Economic students should I pick economics A-level

I'm not taking econ but my mum teaches it and I know some of the material If you're applying for a maths/physics-based degree, it's a good fourth option since it requires a combination of analytical skills and essay-writing and so it adds versatility while still complementing maths and physics. Being good at maths as you clearly are will help you conceptualise some ideas in economics, but apart from lots of graphs/diagrams and a little bit of basic calculus there isn't that much maths in A-level econ; being verbally competent and understanding society is just as important. If you're not a fan of/not confident with essays, taking it may not be the best idea (perhaps do chemistry instead in that case).

Thanks for the response I don't really mind doing essays. Wel been told it's not a good choice as my English grades aren't the best due to the amount of written work. Does it matter my English grades are low I'm quite good analyzing data and all that.

Well no one's going to ask you to analyse the use of anthropomorphism to express social critique or whatever in an econ essay, but if the amount of written work is the problem...there is quite a heavy essay workload in A-level economics (and you won't get anything like problem sets as homework or in exams, you'll pretty much just get essays) and you'll need to be able to write fairly well so that you can express your conclusions. That said, if you're interested in the subject matter and good with data, the essays will probably come more naturally to you. Have you looked at the syllabus topics? Do you think you'd enjoy writing lots about them?

I feel as if i would write essays in that sort of manner quite well.

For geography there is a paper worth 25% of your final grade called the SDME paper. It is about analyzing data and answering questions based on the data analysed. 24 marks is analyzing data. The other 16 marks of the paper is a final 16 mark question where they give you options and you have to state advantages, disadvantages for each option and write a conclusion which you thought was the best. I got 40/40 for that paper in the mocks (my teacher is a really strict marker so I was surprised).

Would you say economics essays are similar to that. Obviously economic essays will be longer but are the skills required similar.

The skills are definitely similar; there isn't as much explicit data analysis but I guess econ is similar to geography in that the essays will involve drawing on facts, theories and examples which you'll have learnt about in class to explain a trend, weigh up a statement or suggest a solution to a problem. I think you'll be fine based on this, but you'll have to make sure you're totally confident with structuring essays clearly and phrasing your arguments well. Maybe it'd be a good idea to look at some past questions and speak to the econ department at your school.

DO NOT TAKE THINKING IT WILL BE MATHS!. Absolutely ridiculous to think you need further maths to do it economics at lse yet theres almost no maths in a level. Majority essay writing!

nah i was similar to you i was A* at maths and science GCSE but worked at a B in english and i chose economics and regretted it - its just essay technique, doing well in it comes down to evaluating decisions aka giving pros and cons to everything you say so if that appeals to you its your kinda subject otherwise i wouldn't go for it

Yeah I know it is an Essay course but I think I'll be able to do it as I've improved my grades in English. This may sound surprising but now for English lit i'm predicted a 7 and for English Language a 7. But my teacher feels as if I could get an 8 in lit. I put in a lot of effort so I think I'll be good at it.

A grade 7 is an A.

Yes, that's good then and you should be good for Economics. Economics isn't really what i'd describe as a traditional essay subject, you dont write pages and pages. Rather it is about writing in depth concisely and in limited time. Are you able to come up with good clever points under time pressure? Can you write concisely? Can you use english techniques like connectives, sentence starters etc etc? Are you good at structuring?

These are what you need to think to yourself.

Yeah I feel as if I'm concise when making points. I try not 'waffle'. I follow a clear structure. Also, I try to write the least amount possible to get my point across (probably because I'm lazy).