A Level Course Listing
Economics is a lively, topical, current affairs related subject, which is highly regarded as a respectable academic discipline. It provides a unique mix of the arts and the sciences and combines the skills of numerical and graphical analysis with concise communication and logic. It is difficult to imagine a career that does not require at least an awareness of Economics.
This rich and stimulating subject attempts to explain just how the precious resources of the planet are allocated – put against the increased need to conserve resources and promote sustainable means of achieving economic development.
Economics is the theoretical and applied study of how scarce resources are allocated within an economy. It seeks to answer three key questions:
What to produce? How to produce? For whom to produce?
As an Economics student you will study such issues as: inflation and deflation; recessions and booms; the effect of share prices and house prices on the economy; the challenges of tackling poverty through trade or aid; how the tax and benefit system can be reformed to manage the economy; how government policy can target climate change and many more topics which ought to be of interest to any well-informed and concerned 16 – 18 year old.
Examination board: AQA 7136
At least a grade 6 at GCSE (Economics, if studied) or at least a 7 in Maths.
Individuals, firms, markets, and market failure.
i. Economic methodology and the economic problem
ii. Individual economic decision making
iii. Price determination in a competitive market
iv. Production, costs and revenue
v. Perfect competition, imperfectly competitive markets and monopoly
vi. The labour market
vii. The distribution of income and wealth: poverty and inequality
viii. The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets
The national and international economy.
ix. The measurement of macroeconomic performance
x. How the macroeconomy works : the circular flow of income, AD/AS analysis, and related concepts
xi. Economic performance
xii. Financial markets and monetary policy
xiii. Fiscal policy and supply-side policies
xiv. The international economy
There are three written papers that require responses to data extracts (quantitative and qualitative) and open-ended extended response (essay) questions. The third paper includes 30 multiple-choice questions from across the specification and a compulsory data response element.
Paper 1: Markets and market failure
Paper 2: National and international economy
Paper 3: Economic principles and issues
At A Level the Maths involved does not go beyond simple quantitative analysis such as percentage change, the use of index numbers and diagrammatic interpretation of case study data. Students who may be interested in studying Economics at university should note, however, that many of the top universities require A Level Maths to have been taken.
A huge range. We tend to overlap heavily with both the ‘Natural’ and ‘Social’ Scientists as well as the Humanities. For example:
History, Politics, EPT, Economics
Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Economics
Geography, Foreign Language, Psychology, Economics