ECON10004 · Introductory Microeconomics
The Complete Exam Bible · S1 2026Introductory Microeconomics
Introductory Microeconomics teaches how people, firms and governments choose under scarcity — supply & demand, elasticity, surplus, taxes & deadweight loss, monopoly, externalities and game theory. The final exam is 50% of your grade and a hurdle (you must pass it to pass the subject), so this guide teaches each model to exam standard: the diagram examiners look for, the formula they expect, and where the marks hide.
What ECON10004 covers
Twelve lecture topics → one exam-ready map. Each links to its free chapter guide.
How ECON10004 is assessed
| Component | Weight | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Final exam · hurdle | 50% | End of semester · must pass to pass the subject |
| Continuous assessment | ~50% | Tutorials, assignments & online quizzes across the semester — confirm the exact split in your subject guide |
Taxes & deadweight loss — the signature diagram, mark by mark
- +1Draw S, D and the post-tax supply S+tax, shifted up by the full tax.
- +2Mark Qt, buyer price Pb (on D) and seller price Ps (on S). The wedge Pb − Ps = T.
- +2Shade tax revenue (the Pb–Ps rectangle out to Qt) and the deadweight-loss triangle, Qt→Q*.
- +1State it: Q falls, buyers pay more, sellers keep less; DWL = welfare lost to trades that no longer happen.
Key terms
- Opportunity cost
- The value of the next-best alternative you give up when you make a choice — not the price you pay, and not everything else you didn't do.
- Elasticity
- How responsive quantity is to a change in price, written as a ratio of percentage changes: %ΔQ over %ΔP.
- Consumer surplus
- What buyers were willing to pay minus what they actually paid — the area under the demand curve and above the price.
- Deadweight loss
- Welfare lost to mutually beneficial trades that no longer happen — caused by a tax, a price control, or market power.
- Marginal cost
- The extra cost of producing one more unit of output. A competitive firm produces where price equals marginal cost (P = MC).
ECON10004 FAQ
Is ECON10004 hard?
Conceptually approachable but mark-dense: most questions reward applying a model to a diagram or a calculation, so the difficulty is precision under exam time. The final exam is 50% and a hurdle, so the stakes are concentrated on one paper.
How is ECON10004 assessed?
The final exam is 50% and a hurdle — you must pass it to pass the subject. The remaining ~50% is continuous assessment across tutorials, assignments and online quizzes; confirm this year's exact split in your subject guide.
What is on the ECON10004 final exam?
Supply & demand, elasticity, consumer and producer surplus, the tax / price-control / deadweight-loss chain, perfect competition vs monopoly, externalities, and basic game theory. The tax-and-deadweight-loss diagram is a signature question worth several marks.
Do I need calculus for ECON10004?
No. Introductory Microeconomics is graphical and algebraic. Calculus appears in intermediate microeconomics, not here.
Is using AskSia for ECON10004 cheating?
No. AskSia is a study reference written in our own words — we host none of your lecturer's files, and Sia teaches you the method to earn the marks; it does not complete or sit your assessments.
How to study for the exam
Treat the tax / price-control / deadweight-loss chain and competition vs monopoly as the signature exam chains — they recur and they carry diagram marks. For every model, practise drawing the diagram from a blank axis and labelling the exact areas examiners reward (surplus triangles, the tax wedge, the DWL triangle). Because the final is a 50% hurdle, banked diagram marks are the safest marks in the subject.
