Most students who fail to achieve an A* aren’t held back by ability – they’re held back by a school system which encourages passing rather than excelling.
In 2025, only 8% of A Level Economics students achieved an A*, meaning to land yourself in that top category of students you need to do more than just attend lessons and watch the odd YouTube video.
The question is, how exactly do you land yourself in that top 8% as I did 3 years ago and many of my students have since?
1. Content Mastery
There’s a difference between memorising information and understanding it. Most students do the former – they sit in lessons and learn rigid rules. 1 + 2 = 3. But this isn’t how the brain learns best.
The brain is like a spiderweb of neural connections which understands new pieces of information as they relates to existing ones, as opposed to memorising information independently with no regard as to how it relates to the bigger picture.
For this reason, you MUST follow this one tip if you’re adamant on scoring highly:
Watch videos or read around a topic before (ideally) or after the lesson.
When you already have a basic understanding of a concept, lessons become consolidation rather than a first encounter. Your understanding of familiar concepts is strengthened, and you have the mental capacity remaining to learn new ones.
The biggest benefit of doing so however? Confidence. Let me ask you a question. Who is the best and worst student in your Economics class? It’s not a nice activity, but I can guarantee some names came to mind, right? When students start a new subject, it becomes very apparent very early who’s willing to put the effort in, and thus who appears most confident and knowledgeable in lessons. Let me promise you one thing however, these rankings are not fixed.
Admittedly it’s a different subject, but the principle of the following story remains relevant. Year 12 Chemistry I got a C. I knew I was the least knowledgeable and confident in my class, but come Year 13 I began watching videos before lessons and all of a sudden people are coming to me to understand concepts. Why? Because my first encounter with challenging concepts came before the lesson, whereas previously it had come during. This change in my approach to lessons created a mental shift, where lesson time went from me hiding, aware of how little I knew, to teaching others what I had already learnt and asking questions on anything that didn’t quite make sense.
Unsure on where to start? Econplusdal provides a good baseline understanding of important concepts which our Micro/Macro Analysis & Evaluation Bundle builds on if you’re looking to score highly.
Moral of the story – confidence is massive. It’s never too late to climb the classroom rankings, which sounds hypercompetitive, but hey, that’s life I guess.
2. Context
Economics is not an abstract subject. Examiners reward students who ground their analysis in real events and data. A well-placed, specific example – think the 2022 energy price shock, government intervention during Covid, or even recent geopolitical tension impacting Monetary decisions and Inflation – elevates a technically correct answer into an A* response.
Context isn’t just decoration. It’s evidence that you understand the economics and you’ve done more than simply memorise theory and rigid rules that are taught in the classroom.
You have two options when it comes to context – either familiarise yourself with your own list of real world examples, or use an already curated context bank which tells you where the context is relevant, rather than simply providing a long list of statistics. We recommend our 2026 Context Pack which does exactly that. It contains real world applicable data for all specifications which has been tried, tested, and annually updated for the last 3 years.
You can also checkout our TikTok page which has free videos on A* context that you need before your exams in the Summer.
3. Know your exam
Another thing that separates A and A* students is knowing your exam like the back of your hand. You should be able to answer the following questions, maybe not at the moment but definitely by the time of your exam, without hesitation:
– How long will I spend on each question?
– What must I include in my short and long answer responses (For example when is and isn’t evaluation appropriate and how should I structure my response)
– What is the role of the extracts provided? Do they complement my essay? Are they the foundation of my essay?
– What does a strong conclusion look like (Hint: It’s not just a summary, you can find our blog post on how to conclude your 25 Markers – coming soon)
Going into your Exams with knowledge but a lack of understanding of the exam itself is like an F1 racer being able to drive but not knowing the circuit. You need familiarity from the moment you step foot into that exam.
If you’re an AQA student, I have a completely free Exam Question Breakdown which outlines how long to spend and what to include for each question.
4. Practise
What attracts students to reading over notes is the very reason why it’s ineffective – ease.
Reading over notes doesn’t build nor strengthen neural connections in your brain. Although not a muscle, the brain very much functions like one, in that it needs to be challenged to be strengthened. Students fail to appreciate that forgetting is an important part of memorisation, and so active recall, the scientifically supported most effective way of learning, is overlooked amongst A Level students. As a Medical Student entering my 3rd year, one thing I certainly do have some experience in is knowing how to learn, and it’s as simple as first understanding the information; through videos, text or in person teaching, and then challenging your understanding of the information.
The question then is, how do you do that? Flashcards? Blurting? You may be overwhelmed by all these techniques seen especially on social media, but the way I’d recommend for Economics is through the use of Active Recall Questions.
During my exams I developed a list of Active Recall Questions relevant to all specifications that cover questions that have previously been asked or could be asked in your exam. In doing so I wanted to ensure that my knowledge covers the entirety of the spec. You can access these Active Recall Questions entirely for free here.
Once you’re confident with these Active Recall Questions, only then can you safely say that there’s nothing the exam could surprise you with.
If you’re approaching exam season, or even better you’re at the beginning of your Economics journey and want to lock in that A*, we at GA Tutors offer experienced A* Tutoring that won’t set you back financially 🙂 Stay tuned for more blog posts