A-Level Economics?

Question

I have been warned against it
Is it an interesting and good subject to take at A-Level?

Answer 1

I found it interesting. But that's me - there's a picture of me at age 2 apparently "reading" the Financial Times (FT). If you're the sort of person that finds the FT boring, economics might not be for you. If you love it, or might like it but don't understand it, economics may well be for you. You might ask yourself - do I you fancy learning about how the economy works, what makes it grow, what government economic policy is all about, what taxes help the poor more than the rich, the importance of currencies and world trade and so on?

There's also a magazine called "The Economist" that you can get in any WH Smith on a Saturday. There's more politics than economics in there, and chances are that unless you're a brainbox you'll find it heavy reading, but again, you might consider getting hold of one copy and read a some stories from the beginning, middle and end of the magazine to get an idea of the kind of things economists find interesting.

If you are going to use economics in the real world, perhaps to work in the Treasury or a bank or stockbroker, or for the Treaurer of a large company, it's very helpful (but not absolutely essential) if you're good at maths.

If you don't see yourself at that level but you think you might become an accountant, doing maths and economics at A level is a pretty good bet.

If it's specifically INTERNATIONAL economics that calls you out, then you might consider doing French as your third A level because the OECD (a big international economics policy/thought organization) works in English and French out of Paris. But NOT INSTEAD of Maths.

Answer 2

Depends on your character and also your teacher.

From personal experience, i found the subject itself very interesting. I had 2 teachers, and one was very good. i suspect, if i only had 1 teacher, and it happened to be ther other one, i would have probably droped it after first year.

Beware though,It does however involve alot of giberish talk, you might want to log in to the Bank of England website and listen to their discusion of Inflation repot to give you some idea.

whatever you chose, good luck!