The Most-Tested Topics in A-Level Economics (CIE 9708)
Every 9708 past-paper question, tagged to its syllabus topic — ranked by how often each is tested (2020–2024).
AS Level (Papers 1–2)
90 papers analysed · top 15 of 29 topics
| # | Topic | % of all questions | Questions | Avg marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply analysis | 5.5% | 78 | 3.2 |
| 2 | Methods and effects of government intervention in markets | 4.9% | 69 | 4 |
| 3 | Current account of the balance of payments | 4.7% | 66 | 3.3 |
| 4 | The interaction of demand and supply | 4.3% | 61 | 3.5 |
| 5 | Price elasticity, income elasticity and cross elasticity of demand | 3.7% | 52 | 3.6 |
| 6 | Fiscal policy | 3.5% | 50 | 4.4 |
| 7 | Addressing income and wealth inequality | 3.4% | 48 | 2.6 |
| 8 | Demand and supply curves | 3.2% | 46 | 3.9 |
| 9 | Unemployment | 3% | 43 | 2.3 |
| 10 | Price stability | 3% | 43 | 5.4 |
| 11 | Exchange rates | 3% | 42 | 4.2 |
| 12 | National income statistics | 2.6% | 37 | 2.5 |
| 13 | Monetary policy | 2.5% | 36 | 4.2 |
| 14 | Production possibility curves | 2.5% | 35 | 4.3 |
| 15 | Price elasticity of supply | 2.4% | 34 | 2.7 |
A Level (A2 topics) (Papers 3–4)
90 papers analysed · top 15 of 23 topics
| # | Topic | % of all questions | Questions | Avg marks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Different market structures | 4.2% | 59 | 4.2 |
| 2 | Private costs and benefits, externalities and social costs and benefits | 3.5% | 50 | 4.8 |
| 3 | Labour market forces and government intervention | 3.5% | 50 | 2.1 |
| 4 | Types of cost, revenue and profit, short-run and long-run production | 3.2% | 45 | 3.1 |
| 5 | Efficiency and market failure | 2.5% | 36 | 7.4 |
| 6 | Government policies to achieve efficient resource allocation and correct market failure | 2.5% | 35 | 6 |
| 7 | Indifference curves and budget lines | 2% | 28 | 2.5 |
| 8 | Utility | 1.8% | 25 | 1.8 |
| 9 | Economic development | 1.6% | 23 | 2.7 |
| 10 | Links between macroeconomic problems and their interrelatedness | 1.6% | 22 | 3.6 |
| 11 | Growth and survival of firms | 1.6% | 22 | 1.9 |
| 12 | Economic growth and sustainability | 1.2% | 17 | 5.5 |
| 13 | Effectiveness of policy options to meet all macroeconomic objectives | 1.1% | 16 | 6.9 |
| 14 | Equity and redistribution of income and wealth | 1.1% | 16 | 8.1 |
| 15 | The circular flow of income | 1.1% | 16 | 3.4 |
How this was measured
Based on OwlsPrep's database of official CIE 9708 past papers (2020–2024), 1417 questions each tagged to its syllabus topic. “% of all questions” = the share of all tagged 9708 questions that test the topic. Because one question can test several topics, shares do not sum to 100%. AS and A2 are listed separately; A2 tends to use fewer, higher-mark questions. Figures are aggregate statistics from question metadata — no exam questions or mark schemes are reproduced.
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