Economics

A Level Economics

About A Level Economics

Entry requirements: No specific requirements beyond the standard entry requirements. It is a direct entry A Level and no previous experience is required. However, as a social science, the subject does require confidence in both extended written tasks and numerical and mathematical work. It is recommended the students should have a grade 6 at GCSE Mathematics.

Course Content:

How do rational consumers make their decisions in the market place? We live in a world of scarce resources, yet we have infinite wants and desires – so how do we choose which of us gets what?

Why does a Premiership footballer get tens of millions for kicking a ball while a fire-fighter earns £20,000 for saving lives in burning buildings?

Somehow, we must decide how, for what, and for whom these resources will be used. This is the economic problem, without which the field of economics would not exist. When economists begin philosophizing about a world without scarcity, they cease to be economists and become philosophers. So, we must decide which of us gets what. Economics investigates how this may work.

If you are interested in current affairs and world issues, then Economics is for you. It is an ideal choice for A Level, both in its own right, and as a complementary subject to all other areas, as it can be applied in such a wide variety of ways.

Economics is a fascinating and fast moving subject, based firmly in the real world. Economic topics are heading the front pages of our newspapers more often than at any point in the past two decades. Key economic decisions are having far reaching consequences in our lives, down to individual households.

To this end, it is expected that students are interested in current affairs since economic theory can be seen at work every day in the world around us. Students should be naturally interested in the topic and are expected to read a quality newspaper regularly or watch serious news bulletins or websites.

Course Content:

The course is broken down into two sections which cover the following topics:

Individuals, firms, markets and market failure:-

1. Economic methodology and the economic problem

2. Individual economic decision making

3. Price determination in a competitive market

4. Production, costs and revenue

5. Perfect competition, imperfectly competitive markets and monopoly

6. The labour market

7. The distribution of income and wealth: poverty and inequality

8. The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets

The national and international economy:-

9. The measurement of macroeconomic performance

10. How the macro economy works: the circular flow of income, AD/AS analysis, and related concepts

11. Economic performance

12. Financial markets and monetary policy

13. Fiscal policy and supply-side policies

14. The international economy

Assessment

Students must sit three assessments at the end of the second year. All three papers are written exams worth 33.3% of A-level and cover Topics 1-14 above. Paper 1 will be based on Topics 1-8 and Paper 2 will be based on Topics 9-14. Both have two sections:

Section A: Data response questions requiring written answers, choice of one from two contexts worth 40 marks
Section B: Essay questions requiring written answers, choice of one from three worth 40 marks

Paper 3 will assess all topics and has the following two sections:

Section A: multiple choice questions worth 30 marks
Section B: case study questions requiring written answers, worth 50 marks

Higher Educations and Careers:

In a typical year, there are over 200 000 job adverts in the UK that are economics-related
Other large employers of graduate economists include Amazon (750+ annually), Sky (460+ annually), AstraZeneca (330+ annually) and Shell (240+ annually)
The NHS is the largest graduate employer of those with economics skills, recruiting nearly 6 000 economics-related graduates every year
Accountancy
Journalism
Civil Service
Stockbroker
Consultancy
Banking and Finance