CAIE 9708 · A Level Economics

Different market structures

Follow five connected paths through the market garden. Learn each structure on its own, then compare how firms behave and perform.

Choose a market View the syllabus map
  • 5market paths
  • 7.6.1–7.6.5syllabus coverage
  • Paper 4exam focus
Economics and market systems books topped by a growing plant
Build the roots first. Comparisons become easier afterwards.

Your route through 7.6

Learn one structure. Compare across the unit.

Every path will use the same Study Room rhythm, so students always know what to do next.

  1. 1
    Understand

    Use short interactive notes and diagrams to build the model.

  2. 2
    Apply

    Download the worksheet and complete it away from the screen.

  3. 3
    Check

    Watch worked explanations, then use the suggested-answer guide.

The market garden

Choose a learning path

Perfect competition and monopoly are now available. Each path uses the same notes, interaction, worksheet and answer-support structure.

01 Available

The benchmark bed

Perfect competition

Build the benchmark for price-taking firms, revenue curves, short-run and long-run outcomes, shutdown and the firm's supply curve.

  • Price taker
  • AR = MR
  • Efficiency
Open notes and practice
02 Available

The first deep-dive

Monopoly

Examine market power, barriers, revenue and profit, efficiency, X-inefficiency, contestability and comparisons with competing structures.

  • Market power
  • Barriers
  • Performance
Open notes and practice
03 Planned

The differentiated border

Monopolistic competition

Connect product differentiation and freedom of entry to a downward-sloping demand curve, non-price competition and long-run normal profit.

  • Many firms
  • Differentiation
  • Entry
Available after the prototype
04 Planned

The interdependent grove

Oligopoly

Explore interdependence, price and non-price competition, collusion, the Prisoner's Dilemma and concentration ratios.

  • Few firms
  • Interdependence
  • Collusion
Available after the prototype
05 Inside Monopoly

One network, one path

Natural monopoly

Understand why substantial economies of scale may make one supplier the lowest-cost way to serve an entire market.

  • Falling AC
  • Infrastructure
  • Scale
Open natural monopoly chapter

Strictly within the syllabus

What Unit 7.6 covers

This map keeps the learning pages, worksheets and answer support aligned to the Cambridge syllabus.

7.6.1

Market structures

Perfect competition and imperfect competition: monopoly, monopolistic competition, oligopoly and natural monopoly.

7.6.2

Structure of markets

Number of buyers and sellers, product differentiation, freedom of entry and availability of information.

7.6.3

Barriers to entry and exit

Legal, market, cost and physical barriers—and how each one limits competition.

7.6.4

Performance of firms

Revenue, output, profit, shutdown, supply, efficiency, contestability, competition, collusion and the Prisoner's Dilemma.

7.6.5

Concentration ratios

Define, calculate and interpret concentration ratios as evidence about market structure.

Already ready to use

Practise while the learning paths grow

Students can use the existing Unit 7.6 Paper 4 question bank or open the Study Room without waiting for every notes page to be completed.

Past-paper practice Open topical questions Real Paper 4 questions → Guided session Enter the Study Room Choose a focus and timer →
An open study book with a leaf and pen

A note from Orion

Do not memorise five isolated diagrams.

Start with the assumptions behind each structure. Then use those assumptions to explain the revenue curves, profit, output and efficiency outcomes.

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