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A*/ A In Economics.

Hey guys ,

I started a levels in September 2020 and I picked these options:
- Maths ( Edexcel)
- Economics ( Edexecl)
- Politics ( AQA )

I am a hard worker and I do put the hours in for each subject and my maths and politics is going fine but im struggling a lot with economics. I pre-read some of the content before starting a levels , but now 3 months in im struggling. I revise notes from physics and maths tutors and I memorise and sorta understand them but when we receive tests and exam questions I struggle a lot. I recap the notes that I've memorised so it stays fresh but im still struggling a lot. My teacher isn't really helpful either he just makes us watch EconPlusDal and tutor2u videos and rarely explains concepts and he likes to rush through things as well. I go to a grammar school and everyone there seems to be miles ahead of me and I feel really stupid as its a kind of toxic environment in a way , but I try my best and I try to consolidate all the things we do but when it comes to questions I mess up a lot.

any help or advice because im doing something wrong please reply it will be appreciated thanks ,

stay safe people
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 1
Original post by abdu11xh
Hey guys ,

I started a levels in September 2020 and I picked these options:
- Maths ( Edexcel)
- Economics ( Edexecl)
- Politics ( AQA )

I am a hard worker and I do put the hours in for each subject and my maths and politics is going fine but im struggling a lot with economics. I pre-read some of the content before starting a levels as my dad has an econ degree and would force me xD , but now 3 months in im struggling. I revise notes from physics and maths tutors and I memorise and sorta understand them but when we receive tests and exam questions I struggle a lot. I recap the notes that I've memorised so it stays fresh but im still struggling a lot. My teacher isn't really helpful either he just makes us watch EconPlusDal and tutor2u videos and rarely explains concepts and he likes to rush through things as well. I go to a grammar school and everyone there seems to be miles ahead of me and I feel really stupid as its a kind of toxic environment in a way , but I try my best and I try to consolidate all the things we do but when it comes to questions I mess up a lot.

any help or advice because im doing something wrong please reply it will be appreciated thanks ,

stay safe people

Try and do a few past papers to get a better understanding of exam technique and the structure of essays (they differ with the number of marks). Economics is very keen on precise definitions and chains of analysis. So, for example, why consumption is beneficial for the economy. You wouldn't write a straightforward answer - instead, you have to write a step by step chain of analysis and also use data references (like you used extracts in GCSE English). Evaluation is also a key thing, which is basically a counter-argument. So just really try to get a feel of the essay structures and answer according to the number of marks. For example, you don't need to evaluate if the question is less than 8 marks. I do Edexcel Economics too and am predicted an A. All the best!
Reply 2
Original post by hiiiii1
Try and do a few past papers to get a better understanding of exam technique and the structure of essays (they differ with the number of marks). Economics is very keen on precise definitions and chains of analysis. So, for example, why consumption is beneficial for the economy. You wouldn't write a straightforward answer - instead, you have to write a step by step chain of analysis and also use data references (like you used extracts in GCSE English). Evaluation is also a key thing, which is basically a counter-argument. So just really try to get a feel of the essay structures and answer according to the number of marks. For example, you don't need to evaluate if the question is less than 8 marks. I do Edexcel Economics too and am predicted an A. All the best!

Thanks for replying , I started doing questions today and struggled a bit and I didn't understand where I went wrong , they were multiple choice questions with 3 mark explanations , I can't even do the multiple choice questions for some reason as well.
Original post by abdu11xh
Thanks for replying , I started doing questions today and struggled a bit and I didn't understand where I went wrong , they were multiple choice questions with 3 mark explanations , I can't even do the multiple choice questions for some reason as well.

I literally just finished going over the m.c questions I got wrong on my mock. Btw, I'm doing Aqa econ but it should be fairly similar to edexcel.
Reply 4
Original post by abdu11xh
Thanks for replying , I started doing questions today and struggled a bit and I didn't understand where I went wrong , they were multiple choice questions with 3 mark explanations , I can't even do the multiple choice questions for some reason as well.

Multiple choice is basically knowledge marks, so if you struggle with those then it is best to go over the content because you need to have a basic understanding of the subject first. You get marks for writing the definitions and drawing diagrams as well! But try to read the mark scheme and see where you went wrong.
Hi there I did A-level Econ and got an A*, I also do econ at durham (i'm a final year) so I may be able to help if you have specific questions.
Print off the key definitions for each of the themes and try to learn and memorise these.
Then link each key terms to each of the key concepts. Most things link together - use, for example, the PMT notes to highlight all the key words. The best way is to really go to the basics - Paj Holden and Jacob Clifford are other youtubers as well as EconPlusDal and Tutor2u. With these 4, you can honestly teach the content to yourself. It’s just understanding the key terms and then using the videos or the Tutor2u website to understand the concept fully.

Once you’ve understood all the terms/concepts, I’d advise practicing loads of MCQs and extended exam questions. You probably are not understanding the exam technique - use the examiners report. The old spec ones are very transferable (type in google 6EC01/2/3/4 + examiners report) - understand how to answer the questions. There’s loads of videos to extend this on EconPlusDal. Then literally just simultaneously bang out exam practice with the notes and videos.
I was in a similar situation to you, currently in year 13, but it all just clicked at once and my grades shot up. It gets much more interesting in year 13 and loads of cross links with Business, Geography & Politics come in. Feel free to shoot any specific questions
Reply 7
Original post by Panjsuce
Print off the key definitions for each of the themes and try to learn and memorise these.
Then link each key terms to each of the key concepts. Most things link together - use, for example, the PMT notes to highlight all the key words. The best way is to really go to the basics - Paj Holden and Jacob Clifford are other youtubers as well as EconPlusDal and Tutor2u. With these 4, you can honestly teach the content to yourself. It’s just understanding the key terms and then using the videos or the Tutor2u website to understand the concept fully.

Once you’ve understood all the terms/concepts, I’d advise practicing loads of MCQs and extended exam questions. You probably are not understanding the exam technique - use the examiners report. The old spec ones are very transferable (type in google 6EC01/2/3/4 + examiners report) - understand how to answer the questions. There’s loads of videos to extend this on EconPlusDal. Then literally just simultaneously bang out exam practice with the notes and videos.
I was in a similar situation to you, currently in year 13, but it all just clicked at once and my grades shot up. It gets much more interesting in year 13 and loads of cross links with Business, Geography & Politics come in. Feel free to shoot any specific questions

Thank you very much , I will try this tmrw and I'll let you know how it goes.
Reply 8
Original post by Elise_adventures
Hi there I did A-level Econ and got an A*, I also do econ at durham (i'm a final year) so I may be able to help if you have specific questions.

Thats really good , do you have any tips for someone like me on how to get an a* in econ?
Reply 9
Original post by Elise_adventures
Hi there I did A-level Econ and got an A*, I also do econ at durham (i'm a final year) so I may be able to help if you have specific questions.

thats really good , do you have any advice for someone like me on how to get an A* in econ?
Original post by Elise_adventures
Hi there I did A-level Econ and got an A*, I also do econ at durham (i'm a final year) so I may be able to help if you have specific questions.

hi, can you give some tips on doing great in economics p3 and p4 and what are the most important topics.
Original post by abdu11xh
thats really good , do you have any advice for someone like me on how to get an A* in econ?


So my teachers were completely incompetent and predicted me a C in year 13. Having knowledge of real world events so you can put examples in was key. I did the GCSE as well which made year 12 so easy. Really understand how the models work then you can easily apply it to whatever context you are given. I made a table of all the kinds of market structure (monopoly, oligopoly etc.) and then what the graphs looked like, benefits and costs of each one and real world examples. That really helped for micro.
Original post by tehreemfatima6
hi, can you give some tips on doing great in economics p3 and p4 and what are the most important topics.

You are going to have to give me some more detail as I did these exams over 2 years ago, although they haven’t changed. I did AQA I think.
Hi, I would really recommend reading economics books / 'soft publications' (like Bank of England speeches), economic news. I find that seeing the abstract concepts applied to real-life really helps me understand them with a bit more depth than the textbook. Some suggestions are

BBC business news (brief and not that detailed)
Financial Times (my favourite and you can get a free subscription if you are at 6th form in the UK)
Economist (great but expensive subscriptions and often takes quite a while to read through super long articles)

Also, doing it every day helped me revise so much that I didn't even need to revise for my year 12 mock because I was basically doing an hours worth of 'alternative' revision every day! Good luck from a fellow year 13!
Reply 14
Original post by Elise_adventures
So my teachers were completely incompetent and predicted me a C in year 13. Having knowledge of real world events so you can put examples in was key. I did the GCSE as well which made year 12 so easy. Really understand how the models work then you can easily apply it to whatever context you are given. I made a table of all the kinds of market structure (monopoly, oligopoly etc.) and then what the graphs looked like, benefits and costs of each one and real world examples. That really helped for micro.

Kinda late replying but I did this for the 2022 exam and got an A. Thanks for the advice. My teacher was kinda shocked at my grades after lol.

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