Zachary Wong

Why do people eat till they are miserable at a buffet?

Why do neighbourhoods with high crime rates often have broken windows?

Why do high-end restaurants charge US$20 for a bottle of water?

These are not trivial questions but are questions of economics and business in our everyday lives.

If you tell a 16/17-year-old to "do well" in IB when our world today is filled with distractions. It is mission impossible. The task at hand is too big, and the persuasion is too weak.

Since 2015, I have coached over 100 students to achieve their desired grade in IB Economics / Business SL / HL.

Amongst these 100 students, 40% are level 6/7 students looking to reach the perfect 45. They already know the content but is just missing the secret sauce to get a solid 7. My strategy is simple. Find the knowledge gap, double down on the deficient skill & knowledge and grind in accordance with a checklist. And of course, perfect the IAs.

My result? All but 1 student obtained a level 7 in the end.

The other 60% of students fall into 2 categories: a) they don't yet have the interest/motivation to get good at economics/business, and b) they are motivated but lack the method and tools to get there.

The past 10 years have taught me one thing – knowledge and exam skills are learnable, but first they need to be motivated.

Going back to the examples I raised earlier, these are some of my students' favourite class introductions that easily branch out to discussions on behavioural economics, prisoner's dilemma and market segmentations.

What if they are not interested in these topics?

Gaming? Most online games today have a massive in-game economy that itself is a masterclass in scarcity and pay-to-play as a business strategy.

Interested in luxury brands? We can discuss how LVMH's premiumisation strategy differs from Richemont's and how “aspirational luxury” drives middle-class purchases today.

Interested in becoming an influencer? We can talk about the impact of YouTube on the movie industry and how influencers like IShowSpeed, MrBeast and Kai Cenat found riches in today’s raging creator economy.

The syllabus is static, but learning should be dynamic.
Class effort is only 50% of the success; the other half comes from regular communication with you, the parents.

Each year, I take in a limited number of students under my wing to ride this 2-year journey together. If you are interested in bringing this conversation to the next level, please do not hesitate to contact me.

• IBDP Economics HL | Yew Chung International School Class of 2025 | From Level 3 to Level 7 in 5 months | HKU IBGM
• IBDP Economics HL | Shatin College Class of 2025 | From Level 5 to Level 7 in 2 months | King's College London Economics
• IBDP Extended Essay (EE) in Economics | Creative Secondary School | Grade: A
• IGCSE Economics + Business Studies | Yew Chung International School 2025 | From D to A
• IBDP Economics HL + IBDP Business & Management HL | PLK Choi Kai Yau School Class of 2024 | From Level 5 to Level 7 | HKU (M.B.B.S)
• IGCSE Economics + Business Studies | PLK Choi Kai Yau School 2024 | From C to A*
• IGCSE Economics | Yew Chung International School 2024 | From C to A
• IBDP Extended Essay (EE) in Business & Management | Yew Chung International School | Grade: A
• A-Level Economics | Queen EthelBurga's Collegiate Class of 2023 | From B to A* | LSE (PPE)