AQA
Why study Economics as an A level?
Economics shapes our lives. We are all affected, either directly or indirectly, by issues such as rising prices, unemployment, global poverty and the performance of particular industries. Economics looks at these wider macroeconomic problems. It also examines microeconomic topics: How are prices set? What determines how much a firm will produce? What shapes the demand for a product? Why are football players paid more than nurses? Why are some countries more developed than others? Why has the volume of international trade grown so rapidly in recent decades and what are the disadvantages of this trend? Many students go on to take the subject at degree level, and it is a highly prized degree amongst employers. It also provides a useful grounding for students thinking of taking related degrees in business and management at university.
What does the course involve?
The AQA specification on offer involves 3 units of study (entirely assessed by examination at the end of the two year course).
Paper 1: Markets and Market Failure
This Unit introduces candidates to basic microeconomic models and issues, such as price determination, efficiency, wages and trade unions, competition and monopolies, environmental economics, the housing market and the causes of market failure.
Paper 2: The National and International Economy
This unit introduces candidates to basic macroeconomic models and looks at how the economy’s performance is measured and how it actually works. Other issues studied include; international trade and globalisation, exchange rates, global development and poverty, unemployment and inflation, and government macroeconomic policies.
Paper 3: Economic principles and issues
This unit involves a synoptic exam (based on microeconomic and macroeconomic content) testing the main skills required by economists, including assessment of evidence, evaluation, application of economic principles to different contexts and quantitative skills.
What skills are involved?
To be an effective economics student you need to develop a wide range of relevant skills. Economists have to be good communicators with an ability to critically evaluate competing arguments. The subject lends itself to students who are genuinely inquisitive about current affairs and want to find out more about the world in which we live. Economics also involves a lot of data, however, and strong numerical and data-handling skills are commonly used to look at evidence and a variety of economic indicators. As such it is a sixth form subject that suits academic ‘all-rounders’ who have a good eye for details and a genuine interest in the issues being tackled.
What are the requirements to study Economics?
Successful economics students will possess a solid foundation of written and numerical skills alongside a genuine curiosity and interest in the world around them. Achieving a minimum grade 6 in both GCSE English Language and Maths is necessary to access the course. It is not necessary to have studied a related subject (e.g. Business) at GCSE level. Indeed, the chance to start an entirely new subject that builds on skills developed in other GCSE subjects is for many students the appeal of the course.