What's Economics A-Level like?

If I posted in the wrong place, please move to appropriate thread.

I'm in Year 11 and options evening is late January and I plan on taking these A-Levels:

•

History

•

Maths

•

Economics

•

(unsure at the moment)

I've read up on what is taught in Economics at my sixth form but I was wondering what anybody who has actually took economics at A-Level thinks of it and any advice on how to succeed would be great too.

Also, are there any subjects that would go well with my planned options (as I am unsure of my 4th choice, possibly Philosophy, Law or Business Studies)?

Thanks.

Reply 1

Aequat omnes cinis

I took it. I found it fun and I hope I learnt something XD. Regards how to suceed, a good knowledge of current affairs and the economic climate is pretty essential.

Regards a fourth choice, it depends what you most enjoy. You'll probably drop a subject before going into yr 13 so take that into account. Out of the ones you mentioned, if you do economics, definitely do not do business studies as well. Law is pretty useless as well, you won't need it for a Law course nor anything else. I'd take philosophy, it's a bit wishy washy but unis don't nessecarily see it as a softer subject unlike law or business studies and it helps develop critical thinking. Your current subjects complement each other fairly well, at uni economics is a lot of maths, history, much history is about economics etc. If you like languages, you could take one of those? it'd create a good balance between the more academic maths/economics and a more kind of "arty" and expressionist side

What are you thinking of studying at uni?

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 2

JakeStenson

I'm doing History, Economics, Maths, Geography and World Development

Economics is one of my favourite subjects and i find it extremely interesting, especially as it's transferable into other subjects such as geography.

I'd recommend geography to you as a 4th subject as I really enjoy it however the Physical side (rivers and coasts etc) gets a bit tedious at times.

It really depends what you enjoy and what you want to do at Uni, subjects such as Business Studies are seen as "weaker" subjects by Uni's and a lot of my friends say they don't enjoy business, but at the end of the day it's your choice!

Reply 3

Classical Liberal

Business and Econ is a bad idea. Unis don't like the combo (although I think they are pretty different)

A-level econ is very hand wavy so don't worry about mathematical content.

Reply 4

upthebracket

Original post by Tahooper

If I posted in the wrong place, please move to appropriate thread.

I'm in Year 11 and options evening is late January and I plan on taking these A-Levels:

•

History

•

Maths

•

Economics

•

(unsure at the moment)

Economics is really enjoyable, and very exam technique orientated so its easy to get good marks if you understand exactly what the question's asking you to do.
If you think there's any chance of you wanting to do it at degree level though then further maths will give you a great advantage in the application process.

Reply 5

Tahooper

Original post by Aequat omnes cinis

My Business Studies teacher said Business would go great with Economics :teehee:

(her talking about Business and Economics was partly the reason why I made this thread).

As for a language I would love to take German (I self-taught myself some basic words and phrases) but firstly I'm doubtful my sixth form teaches it and secondly the only language available at GCSE for me was French and thirdly I heard German is harder to learn than French which itself was hard before GCSE level.

I'd possibly study at uni something like History, Philosophy etc. or maybe Economics (I know it would help if I took Further Maths but I'm not that interested in Maths, I'm just good at it :cool:

).

I also like the idea of PPE because I think you can specialise in one of the areas or something similar but I also heard it's not that good of a degree when looking for a job.

Reply 6

Aequat omnes cinis

Original post by Tahooper

My Business Studies teacher said Business would go great with Economics :teehee:

).

I also like the idea of PPE because I think you can specialise in one of the areas or something similar but I also heard it's not that good of a degree when looking for a job.

Sorry but your teacher is wrong ;p Unis dont like you to do both because there is some cross-discipline content, you'd be much better off just doing economics, its more academic and thusly more respected. not doing further maths is mostly fine, you dont nessecarily need further maths to do econ at uni, you def need at least a level maths though

regards uni courses, for all the courses you listed you would meet the entry requirements in terms of subject specifics at all unis, though ofc you wouldnt want to drop maths and probably not economics at alevel if you ended up decided to do an economics course, regards PPE, my general view is that its a pretty respected course, especially if you do it at a top uni, if you wanted to go into politics or even finance its a good choice, half the government is filled with PPE grads.

apart from languages, you could choose a science? it would again provide a good balance, or english? both would be stronger and a better complement than business studies

Reply 7

upthebracket

Original post by Tahooper

I know it would help if I took Further Maths but I'm not that interested in Maths

Then you probably won't want to do economics at degree level, depending on how mathsy the course is at the university you decide to apply for.

Reply 8

joemckenziederby

I did economics, business, maths to history and have taken all of them on to A level, economics is good as long as you understand it, and it's not maths based at all at A level at all, also at degree levels there are courses which you can do with are far less maths based (Nottingham, Durham, Sheffield etc) also bus and economics shouldn't be a problem as none of my offers state I cant use them both together :smile: