The JC1 promotional exams are about a month away. This week ETG's JC1 students sit Mock Promo 1, the first of four: two more run in the September holiday week of 7 September, the fourth in the week of 21 September, and then the real paper. I mapped the four papers against the 59 Microeconomics concepts in the JC1 syllabus. Across 160 question slots, 45 of the 59 concepts (76 per cent) are tested at least once, 33 appear in two or more different papers, 18 in three or more, and 14 appear in all four. Fourteen concepts are not covered by any paper, and they are listed below as a self-revision checklist. Sit the papers. Then take the corrections more seriously than the papers.
August in JC1 goes like this. Orientation, then CCA trials, then a new set of friends, then a timetable that fills every block you thought you had spare. Then the year turns and the promotional examinations are about four weeks away.
I have taught JC1 classes through nineteen of these Augusts. The term does not leave much room. Lessons arrive every week, tutorials arrive every week, and the pile of things to go back to keeps growing. Then the promo paper asks you to write for two hours, under time, on concepts you have mostly only read.
Four things a JC1 usually cannot do yet
In the last week of August my JC1 students have usually not finished mastering the content. Four skills are also still missing:
- The knack of case study questions.
- Reading a case, working out what the extracts are for, and answering the question in front of you rather than the one you revised for.
- Writing an essay with economic rigour.
- Definitions that do work, a diagram that is referred to rather than decorated, and analysis that moves in steps.
- Knowing what an evaluative comment has to do.
- A judgement, with a reason drawn from the economics already in the answer.
- Dissecting a question.
- Splitting the command word from the context from the scope, before a single word of the answer is written.
Four weeks is short. Content you never learnt takes longer than that to fix. Technique moves faster, so the plan for our JC1s is four full papers before the real one.
This week: Mock Promo 1 of 4
This week ETG's JC1 students sit Mock Promotional Examination 1. Each mock is a three hour session built around a full two hour paper, and every paper a student sits is marked and graded. Then the schedule tightens:
Four papers in four weeks is a lot to ask in a term that is already full. Without them, the first full Economics paper a JC1 writes under time is the promo itself.
How the four papers were mapped
I built the coverage map before I set the questions. Every concept in the JC1 Microeconomics syllabus went into a spreadsheet, and every question slot in the four papers was assigned to one of them.
The JC1 Microeconomics syllabus, broken into the concepts a student is actually assessed on, comes to 59 concepts across four topics: Scarcity as a Central Economic Problem (8), Price Mechanism and its Applications (11), Firms and Decisions (21), and Market Failure (19). The four papers between them carry 160 question slots: 33 in Mock 1, 33 in Mock 2, 47 in Mock 3, and 47 in Mock 4. Every slot was assigned to a concept.
I wanted the same concepts to come back. Of the 59 concepts, 33 appear in two or more different papers, 18 appear in three or more, and 14 appear in all four. A student who sits every paper meets those 14 four times, in four different question forms, on four different days.
A concept in these papers is usually either in all four or in none. The fourteen at the left-hand end are the ones you have to cover on your own.
Ten of those fourteen come from Market Failure. Three come from the price mechanism, including taking an event described in a case and turning it into a diagram and an argument. That one earns marks right across the paper.
Coverage by topic is uneven.
Firms and Decisions is the largest topic on the list at 21 concepts, and the least covered at 13 of 21. I gave market failure more room because it takes more room in the questions, and because it is where JC1 analysis most often falls apart in my marking.
The whole map is below, all 59 concepts against all four papers, one topic at a time.
What the four papers deliberately leave out
The four papers do not cover the whole syllabus. Fourteen of the 59 concepts appear in none of them.
The fourteen are below. Print them, or copy them into the front of your revision book, and work through them on your own before the promos.
- Scarcity as a Central Economic Problem
- Positive versus normative economics.
- Price Mechanism and its Applications
- Market disequilibrium: shortage and surplus. YED. Quotas.
- Firms and Decisions
- Short run versus long run. External economies of scale. Internal diseconomies of scale. External diseconomies of scale. Perfect competition. Product differentiation. Growth, diversification and marketing. Cognitive biases: sunk cost fallacy, salience bias, loss aversion.
- Market Failure
- Allocative efficiency and deadweight loss. Factor immobility.
Eight of the fourteen sit inside Firms and Decisions. That is your own revision list for the next four weeks, whether or not you study with us.
Drill the fourteen spine concepts until they are automatic, because all four papers will keep asking for them. Revise the fourteen missing ones on your own, because no paper here will make you.
The corrections are where the improvement is
A paper only helps once it has been marked and corrected. Every year a handful of students sit all four mocks, collect all four scripts, read the mark at the top, and file them. Their fourth paper looks like their first.
Take the corrections more seriously than the papers. In practice:
- Do it within 48 hours
- While you still remember what you were thinking when you wrote the wrong thing. After a week you will not remember why you wrote what you wrote.
- Rewrite one answer in full
- Pick the answer that lost the most marks and write it again from a blank page, with the diagram.
- Separate the two kinds of error
- Content you did not know goes on a revision list. Technique you did not apply goes on a technique list. They need completely different fixes, and students who treat every lost mark as a content gap keep re-reading notes when the problem was structure.
- Keep the corrections in one place
- So that by the fourth paper you are revising from your own mistakes rather than from a textbook. The four exercise book system is how I ask students to organise it.
- Check your evaluation separately
- It is the single most common place JC1 students leave marks, and it is trainable. I have written the method out in full in how to write evaluation in economics.
For case study technique specifically, the method I teach is DATE, and it is worth reading before Mock 2 rather than after Mock 4.
Two ways in, if you are not with us
If you are already an ETG JC1 student, none of this needs a decision from you. Turn up, sit the papers, do the corrections.
If you are not, work out first how much time you actually have between now and the promos, including the September holidays. That answer picks the programme for you.
1. Expedite, if Economics needs the most work and you can give it real time
Expedite is our JC1 promo revision programme, and it is the right answer for the student whose Economics is furthest behind and who is willing to spend the September holidays on it. It runs at $2,480 at the price valid until 31 August 2026, as one fee with no add-ons.
Inside it: 26 recorded lessons covering every JC1 lesson we have conducted since January 2026, open from the day you join, so a late start does not mean missed content. The weekly live classes from July through September, onsite or on Zoom. A weekly graded homework cycle, an essay set or a case study set most weeks, marked and returned with a worked solution and a video walkthrough. The four graded mock promo papers above. Consultations at no extra charge. And after the promos, a free 16 lesson Headstart programme that carries you into JC2 Macroeconomics. The full breakdown is on the Expedite page.
2. The September Intensive J1 pack plus the Mock Promo upgrade, if the time is not there
Some students need help and simply cannot give it that much time. Other subjects are also sitting promos. For them the September Intensive is the compressed version: three teaching days in the September holidays instead of a term-long programme.
The J1 pack is $600 at the early-bird rate until 31 August 2026. It gives you three Study Sprint lessons on 7 September covering the Micro topics tested at promos, then the two Level 2 Bootcamps on 9 and 10 September, where I personally take you through 12 Micro essays and 8 Micro case studies. That is 20 exam questions worked through in two days, and for many JC1 students it is more than they have attempted on their own all year.
Add the four graded Mock Promotional Examinations for $440 on top, which brings the full promo rehearsal to $1,040 all in: the same four papers, sat, marked and graded. If you are reading this after Mock Promo 1 has already run, you lose nothing. Register, sit the paper in your own time, send the completed paper to our admin team on WhatsApp or through the LMS, and we still mark it, and you get the recorded lessons plus the full analysis of that paper. The details are on the September Intensive page.
| Expedite | Sept Intensive J1 + Mock Promos | |
|---|---|---|
| Suits | Economics needs the most work, and you can give it real time including the September holidays | You need help but cannot give it that much time |
| Teaching | 26 recorded lessons covering every JC1 lesson since January 2026, plus weekly live classes July to September | Three teaching days in the September holidays: 7, 9 and 10 September |
| Written practice | A weekly graded homework cycle, marked with a worked solution and video walkthrough | 12 Micro essays and 8 Micro case studies, both bootcamp days taught by me personally |
| Mock promos | All four, graded, included | All four, graded, as the $440 upgrade |
| After promos | Free 16 lesson Headstart into JC2 Macroeconomics | $100 Headstart voucher for JC1 students new to ETG on the full pack |
| Fee | $2,480, price valid until 31 August 2026 | $600 early bird until 31 August 2026, or $1,040 all in with the four mock promos |
Fees as published on the Expedite and September Intensive pages, August 2026. Confirm anything that matters with our admin team.
Whichever you pick, the work on your side is the same. Sit the papers. Do the corrections.
- The schedule: Mock Promo 1 this week, Mocks 2 and 3 in the holiday week of 7 September, Mock 4 in the week of 21 September, then the real promos.
- The map: 59 JC1 Micro concepts, 160 question slots, 45 concepts tested at least once, 33 in two or more papers, 18 in three or more, 14 in all four.
- The spine: the 14 concepts in every paper are led by market failure and by turning a described event into a diagram and an argument. Drill those until they are automatic.
- The gap: 14 concepts appear in no paper, 8 of them inside Firms and Decisions. That list is your own revision priority.
- The corrections matter more than the papers. Within 48 hours, rewrite one answer in full, and separate content errors from technique errors.
Want this on paper? Grab the free 112 page Summary and Diagrams pack.
Frequently asked
When are the ETG JC1 Mock Promotional Examinations in 2026?
There are four. Mock Promo 1 runs in the week of 24 August 2026. Mock Promos 2 and 3 both run in the week of 7 September 2026, the school holiday week, so students sit two papers that week. Mock Promo 4 runs in the week of 21 September 2026, the final rehearsal before the school promotional exams. Each one is a three hour session built around a full two hour paper, and every paper sat is marked and graded. Exact dates and timings are confirmed by our admin team on registration.
How many JC1 Microeconomics concepts do the four mock papers cover?
The JC1 Microeconomics syllabus was broken into 59 assessable concepts across four topics: Scarcity as a Central Economic Problem (8 concepts), Price Mechanism and its Applications (11), Firms and Decisions (21) and Market Failure (19). The four papers carry 160 question slots between them, 33 in Mock 1, 33 in Mock 2, 47 in Mock 3 and 47 in Mock 4. Of the 59 concepts, 45 are tested at least once, which is 76 per cent. 33 appear in two or more different papers, 18 appear in three or more, and 14 appear in all four. By topic, coverage is 17 of 19 for Market Failure, 7 of 8 for Scarcity, 8 of 11 for Price Mechanism and 13 of 21 for Firms and Decisions.
Which JC1 concepts do the mock papers not cover?
Fourteen of the 59. They are: positive versus normative economics; market disequilibrium (shortage and surplus); YED; quotas; short run versus long run; external economies of scale; internal diseconomies of scale; external diseconomies of scale; perfect competition; product differentiation; growth, diversification and marketing; cognitive biases such as the sunk cost fallacy, salience bias and loss aversion; allocative efficiency and deadweight loss; and factor immobility. Eight of the fourteen sit inside the Firms and Decisions topic. The papers concentrate repetition on the most heavily tested concepts, and that concentration costs coverage elsewhere, so students should treat this list as their own self-revision checklist before promos.
I have already missed Mock Promo 1. Is it too late to join?
No. If Mock Promo 1 has already run when you register for the September Intensive J1 pack with the Mock Promo upgrade, you sit the paper in your own time and submit the completed paper to our admin team, on WhatsApp or through the LMS, and we still mark it. You also receive the recorded video lessons and the full analysis of that exam, so you cover the same ground.
Should a JC1 student take Expedite or the September Intensive?
It comes down to how much time you have. Expedite, at $2,480 for the price valid until 31 August 2026, suits the student whose Economics needs the most work and who can give it real time, including the September holidays: it includes 26 recorded lessons covering every JC1 lesson conducted since January 2026, the weekly live classes from July to September, a weekly graded homework cycle, the four graded mock promo papers, and a free 16 lesson Headstart programme into JC2 after the promos. The September Intensive J1 pack, at $600 early bird until 31 August 2026, suits the student who needs help but cannot give it that much time: three teaching days in the September holidays, with 12 Micro essays and 8 Micro case studies covered at the two bootcamp days, which I teach myself. Adding the four graded mock promos costs $440 more, for $1,040 all in.
Can a JC1 student really improve in the month before promos?
Honestly, it is hard, and it depends on what is missing. Content that was never learnt takes time to learn. Technique moves faster: question dissection, essay structure and evaluation are trainable skills, and a student who writes four full papers under time and corrects each one properly usually writes a noticeably better paper by the fourth than by the first. What does not work is reading notes and hoping. The improvement comes from writing under time, being marked honestly, and then acting on the marking.
U to E in one month
"Mr Toh helped me go from U to E in just one month, and since then the grades have just been going up."Daniel Heng
Get ahead by promos.
The complete JC1 promo revision system, taught by Mr Toh, so you reach promos already on top of the content rather than chasing it.
The JC1 promo revision system
- Complete JC1 content revision
- Built for the promos
- Taught by Mr Toh