Self Studying AS / A Level Economics

I have recently finished my GCSE's and will be attending my local school for my A-Level education. They do not offer economics, so I have decided I will try to self-study this, at least through AS Level, and then hopefully move on to gain the full A-Level qualification.

If you have previously self-taught Economics at A-Level, or if you have done any A-Level self-learning, please could you answer the questions below, or just give me as much information of your experience of Self-teaching this qualification.

1) How much time and work does it take to self-study Economics? I will also be taking 3 other demanding A-Level subjects in school.

2) Does it seem realistic to self-study Economics whilst studying Chemistry, Maths and History in school? I believe I am a capable student.

3) What is the best board to take Economics with? I would prefer less (no) coursework, due to the inconvenience this may cause when self-teaching.

4) From past experience, what are the best revision notes and guides for the Economic course?

5) When would I need to start learning the course ? I.e, to keep in time with the syllabus and have plenty of revision time.

5) If you could just give me as much information as possible on your experiences of self-studying Economics at an A-Level I would highly appreciate it!

I have recently finished my GCSE's and will be attending my local school for my A-Level education. They do not offer economics, so I have decided I will try to self-study this, at least through AS Level, and then hopefully move on to gain the full A-Level qualification.

If you have previously self-taught Economics at A-Level, or if you have done any A-Level self-learning, please could you answer the questions below, or just give me as much information of your experience of Self-teaching this qualification.

1) How much time and work does it take to self-study Economics? I will also be taking 3 other demanding A-Level subjects in school.

2) Does it seem realistic to self-study Economics whilst studying Chemistry, Maths and History in school? I believe I am a capable student.

3) What is the best board to take Economics with? I would prefer less (no) coursework, due to the inconvenience this may cause when self-teaching.

4) From past experience, what are the best revision notes and guides for the Economic course?

5) When would I need to start learning the course ? I.e, to keep in time with the syllabus and have plenty of revision time.

5) If you could just give me as much information as possible on your experiences of self-studying Economics at an A-Level I would highly appreciate it!

Sorry only got an answer for 3), but i think AQA doesn't do coursework, it is for the one i'm going to be doing anyway :O

I found A Level Economics to be the subject where I didn't require much support. I did edexcel btw. The Phillip Allen unit guides are very helpful, and if you keep up with current affairs, you could quite easily get an A in economics (at least at AS level).

If you have any problems, go onto YouTube and search for 'Paj Holden'. He goes through the different parts of the syllabus and is an excellent teacher. Unit 3 economics is probably the trickiest, but I think Paj Holden covers the graphs.

You can always ask for help on TSR should you need it!

That's great, I'll bookmark him for sure! Would you recommend self-teaching this subject, or would it be too difficult? Also, did the Edexcel exam board have any course work/ case studies.

I'd definitely recommend teaching yourself economics. Edexcel has no coursework for econ. No compulsory case studies to learn.

If you're the disciplined type, you'll do great.

I'm pretty sure coursework was abolished for A level economics a few years ago

I'm studying AQA economics at school, the exam board is fine tbh.

I highly recommend the AQA student book also YouTube videos are really helpful.

I've got some AS economics notes on my laptop, if ya want I can email them to you? Bought them online a few months back, save your money

If you want any other help with economics don't hesitate to ask

EDIT- I'd post the notes on here but it's exceeded the upload limit

That's all good then. I will probably end up going with Edexcel, simply because I done my Science GCSE's with them, so have a degree of familiarity. However, I will not be going with WJEC; my local school's choice! Obviously I will have to do more research into the whole syllabus and self-studying aspect of education, but when would you recommend beginning the learning? Start of the next school term?




Thanks for your help. How do you find the difficulty of Economics in comparison to your other A-Levels (in terms of understanding concepts and workload)? If you could email me them, that would be fantastic!

That's all good then. I will probably end up going with Edexcel, simply because I done my Science GCSE's with them, so have a degree of familiarity. However, I will not be going with WJEC; my local school's choice! Obviously I will have to do more research into the whole syllabus and self-studying aspect of education, but when would you recommend beginning the learning? Start of the next school term?

Sure no problem, PM me your email and i'll do right away
Economics is by far my favourite subject, in a way i have self studied economics, i had the worst teacher ever and wagged most lessons..... just studied my notes and textbook every night 2 months before the exam.

Secured an A with this method for my unit 1 exam...... i feel it's worked for my unit 2 exam, just have to wait and see my results

Also, past papers are key!!!!!
I can't stress this enough
For multiple choice part many questions are just repeated questions so they should be easy marks.

Ask me if you want more help

Why not start now?

Haha, I know where you're coming from! Unfortunately most teachers in my school have a resemblance to your Economics one! Thanks for the advice! I've heard that the format of answering some written questions are quite tricky as-well; similar to History at GCSE I suppose. Do you happen to know of any revision materials/ notes which contain the guide-lines for the answering format?



I suppose I could. I'm currently researching as much as I can at the moment, just to ensure I've got a good enough insight into the course.

Plz PM me and send me the notes