I'd say economics because in geography, apart from the vast amount of information you learn, you need to be taught how to answer the essay question properly. Especially in A2 where you get a 40 marker. Just IMO.

Reply 5

Vampire90210

Original post by 11Little_star

Having done both economics and geography at A-level. Geography would be easier to self teach than economics.

Thanks for your response! Would you say geography is easier even if I have a solid background in Economics?

Reply 6

michael321

Original post by Vampire90210

I need to take a fourth A level but I'll be doing it on my own. Got a A* in GCSE economics and an A in GCSE geography. Which is easier?

I did Economics A-level off timetable, and the AS-level on timetable.

As a qualification, it will not stretch you if you read the papers/have any general interest in economics. However, there is a fair bit of box-ticking/exam technique to be learnt, and some stuff is fairly tricky (Unit 3 micro is not the easiest thing to self-teach).

In my case, things are easier because I had a teacher for AS-level, much of which is also useful at A-level.

If you put in a good few hours close to exam period, an A should not be too hard to achieve. But you really need someone to teach you/ get you some sheets on exam technique, you need to look at mark schemes, that sort of thing. An A* at A-level might be fairly tricky with no lessons.

I got 84/100 UMS (pending a remark, hopefully will go up by a few UMS) and a friend got 89/100, without much effort (I probably spent a total of about 10-20 hours learning/revising, my friend did less work because he's lazy). And that was with a very stupid and obvious mistake I made, which probably lost me about five or so UMS. But micro is looking harder, from what I've done so far, so I'll need to put in a fair bit of work for that.

EDIT: sorry I wasn't very clear, when I said 'get someone to teach you' I meant teach you exam technique.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 7

Vampire90210

Original post by RobertWhite

I see. I'm pretty good with long essays though.

Geography

Original post by michael321

Thanks for the detailed info. Yes I'll be getting a tutor in any case and notes and past papers from my mates. Btw I hope you didn't misunderstand I said I got an A* at GCSE in Economics but aiming for a B grade for the A level at the very least.

(edited 13 years ago)

Reply 10

michael321

Original post by Vampire90210

Here's the post-edit part of my post in case you didn't catch it:

I got 84/100 UMS (pending a remark, hopefully will go up by a few UMS) and a friend got 89/100, without much effort (I probably spent a total of about 10-20 hours learning/revising, my friend did less work because he's lazy). And that was with a very stupid and obvious mistake I made, which probably lost me about five or so UMS. But micro is looking harder, from what I've done so far, so I'll need to put in a fair bit of work for that.

EDIT: sorry I wasn't very clear, when I said 'get someone to teach you' I meant teach you exam technique.

I would think you could get an A if you had a tutor and put in a bit of effort, especially as you have a grounding at GCSE. Do well in the AS-level, and it won't matter if you mess up at A-level.

Out of interest, what are your reasons for a fourth A-level?

Reply 11

Howbeit

Original post by Vampire90210

I see. I'm pretty good with long essays though.

As am I, but the 40 marker isn't just an essay, believe me.

Reply 12

boobooboob

I just finished self teaching myself the edexcel economics AS (unit 1 and 2) in 4 months and got 185/200 ums.
Recommend buying the Economics Student unit guides by Philip Allan these are very helpful with questions. As well as just reading over mark schemes. And PajHolden on youtube he's the man !!!! .

But yeah, economics is easy to self teach.

Reply 13

Vampire90210

Original post by boobooboob

Thanks so much. :biggrin:

Reply 14

Tateco

I have a friend who is doing both, I wouldn't say he finds one easier than the other but geography takes up SO much of his time, so less time consuming is economics. Economics is not a difficult subject if you are a generally academic person

Reply 15

11Little_star

Original post by Vampire90210

Thanks for your response! Would you say geography is easier even if I have a solid background in Economics?

It depends on how well you can understand economics. I struggled to understand economics on my own and always needed help explaining certain things with me, while geography was very straight forward. I say have a flick through the textbooks and see for yourself really.

Reply 16

therealOG

Original post by Vampire90210

I need to take a fourth A level but I'll be doing it on my own. Got a A* in GCSE economics and an A in GCSE geography. Which is easier?

As a student who is taking both A-level Geography and Economics and who is going to study both subjects at university, I can safely say that Geography would be the easier subject to self-teach. I pretty much taught myself the syllabus as my school's Geography department is a joke. That being said, it will be quite a heavy workload; expect to spend countless hours making notes on case studies and memorizing key facts and figures :biggrin:

Reply 17

peterlucas88756

I am learning Economics by msyelf and it is relatively easy but unit4 edexcel macro is quite long.

All one really needs to do is learn the mark schemes and a fews books and its fine.

Reply 18

Lumen

Everyone here seems to be saying Geography is the easier subject, but I would have thought Economics would be more straightforward - if only because there is less 'practical' work. At GCSE I remember spending a lot of time outside counting cars, doing projects on development in the local town (the CBD etc) and visiting places with interesting looking rocks.

Reply 19

crazycake93

I'm inclined to say Geography... but i've never done it...

i got 99/100 in Unit 1 Econ, without much revision. So Economics is probably easier (at least to me)