms for marks); the marks are for the right theory applied well, not for length.
Which textbook do I need?
The set text is Solomon, Previte, Russell-Bennett and Payne, Consumer Behaviour: Buying, Having, and Being, 5th Australian edition, accessed as a Pearson eText. Lectures and tutorials follow it closely, so it is worth keeping up with the chapter for each week's topic.
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