Edexcel A-Level Economics A Active Recall Guide (9EC0)
Edexcel · A-Level
Edexcel A-Level Economics A Active Recall Guide
Every topic of specification 9EC0 written as exam-style questions with the answers printed after them. 2,508 questions across 21 topics and 179 subtopics, covering all four themes with no optional content left out.
- Edexcel
- A-Level
- Specification 9EC0
- 2,508 questions
Guide overview All 21 topics Sample questions Papers and weighting Look inside Questions and answers
What the exam asks of you
Edexcel A-Level Economics A is three written papers of 2 hours and 100 marks each. Paper 1, Markets and business behaviour, draws on Themes 1 and 3 and is 35 per cent. Paper 2, The national and global economy, draws on Themes 2 and 4 and is 35 per cent. Paper 3 draws on all four themes and is 30 per cent.
Every question is set in a context, and the marks are for applying named theory, drawing the right diagram and evaluating with evidence. The theory and the diagrams have to be in memory before any of that is possible.
| Paper | Covers | Length | Marks | Weighting |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Paper 1 Markets and business behaviour |
Themes 1 and 3: how markets work, market failure, and business behaviour and the labour market Section A is multiple-choice and short-answer questions, and Section B is a data response question Section C offers a choice of two extended open-response questions, of which students answer one |
2 hours | 100 marks | 35% |
|
Paper 2 The national and global economy |
Themes 2 and 4: the performance and policies of the UK economy, and a global perspective Section A is multiple-choice and short-answer questions, and Section B is a data response question Section C offers a choice of two extended open-response questions, of which students answer one |
2 hours | 100 marks | 35% |
|
Paper 3 Microeconomics and Macroeconomics |
Drawn from all four themes, so microeconomic and macroeconomic material appears together Two sections, each a data response question broken into parts Each section includes a choice of extended open-response questions, of which students answer one |
2 hours | 100 marks | 30% |
What is in the guide
All 21 topics
Every topic has its own page with its subtopics, what it covers and sample questions.
Sample questions
Taken from the guide. Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
-
Economics as a social science
What does the Latin term 'ceteris paribus' mean?
Show the answer
'All other things being equal' or 'holding other things constant'. -
Rational decision making
What objective does the rational decision-making model assume firms pursue?
Show the answer
Profit maximisation -
What market failure is, and social costs and benefits
Define private costs.
Show the answer
Private costs are the costs of production or consumption borne directly by the producer or consumer. -
Indirect taxes and subsidies as interventions
How does an ad valorem tax affect the supply curve on a diagram?
Show the answer
It causes the supply curve to pivot and diverge from the original curve as price increases. -
Measuring growth: real GDP, GDP per capita and GNI
Calculate the GDP per capita when total GDP = 2200 billion, population = 70 million.
Show the answer
GDP per capita = 2,200,000,000,000 ÷ 70,000,000 ≈ 31,429 currency units per person (about 31.4 thousand per person). -
The components of aggregate demand
What does I represent in the aggregate demand formula?
Show the answer
Investment, which is spending by firms on capital goods. -
The characteristics of AS
How do changes in raw material prices affect the SRAS curve?
Show the answer
Higher raw material prices increase production costs, shifting the SRAS curve leftward; lower prices shift it rightward. -
The circular flow of income
What are injections in the context of the circular flow of income?
Show the answer
Injections are additions to the circular flow of income that increase the total level of spending in the economy.
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Look inside
Questions for a subtopic print together and the answers for that section print after them.
- The Nature of Economics139
- How Markets Work224
- Market Failure69
- Government Intervention65
- Measures of Economic Performance188
- Aggregate Demand104
- Aggregate Supply62
- National Income112
- Economic Growth98
- Macroeconomic Objectives and Policies131
- Business Growth87
- Business Objectives22
- and 9 more
- According to the rational decision-making model, what do consumers aim to maximise?
- Why does the assumption of rationality lead economists to predict that consumers will choose the option giving them the greatest satisfaction?
- Define utility in economics.
- What objective does the rational decision-making model assume firms pursue?
- Explain why a rational firm would expand output if the additional revenue from selling one more unit exceeds the additional cost of producing it.
- What does profit maximisation mean for a firm?
- State the two components a firm compares when determining its profit-maximising level of output.
- What process do rational economic agents undertake before making a decision?
- If a consumer decides not to purchase a product, what does the rational decision-making model imply about their assessment of that product?
- Utility
- Because rational consumers are assumed to weigh up alternatives and select the one that maximises their utility from consumption
- The satisfaction or benefit derived from consuming a good or service
- Profit maximisation
- Because doing so increases the positive difference between total revenue and total costs, moving the firm closer to maximum profit
- Seeking the greatest positive difference between total revenue and total costs
- Total revenue and total costs
- They weigh up the costs and benefits of each option to make an optimal choice
- The perceived costs (e.g. price, opportunity cost) outweigh the expected benefits (utility), so the purchase would not be optimal
questions
Scroll sideways to turn through the pages.
Questions students ask first
Am I on Economics A or Economics B?
Edexcel runs two A-Level Economics specifications. This guide is Economics A, 9EC0, the market-led route. The other is Economics B, 9EB0, which teaches economics through the firm and is organised completely differently.
The code is on your exam timetable. If yours says 9EB0 you need the Economics B guide instead.
Which themes are on which paper?
Paper 1 is Themes 1 and 3, the microeconomics. Paper 2 is Themes 2 and 4, the macroeconomics. Paper 3 draws on all four, so micro and macro appear together. The full breakdown is here.
Do I need to draw diagrams?
Yes, and they carry marks on all three papers. The guide asks what each diagram shows, what shifts each curve and what the shift means, which is the part that has to be recalled before the drawing is worth anything.
How much maths is there?
Enough to have its own questions throughout. Elasticities, index numbers, real and nominal values, the multiplier, percentage and percentage point change, and reading data tables and graphs.
Edexcel A-Level Economics A Active Recall Guide
Every question paired with its answer, grouped by topic and subtopic, ready to work in three passes.