Hi there,

I have just finished my first year of commerce and have a few questions for those of you who have done stage two papers:

1) On average, how much harder are stage two papers compared with stage one papers. ie. If I got mostly A- and B+ grades at stage one would I expect to get similar grades at stage two with a similar amount of effort? While on the topic, do stage two papers still have plussage?

2) How much maths is there in Microeconomics 201 and Macroeconomics 211? I only got a B- in Maths 108 so is this likely to affect my eco marks or are they more focused on the theory and essays than maths.

3) Finally, I was looking at Economics 232 "Development of the International Economy" which I noticed someone mentioned was very interesting in another thread. How difficult is it compared with other stage two papers?

The reason I ask these questions is because I only just missed out on getting into law Part II this year so I want to make sure I haven't selected anything that is going to pull my GPA down for when I re-apply in 2007 (ie. a bit of strategy like most people used while I blindly followed what the book suggested this year).

Thanks. :)

Dude im in the same boat, but Im going to finish my commerce degree instead. Then do law

Youll be fine, stage 2 is relatively the same except with more workload and less lecture time. No most stage two papers dont have plussage.

Sounds like a paper Hannah (Hannoir) would do/has done. Pity she is away right now and cannot comment on this.

If you want piss easy papers to bring your gpa up see the "easy papers" thread, its in this subforum you just have to search a bit

I may be doing 232 dude, yeah hannoir reccommended me an econ paper but I can't remember which one, and that may well have been it.

Other than that, I don't think I have done any stage 2 econ papers yet... I've done second year micro, but shit I can't even remember if that was here or in Otago!

Hey if there are three of us in the forums doing some second year commerce we should try and get into some of the same classes. I may also be doing second year macro.

Thank you for your responses everyone. It sounds like 201 and 211 will be ok, but I am still interested to hear from anyone that has done 232. :)

Thanks, I actually saw that thread yesterday and have been reading through it.

Thanks again everyone. :)

232. this is a wicked paper. the lecturer really makes you think about the issues he talks about, and its easy, when you have done a few topics you can really see everything linking togather. he focuses on relevant (ie current) topics so you actually know something useful! i found it easier than 241 but then im a very thinking wordsy type of person and this course is entirely based on essay writing and interaction. also you get to see interesting videos in the tutorial.

take it, or cry.

That sounds good, thanks Hannoir. I actually just noticed that it says in a different part of the university calendar (the back bit with the course descriptions rather the the outline for each major) that you also have to do 221 "Introduction to Econometrics" so I might do that instead if it isn't too hard to get a B+ in or higher. Has anyone had any experience in that paper?

you dont need that prereq for it - ive never done econometrics before.

Thanks, I actually emailed them and they agreed that it was a bit difficult to understand in the uni calendar. You apparently only need it if you are going to do post grad stuff. :)