Cambridge Economics Students and Applicants

I did Labour. I took the paper as I didn't fancy the difficulty/workload of Paper 6 nor did I want to write long essays for development. Labour to me seemed a balance between the two and that's how I found it. There is the Horrell section of the paper where she looks at Women's participation in the Labour force, and she also has a bit on Pay and Performance ( think incentivising pay to induce higher effort). That section of the course is similar to her economic history course in Part IA, some theory mixed in with some empirics and case studies. The rest of the course is more microeconomics and a bit of econometrics. Microeconomics in the form of looking at an individual's labour/leisure choice. Econometrics when analysing an individual's education choices (how many years of education individuals take and what influences this). There's also micro in the form of international trade, we do the Hecksher-Ohlin model and there's a portion of the course on trade unions and their affects on the labour market (a more analytical approach rather than William Brown's essay approach).

Overall, I would say I probably would have found development more interesting but Labour wasn't too bad. It was moderately interesting. The workload was fairly light and the paper has some synergy with metrics and micro (trade models) which was quite helpful. I certainly don't regret taking Labour, I got what I wanted from taking it and that was a relatively easy ride.

In terms of negatives, supervisors can be of variable quality. The paper has changed a fair bit over the past few years, so past exam papers aren't always representative. As there are lot of different topics which piece together to make the course, there's no central text book (there's a different ones for the different parts of the course) and you'll be reliant on making good notes and attending lectures.

Thanks for the reply. My reasoning for picking labour is similar to yours - mostly I want a paper that is not entirely essay focused and also not too time consuming. Would you say having no specific interest in labour is a problem?

Also, after my results I feel like I should be going down the paper 6 route. Don't know how you did last year but generally would you say there is pressure for those with 'good' results to pick paper 6? (Sorry I realise this is a difficult question to answer)

Are there any colleges that have a particularly good reputation for economics? In terms of the quality of the supervisions or results?

Is there any way to figure out which colleges will give me a fair chance at an interview? Or do I have to ask around? I wanted to apply to homerton as well. I liked the campus and the teachers there. Do you know whether your friend was asked to resit or make up for it with his Further Maths? I'm assuming the rest of his grades were almost 100% ums

Asking around I suppose is the only thing you can do. I myself only found out from my head of 6th form. I'm not sure if he was asked to resit. But, it would be a good idea anyhow as it makes meeting the offer easier. As for the rest of his grades, I can't remember. It wasn't quite 100s, I think he had really high UMS in Economics but I can't speak for his other subject.

Applying to St Johns for Econ - is there anything that the tutors prefer in terms of A level subjects or even extra-curricular activities? I've heard that each college can have certain preferences in these aspects of an application.

Also, at St Johns, when are TSA scores taken into account and what kind of important is placed on them? At the moment, all I know is that the TSA is taken on the day of the interview.

Definitely maths, probably more so than other colleges; as close to 100 UMS on Maths and Further Maths to maximise chances. 1 person in our year doesn't have Economics A-Level, but a large mix of other subjects so no major advantage IMO. John's has a reputation of getting in lots of sportspeople but I think that's less relevant now; anything to do with economics, politics or maths is useful.

TSA isn't that important I don't think, it's mainly used if you're borderline in competition with other similar candidates. Far, far more emphasis on your UMS scores.

Definitely maths, probably more so than other colleges; as close to 100 UMS on Maths and Further Maths to maximise chances. 1 person in our year doesn't have Economics A-Level, but a large mix of other subjects so no major advantage IMO. John's has a reputation of getting in lots of sportspeople but I think that's less relevant now; anything to do with economics, politics or maths is useful.

TSA isn't that important I don't think, it's mainly used if you're borderline in competition with other similar candidates. Far, far more emphasis on your UMS scores.

I heard that the interview is less about reading around the syllabus but more to do with real life application of AS topics specially in recent news. Is this true?

Any recommended reads for uni guys? I have read The Communist Manifesto, Vol 1 of Das Kapital. Book I, II and V of Wealth of Nations and a Short introduction to game theory. I'm really looking for a game theory related book since I find it really interesting thanks

At what stage? Are you starting in September/October? Generally I would advise to have a break rather than doing any pre-reading, but I do have a reading list somewhere of useful texts for first year (generally the texts you will be reading anyway).

Well, I went before A*s existed so technically yes.
(Sorry, not useful answer. )

Seriously though, if you're not at least capable of an A* in Maths then some of the maths and stats content in the Economics Tripos is going to be challenging to say the least.

How hard is the maths paper in Part IIA? I did quite well in Part I maths (76) but I've heard it really really steps up. I've heard labour is pretty relaxed which would invariably mean that I could have more time to do more extra-curricular stuff. Also maths seems to have almost double the lectures of the others!

Can anyone who's completed the tripos and did the 2A maths paper please tell me which optional modules they chose in 2B in how useful/necessary the maths paper was for them?

How hard is the maths paper in Part IIA? I did quite well in Part I maths (76) but I've heard it really really steps up. I've heard labour is pretty relaxed which would invariably mean that I could have more time to do more extra-curricular stuff. Also maths seems to have almost double the lectures of the others!

Prep study is maybe an article that they will present to you on the day, give you some time to digest it and then discuss it in interview. These are usually not very technical because of the fact that they have such an emphasis on not disadvantaging anyone without Economics A level - but be prepared to motivate and articulate your thoughts. The level of content seen on the economist would probably be of appropriate calibre. (Quite a few colleges do this, St John's, Kings, Trinity) ..although at St John's you are sent the article about a week beforehand.


Test at interview - well this is quite self explanatory, it can range from a maths test, to a critical thinking (TSA) style test. (St John's)

Maths test is usually calculus based - in all honesty, the first year economics maths is not too taxing in terms of mathematical insight required but the context in which it is used makes it quite difficult at times, so google maths applied to economics (with particular focus on A level methods) - I can't imagine it is very different. (Gonville and Cauis)

Written test at interview tends to be some essays / maths (Pembroke)


Also I had quite a lengthy discussion with my DoS on the subject of admissions and read through all the statistics of those admitted to St John's every year since 2006. It seems that, at St John's atleast, UMS marks play by far the largest part in the admissions process (and to be entirely honest the interview is nowhere near discriminating enough to warrant otherwise). I suspect, however, that as an international student the interview will play a larger part.