Edexcel A level, International A Level and International GCSE Economics | Pearson qualifications

February 2025 Economics update

31 January 2025

Welcome to this February 2025 update.

The Economics A network event this month is about the 10 - and 12 - mark questions.  There are also training events for our international qualifications.

Please do remember to give your Exams Officer your entries for this summer in plenty of time before the 21 February deadline.  You are also invited to provide feedback on the 2026 provisional exam timetables (available from 3 February).

I would also invite you to complete the survey (first tab under 'Other information') asking for your feedback about these monthly updates so that we can try and ensure that the updates are useful to you and contain the information you want.
 

Read more

Key dates

Date Activity
21 February Entry deadline for AS/A level for UK centres
21 March Entry deadline for IAL and International GCSE
14 August Results day for A level and IAL Economics
21 August Results day for International GCSE Economics

Our UK qualifications

Econ A squirrels

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A level Economics A
Delivery support
Assessment support

Delivery support focuses on free support materials, networking and both free and paid-for resources.  There are links to Pearson, Hodder and other publishers.

Econ B trees

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A level Economics B

Delivery support
Assessment support

Assessment support focuses on assessment news and tools, support in understanding the command verbs, and information about grade boundaries and statistics.

EBEA logo

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The EBEA student conference at the Bank of England

The EBEA and the Bank of England recently held a conference designed to ignite students' passion for economics. The theme of the conference was that 'Economics is for Everyone'. The speakers included Tim Hartford, MPC member Dr Swati Dinghri, Mark Gregory, Felicia Odamtten, Ashley Young and Ryan Murphy.

If you were unable to attend, or would like to watch again, you can do so here:

Tim Harford: How to see into the future

Dr Swati Dhingra: How to prepare for the future

Olivia Hylton: An Introduction to FT resources

Economics is for everyone

Source booklets are to be added to the AS and A level papers for specification A and to the A level papers for specification B. This change is being made following feedback from teachers and will make it easier for students to refer to the sources when writing their answers. Candidates will receive the source booklet as an insert when they sit the exam.

We have provided revised versions of the 2024 question papers should you want to use these for mocks.

Recent case studies for Economics A  

New case studies based on articles from the FT have been written for you to use with your students.  These have up-to-date content and also have suggested answers.

  Case study Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3 Theme 4
1 Coffee 1.2.6 Price determination
1.2.8 Consumer and producer surplus
1.2.3 Price elasticity of demand
 
    4.3.2 Factors influencing growth and development: volatility of commodity prices
2 Electric cars   2.1.4 Balance of payments   4.1.6 Restrictions on free trade
Rent controls 1.2.7 Price mechanism
1.4.1 Government intervention in markets
1.4.2 Government failure
     
4 UK public sector borrowing   2.5.3 Public sector finances   4.5.1 Public expenditure
5 European carmakers 1.2.3 Elasticities of demand   3.1.2 Business growth
3.3.4 Normal profits, supernormal profits and losses
3.4.7 Contestability
 
6 Disposable income   2.1.1 Economic growth
2.2.1 The characteristics of AD
2.2.2 Consumption (C)
2.4.3 Equilibrium levels of real national output
   

There are also some other case studies in the Files  section of the Facebook group.


Recent case studies for Economics B

The FT case studies above have been mapped to the Economics A specification but they could work for Economics B teaching as well.  The command verbs used in the exam-style questions would need to be changed.

New case studies with up-to-date content have been added to both the dropbox folder and to the Files  section of the Facebook group.


May/June 2025 timetable - Economics A

2025 May TT

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May/June 2025 timetable - Economics B

2025 May TT

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The June 2025 pre-release material for Paper 3 is now available to download.

Summer 2026 Provisional Timetables 

The Provisional timetables for Summer 2026 will be available on our Provisional timetables web page from Monday 3rd February.

The feedback window will run until Friday 21st March. Please send any feedback to timetables@pearson.com.

Go to the provisional timetables

Our International qualifications

IAL Econ trees

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Delivery support focuses on free support materials, networking and both free and paid-for resources.  There are links to Pearson, Hodder and other publishers.

IG Bus

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International GCSE Economics
Delivery support
Assessment support

Assessment support focuses on assessment news and tools, support in understanding the command verbs, and information about grade boundaries and statistics.

The Outstanding Pearson Learner Awards (OPLAs) recognise and celebrate the highest achieving learners at International GCSE and International A level.

International GCSE Economics is in the first group of subjects to make a modular route available to learners from September 2023.

This means that we will have both a modular and a linear route to achieve this qualification.

If you are happy with the linear approach, there is no need to move to the modular route; our linear International GCSEs will continue to be offered and taken widely by learners around the world. ​

However, if you believe the modular route will be of benefit to your learners, this will be available from September 2023 with the first exams in May/June 2024.


Course planner and schemes of work for Modular International GCSE Economics

To help your planning we now have both a course planner and a scheme of work for the modular International GCSE in Economics.


Onscreen exams rollout

International GCSE Economics started onscreen assessment in 2024.

Make sure you’re signed up for the latest onscreen assessment news to find out how to register your school.

The Pearson onscreen sandbox (test environment) gives students all the practice they need to explore the platform’s functionality and build their confidence before they sit their exams onscreen.

It’s easy to register for an account: just click on Register for an account and enter your email address as your user ID.

The materials are digitised in the same platform as the mock and high-stakes onscreen exams and are a good opportunity for teachers and students to get to know the platform and functionality available.

Whilst the user experience mirrors what can be expected from the mocks and high-stakes assessments, please note that any solutions submitted through the sandbox environment by candidates will not be saved.

International GCSE Economics

May 2025 timetable

2025 May TT

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IAL Economics

May/June 2025 timetable

IAL Econ 2025 May TT

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October 2025 timetable

IAL Econ 2025 May TT

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January 2026 provisional timetable

IAL Econ 2026 Jan prov  TT

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Summer 2026 Provisional Timetables 

The Provisional timetables for Summer 2026 will be available on our Provisional timetables web page from Monday 3rd February.

The feedback window will run until Friday 21st March. Please send any feedback to timetables@pearson.com.

Go to the provisional timetables


Other information

We would love to hear your thoughts about our monthly Subject Advisor Updates.

Take our short survey and share your thoughts before 14 February to be in with the chance of winning a £20 Amazon voucher*.

*T&Cs apply
 

Secondary schools around the world can get free online access to the Financial Times, with articles, games and multi-media content on many topics to enrich studies and improve exam performance in business, economics, politics, geography, psychology and other topics.

The FT can help strengthen global and media literacy, and offer insights into preparation for further study and the world of work. It also has competitions, an online work experience programme and teacher selected articles with suggested questions, alongside resources developed by Pearson/Edexcel.

Details at www.ft.com/schools . A staff member can check if their school is already registered and to create student or staff accounts at www.ft.com/schoolsarefree

EBEA logo

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The EBEA student conference and the FT

One of the speakers at the conference outlined how useful and important the FT offer can be for students.  You can watch a recording of the session here:

Olivia Hylton: An Introduction to FT resources

 

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MFA graphic

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