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Economics
A-Level Economics is the social science of how societies allocate scarce resources among competing uses, set against the Department for Education GCE AS and A level subject content and delivered here through the AQA 7136 specification. It runs from the microeconomics of the economic problem, markets, elasticities, costs and market structures, through market failure and government intervention, into the macroeconomics of national performance, aggregate demand and supply, fiscal, monetary and supply-side policy and the international economy. Throughout, knowledge of models (AO1) and their application to real contexts and data (AO2) is built into sustained chains of analysis (AO3) and, above all, the evaluation that discriminates the top grades (AO4), supported by a compulsory quantitative-skills strand.
0/58 Texts14 Chapters~243 min total
AQA 7136 4.1.1DfE GCE Economics - economic methodologyDfE GCE Economics - the economic problemDfE GCE Economics - production possibility diagramsDfE GCE Economics - specialisation and moneyAQA 7136 4.1.2+66 moreFoundationStandardAdvanced
Table of contents · 14 ChaptersT·14
- Economics as a social science: positive and normative statementsText L·01 · Recommended start4 min
- Scarcity, choice and opportunity cost: the factors of productionText L·024 min
- The production possibility frontierText L·035 min
- Specialisation, the division of labour and the functions of moneyText L·044 min
- Economic methodology and the economic problem
- Individual economic decision making
- Price determination in a competitive market
- Production, costs and revenue
- Perfect competition, imperfectly competitive markets and monopoly
- The labour market
- The distribution of income and wealth: poverty and inequality
- The market mechanism, market failure and government intervention in markets
- The measurement of macroeconomic performance
- How the macroeconomy works: the circular flow of income, AD/AS analysis and related concepts
- Economic performance
- Financial markets and monetary policy
- Fiscal policy and supply-side policies
- The international economy
- Paper 1 - Markets and market failure (AQA 7136/1)
- 2 hours, 80 marks, one third (33.3%) of the A-Level. The microeconomics paper. Section A is one data-response context chosen from two, worth 40 marks, building from short definition and calculation questions to a 25-mark extended evaluation. Section B is one essay chosen from three, worth 40 marks, split into a 15-mark analytical part and a 25-mark evaluative part. It examines the economic problem, demand and supply, elasticities, costs and revenue, market structures, the labour market, inequality and market failure and government intervention.
- Paper 2 - National and international economy (AQA 7136/2)
- 2 hours, 80 marks, one third (33.3%) of the A-Level. The macroeconomics paper, mirroring Paper 1's structure exactly: Section A a 40-mark data response chosen from two, Section B a 40-mark essay chosen from three, each with a 15-mark analysis part and a 25-mark evaluation part. It examines the measurement of macroeconomic performance, AD/AS analysis, economic growth and the cycle, financial markets and monetary policy, fiscal and supply-side policy, and the international economy.
- Paper 3 - Economic principles and issues (AQA 7136/3)
- 2 hours, 80 marks, one third (33.3%) of the A-Level. Section A is 30 multiple-choice questions (30 marks), many of them quantitative. Section B is a case study worth 50 marks that draws on any part of the whole specification (micro and macro together), building to two 25-mark evaluative extended responses. This synoptic paper rewards students who can connect microeconomic and macroeconomic reasoning.
- Assessment objectives, the quantitative requirement and grading
- The four assessment objectives are weighted across the qualification with evaluation the largest single share: AO1 knowledge of terms and models (approximately 17.5-22.5%), AO2 application to contexts and data (approximately 17.5-22.5%), AO3 analysis of issues through logical chains of reasoning (approximately 22.5-27.5%) and AO4 evaluation - weighing arguments and reaching supported judgements (approximately 30-35%). A minimum of 20% of the total marks assess quantitative skills (calculation and interpretation of percentages, index numbers, elasticities, the multiplier and simple ratios). The full A-Level is linear, with all three papers sat at the end of the course, and is graded A*-E (U below E).