The Student Room Group

Economics- alevel maths

Hi, I’ve applied applied for pure econ and had some offers back already and waiting for two more. The issue is I didn’t actually do maths at alevel and applied to the economics course which was the most prestigious and best that didn’t require alevel maths (predicted 3*A alevel which explains why I wasn’t instantly rejected as they do prefer maths) which means I still have a tough economics course at uni which will require lots of maths. I am no means not good at maths I did get a 9 at GCSE I just haven’t done it in two years. My question would be will I struggle and also is it possible to self teach alevel maths (basics not looking to score a* on past papers or anything) over the summer and if so what books would you recommend and any methods? Thanks
Yeah it’s definitely possible to teach yourself. For edexcel at least, I would say find online versions of the textbook or ask a friend if they have an active learn log in. Also DrFrost has THE BEST powerpoints for the whole a level maths spec which are very useful. Physics and maths tutor have endless questions as well so you can continually teach yourself
Original post by MJA2802
Hi, I’ve applied applied for pure econ and had some offers back already and waiting for two more. The issue is I didn’t actually do maths at alevel and applied to the economics course which was the most prestigious and best that didn’t require alevel maths (predicted 3*A alevel which explains why I wasn’t instantly rejected as they do prefer maths) which means I still have a tough economics course at uni which will require lots of maths. I am no means not good at maths I did get a 9 at GCSE I just haven’t done it in two years. My question would be will I struggle and also is it possible to self teach alevel maths (basics not looking to score a* on past papers or anything) over the summer and if so what books would you recommend and any methods? Thanks


Should be alright it’s not like you have to know EVERYTHING from a level maths, however I’d specifically look into calculus, polynomials and quadratics (a level) if I were you, so it’s not too much. Because you done polynomials and quadratics at gcse it should be ok, the important one would be calculus as I’d imagine it’s a big part of graphs.

It would be actually quite easy to learn said topics cus it is a relatively small part of the whole a level.

(Ps you might want to look at/recap basic stats as youd probably need that as well)
Original post by wizkid44
Yeah it’s definitely possible to teach yourself. For edexcel at least, I would say find online versions of the textbook or ask a friend if they have an active learn log in. Also DrFrost has THE BEST powerpoints for the whole a level maths spec which are very useful. Physics and maths tutor have endless questions as well so you can continually teach yourself

DrFrost requires you to register tho
Reply 4
@wizkid44 @hustlr thanks for the response, found a textbook online which involves maths in economics, it says it’s ideal for anyone studying year one undergraduate econ and is designed from foundation (GCSE maths without alevel) up to university economics maths so this should be good to focus on what I need to know and also to build up my knowledge and not dive straight into the deep end.
Original post by Hiro2468
DrFrost requires you to register tho


To access his PowerPoints you don’t have to
It would be far more efficient to just find a basic first year university level maths for economics textbook. This way you'll only be learning topics that are actually going to be useful for your degree as most of maths a-level isn't. As a basic textbook I'd recommend 'mathematics for economics and business' by Ian Jacques.

As one of the posters above mentioned, there's also a lot of statistics in an economics degree so it might be worth trying to teach yourself S1 from a-level maths.

Quick Reply

Latest

Trending

Trending