dropping A-level economics
Hi I'm in year 12 and I want to read PPE at university. I'm studying History, English lit, Maths and Econ, and I'm doing an EPQ. I've heard that lots of applicants to PPE at Oxford do 4 A-levels, but I know that some people only do 3. However, I know that the success rate of applicants (by proportion) with just 3 predicted A*s is lower than that of 4 A*s.
I've been having personal issues that have come in the way of me focusing fully on my academics and so I'm finding that doing 4 A-levels is a lot to handle.
At the same time, I'd not be sure what to say if asked in an interview, perhaps, why I decided to let go of Economics (also considering that I'm not studying either of Philosophy or Politics).
I've done AS-levels in all four of my current subjects.
Would it disadvantage me to drop Economics?
I've been having personal issues that have come in the way of me focusing fully on my academics and so I'm finding that doing 4 A-levels is a lot to handle.
At the same time, I'd not be sure what to say if asked in an interview, perhaps, why I decided to let go of Economics (also considering that I'm not studying either of Philosophy or Politics).
I've done AS-levels in all four of my current subjects.
Would it disadvantage me to drop Economics?
Why do you want to drop the one subject you’re planning to take at degree level?
Why not drop History or English? And your EPQ.
Or maybe PPE isn’t the right degree subject for you?
Why not drop History or English? And your EPQ.
Or maybe PPE isn’t the right degree subject for you?
I knew someone who was predicted A*A*A*A* in their a-levels and had an A* in the EPQ, and still didn't get an interview at Oxford. This isn't meant to scare you!! I started y12 doing physics, art, economics and maths, but ended up dropping maths because it was affecting my other subjects' grades. I was predicted A*AA and got an interview at Cambridge (didn't get an offer but you can't have everything haha 
). I'm saying that your subjects, number of courses and grades are not the sole determiner of whether you have a shot - its about you as a person! If you can show them that you're incredibly interested and dedicated to the course and have the core skills to succeed (you can do this through extracurriculars in your personal statement rather than just getting good grades in relevant subjects - though that is important too) then they will be more likely to give you an interview than if you have loads and loads incredible grades but not as much proof of dedication.
So, to answer your question - if you think continuing with economics is going to affect your other grades then I wouldn't worry too much about dropping it as long as your AS grades are good. If they ask you at interview why you dropped it just say it was your plan all along to drop one to allow you to focus on developing the other subjects, but you wanted to get a good grounding in the theory in preparation for the course (or something along those lines!). You can use the time you would have spent on economics in y13 on developing extracurriculars and supercurriculars for the PS instead!
Of course get advice from your sixth form tutors, maybe your economics teacher and ask them how they think you'd cope in y13? Because I noticed quite a big contrast between y12 and 13 in the Edexcel course, the diagrams in theme 3 take a while to understand if you're not a visual learner but it's satisfying once it finally clicks! I hope this helped you
but don't just take my word for it, everyone's situation is different and you should do what you think is best for you!
). I'm saying that your subjects, number of courses and grades are not the sole determiner of whether you have a shot - its about you as a person! If you can show them that you're incredibly interested and dedicated to the course and have the core skills to succeed (you can do this through extracurriculars in your personal statement rather than just getting good grades in relevant subjects - though that is important too) then they will be more likely to give you an interview than if you have loads and loads incredible grades but not as much proof of dedication. So, to answer your question - if you think continuing with economics is going to affect your other grades then I wouldn't worry too much about dropping it as long as your AS grades are good. If they ask you at interview why you dropped it just say it was your plan all along to drop one to allow you to focus on developing the other subjects, but you wanted to get a good grounding in the theory in preparation for the course (or something along those lines!). You can use the time you would have spent on economics in y13 on developing extracurriculars and supercurriculars for the PS instead!
Of course get advice from your sixth form tutors, maybe your economics teacher and ask them how they think you'd cope in y13? Because I noticed quite a big contrast between y12 and 13 in the Edexcel course, the diagrams in theme 3 take a while to understand if you're not a visual learner but it's satisfying once it finally clicks! I hope this helped you
but don't just take my word for it, everyone's situation is different and you should do what you think is best for you!Original post by PQ
Why do you want to drop the one subject you’re planning to take at degree level?
Why not drop History or English? And your EPQ.
Or maybe PPE isn’t the right degree subject for you?
Why not drop History or English? And your EPQ.
Or maybe PPE isn’t the right degree subject for you?
Thanks for the reply! History is actually more helpful for preparation for the course (as is mentioned on the course website) and I really enjoy it. It's very relevant (especially since I'm studying a lot of Marxism on the Russian side of the course), and I'm doing a history NEA on feminist development so that's going to be useful prep for the PPE course. English is quite a similar subject that I don't really consider very difficult because I do not struggle to write essays and the content feels much lighter (for me) than that of Economics. I can't drop my EPQ, but I wouldn't want to anyways as I enjoy it and it's quite relevant to the study of political theory, which is quite preparatory to PPE.
I'll make it clear that I am not dropping Economics because I do not enjoy the subject, but most prominently due to the workload and the added stress , all alongside the limited value I find in studying a subject that I will anyways end up repeating in university studies that follow. Additionally, I know that PPE is a very flexible course, and in the future I may consider doing a bipartite degree (which may involve dropping economics entirely and continuing only to study Politics and Philosophy).
So essentially I'm just debating whether I drop Economics or I keep all four. Hope that clarifies my situation.
Original post by Anonymous
I knew someone who was predicted A*A*A*A* in their a-levels and had an A* in the EPQ, and still didn't get an interview at Oxford. This isn't meant to scare you!! I started y12 doing physics, art, economics and maths, but ended up dropping maths because it was affecting my other subjects' grades. I was predicted A*AA and got an interview at Cambridge (didn't get an offer but you can't have everything haha ). I'm saying that your subjects, number of courses and grades are not the sole determiner of whether you have a shot - its about you as a person! If you can show them that you're incredibly interested and dedicated to the course and have the core skills to succeed (you can do this through extracurriculars in your personal statement rather than just getting good grades in relevant subjects - though that is important too) then they will be more likely to give you an interview than if you have loads and loads incredible grades but not as much proof of dedication.
So, to answer your question - if you think continuing with economics is going to affect your other grades then I wouldn't worry too much about dropping it as long as your AS grades are good. If they ask you at interview why you dropped it just say it was your plan all along to drop one to allow you to focus on developing the other subjects, but you wanted to get a good grounding in the theory in preparation for the course (or something along those lines!). You can use the time you would have spent on economics in y13 on developing extracurriculars and supercurriculars for the PS instead!
Of course get advice from your sixth form tutors, maybe your economics teacher and ask them how they think you'd cope in y13? Because I noticed quite a big contrast between y12 and 13 in the Edexcel course, the diagrams in theme 3 take a while to understand if you're not a visual learner but it's satisfying once it finally clicks! I hope this helped you but don't just take my word for it, everyone's situation is different and you should do what you think is best for you!
). I'm saying that your subjects, number of courses and grades are not the sole determiner of whether you have a shot - its about you as a person! If you can show them that you're incredibly interested and dedicated to the course and have the core skills to succeed (you can do this through extracurriculars in your personal statement rather than just getting good grades in relevant subjects - though that is important too) then they will be more likely to give you an interview than if you have loads and loads incredible grades but not as much proof of dedication. So, to answer your question - if you think continuing with economics is going to affect your other grades then I wouldn't worry too much about dropping it as long as your AS grades are good. If they ask you at interview why you dropped it just say it was your plan all along to drop one to allow you to focus on developing the other subjects, but you wanted to get a good grounding in the theory in preparation for the course (or something along those lines!). You can use the time you would have spent on economics in y13 on developing extracurriculars and supercurriculars for the PS instead!
Of course get advice from your sixth form tutors, maybe your economics teacher and ask them how they think you'd cope in y13? Because I noticed quite a big contrast between y12 and 13 in the Edexcel course, the diagrams in theme 3 take a while to understand if you're not a visual learner but it's satisfying once it finally clicks! I hope this helped you
but don't just take my word for it, everyone's situation is different and you should do what you think is best for you!Hi, thanks so much for the effort in the reply.
I think I'm mostly comfortable in proving my interest in the course through extra-curriculars etc. And I think it might benefit me to focus solely on three subjects that I can work well on. I'm worried that it might affect my other grades to study Economics so perhaps it would be safe to drop it. Also, that's great advice for what I might say in an interview and it's a reasonable suggestion.
I've spoken to one economics teacher at school and he told me that it's absolutely fine to drop economics. I'm doing the Edexcel course as well, and I'm slightly struggling with the Theme 3 and 4 content even though we've just started😂 But I might be able to count on myself reviewing notes and working that much harder to be on top of things.
All in all that's amazing advice and I'll definitely think about my situation more.
Out of interest, which course did you apply to at Cambridge? And which are you studying?
The TSA test and interviews will make or break your offer!!! 
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