Quizzes -

Here are the things people are most getting mixed up on during the quizzes (wow, what a great sentence):

1. The Laws of Supply & Demand - you MUST put price first. It's a word explanation of the slope of the supply or demand curve. You cannot put a change in demand/supply first, because then it's not true. So - Law of Demand states that as price rises, QD decreases (as price goes up, people buy less) - and vice versa. Law of Supply states that as price rises, QS increases (as price goes up, suppliers want to supply more). It is incorrect to state that as supply increases, price increases = that's not the law of supply, and it's not true. When supply increases, it causes the equilibrium price to decrease (when the curve shifts along the demand curve). However you need to learn this...do so. Stare at this. Go back and look at the animated file in previous postings. Staple a sheet of paper to your head. Tattoo it on your neck. Whatever. You must know this. I promise - if you state something other than "people buy more when price is low" on the national exam, it will be wrong. Same with confusing QD and D/QS and S.

2. Determinants of S or D. Know these.

That's really what's hurting most people. I'm getting a good grasp of who's understanding, who's mostly understanding, and who's lost. There are 2 in 4/5 and 4 in 7/8 that are lost. You have choices - make the correct economic decision for you: study more, see me so we can get you on track, or drop to regular. Seriously...this is easy stuff compared to what we're going to be getting in to. I will do all I can for students who are willing to work at it...if you sit there and don't study, I have no time to do it for you.

What a terrible way to end a post. The good thing is that there's no extra homework this weekend - look at it, see what you can do, if you're confused, stop and we'll be going over elasticity on Monday. Blogs: you should have a post on yours with analysis (shouldn't be tough to find a S & D article that is analysis-worthy), plus two comments - here or on someone else's blog. I will be grading this weekend. Promise.

KM