A data response question, worked through

The extract below is practice material I wrote in the style of the exam. It is not a Cambridge past paper, and the country and figures are invented so that you can practise the method without hunting for a paper. Use it to see where the marks come from, then do the same thing on a real past paper.

Where this fits

At AS Level, Paper 2 Section A is one compulsory data response question worth 20 marks, with about six parts. At A Level, Paper 4 Section A is also 20 marks, with four parts. In both cases the source material can be written text, numbers, diagrams or a mix, and you are expected to use it.

Two hours for 60 marks works out at about two minutes a mark, so Section A deserves around 40 minutes.

The extract

Coffee in Marisol. Marisol is a middle income country that grows and exports coffee. In 2025 poor weather cut the harvest by 18 per cent. The average export price of Marisol coffee rose from 3.20 dollars per kilo to 4.40 dollars per kilo over the same year. Coffee exports make up about 22 per cent of the country's export earnings. The government pays a subsidy to coffee growers of 0.30 dollars per kilo. In 2025 the current account deficit widened from 2.1 per cent of GDP to 3.4 per cent of GDP, and the consumer price index rose by 7.8 per cent, against 4.1 per cent the year before.

Part (a): define a subsidy [2 marks]

Model answer: a subsidy is a payment made by the government to a producer, which lowers the cost of producing each unit and encourages a greater quantity to be supplied.

Where the marks are: one for payment from the government to the producer, one for the effect on cost or supply. Two lines is plenty. Do not spend five minutes here.

Part (b): calculate the percentage change in the export price [2 marks]

Model answer: the price rose by 1.20 dollars, from 3.20 dollars. 1.20 divided by 3.20 equals 0.375, so the rise is 37.5 per cent.

Where the marks are: one for the method, one for the answer. Always write the division out. If you mistype a number in the calculator you can still take the method mark.

Part (c): explain, using a diagram, why the price of Marisol coffee rose [4 marks]

Model answer: poor weather reduced the harvest, so less coffee could be offered for sale at every price. The supply curve shifts left, from S1 to S2. Demand is unchanged, so the market moves up along the demand curve to a new equilibrium. As the diagram shows, the equilibrium price rises from P1 to P2 and the equilibrium quantity falls from Q1 to Q2. Since coffee has few close substitutes in the short run, demand is fairly price inelastic, which is why an 18 per cent fall in the harvest produced a price rise as large as 37.5 per cent.

Where the marks are: the diagram with both axes and both supply curves labelled, the shift named and explained, the effect on price and quantity, and the use of the data. The elasticity sentence is what separates a full answer from an average one.

Part (d): analyse the effect of the higher coffee price on Marisol's current account [6 marks]

Model answer: export earnings are price times quantity. The price rose 37.5 per cent while the harvest fell 18 per cent, so earnings from each kilo sold rose by more than the fall in volume, and total export earnings are likely to have risen. That alone would narrow the current account deficit.

The extract shows the deficit widened instead, from 2.1 per cent to 3.4 per cent of GDP. So something else must be at work. Coffee is only 22 per cent of export earnings, so the other 78 per cent could have fallen. The country also has to import, and with inflation at 7.8 per cent the cost of imports may have risen. A wider deficit is therefore possible even when one export does well.

Where the marks are: the analysis has to run in steps, and it has to use the figures. Notice that the answer does not ignore the awkward number in the extract. Explaining why the data goes the other way is exactly what a 6-mark analysis question rewards.

Part (e): discuss whether the government should raise the coffee subsidy [6 marks]

Model answer: raising the subsidy lowers the cost per kilo for growers, shifts supply right and encourages more planting, which could rebuild the harvest and protect export earnings. It also supports the incomes of farming households, and coffee is a large enough share of exports for this to matter to the whole economy.

Against that, a subsidy has to be paid for, and the government is already running a current account deficit alongside 7.8 per cent inflation. Spending more adds to demand in an economy where prices are already rising quickly. A subsidy also takes time to work, because coffee trees do not produce in the first season, so it does nothing about this year's harvest. And it encourages the country to stay dependent on a single crop, which is what made it vulnerable to the weather in the first place.

Overall, a higher subsidy is more likely to help if it is temporary and paid for by cutting spending elsewhere. If the real problem is that 22 per cent of export earnings depend on the weather, then spending the same money on diversifying the economy would do more in the long run.

Where the marks are: two sides, both explained rather than listed, and a judgement that says what the answer depends on. The last paragraph is doing the evaluation work.

How to practise this

Take a real past paper, cover the mark scheme and do Section A to time. Then mark it against the mark scheme yourself and write down, for each part, whether you lost the mark for knowledge, for analysis or for evaluation. After three papers a pattern shows up, and that pattern tells you what to practise next.