How to practise macroeconomics viva questions
A macroeconomics viva tests whether you can explain a model, apply it to a situation, and discuss what the model leaves out. Memorising definitions helps, but it is not enough: you need to connect causes, mechanisms, outcomes and policy choices in a clear chain of reasoning.
There is no single international format for a macroeconomics viva. Your department, course and examiner determine the actual scope and assessment criteria, so check your course handbook and ask your tutor what to expect. The stations below are practice prompts, not claims about a particular institution's exam.
For each prompt, try this sequence:
- Clarify the question. Define the key term or state the economic problem you are addressing.
- Set out the mechanism. Explain the causal chain, using a relevant model where it helps.
- Apply it. Connect the model to the facts in the prompt. State any assumptions you need.
- Evaluate. Identify a trade-off, limitation, time horizon or alternative explanation.
- Conclude. Give a direct answer, with appropriate qualifications.
Practise aloud, not just in writing. Aim to make your reasoning easy to follow; if you need a moment, state the structure you will use rather than filling the silence with disconnected facts. The examiner persona shown here uses a coaching lens—model-based reasoning and evidence with caveats—not a universal university marking scheme.
The MySummaries examiner strip for this practice set looks like this:
Build a set of stations from your course material
A good practice set covers the concepts you have studied without pretending that every course covers them in the same depth. Start with your lecture notes, readings and problem sets. Turn each major topic into a prompt that asks you to explain or evaluate something, not merely define it.
For example, a station can begin with a changing inflation rate, a rise in unemployment, or a currency depreciation. Those situations let you practise linking a shock to a model, then considering the implications for policy. Keep a note of the assumptions you rely on: whether prices are sticky, how expectations form, whether the exchange rate floats, and which time horizon you mean can all change your answer.
The MySummaries station table gives this practice set a range of starting points. Attempts and scores are practice history, not exam predictions.
Station 1: Inflation after an energy-price shock
This station tests whether you distinguish a supply-side shock from excess demand and avoid giving an automatic policy answer. The important move is to explain the inflation-output trade-off before recommending a response.
The MySummaries recorded practice below includes a candidate answer, platform feedback and a model response. Its criteria describe this practice assessment only; they are not the criteria of any specific university.
Examiner
Inflation has risen after a sharp increase in imported energy costs. Explain the likely macroeconomic effects and discuss how monetary policy should respond.
You identify higher input costs as an adverse supply shock and connect them to firms' prices and real output.
ImproveMake the short-run aggregate supply shift explicit and distinguish the initial price-level effect from continuing inflation.
You mention wage demands, but the route from expectations to persistent inflation is compressed.
ImproveExplain how expected inflation can influence wage and price setting, while noting that this depends on expectations and bargaining behaviour.
You recognise that raising rates can reduce demand but does not reverse the original energy-price increase.
ImproveState the cost of tightening: weaker demand and employment in the short run, weighed against limiting broader or persistent inflation.
Your conclusion is sensible but does not specify what evidence would change the response.
ImproveName indicators such as inflation expectations, wage growth and demand pressure, and avoid implying that one response fits every economy.
A strong answerAn imported energy-price rise is an adverse supply shock: it raises firms' costs and can shift short-run aggregate supply left, increasing the price level while reducing output in the short run. Monetary tightening cannot produce more energy or undo that initial cost increase. It can, however, restrain aggregate demand and help prevent the shock feeding into persistent wage and price rises if expectations become less anchored. The trade-off is weaker output and employment, so the scale and pace of tightening depend on evidence about expectations, wage setting and demand. I would distinguish the first-round relative-price change from continuing broad inflation before recommending a response.
That is a MySummaries station, filled with macroeconomics material. Yours is written from your own notes. Start free
Notice how the answer separates the original shock from the policy response. “Raise rates to reduce inflation” is incomplete unless you explain the transmission mechanism and the cost. Equally, saying that monetary policy cannot fix an energy shock does not mean it has no role: it may affect demand and the persistence of inflation.
Station 2: Unemployment in a downturn
This station tests your ability to classify unemployment without treating the categories as perfectly observable. Then it asks you to compare policies, rather than naming one intervention as a universal solution.
The MySummaries practice record shows one candidate answer with credit for distinguishing cyclical and structural causes, but room to develop the policy comparison.
Examiner
Output has fallen and unemployment is rising. How would you distinguish cyclical unemployment from structural unemployment, and what policies might help?
You link cyclical unemployment to weak aggregate demand and structural unemployment to mismatches between workers and vacancies.
ImproveExplain that observed unemployment can reflect several causes at once, not a clean split into separate groups.
You refer to output and vacancy conditions but do not say how those observations help distinguish mechanisms.
ImproveUse indicators such as output relative to potential, vacancies, duration of unemployment and sectoral patterns, while noting that none is decisive alone.
You connect demand support with cyclical weakness and training with some structural mismatches.
ImproveDiscuss timing and targeting: training may take time, while broad demand support may be less effective where the main issue is a skills mismatch.
You note that policy effects differ, but leave the listener without a clear conditional conclusion.
ImproveState what combination you would favour if the downturn is mainly cyclical, and what evidence would shift emphasis towards labour-market measures.
A strong answerCyclical unemployment rises when weak aggregate demand reduces firms' sales and labour demand. Structural unemployment can arise when workers' skills or locations do not match available jobs, or when institutions and adjustment costs slow matching. In a downturn, both can be present, so I would examine output and vacancies alongside unemployment duration and sectoral patterns rather than infer the cause from the unemployment rate alone. If demand is the main problem, fiscal or monetary support may help restore activity, subject to the economic context. Where mismatches are persistent, targeted training, job-search support or mobility measures may help, but usually take time and need to fit actual vacancies.
In a viva, avoid using “structural” to mean simply “long-lasting”. A downturn can leave lasting effects, and a short spell of unemployment can still involve a mismatch. Explain the mechanism you mean, then say what evidence would support it.
Station 3: Currency depreciation
This station tests whether you can trace several channels and explain why the net effect is not automatic. Be clear about the exchange-rate regime in the prompt: a floating currency can move in response to market forces, while the policy constraints differ under other arrangements.
The MySummaries recorded answer below earns credit for following the import-price and export-demand channels, but should be more careful about timing and the trade balance.
Examiner
A country's currency depreciates under a floating exchange-rate regime. Explain the channels through which this could affect output and inflation.
You explain that imported goods and inputs can become more expensive in domestic currency.
ImproveDistinguish the direct effect on import prices from the extent to which firms pass costs through to consumer prices.
You identify a possible rise in net exports but treat it as too immediate.
ImproveDiscuss foreign and domestic demand, import content, and the time needed for quantities to adjust.
You briefly mention foreign-currency debt but do not connect it to spending or financial stability.
ImproveExplain that depreciation raises the domestic-currency burden of unhedged foreign-currency liabilities, where those liabilities are significant.
You conclude that output may rise, but do not balance that against imported inflation or other constraints.
ImproveGive a conditional answer based on demand elasticities, supply capacity, pass-through and exposure to foreign-currency debt.
A strong answerDepreciation makes imports more expensive in domestic currency, so it can raise import costs and consumer prices, depending on pass-through. It may also make domestic goods more competitive abroad and imports less attractive at home, supporting net exports and output if demand responds and firms can expand supply. The timing matters: quantities may adjust slowly, and imported inputs can make exports more costly to produce. A country with substantial unhedged foreign-currency debt may also see the domestic value of its liabilities rise. The net effect on output and inflation therefore depends on trade elasticities, capacity, pass-through and balance-sheet exposure.
A frequent weak answer says, “Depreciation increases exports, so GDP rises.” That skips the conditions. Ask whether export and import quantities respond, whether production can expand, and whether imported inputs or foreign-currency liabilities create offsetting costs. A balanced answer can still reach a clear conclusion; it simply makes the conclusion conditional on the relevant evidence.
Review the answer, not just the score
A percentage is most useful when it points to a repairable gap. After each practice station, listen back to the recording or review a transcript. Mark only the phrases that lost credit: a vague mechanism, an unsupported claim, or a missing qualification. Then practise saying the repaired sentence aloud.
For example, “depreciation boosts exports” is too broad on its own. A stronger version is: “Depreciation may raise net exports if foreign and domestic demand respond to relative prices, and if firms can meet the resulting demand; the effect may be delayed and can be offset by costlier imported inputs.” The second version names the conditions and the counter-channel.
Use a short review cycle after each attempt:
- Identify one missing link. For example, connect interest rates to aggregate demand before discussing output.
- Add one relevant qualification. State the time horizon, assumption or countervailing effect.
- Give the answer again. Keep the repaired answer concise enough to deliver naturally.
- Retest later. Return to the same question after practising a different topic, rather than relying on immediate familiarity.
A transcript view can help distinguish a knowledge gap from an answer that was simply too compressed. The MySummaries wording review below highlights one phrase that needs more detail; the other transcript parts are shown without marks because they were not identified as lost credit.
A depreciation makes imports more expensive in domestic currency, so consumer prices may rise. It can also help exports. Firms may use imported components, and the effect on trade volumes can take time. So the effect on output depends on how strongly quantities respond and whether firms can expand production.
It can also help exports.
This names a possible channel but skips the condition linking a lower relative price to export volumes and output.
Say: Say that exports may rise if foreign demand responds to the price change and domestic firms have capacity to meet it; imported inputs can offset some of the gain.A spoken debrief can make the next practice step specific. Here, the examiner voice points to a useful qualification rather than asking you to memorise a longer script.
You traced the import-price channel clearly; now qualify the export effect by naming demand and capacity.
How MySummaries helps
MySummaries lets you build a revision board from your own macroeconomics notes, then practise oral questions based on that material. You can record an answer, review feedback and use the transcript to find a specific gap to repair. Start with your course's topics and criteria, then use MySummaries to turn them into a repeatable viva-practice routine.