A-Level Economics Tuition
One-to-one, online, taught by a working examiner. £80 per hour.
For students in the UK and abroad: AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC/Eduqas, Edexcel International A-Level (IAL) and Cambridge International (CAIE 9708). Lessons at times that suit Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE and the UK.
Most students who come to me are not struggling with the content. They can define price elasticity, draw an AD/AS diagram and explain what a monopoly is. They are losing marks somewhere else, and until someone tells them exactly where, more revision does not fix it.
What actually decides the grade
Roughly half the marks on an A-Level Economics paper are for analysis and evaluation, not for knowing things. That is the gap. A student can write a technically correct answer, know every definition in the chapter, and still land a low B because the chain of reasoning stops one step short and the judgement at the end is asserted rather than argued.
I mark real scripts every summer. The three things that cost the most marks are the same every year, and every one of them is teachable:
- Answers that circle the question instead of attacking it. Most students write everything they know and hope the marks follow. I teach the opposite: answer the question directly in the first line, then build. From there we develop the long chains of reasoning and the less obvious angles that most candidates never reach, which is where the top of the mark scheme actually sits.
- Evaluation bolted on at the end. A final paragraph beginning “However, it depends on…” with three generic qualifiers is worth very little. Evaluation built into the argument, weighing one effect against another as it goes, is worth a great deal. This is what detailed feedback is for: students get specific, line-by-line comments on structure and reasoning, not a score and a vague note to add more evaluation. Structure usually improves sharply within a handful of essays.
- Knowledge that is never applied. Most lost marks are not caused by not knowing the theory. They are caused by theory sitting on the page, detached from the question, the context and the real world. I teach with current case studies and resources that make the material concrete, relatable and memorable, so students have real examples to reach for under exam pressure instead of half-remembered abstractions.
None of this is mysterious once it is pointed out. It is just very hard to see in your own writing, which is the whole reason one-to-one teaching works on this subject.
The boards are not interchangeable
The economics is the same. How it is examined is not, and the differences change what you should practise. Generic revision material ignores this, which is why so much of it disappoints.
AQA (7136)
Paper 1 is micro, Paper 2 is macro. Each gives you a 40-mark data response, chosen from two contexts, and a 40-mark essay, chosen from three. Paper 3 puts everything together: 30 marks of multiple choice, then a 50-mark case study.
What it rewards: sustained writing. Two 40-mark pieces in two hours asks more of a student’s stamina and structure than any other board. Choosing the right question, quickly, is a skill in itself and worth practising deliberately.
Where marks go missing: Paper 3’s multiple choice. It looks like the easy section and it is not. It leans on calculation and on reading diagrams precisely, and students who have spent the year writing essays get caught cold.
Edexcel A (9EC0)
Built from four themes. Paper 1 pairs Theme 1 and Theme 3, markets and business behaviour. Paper 2 pairs Theme 2 and Theme 4, the national and global economy. Paper 3 is synoptic, built on unseen data, and can pull from anywhere in the course.
What it rewards: comfort with numbers and a proper grasp of Theme 3. Edexcel asks for more calculation than the others, and the 25-mark essays want evaluation threaded through the argument rather than parked in a final paragraph.
Where marks go missing: Theme 3 and Paper 3. Theme 3 is usually taught late in Year 13 and gets rushed. Paper 3 cannot be revised topic by topic, so students who revise in neat chapters walk into it with no strategy.
OCR (H460)
Three components: microeconomics, macroeconomics, and a synoptic themes paper that draws on both. The question styles are mixed, so a paper can move from multiple choice to short data work to extended writing.
What it rewards: precision. The mixed format means you cannot lean on one strength to carry the paper, and definitions need to be exact rather than approximately right.
Where marks go missing: the short questions. Students in essay mode over-write a four-mark question and then run short of time on the part that is actually worth the marks.
WJEC / Eduqas, CAIE (9708) and Edexcel International (IAL)
These boards have far less past material in circulation than AQA or Edexcel A, and that has a practical consequence that nobody mentions. A student on AQA can work through a decade of papers. On a smaller or newer specification you run out.
What changes: preparation has to be built rather than bought. We use questions from other boards and rewrite them to your board’s format and mark scheme, so you still get the volume of practice without drilling the wrong style.
Commercial revision guides are also thinner for these boards. Most of what a student finds online is written for AQA or Edexcel A, and some of that advice is actively wrong for them. IAL is modular, so the unit order and resit options change the plan too.
If you are not sure which board you are on, the code is printed on the front of every past paper and on your exam timetable. Bring it to the consultation and we will work from it.
What we actually work on
The plan depends on the student and the time left, but most programmes spend their time on four things.
Writing evaluation that scores
Not a list of phrases to memorise. The habit of asking, at every stage of an argument, how large the effect is, how long it takes, who it falls on, and what would have to be true for it to work. That is what a top band answer is doing, and it can be taught.
A working stock of real examples
Students are told to “read the news” and almost none of them do it usefully. We build a small, deliberate bank of cases you understand properly and can apply to more than one question, rather than a long list you half remember.
Data response under time pressure
Reading an extract properly, choosing which figures matter, and getting the calculation right first time. This is the most improvable part of the paper and often the quickest win, because the technique is mechanical once you have it.
Diagrams from memory, accurately
Axes labelled, curves named, the shift shown, the new equilibrium marked, and then referred to in the writing. There are fewer than twenty diagrams that carry the whole A-Level. Knowing them cold removes a whole category of lost marks.
How lessons run
Lessons are one hour, online, over video call with a shared whiteboard, so working through a diagram or an essay plan together feels much the same as sitting side by side. Most students take one lesson a week through the year, and move to two in the run-up to exams.
Because lessons are online, location does not matter. I offer early and late slots, so students in Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE and other time zones can have lessons at a normal hour.
Before we start there is a free consultation and a short written assessment, so the first paid lesson begins with evidence rather than a guess. After every lesson you get notes and a piece of written work, and the work comes back marked to your board’s mark scheme, with the band it would have scored and what would move it up.
£80 per hour, at every level. No package to commit to up front.
Frequently asked questions
When should we start?
As soon as you are thinking about it. Every week earlier is worth more than the same week later, because there is more time to change how a student writes rather than only what they know, and technique is the part that moves a grade fastest.
Year 12 is ideal, particularly for students who found the jump from GCSE steeper than expected, since the habits that cost marks at A-Level form early and are far easier to correct before they set. Year 13 is the most common starting point and works well. If you are reading this late in Year 13, see the next question.
My child is predicted a B. Is that worth tutoring?
That is the most common starting point, and usually the most improvable one. A student sitting on a B generally knows the material and is losing marks on technique, which is the part that responds fastest to one-to-one teaching. The harder cases are students who have genuine gaps in the content, and those take longer.
Which boards do you cover?
AQA, Edexcel A, Edexcel B, OCR, WJEC/Eduqas, Edexcel International A-Level (IAL) and Cambridge International (CAIE 9708). Lessons are planned from your specification and your board’s mark scheme, not from a generic course.
We live outside the UK. Can you still teach my child?
Yes. Lessons are online, so they work the same from Hong Kong, Singapore, the UAE or anywhere else. I offer early and late slots to fit your time zone, and the consultation is free wherever you are.
What happens between lessons?
One piece of written work, usually a timed question. It comes back marked against the real mark scheme with a band and a specific instruction for the next attempt. The marking is the part that moves the grade, so the work matters more than the hour itself.
Can you help with university applications?
Yes, for Economics and related degrees: personal statements, wider reading that is worth the time, and interview preparation. Get in touch and say what you need.
Start with a conversation
A short call to go through the board, the timeline and where the marks are going. No obligation, and no charge.